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A huge scam in the making. The .COM registry contract. VeriSign: Shame on you!
posted Monday, 20 February 2006
Hang on to your wallet!
There’s a scam in the works. If it happens, it’s going to adversely affect all of us. VeriSign wants to control the .COM registry forever.
VeriSign has somehow persuaded ICANN to propose a new contract where VeriSign will be the permanent and unregulated controller of the .COM registry. VeriSign would also get the right of presumptive renewal. This means when the new contract for the .COM registry comes up for renewal in 2012, it won’t be put out for bid – like the .NET contract was in 2005 – instead it will simply renew in VeriSign’s favor.
Plus VeriSign gets to raise prices without oversight!
But wait! There’s more. Not only will the .COM registry contract never again be put out for bid, but VeriSign will also have the right to raise prices, in its sole discretion, up to 7% per year in four of the next six years. So they can raise prices by up to 28% over the next six years.
Don't like it? Tough!
Now suppose you and I, as consumers, don’t like that. Well that would be just too bad — because VeriSign would be the monopoly controller of the one domain name that drives the Internet: .COM.
All this is particularly galling for three reasons:
1. In the Internet Industry, prices go down, not up. Click here to see the trend, both historical and/or projected, for storage, bandwidth, and server costs. As you can see, prices go down — not up — over time. This trend is expected to continue well into the future. Yet, VeriSign has worked out a deal where they can raise — rather then lower — prices every year.
2. The proposed .COM contract does not provide for competitive bidding prior to renewal. As a result of the competitive bidding prior to the .NET contract renewal, not only did registration costs not go up, but they actually went down plus additional and critical funding was secured for ICANN. Under the proposed .COM contract, with the presumptive renewal and no bid provision, benefits normally brought to bear by a competitive bidding process won't exist. Instead we'll be left with VeriSign raising its prices.
3. Although the proposed .COM contract provides for price increases that are determined by VeriSign in its sole discretion, it does not at the same time provide for any regulatory supervision. I know of no other monopoly that enjoys this luxury – particularly a monopoly that exists in a market where costs have decreased year after year – and where costs are expected to continue to decrease year after year.
Here's what Go Daddy is going to do about it.
Right now, Go Daddy has decided to stand up against this travesty and to encourage a more reasonable contract between ICANN and VeriSign. We are also set to visit with the Senate, the House, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and with VeriSign and members of ICANN’s Board to discuss this issue.
I will report more on this very important issue as it develops.
If you are a U.S. citizen and want to contact your Congressional Representatives or Senators here's how to find their email addresses:
For the Senate:
www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
For the House:
www.house.gov/writerep/
