[At-Large] Developing At-Large Positions related to GNSO Issues

[Nick Ashton-Hart]

May I drop one thought briefly into a very vibrant discussion about  
Domain Tasting and how the At-Large community comes to agreement on  
what to say about this issue - and the others which the GNSO is  
dealing with.

Please don't forget that the GNSO Liaison has a mailing list - you  
can subscribe at http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/gnso- 
liaison_atlarge-lists.icann.org. This, like the other working groups,  
is meant to have at least one person from each Region (and others are  
most welcome) who want to help Alan in coming up with responses to  
put forward to the GNSO in respect of GNSO issues.

If one person from each region were to join this working group - as  
well as the others - then that person could help to canvas their  
regions on proposed statements, and indeed could propose views from  
their regions to the others concerned with GNSO issues.

I'm sure Alan - and the other liaisions - would be overjoyed if a few  
more 'hands' were available to help them in their work. It can be a  
great deal of work just to attend all the meetings, let alone to then  
have to propose responses and chase the views of the whole community  
as well.

On 8 Jul 2007, at 23:53, Michael Maranda wrote:

> Some have argued the increase was trivial, given people's intuition  
> of adjustments for inflation, etc., and also with a sense that  
> prices were stable for a period (after the initial decline).  As  
> you would gather from my prior post, its pretty much nonsense  
> (computing and teleconnectivity costs should be going down, down  
> down).
>
> The material on price increases well in advance of the actual  
> increase taking effect is disgusting and disturbing.  They appear  
> to be taking a page from the Oil cartels.
>
> Again, referencing the gentleman from Tucows...  exclusive  
> contracts were won in part by expectations of price decreases.
>
> At-Large should have some strong words on this matter for the Board  
> of Directors, however, there is a sense that we are supposed to  
> build up our credibility through "productivity" first.
>
> Could we send a statement to the board reporting these increases to  
> the Internet Community, as Danny indicates, well in advance of the  
> official date... and echoing the sentiment that good stewardship  
> demands better?
>
> On 7/8/07, Danny Younger <dannyyounger at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Re:  The small increase may seem trivial, but the
> principle is more important.
>
> The price increase (which won't go into effect until
> October 15) is not trivial -- registrars are already
> raising their prices in anticipation of the price
> increase:
>
> "AIT Domains says that under the promotion all domain
> names will cost $6.49 until July 6. However, due to
> recently announced price increases from ICANN, AIT
> Domains says it's being forced to raise its prices.
> Rates are currently scheduled to go up to $8.49 per
> registration year on July 9."
>
> http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/ 
> 070307_AIT_Holds_Fourth_of_July_Special.cfm
>
> What's more important than all of this is the issue of
> bad decision-making on the part of the unaccountable
> ICANN Board.  The Internet community has no way of
> "throwing the bums out" because ICANN remains
> accountable to no one.
>
> Until this problem is solved it really doesn't much
> matter what the community consensus is on the AGP or
> anything else... ICANN remains free to ignore the
> voice of the people.
>
> Presently, ICANN profits from the consequences of
> domain tasting... the more names that are tasted, the
> more names that will eventually be registered as some
> of these names can successfully be monetized.  Profits
> for the registries, profits for the registrars,
> profits for ICANN... there were about 16 million new
> registrations last year (a good chunk of them the
> direct result of tasting activities).
>
> Don't expect to prevail on this issue without putting
> up a spectacular fight and screaming for action at
> every opportunity -- convincing a corporation to kill
> a lucrative cash cow can only be an uphill battle.
>
>
>
>
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> -- 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Executive Director, CTCNet Chicago Chapter
> Co-Founder, Chicago Digital Access Alliance
> Co-Chair, Illinois Community Technology Coalition
> President, Association For Community Networking
>
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