ICANN has allowed the registrar Public Interest Registry, which is responsible for the .org domain zone, to independently regulate domain prices. We discuss the opinions of registrars, IT companies, and nonprofit organizations that have been expressed recently.
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Why the terms have changed
According to representatives , they removed the price cap on .org for 'administrative purposes.' The new rules will align the domain zone for organizations with commercial ones.
Prices set by the latest registrars can now be independently determined.
It is said that this will make the domain market more homogeneous, and prices will self-regulate through competition among registrars. ICANN is confident that the decision will help attract additional funding (the organization regularly collects fees from registrars).
According to The Register reports that there are over 10 million domains in the .org zone, and even a slight increase in the base rate will result in a significant boost in revenues.
There are those who supported
The decision was backed by representatives of PIR and several other registrars. For example, in support was the former vice president of Verisign (the registrar responsible for .com). According to her, healthy competition will allow .org to expand its audience and increase the domain zone's market share, which currently barely exceeds 5%.
Also , that price increases in the .org zone will put an end to the practice of , where people buy numerous domains related directly or indirectly to a certain trademark cheaply, and then resell them to rights holders (for TM) for disproportionate amounts.
But the majority disagrees
Most IT companies do not agree with the decision and call it ill-considered and irresponsible. Analysts surveyed thousands ( and ) of nonprofit organizations, registrars, and internet users — over 98% of them opposed ICANN.
— one of the largest registrars in the world — sent ICANN requesting a review of its decision. Representatives of the registrar say that the removal of price caps will negatively impact the operations of public organizations — they will find it difficult to forecast maintenance costs. As a result, registrars themselves will be harmed — clients will simply refuse to renew domains.
ICANN responded to the criticism by stating that the new rules and competition would actually better regulate prices in the domain name market. However, the organization did not provide economic justifications to support its assertion. Moreover, The Register, among the four hundred employees of the organization, there is not a single economist.
Experts , believe that the idea of competition could work if companies frequently changed domains, and such practice was commonplace. Yet, this process often turns out to be costly and time-consuming. Not to mention that a domain name is part of a company's brand, the loss of which has far-reaching consequences. For instance, when the portal ServiceMagic.com switched its domain name to HomeAdvisor.com, its traffic immediately .
Non-profit organizations have opposed ICANN (EFF) and (ICA), which advocate for the rights of domain owners. They argue that ICANN should discuss such decisions with the IT community beforehand.
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Coordination issues even arose within ICANN itself. The Board of Directors did not conduct a formal vote on this matter. As insiders revealed, all decisions were made by the organization's staff, and management did not hinder their activities. However, there is an opinion that in this way representatives of the organization are trying to shift the responsibility away from themselves.
Another unpopular decision by ICANN
Besides lifting price caps in .org, ICANN plans to () implement URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension System) mechanisms in this domain zone. This will allow companies to quickly deal with cybersquatters by submitting the corresponding application to the registrar.
But this decision has already faced opposition from members of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Non-profit organizations often use brand trademarks in .org domains to draw public attention to related issues. However, the timeframes for reviewing claims in URS are too short to thoroughly assess the situation. Thus, this mechanism risks becoming a tool for unappealable control by large corporations.
If ICANN continues to make unpopular decisions, it is likely to face a series of legal claims. The author of the blog Domain Name Wire , that such claims are inevitable if the organization does not change its course in the near future.
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Source: habr.com
