This looks really bad.
Kevin Ohashi of Review Signal has penned a significant analysis of regulatory capture at ICANN.
In the detailed post, he explains how just about everyone who weighed in positively on removing price caps for .org domains is conflicted. They’re lobbyists for Verisign or Public Interest Registry, members of Internet Society chapters, etc. They all stand to benefit from the removal of price caps.
Ohashi analyzed public comments about removing price caps and found that 98% were opposed to their removal. The other 2%? Those that Ohashi could track down are hopelessly conflicted.
I suppose it makes sense that people who volunteer for time-sucking ICANN groups have a vested interest in the outcomes. Not just for the betterment of the internet, but for the betterment of their pocketbooks.
Richard says
Shocker!
Charles Christopher says
ICANN, “Not For Profit” audited financials:
https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/financial-report-fye-30jun18-en.pdf
Total Assets as of June 2018 = $505,518,000
Charles Christopher says
Probably worth comparing to Verisign, which last I knew was for profit:
https://investor.verisign.com/node/20516/pdf
Assets December 31, 2018 = $1,914,504,000
So ICANN a not for profit, has 25% the total assets of Versign, the worlds largest registry.
Its good to be in the not for profit “business”!
Richard says
ICANN is a scam by now and their only mission is to funnel as much cash as possible into their own pockets. They travel the world in business class and make rules that disadvantage legitimate domain investors. “non profit” lol, what a joke.
snoopy1267 says
In my view the .org price cap issue is mostly about trying to lift .com prices in the future.
Obviously Icann has huge issues with potential capture of the organisation by Versign and this dates back a long time, it was especially apparent in the aftermath of Sitefinder with a Versign 2004 lawsuit against Icann and ultimately Icann being pressured into a “a new registry agreement relating to the operation of the .COM registry”, the effect on which was large increases in .com prices.