🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <johnsonr-1509952246130001@p32.boulder-2.dialup.csn.net>,
   johnsonr@colorado.edu (Richard Johnson) wrote:
>In article <434mdq$c3r@shell1.best.com>, rpwhite@best.com (rpwhite) wrote:
>
>> INTERNET BEGINS FEE-BASED REGISTRATION  

>Our shared US namespace (.com, .net, .org, .edu and .gov) is an Internet
>village commons.Now, we suddenly have a group of ne'er-do-wells trying to 
charge us to use it.
>
>Sounds like a gang of brigands trying to set itself up with the trappings
>of "government" so their extortion can be relabeled as a "fee".
>I have no problem with _reasonable_ fees for maintenance of of top level
>domains.  I have a severe problem with a for-profit corporation baldly
>usurping control and setting themselves up with a monopoly complete with
>fees at a level motivated more by raw greed than the desire to provide
>service.
>
>I'd much rather see the top level domains under the control of a
>non-profit membership based cooperative association, with fully public
>books.  There's at least a chance of trusting such an organization.

I agree.  There is no rational basis or explanation for this $50 figure.  If 
the government is mandating a private, for-profit corporation to manage this, 
we should all rally for open bidding on being able to provide these services.

This blantant attempt to exploit new and old organizations establishing 
presence on the net is unreasonable, and IMO will only serve to break the net 
into little pieces - we will end up having a variety of different, 
non-standardized domain references.  The net is not even close to its 
maturization - to impose something like this won't help matters at all.

I don't think most people have a problem with a small fee for registering 
domains, or even a small recurring fee - but this expense must be explicitly 
justified, and it is not at this point.  Many ISPs charge customers for their 
own domain, and they don't even charge as much as Internic is demanding.  It's 
ridiculous.  OTOH, I've been quite happy with Internic's service - my only 
complaint is that I feel this fee is completely unreasonable.  I administer a 
significant amount of small customers on the net who cannot justify these 
additional costs, and principally, there's no good reason why they should.