Verisign Retains .com Control Until 2012

Several readers wrote to note that the U.S. Department of Commerce, in a controversial deal, has extended Verisign's control of the .com domain. Verisign got the right to raise prices in four of the six years of the contract, by up to 7% each time. From the article: "Verisign has control of .com and .net locked up for the next several years, but there will still be a modicum of oversight. [Commerce] retains final approval over any price hikes, and has said that any subsequent renewal of the contract will occur 'only if it concludes that the approval will serve the public interest in the continued security and stability of the Internet domain name system... and the provision of registry services at reasonable prices, terms and conditions.'"

Comments

No, it is not a good thing.

[swbrown]

Verisign abuses their monopoly and shouldn't be allowed to keep it. http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=11 569

Re:Technology Advances

[Anonymous Coward]

You seem to have little understanding of how domain registries work. They're talking about the registration fee paid by all registrars for every domain in Verisign's TLDs. This is less than $6, and it's being paid whether you use GoDaddy, Verisign, or any other registrar.

Re:Is it a coincidence?

[OxygenPenguin]

I guess that's one way of putting it. The mayan calendar predicts a massive change in the earth every 640 years, of which the next is 2012, as you noted. I suppose the end of the world "as we know it" would technically be correct, but a major planetary change, however initially subtle, is definitely coming up according to them.