
ICANN and Verisign Announce Proposed Amendment to .COM Registry Agreement - EndXA
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2020-01-03-en
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kick
Highlight:

 _Under the amended Cooperative Agreement, the Department of Commerce noted
that the domain name marketplace had grown more dynamic and concluded that it
was in the public interest that, among other things, Verisign and ICANN may
agree to amend the .COM Registry Agreement to permit an increase to the price
for .COM registry services, up to a maximum of 7 percent in each of the final
four years of each six-year period (the first six-year period commenced on
Oct. 26, 2018). The proposed agreement announced today updates the .COM RA to
reflect those changes. ICANN is not a price regulator and defers to the
Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Justice for the regulation
of pricing for .COM registry services._

This is one of the more interesting trends seemingly caused by the current
administration (both of the departments listed have come under new, Republican
ruling under the current administration).

Not the first time that Verisign has made some actions that were hostile to
the common good while the Department of Commerce was controlled by
Republicans, but the first time they've gotten this blatant about it (and,
notably, that ICANN has cooperated):

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verisign#2003:_Site_Finder_leg...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verisign#2003:_Site_Finder_legal_case)

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petee
Public comment opened January 3rd, and ends February 14th

[https://www.icann.org/public-comments/com-
amendment-3-2020-0...](https://www.icann.org/public-comments/com-
amendment-3-2020-01-03-en)

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Firerouge
The change is as follows:

>> Verisign and ICANN may agree to amend the .COM Registry Agreement to permit
an increase to the price for .COM registry services, up to a maximum of 7
percent in each of the final four years of each six-year period (the first
six-year period commenced on Oct. 26, 2018).

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petee
That's not the only change though, to be clear

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badrabbit
Wild idea: make verisign verify that all new .com registrations belong to a
commercial business and issie a X509 cert. If they want to charge more, make
them work more.

~~~
ivm
What about sole proprietors doing business?

~~~
badrabbit
Sure,so long as they are not engaging in commerce strictly as a consumer.

