[ga] Symbiotic Relationship

["Richard Henderson" <richardhenderson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

HelpHere is a good example of the symbiotic relationship that exists between ICANN and the DNS Supply industry (Registries and Registrars). In a post this week to the Registrars Mailing List, Jason Hendeles wrote as follows:

"I for one see no reason at this time to approve any increase in fees... It's time we send ICANN a clear message that we need new revenue opportunities in order to justify any increase in fees.  The last time ICANN did anything positive for our constituency was when they authorized the creation of new domains for the registrars to market.  That was almost 3 years ago... I think the registrars should take this opportunity to apply pressure to ICANN to open up the process for releasing new domain names... I think that we should reject any increase until something tangible is given back to our constituency.

Jason Hendeles
A Technology Company, Inc."

In other words, the belief that an objective way forward on extending the namespace for the public good can be compromised by applying financial pressure on ICANN, which is heavily dependent on the Registrar community for revenue.

The allocation of the previous NewTLDs greatly favoured people like Ken Stubbs who were closely involved with ICANN, in favouring what could be called the 'insider' bid of the Registrars' Cartel who were granted .info ... in addition to this, when the public protested at the abuse of process and the profit-making that occurred during the moneyfest that was the launch of .info and .biz, ICANN refused to intervene and some registrars got away with daylight robbery.

Jason Hendeles' own company was involved in the very short lists submitted by a few registrars to exploit registrar privilege by gaining advantage over the general public in the round-robin exercises through which desirable domains were released. Now he seems to be calling for ICANN to be pressurised into decisions on the basis of a financial hold he seems to think the Registrars have over ICANN.

ICANN's selection of NewTLDs has attracted real concerns; ICANN's evaluation of the NewTLDs has appeared amateurish and unaccountable; ICANN's policy on further NewTLDs has seemed arbitrary; its restrictions on who can apply in the next round of gTLDs seems arbitrary and unreasonable.

How can we rely on ICANN to make decisions in the interests of the broader public if it is dependent for money on registrars like Mr Hendeles who see that dependency as a negotiating weapon for putting private profit first. ICANN is supposed to be Not-For-Profit and its decisions must reflect that.

Mr Hendeles : go and sell hot-dogs! Leave internet governance alone!

And ICANN: no-one will trust you as long as you have this dependent symbiotic relationship with Registries and Registrars.

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Yrs,

Richard H