ICANN: Turmoil Around 1st Price Hike On .com Domains in 8 Years (XBIZ)

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LOS ANGELES — The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Los Angeles-based nonprofit responsible for the databases related to internet namespaces and numerical spaces — including the .com domains — just wrapped their request for comments for a proposal to allow for price flexibility in domain names, which have been stable since 2012. ICANN received almost 9,000 responses submitted by stakeholders, or close to three times the number of responses that led to last summer's controversial deregulation of .org pricing, according to a column by Greg Thomas on ecommerce news site Circle ID. ICANN uses an unusual "multistakeholder model" (MSM) for self-governance and policymaking. They describe the MSM as aiming "to bring together the primary stakeholders such as businesses, civil society, governments, research institutions and non-government organizations to cooperate and participate in the dialogue, decision making and implementation of solutions to common problems or goals." A stakeholder can refer "to an individual, group or organization that has a direct or indirect interest or stake in a particular organization." Since ICANN's primary role is "to coordinate the internet naming system worldwide," the corporation's former CEO, Rod Beckstrom, described the MSM as "the catalyst for the internet — open, inclusive, balancing, effective and international."