[At-Large] Registrants could save lots of money - Verisign Makesthe Case

[Carlton Samuels]

Kaili:
I have to tell you my own intuitive response when I began caucusing with
the At-Large in 2006 was that the domain name system was just another land
grab, although virtual this time.

I then contextualized it with the historical period we were taught to call
'the Age of Discovery'. [I quoted the Bourbon King of France on hearing of
the Treaty of Tordesillas and got an irate private mail from someone who
thought my history was wrong.] Think of it, a fella got lost trying for
India, came upon a place filled with people minding their own business and
had the chutzpah to holler "I found it' and claim it in the name of the
sovereign queen!  These days it would be properly assessed as a continuing
criminal enterprise.

So, here's the DNS. ICANN, by fiat, grants title to a registry of every set
of characters associated with a defined character set left of a period,
those known, out of mind or otherwise, to a registry operator for a fee.
And this registry operator can use said grant for commercial extraction,
certain rules applied. You want apple.com, yeah, pay Verisign. Ditto
extravirgin.com.

And - here's the kicker - ICANN would not wish to be seen as a benefactor
and so compelled to act as regulator of the first rank in this market.

You couldn't make this up as a racket- a perfect one! - and remain at
large, pun intended.  Just wish I was hip to it before now.

-Carlton

==============================
*Carlton A Samuels*

*Mobile: 876-818-1799Strategy, Process, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround*
=============================


On Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 5:27 AM Kan Kaili <kankaili at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you, Carlton, for sending info on this topic again.
>
> As discussed earlier, because of unregulated registrars and large scale
> speculation, the current price-caps of Verisign do not benefit end-users at
> all.  Of course, there is no doubt that Verisign is speaking for its own
> commercial interests.  However, they are telling the truth, at least this
> time.
>
> As a matter of fact, I do not see ANY justification for the DNS industry's
> registry-registrar two-layered structure.  It is well known that, the more
> layers, the more overhead.  Thus, instead of preventing speculation and
> protecting end-users, this two-layered structure addes unnecessary overhead
> ending up higher prices for end-users.
>
> Also as discussed earlier, this structure has been in place for a long
> time, and is even within ICANN's Bylaw.  However, if we cannot find an
> effective way of protecting end-users, there could be ways to do so within
> the framework of ICANN Bylaws.  For example, ICANN could allow registries,
> e.g., Verisign, to increase there price to registrars by a certain
> percentage periodically while picking up service obligations to end-users.
> This will effectively "squeeze out" registrars and eventually merge the two
> layers into one.  Furthermore, this will eventually reach a market
> equalibrim without speculation or overheads to end-users.
>
> Digging even deeper, the question is, who created and owns domain names?
> In previous discussions, I compared them with land.  Land is not created by
> governments, but by Nature for all mankind.  When people want to use land
> for themselves, initially they follow the rules of "finder, keeper" etc. by
> claiming ownership.  From there on, land can be circulated according to
> market rules and regulations.  In this process, governments merely play the
> role of a manager to keep land ownerships and usage in order.
>
> Similarly, domain names and any character strings are created by
> languages, just like addresses are created by the numerical system.  Only
> when people want to use them, ownerships will be claimed by registrants.
> ICANN and the entire DNS industry never created them and do not own them,
> but only manage them to keep them in order.  Fees are collected for their
> management just like property tax, instead of rent for landlords.
>
> As I see, this concept should be established among the DNS industry as
> well as within ICANN.
>
> Kaili
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Carlton Samuels <carlton.samuels at gmail.com>
> *To:* CPWG <cpwg at icann.org> ; lac-discuss-en at atlarge-lists.icann.org ; At-Large
> Worldwide <at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 07, 2018 5:13 AM
> *Subject:* [At-Large] Registrants could save lots of money - Verisign
> Makesthe Case
>
> and breadcrumb the money trail.....
>
>
> http://www.circleid.com/posts/20181102_how_much_could_businesses_and_consumers_save_if_dot_com_price_cap/
>
> -Carlton
>
> ==============================
> *Carlton A Samuels*
>
> *Mobile: 876-818-1799Strategy, Process, Governance, Assessment &
> Turnaround*
> =============================
>
> ------------------------------
>
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