Contracts for .org, .biz, and .info — ICANN renews
Fresh registry agreements don’t include URS, but do include 10% annual price hikes.
ICANN’s Board of Directors approved the renewal of contracts for .org, .biz, and .info the prior week.
The board declined to add a provision to the contracts that could require the registry operators to add Uniform Rapid Suspension in the future. The Intellectual Property Constituency had asked ICANN to add this provision, arguing that adding it later may be part of a messy policy process.
Of course, the bottom up policy making process of ICANN is designed to not allow one group to just insert rules without negotiating with the community. The board determined that adding URS may qualify as a policy issue, and thus it ought to not be added.
The fresh contracts all contain a provision that would require registrars offering the domains to sign on to the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement once registrars representing 67% of the registrations for the domains sign it…but, that’s only if Verisign makes a similar requirement for .com and .net. Barring a compelling reason (a stick or a carrot), I don’t see that happening until Verisign renews its agreement in six years.
Consumers that own .org, .biz, and .info ought to look forward to further price hikes on renewals in coming years. All three contracts allow the registries to hike prices 10% per year.
