PLEASE READ - Privately Owned Websites Outlawed

frakilk · #1 (**permalink**) 26-08-2006, 06:11 PM

This is VERY IMPORTANT reading for all webmasters everywhere. Please make your voices heard.
Blacknight would it be possible for you to blog about this? We need to get the word out about this .

ICANN proposing tiered pricing of domain names

The organization that manages domain names is proposing that only corporations and government organizations will own websites in the future.

ICANN the governing body that manages domain names is proposing to allow variable & teired pricing of domain names. That means that the price of your domain name can be changed on a whim by the organization that you bought it from.

Imagine for instance this site and all the work that the staff put into making it. If this proposal were approved the business that leased the name to the owners could simply say "Your site is popular now you have to pay more tis year". Will that charge be $20? $2000? $10000? you won't know they will be able to change it at their whim for any site they want.

What if you say something unpopular on your site ( say your prodrugs for instance or of a different religon ) and the company you lease your name from doesn't like that? Again they could charge you more for no reason. IN fact they could price you right out of the domain.. asking even a million dollars if they wish.

You don't even have the option to go to another business to lease your name from. There is only one for each type of name.

It seems the only deep pocketed organizations will be able to fight this form of opression of speech.
If you believe in free speech and fair business practices please share this.

Please let them know how you feel about it by sending an email to them here:

biz-tld-agreement@icann.org
info-tld-agreement@icann.org
org-tld-agreement@icann.org

Also please spread the word..
Contact any business organizations your a member of.
Contact any others you know that run websites.
Thanks.
For more information try here:
Tiered / Variable Pricing By Domain Not Forbidden in New .BIZ/INFO/ORG contracts

blacknight · #2 (**permalink**) 27-08-2006, 10:19 PM

I'll be looking into this a bit further over the coming weeks. The new contracts are quite scary for a number of reasons and this is just one of them

RedCardinal · #3 (**permalink**) 28-08-2006, 08:54 AM

Well done Frank on posting this around the place - I saw it over on boards and DP.

I was a bit dissapointed in the response you got over at boards - if this goes through it will probably be just the beginning. And if people start to make money and/or have the ability to shut down competitors etc it will all go downhill from there.

blacknight · #4 (**permalink**) 28-08-2006, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgh

I was a bit dissapointed in the response you got over at boards

You get used to it.. It's one of the reasons why I set this forum up

frakilk · #5 (**permalink**) 28-08-2006, 10:31 AM

Thanks guys,

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgh

I was a bit dissapointed in the response you got over at boards

I was absolutely appalled at the way a little point like the sensational topic title overshadowed this big of an issue. I posted it with the best intentions and concern for the webmaster community over there and look what happened. Pah!

Quote:

You get used to it.. It's one of the reasons why I set this forum up

Great to see that the issue is recognised here Blacknight.

I don't own any .biz/.info/.org domains but you can be sure that if it goes through and the registrars are making a pot of cash from it then the .com big guys are going to want to piece of the action as well. And they won't care who you are, big or small.

blacknight · #6 (**permalink**) 28-08-2006, 06:50 PM

» Tell ICANN your opinion on contract changes (DomainEditorial.com)

Includes links to make submissions. The clock is ticking - only a few more hours left!

RedCardinal · #7 (**permalink**) 28-08-2006, 07:15 PM

Hmm... not so many submissions - perhaps 300 for each domain.

Virtually all relate to the variable pricing.

I sent off emails to:
org-tld-agreement@icann.org
info-tld-agreement@icann.org
biz-tld-agreement@icann.org

Posting mail addresses here so that others can find them easily.

frakilk · #8 (**permalink**) 28-08-2006, 07:44 PM

Just sent the following submission to the 3 listed email addresses.

Quote:

To whom it may concern,

Stop a moment, take a deep breath and realise the sheer lunacy of the situation.

What is there to gain by the removal of price caps for .BIZ/.INFO/.ORG domains which is a possibility under the proposed new contracts? Well the answer is nothing, nada, zilch. What possible use could this serve to the future growth and innovation of the Internet? This would be a mistake of monumental proportions that would not only affect .BIZ/.INFO/.ORG domain owners but would also come back to bite ICANN and registrars. It would open the door for discrimination and price gouging.

The beauty of the Internet is that it is a level playing field for all. How many ways has the Internet made your life easier? Pretty hard to sum up. This is because it has already helped you in countless different ways and will also in the future ONLY if everything is kept on a level playing field. By introducing the removal of price caps only the big guys will survive and smaller operations will likely be crushed.

Please consider what you are doing and look beyond the financial benefits. Everyone has chances to really make a positive or negative difference to this world. This is one of those chances. Please make it a positive one.

Regards,
Frank Kilkelly

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PLEASE READ - Privately Owned Websites Outlawed

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