On Friday, November 16th, ICA filed a letter addressed to Göran Marby regarding the .COM Registry Agreement, arguing that ICANN should reject any attempt by Verisign to increase its fees. Higher fees for Verisign are not justified, as demonstrated by the following four key points: a) Verisign is a provider of technical registry services, it does not own the .com …
Verisign’s Attempt to Increase its Fees Still Unjustified Despite Diversionary Tactic
The ICA released a must-read statement on the price increase of .com domains earlier today! Shortly after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s recent announcement allowing Verisign to pursue increased .com registry fees, Verisign published a blog post questioning the business practices of registrars and domain name investors. The ICA, on behalf of its registrar and domain name investor …
ICA Statement on U.S. Government Granting Verisign .Com Price Increase
As the domain name community knows, the ICA has been warning of an impending price hike on .com domain name registrations. We publicized the issue, launched a website to increase awareness of the issue, created a petition that attracted over 2,000 signatures, and advocated for our position directly to David Redl, the head of NTIA, as well as to the Department …
Nominations for ICA’s 2019 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award – now open!
The ICA is happy and proud to announce that we are now accepting nominations for ICA’s 2019 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award! Thanks to NamesCon’s generous support, for the 3rd year in the row, the award will be held during the conference. The Lonnie Borck Memorial Award is granted to an individual for indelible contribution to domain investor rights, and we invite you all …
ICA Letter to David Redl on Expiry of NTIA-Verisign Cooperative Agreement
In its letter to David Redl of the NTIA, the ICA urges that the NTIA extend Amendment 32 to the Cooperative Agreement between the Department of Commerce and Verisign, which is set to expire on November 30, 2018. Read the full letter, which was submitted on October 18th, 2018, here.
ICA Letter to ICANN Board of Directors on ICANN oversight over the UDRP
In its letter submitted to the ICANN board on October 9th, 2018, ICA pointed out the absence of any ICANN oversight over the UDRP such as an office or staff, regular review process, complaints procedure, or contracts with existing UDRP dispute resolution service providers. ICA requests that ICANN includes a budget for such oversight in its current budgeting process. Read …
Dereliction of Duty in Wonderland
Guest post by Greg Thomas The shot clock is ticking towards expiration of the NTIA-Verisign Cooperative Agreement — yet stakeholders are AWOL on completing accountability safeguards at root of the Internet. It is remarkable — for all the wrong reasons — that only two months remain before the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) must make a fateful decision on how it will address its’ long-standing …
ICA to NTIA: 1. Lower .com Prices; 2. Do Something About GDPR and Whois
On July 17, 2018, the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) submitted its feedback to the United States’ Department of Commerce in connection with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Notice of Inquiry on International Internet Policy Priorities. The message was clear. Two major issues need immediate attention; 1. Root Zone Management and ICANN’s Inherent Conflict of Interest with the Verisign monopoly …
ICA Member Profile: Slade Michalec
Slade got his start in internet marketing, working on the affiliate marketing side of things where focus was on website optimization and user retention/recovery. After hearing Hobi speak of the domain industry for several years, Slade became more fascinated with domains. He eventually made the career jump and began brokering premium domain names at Domain Holdings. Since the beginning to …
ICA Member Profile: Hobi Michalec
Hobi Michalec graduated college at FAU with a Bachelor’s in Business Management and a focus on entrepreneurship. He discovered domaining by chance after meeting John Ferber and joining Domain Holdings for a number of years. He left the company after its acquisition to help Co-found Lumis.