[governance] PIR Case/or the .org sell

[Amr Elsadr]

Hi,

Comments in-line below:

> On Nov 28, 2019, at 2:24 PM, Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 28 Nov 2019 10:10:30 +0100
> Bill Woodcock <woody at pch.net> wrote:
> 
>> Yep, .org does not have a monopoly, just a brand.  There are plenty
>> of other TLDs, more all the time, and if there are organizations that
>> really can’t afford $12/year or $15/year for a domain, they can use a
>> domain from one of the free TLDs (not the
>> surveillance-economy-subsidized ones, but the actual free ccTLDs). 
> 
> What's your source for the assumption that a price hike would only
> increase the price to $12/year or $15/year?
> 
> Vint Cerf has been quoted [0] with the statement, “Hard to imagine that
> $60/year would be a deal breaker for even small non-profits.”
> [0] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/26/org_selloff_internet/
> 

The question about potential increases in the price of .org registrations are addressed here: https://www.keypointsabout.org <https://www.keypointsabout.org/>

> A related question is whether there is anything in the rules that would
> prevent price differentiation with “value based pricing” where the
> registry would charge organizations in accordance to the value that
> (as unilaterally decided by the newly profit-oriented registry) the
> registrant organization derives from its continued ability to use the
> domain, so that if the registry believes that your organization can
> afford that, it might charge say $1000/year or $10000/year or even more?

Yes, there is something in the .org Registry Agreement <https://www.icann.org/sites/default/files/tlds/org/org-agmt-html-30jun19-en.htm> (rules) that prevents this. Specifically, Article 2.10(c), which says:

> “ In addition, Registry Operator must have uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations (“Renewal Pricing”).  For the purposes of determining Renewal Pricing, the price for each domain registration renewal must be identical to the price of all other domain name registration renewals in place at the time of such renewal, and such price must take into account universal application of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs in place at the time of renewal.  The foregoing requirements of this Section 2.10(c) shall not apply for (i) purposes of determining Renewal Pricing if the registrar has provided Registry Operator with documentation that demonstrates that the applicable registrant expressly agreed in its registration agreement with registrar to higher Renewal Pricing at the time of the initial registration of the domain name following clear and conspicuous disclosure of such Renewal Pricing to such registrant, and (ii) discounted Renewal Pricing pursuant to a Qualified Marketing Program (as defined below).  The parties acknowledge that the purpose of this Section 2.10(c) is to prohibit abusive and/or discriminatory Renewal Pricing practices imposed by Registry Operator without the written consent of the applicable registrant at the time of the initial registration of the domain and this Section 2.10(c) will be interpreted broadly to prohibit such practices.  For purposes of this Section 2.10(c), a “Qualified Marketing Program” is a marketing program pursuant to which Registry Operator offers discounted Renewal Pricing, provided that each of the following criteria is satisfied:  (i) the program and related discounts are offered for a period of time not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) calendar days (with consecutive substantially similar programs aggregated for purposes of determining the number of calendar days of the program), (ii) all ICANN accredited registrars are provided the same opportunity to qualify for such discounted Renewal Pricing; and (iii) the intent or effect of the program is not to exclude any particular class(es) of registrations (e.g., registrations held by large corporations) or increase the renewal price of any particular class(es) of registrations.  Nothing in this Section 2.10(c) shall limit Registry Operator’s obligations pursuant to Section 2.10(b).”


I hope this helps.

Thanks.

Amr

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