Slashdot Mirror
ICANN Bucharest Meeting Comes to a Close
ICANN has been meeting in Bucharest this week; as this story goes live (assuming I handled the time zones correctly) they'll be starting their last day of meetings. Highlights of the day will almost certainly include the ICANN Board voting to eliminate the public participation that they were charged with implementing and have fought against for the last several years, and ICANN implementing a domain name tax to fund their operations. ICANN dismisses cynics who complain about taxation without representation. You can view the webcast online, assuming that the volunteers doing it manage to keep it up. If you prefer text, you may like Roessler's weblog or the ICANN blog (highly recommended), which also has many links to news stories, not that the reporters generally understand the issues very well.
The proposal has the potential to be a massive money-earner for both Verisign and Snapnames, at the expense of consumers.
Under the proposal, people will be able to "subscribe" to a waiting list a bit like Snapname's current service (www.snapnames.com). Unfortunately, under the scheme, subscriptions are likely to cost US$40-70 *PER YEAR*. Yes, that means if a domain name doesn't expire for 10 years, you'll be paying, say, US$50 every year just for the chance of owning it. This contrasts with other expiring-name services like www.namewinner.com that only charge you in the event that you get the name. One aim of the proposal is to address the massive speculation that occurs for expiring domain names. However, a WLS would just create speculation in WLS subscriptions!