A huge scam in the making. The .COM registry contract. VeriSign: Shame on you!

[Neverwinter]

This is an extract from Bob Parsons Blog who's the CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com. Thought it might be of interest.

Originally Posted by Bob Parsons

Hang on to your wallet!
There’s a scam in the works. If it happens, it’s going to adversely affect all of us.

VeriSign wants to control the .COM registry forever.
VeriSign has somehow persuaded ICANN to propose a new contract where VeriSign will be the permanent and unregulated controller of the .COM registry. VeriSign would also get the right of presumptive renewal. This means when the new contract for the .COM registry comes up for renewal in 2012, it won’t be put out for bid – like the .NET contract was in 2005 – instead it will simply renew in VeriSign’s favor.

Plus VeriSign gets to raise prices without oversight!
But wait! There’s more. Not only will the .COM registry contract never again be put out for bid, but VeriSign will also have the right to raise prices, in its sole discretion, up to 7% per year in four of the next six years. So they can raise prices by up to 28% over the next six years. (Actually the real increase, due to four annual compoundings, is really 31%. My apologies to anyone who was troubled by my simple arithmetic, and my thanks to those who took the time to make sure I was aware of the miscalculation. This embedded comment posted on Feb 20th at 11:52 PM).

Don't like it? Tough!
Now suppose you and I, as consumers, don’t like that. Well that would be just too bad — because VeriSign would be the monopoly controller of the one domain name that drives the Internet: .COM...

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[Skie]

Very interesting. It seemed like a lot of people were in favor of Verisign keeping control of .NET. Although, I would think that they would probably change their tune after hearing this.