Registrar Complains Verisign May Allow .com Prices to Increase Infinitely
US registrar Namecheap argues that Icann and Verisign, the two organizations responsible for wholesale .com domains, will allow prices to rise too much in the coming years. However, the policy is not final yet and you can respond until Friday.
The Icann announced on January 3 that it had entered into an agreement with Verisign to increase the price of .com domains by up to seven percent per year. This would then be allowed in the last four years of blocks of six years. The first six-year block started in October of 2018. According to Namecheap’s calculation example, a .com domain name can now be seventy percent more expensive within ten years, and according to that system, “the trees grow to the sky,” according to the registrar. Verisign is the registry operator of the .com top-level domain.
De Icann emphasized in the announcement that it “is not a price regulator and leaves that task to the US Department of Commerce and Department of Justice.” The .com domain is ultimately subject to American authority, even if registration and exploitation of that domain have nothing to do with America. This was apparent from one such scenario that took place in 2012.
The US government, in turn, gave the green light to the Icann in 2018 to allow price increases. In the announcement, the move was motivated by ‘the fact that cctlds, the new gtlds and the use of social media have created a more dynamic domains marketplace’.
Namecheap further complains in its argument that Icann is getting $20 million over five years under the new agreement to “improve domain name system stability and security,” without explaining why Verisign pays this amount, how the money is actually spent and who supervises that expenditure.
Finally, Namecheap is critical of the passage in the new agreement, which states that Verisign, through a proxy, will soon also be allowed to sell .com domain names, which it is not yet allowed to do.
Until Friday 14 February, every internet user is free to give his opinion on the proposed adjustments to the pricing policy. Namecheap calls on users to do so, but at the same time claims that the Icann has a habit of disregarding this input from the internet community.