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ICANN Plans to Charge Fees to .net Domain Owners

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the easy-budget-increases dept.

museumpeace writes "ICANN, though it was soundly rebuffed for trying this in the past, is reported by CNET to be planning a $.75/ year fee to holders of .net domains and will look at fees for other TLD's next year. Is this taxation without representation? And where would this trend stop?"

3 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not that expensive by boarder8925 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    75 cents a year isn't so bad.
    What about $1? No, that's not that bad. What about $2? Eh, not much. Then $5? $7? $9?

    Do you see where this is going? They can charge as much as they want, be it the measly 75 cents or $15.

    (It's like the income tax. The gov't said it would be temporary--and small. But it wasn't temporary, and it's grown quite a bit.)
    --
    Keep your eyes to the sky.
  2. Re:It wouldn't stop... by BitterOak · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Not until ICANN became less of an independant organization and more of an elected body.

    The danger of making them an elected body is with that mandate comes power. Right now the Internet is basically unregulated. There are certain conventions followed, and certain preferred root nameservers which the vast majority use, but there are basically no rules governing the use of the Internet. This has been a good thing. How many other technologies have transformed the world as rapidly as the Internet has?

    If we start building a political structure into the Internet, we will start to have laws and bureaucrats and innovation will suffer. Just look at just about any other areas where government has gotten involved. Soon we'll need licenses just to use the Internet.

    --
    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
  3. Re:It wouldn't stop... by Planesdragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If we start building a political structure into the Internet, we will start to have laws and bureaucrats and innovation will suffer. Just look at just about any other areas where government has gotten involved. Soon we'll need licenses just to use the Internet.

    *sigh*

    The internet was a government project for a LONG, LONG time, until it finally was decided to open it up to commercial enterprises.

    And let's not forget the interstate highway system, or the national power grid, or any of the other hundred items where the government's intervention no only is non-ornerous, but necessary for the whole thing to work at all.