----- Original Message -----
From: "dotNews" <dotnews@dotster.com>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 7:13 PM
Subject: A Note from Clint Page, Dotster President -- We need your support!
> July 12, 2002
>
> Dear Dotster Customers,
>
> I am writing you today to let you know of some potentially harmful changes
> that are being proposed for the domain name registration industry. These
> changes, if adopted, would restrict consumer choice, cause domain pricing
> to drastically increase, and re-create the monopolistic atmosphere that
> once existed in our industry when Network Solutions (now VeriSign) was the
> only game in town. Dotster, and other smaller registrars, need your
support
> to help us maintain the healthy, competitive environment that currently
> exists today.
>
> First, let me give you a little background on this issue. At the end of
> 2001, VeriSign proposed to ICANN a Domain Name Wait Listing Service (WLS)
> as a way to manage the registration of expiring domain names (for those of
> you unfamiliar with ICANN, this is the organization that was established
> several years ago to govern the domain industry when the Network Solutions
> monopoly was broken up). This proposal includes a partnership between
> VeriSign and SnapNames, a competitor to Dotster and other registrars in
the
> secondary domain market sector. This proposed partnership would
effectively
> eliminate all other competition in the secondary market, thereby
> eliminating your choices and the competitive alternatives that currently
> exist. At the recent ICANN meetings in Bucharest, it was determined that a
> final position regarding the proposal must be decided by the end of this
> month.
>
> Dotster strongly opposes this proposal as harmful to the consumer and the
> entire domain registration industry. I recently wrote a letter to Marilyn
> Cade, Chair of ICANN's WLS Task Force, to express Dotster's position on
the
> proposal. The entire letter is available for review by clicking the link
> below, and I encourage you to review it and consider the implications that
> adopting this proposal would place on the entire domain name system. How
> will it affect you?
>
> Letter to Chair of WLS Task Force:
http://www.dotster.com/resources/wls.pdf
>
> We need your support! If you agree with Dotster's stance on this issue,
> please let me know. Send me an e-mail at
WLS@dotster.com to share your
> comments and support. We are currently in a 10-day comment period, and we
> need your comments before the end of July. In addition, I ask that you
post
> your opinion at the ICANN WLS forum at:
>
>
http://forum.icann.org/wls/
>
> and participate in the petition against WLS at:
>
>
http://www.petitiononline.com/antiwls/petition.html
>
> Thank you for your continued support of Dotster. VeriSign is an industry
> giant, but banded together it is my hope that we can preserve an
> environment that fosters innovation and healthy competition for the
benefit
> of you, the consumer.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Clint Page
> President, Dotster Inc.
>
WLS@dotster.com.
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