GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - WOW this would hurt a lot of your sites, hope its not true

There comes a time in every industry when you've got to
stand up and protect your turf from well-funded bullies or
face potential annihilation.

This is one of those times...

There are BIG changes proposed to the domain name registry
system - and they are definitely NOT GOOD for us.

In fact, they could put a lot of us out of business, or at
a minimum subject us to a massive "tax" - based on the
market value of our domains - every time we go to renew
them.

Got a valuable web business? You might be facing a $1,000
or $10,000 - or an unlimited number - boost to your domain
name renewal fee.

The Board of Directors of ICANN (they control many of the
major top level domains) are looking at making this change
right now. They call it "variable pricing."

So far they've slipped it through quietly and the public
comment period ends today. I only just learned about it
late last night.

You can get more information on my blog here:

http://kenmccarthy.blogs.com/ken_mcc..._name_mad.html

Or you can get the same information in this e-mail:

Domain name madness...

Some people worry about the power of Google.

There's only one force on the Internet that I worry about and
that's the institutions that control the domain name system.

Why? Because they have the power to change the domain name
rules radically.

Who cares? You might care if when you domain name comes up
for renewal, the charge is $1,000, or $10,000 - or whatever the
market can bare.

That's impossible, right?

Not only is in not impossible, but ICANN - the domain
regulation entity that controls .org, .info and .biz - has
that very proposal on the table right now.

If they get away with it, you can be sure that Verisign
which administers the .com domain will not be far behind.

I only just learned about this from my colleague Rick
Schwartz late last night and the public comment period
ends today.

Here's what we need to do:

1. Go to the ICANN web page that discusses this:

http://www.icann.org/announcements/a...-2-28jul06.htm

2. Compose a letter that opposes the "variable pricing of
domain names" and send it to each of the three e-mail
addresses listed on the web page - for .org, .info, and
biz

3. If you need ideas of things to write, just read the
comments that others have posted which are on the page.

4. If you are a business owner who uses the web, let them
know that you are and that you oppose this radical change
to the domain system.

5. The key phrase is "variable pricing", so at a minimum
put something like "No to variable pricing" or "Opposed to
variable pricing" in your subject line.

In the body add something like "As a small business owner
who has made a considerable investment in developing the
domain names I own, I am firmly opposed to the variable
pricing of domain names by the .org registry."

Send a separate note for .biz and .info.

The comment posting information is all here:

http://www.icann.org/announcements/a...-2-28jul06.htm

Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Some of us are working hard to try to extend the public
comment period, but don't count on getting a second shot
at going on the record.

Variable pricing of domains by the registries is a
terrible idea for web site owners.

ICANN and Verisign enjoy a government granted monopoly.
The current system - which works fine and serves the
Internet community - should be kept as it is.

http://www.icann.org/announcements/a...-2-28jul06.htm