This is a key issue, and we should follow it. Danny, do you or anyone else know what happened to the economic study of registries that the ICANN Board resolution 6-8 months ago promised to do? >>> Danny Younger <[log in to unmask]> 4/16/2007 9:02 AM >>> Re: Why is there a difference between the .com and .net charges when they are run by the same company and would presumably have the same cost structure? A bit of history... ICANN approved the .net contract with Verisign that contained major changes from the draft .net agreement posted on the ICANN website, without ANY public consultation -- see http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/registrars/msg03117.html This contract served as the template for .org, .info, and .biz that set annual registration fee increases at 10%. The .com agreement was set at a slighter lower annual increase (around 7%) because the Board didn't think that they could get away with a full 10% increase. As it stands, if .cn can charge one yuan (18 cents) for a domain registration, it rapidly becomes apparently that actual registration costs are going way down (owing to economies of scale and other considerations) and that price increases are "justified" only to the extent that they serve to raise additional funds for ICANN (corporate self-interest continuing to trump the public interest). __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com