[ALAC] Registrars: The Internet's Travel Agents? (was Re: [GTLD-WG] ICANN Board Votes to Enhance New gTLDs Competition)

[Evan Leibovitch]

On 12 November 2010 04:50, Sébastien Bachollet <sebastien at bachollet.com>wrote:

>
> > > And what are the consumer/end-user implications?
>



> As domain name registrant in a new gTLD you will have just one provider and
> it will be able to do what it want with no balanced power.
>

I've never understood this.

Purely from a registrant or end-user point of view, what is "balanced
power"? If a TLD allows and encourages name speculation or domain tasting,
how much does it matter to the end-user if the speculators are from the
manufacturers (registrars) or resellers (registries)?

In the previous situation, if there is a current imbalance it appears to
favour registrars. Registries are forced to go through them and have no
option to sell directly to the public. Registrars do not have to prove their
value, they are forced upon TLD operators. And since registries cannot go
direct, they are dependent on registrars' willingness to market them.

There is the argument, that without competition between registrars prices
would be higher than they could be. But that is offset by the fact that
registrars introduce a new level of indirection that by design is more
complex -- and more costly -- than a system without registrars needs to be.

The status quo makes sense when there is a practical monopoly of the TLD
that most people want -- .com -- so that almost all of the current
competition is between registrars all selling the same TLD. But that is
essentially an artificial scarcity. In a world with many gTLDs, the
competition will be amongst the TLDs -- which should each be free to decide
whether to use resellers or not.

Now, registrars can and do provide services that are useful to some
registrants, such as management of domain portfolios, automated renewals,
etc. And they may call attention to TLD options of which registrants may not
be aware. But I see registrars in much the same way as I see travel agents
-- they are useful for some, but not all consumers (and not all suppliers)
need them. Once travel agents were a mandatory middle step while airline
competition was minimal. But as the regulations have been lifted and there
are more airlines, the marketplace has benefited from travel agents becoming
optional, as airlines are able to act as their own booking agents. And
nobody complains about the ability of airlines to change fares -- from
minute to minute -- as specific routes become more or less scarce.



> The only power to balance those real monopolies is a well organized
> At-Large
> voice (or voices) - from the ALS to the ALAC and even to the Board.
>


The most basic answer to this is that ICANN has the power to _eliminate_ the
monopolies.

Certainly there is some need for regulation, to ensure that handling of
issues such as renewals and expiries are not predatory, but that can be done
by advancing user rights into all ICANN contracts. User rights can be
asserted universally whether registrars exist or not.

A vigilant At-Large *and* a truly competitive TLD landscape is most
desirable.

- Evan