[Urgent] [Public Comment] Proposed Renewal of .org Registry Agreement

[Amr Elsadr]

Hi Ayden and all,

I believe this is also what Kathy had previously said. I responded explaining why this is not true. Article 2.10(c) explicitly explains how registrants are protected. See my previous email on this.

Furthermore, claiming that the decision rests solely with registrars making it a loophole of concern, to me, is at best weak. In practical terms, it is more likely to be irrelevant and misleading. If you read Article 2.10 in its entirety, it is evident that all it takes is one registrar out of the many ICANN accredited registrars to seek renewal pricing remaining constant. If this happens, PIR will be required to renew at this same price across all the registrars it has Registry-Registrar Agreements with.

I’ve seen at least two comments by registrars (Tucows and NamesCheap) opposed to elimination of the price cap. I suspect there are more registrars out there who share their sentiment. I believe the ICA is simply attempting to spread FUD, and is likely more concerned with domainers having to pay and renew at higher rates for NEW .org registrations, not renewing already existing ones.

This is, of course, just a personal analysis. I can’t prove it, but believe it to be true.

Thanks.

Amr

> On May 2, 2019, at 1:18 PM, Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Sharing this just for information purposes -- the Internet Commerce Association has now published a 'fact check' of the PIR blog post:
>
> PIR .ORG REGISTRY DOESN’T RULE OUT PRICE HIKES
>
> https://www.internetcommerce.org/pir-org-registry-doesnt-rule-out-price-hikes/
>
> "Despite PIR claims that current registrants will have “the ability to lock in pricing at the then current rate for 10 years”, the actual proposed contract expressly leaves this up to particular registrars to offer such terms, in their discretion. Similarly, under the proposed contract, existing registrants are not entitled to receive notice of pending increases from PIR, but rather PIR only agrees to give notice of hikes in renewal pricing to registrars. Registrants may thereby be left exposed to dramatic price hikes on their existing domain names after their current term expires." (emphasis added)
>
> -- Ayden
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Thursday, May 2, 2019 11:58 AM, Amr Elsadr <aelsadr at ICANNPOLICY.NINJA> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Yesterday, PIR published an “[Open Letter to the .ORG Community](https://pir.org/an-open-letter-to-the-org-community/)”, which addresses several of the issues we have been discussing on this mailing list. I encourage folks to read it.
>>
>> At the risk of being wrong, I’m going to go ahead and assume that PIR is being truthful in this letter. In it, they say:
>>
>> “The .ORG Community always is considered in every decision we make here at Public Interest Registry. Rest assured, we will not raise prices unreasonably.  In fact, we currently have no specific plans for any price increases for .ORG.”
>>
>> and…,
>>
>> “We also want to mention that you, our end users, are protected in the registry agreement in case of any sensible future price increases. You would receive six-months’ notice of any increase from your registrar (the company where you registered your domain) with the ability to lock in your pricing at the then current rate for the next 10 years without any price fluctuation. Also, keep in mind that .ORG is constrained by the competitive market; we cannot dramatically increase prices for .ORG, as we recognize and understand that both our .ORG end users and our .ORG registrars would turn away from .ORG.”
>>
>> PIR stated its reasons (which I personally find to be commendable) for not publishing this letter sooner. Not that it matters any more, but I wonder whether it would have made a difference in our own submission during the public comment period, had we had prior knowledge of their position?
>>
>> In any case, I hope this makes our members who are .org registrants feel a bit easier moving forward.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Amr
>>
>>> On May 1, 2019, at 7:36 PM, Mueller, Milton L <milton at GATECH.EDU> wrote:
>>>
>>> From: Benjamin Akinmoyeje <benakin at gmail.com>
>>>
>>> However, I want to ask if we register domain names in perpetuity where will PIR get funds from?
>>>
>>> They would sell the domains just like you sell a house or a car.
>>>
>>> E.g., you can lease a car for $300/month or you can buy it for $30,000.
>>>
>>> So PIR (or any domain name registry) would be getting more money upfront but it is true their long term revenue stream might be less.
>>>
>>> But they could continue to charge for name resolution service on a monthly or yearly basis
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