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

[Mueller, Milton L]

From: Kathy Kleiman <kathy at kathykleiman.com>
I am very happy that Internet Governance Project, without notice or budgeting,

MM: Um, there would be notice. I explained that.  Registrars have a powerful incentive.

would have the money to pay for a 10 year renewal of the .ORG domain name.

MM: I notice you have ignored my point about ownership. I would jump at the chance to pay twice that much to have perpetual control of the domain, and I suspect many other organizations, in many economic situations, would too. Would you? Would our priorities be more aligned on that goal?

For my groups and for many groups I work with countries in regions around the world, this is real money.  It might take additional fundraising, time to prepare and time to budget.  It might preempt other projects, priorities and deadlines. It might not be doable in a short period of time.

MM: Really? What other projects and priorities cost $10-20 a year? I’d like to know. I can’t seem to make anything happen without adding a few zeros to that number.

Many groups live on shoestring budgets. Again, Milton, I'm glad you don't :-).

MM: Compared to the Princeton Center you are at, the AARP, NPR, Berkman Center, the India’s CIS (yes, don’t deny it), Public Knowledge, AccessNow, and your typical DC-area law firm, we DO live on a shoestring budget. And yet, I am not putting the prospect of .org price increases at the top of my list of monetary worries.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for cheaper Internet services and competitive markets. I’d be happy to pocket a decrease in our .org domain – I could buy a pack of gum, maybe. But if you really think the price of leasing a domain name, or the risk of a 10% increase in the lease price over the period of a decade, is a significant issue to advocacy and nonprofit organizations, I think your grasp of the economics of being on the internet is really, really weak. Think of the cost of a mobile or desktop device, OS and application software licenses, web hosting, email service tied to your domain and Internet access prices. The domain name is less than 1% of that total. So I don’t understand why you are inflating the significance of this.

Dr. Milton L Mueller
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Public Policy
[IGP_logo_gold block]



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