Starting with .org, .info, and .biz, ICANN is planning to eliminate
the 10% annual cap on increases of prices that TLD registry operators
can charge for domains, both new and renewals. These TLD registries
have a monopoly on the entire TLD (they're who your registrar buys
the domain from when you order it), so you can't just switch to a
cheaper company without throwing out your entire domain and starting
over from scratch on a new one. Large companies may be able to
withstand large jumps in prices, but small businesses and individuals
will bear the brunt of any increases that occur, increasing the
already considerable centralization of the Internet. PIR (who runs
.org) already makes $90 million annually from registrations, in
exchange for maintaining a database and running some DNS servers.
ICANN is currently holding a public comment period, which closes today at 23:59 UTC for .info and .org, and May 14 for .biz. Read the proposals and submit comments here:
.info: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/info-renewal-2019-03-18-en (comments-info-renewal-18mar19@icann.org)
.org: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/org-renewal-2019-03-18-en (comments-org-renewal-18mar19@icann.org)
.biz: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/biz-renewal-2019-04-03-en (comments-biz-renewal-03apr19@icann.org)
Help keep the Internet open to all!