Re: [ga] DC hearing on new TLDs at 10 am today (September 23rd)

["Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

George and all
 
  Thank you George, and BTW I could not agree more with your conclusion.  But
of course this is not a new conclusion now is it? 

-----Original Message-----
>From: George Kirikos <gkirikos@xxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Sep 23, 2009 10:06 AM
>To: GNSO GA Mailing List <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Re: [ga] DC hearing on new TLDs at 10 am today (September 23rd)
>
>
>Hello,
>
>--- On Wed, 9/23/09, Antony Van Couvering <avc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Heath of INTA says
>> that trademark holders care about consumers, and wants
>> another economic study (presumably until they get the
>> results they want).
>
>Not at all. Here's the reason the economic studies were ordered:
>
>(1) Registry operators (.biz/info/org) tried to "pull a fast one" by having 
>price caps entirely eliminated on their contracts, to the detriment of 
>consumers, in 2006. See:
>
>http://www.circleid.com/posts/icann_tiered_pricing_tld_biz_info_org_domain/
>
>(2) The community rose up against that blatant greed by the registry 
>operators. Here's ICANN's own summary:
>
>http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/comments-summary-07sep06.htm
>
>Or one can read the raw comments at:
>
>http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-28jul06.htm
>http://forum.icann.org/lists/biz-tld-agreement/
>
>(3) That's why the Board ordered the economic studies at:
>
>http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-18oct06.htm
>
>Notice words like:
>
>"specially concerning competition-related issues such as differential pricing"
>"to address competition-related issues such as differential pricing."
>"whether the domain registration market is one market or whether each TLD 
>functions as a separate market,
>"whether registrations in different TLDs are substitutable,
>what are the effects on consumer and pricing behavior of the switching costs 
>involved in moving from one TLD to another,
>what is the effect of the market structure and pricing on new TLD entrants, and
>whether there are other markets with similar issues, and if so how are these 
>issues addressed and by who?"
>
>(4) It's likely ICANN that can't find any reputable firm to justify its own 
>poor policy choices after 3 years. Notice ICANN has eliminated price caps in 
>their drafts, despite this issue having been decided 3 years ago. It's clear 
>ICANN is in bed with the registry operators, and the wanna-be registry 
>operators. They've refused to talk about switching costs (even though I 
>challenged them directly in the comments to the Carlton report).
>
>As I've written elsewhere (see comments):
>
>http://domainnamewire.com/2009/09/21/enom-and-tucows-to-icann-hurry-up-and-introduce-new-tlds/
>
>"A large number of people don’t get their “first choice” of seats when
>Britney Spears or U2 have concerts. That doesn’t mean we build 8000
>concert halls in Toronto so that different people can sit in the front
>row on 8000 different nights. New TLDs are like building stadiums with
>a capacity of 50,000 people where only 100 people sit in the front
>row, but 49,900 seats sit empty. The “consumer demand” is only for
>those 100 seats. New TLD advocates want everyone else to subsidize
>their 50,000 seat palaces (that subsidy being the consumer confusion,
>abuse, etc. via externalities) so that they can auction off those 100
>seats. That’s not a business model that works in the real world, nor
>should it work in ICANN’s fantasy world."
>
>In conclusion, it's clear the new TLD advocates are prepared to "say anything" 
>in order to get their way. That's not sound policy-making in the public 
>interest.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>George Kirikos
>http://www.leap.com/
>

Regards,

Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 294k members/stakeholders strong!)
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