March 3, 2006 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- After several years of what some considered VeriSign's (verisign.com) bullying of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) through lawsuits, the two reached a settlement this week.
The deal, which ICANN passed in a 9-5 vote, allows VeriSign to raise the cost of .com domain by 7 percent per year through to 2012. Critics say the deal, which was negotiated as part of a settlement regarding legal action between the two companies, essentially gives VeriSign a monopoly over the domain name market.
This overrides VeriSign and ICANN's former contract that would have maintained the current pricing on .com domain name registration until it expired in November 2007.
The settlement has sparked an outcry from much of the Internet community, particularly from domain registrars like BulkRegister (bulkregister.com) and Godaddy (godaddy.com). Both companies made announcements voicing their indignation over the passing of the .com agreement.
Leading the opposition is the Coalition for ICANN Transparency (cfit.info), a group of individuals, organizations and companies concerned about the lack of visibility into the activities and operations of the Internet governing body.
"CFIT played an extraordinary role and continues to play an extraordinarily important role as an organizing influence," says CFIT spokesperson John Berard. "We consider ourselves the whiteboard for the industry in thinking through its concerns and potential solutions."
CFIT has criticized the .com agreement since its proposal last September, calling it just one of the many clear-cut reasons why ICANN cannot operate fairly on behalf of consumers and other intranet stakeholders.
"We believe as many do that the settlement of the litigation need not be linked to a reassignment of the registry agreement," says Berard. "We think that the contract should run its course, that the contract should be put up to bid, and that there should be no linkage between settling litigation and assigning the .com registry name."
And while the Internet watchdog says it has received overwhelming support from the greater Internet community, there is one sector of the industry that is in favor of the .com agreement, says Berard.
"The only people who didn't have any objection to [the .com] agreement were the other registries like .info and .uk and .us," says Berard. "They figured that if VeriSign got these sweetheart arrangements, they would get them as well."
Despite the passing of the .com deal, Berard says that CFIT is not finished fighting. It will continue its efforts against the agreement on Capitol Hill and at the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice.
"There will not be less litigation. There will likely be more litigation," says Berard. "CFIT's suit against ICANN and VeriSign will certainly continue especially in light of the fact that the judge in the case has upheld our antitrust claims."
The organization may have a long road of litigation ahead of it, but things are looking somewhat hopeful. US District Court Judge Whyte issued his final order on Tuesday supporting CFIT's antitrust claims and dismissing VeriSign's motion to dismiss for lack of venue.
"Increasing prices without justification, allowing a monopoly to expand without review and giving VeriSign perpetual ownership of the .COM registry were wrong when they was first proposed and they're still wrong," says Berard.
