.ORG was “saved”. Now get ready for some huge price increases!

Yes, we know .org was”saved by all the people that stood against the corrupted ICANN, Public Interest Registry (PIR), the Internet Society and (No)Ethos Capital.

But was .org really saved?

Abry Partners has many close ties to Ethos Capital that tried to purchase .org and failed. Former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé and Erik Brooks are just 2 of the people behind all this. The 2 companies probably have many of the same investors if not exactly the same.

Abry Partners acquired Donuts in 2018.

Donuts is purchasing Afilias in 2020.

Afilias is the backend registry for .org (with a new deal on 2018).

Afilias will ask for a big price increase for its .org back-end services claiming whatever they want.

Their friends at Public Interest Registry (PIR) and the Internet Society will approve the price increase.

Public Interest Registry (PIR) and the Internet Society will increase the .org price by at least 2 or 3 times. They are just looking for an excuse to increase prices.

Remember that the corrupt ICANN gave Public Interest Registry (PIR) and the Internet Society the freedom of UNLIMITED price increases on .org.

This is just the beginning.

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

11 comments

  1. I disagree with your assessment. PIR put the registry contract out to bid several years ago, resulting in a significant decrease in how much PIR pays Afilias. It’s still a good deal for Afilias, though. The PIR board members would not approve raising this fee in a competitive registry environment because they’d open themselves and the entire non-profit entity to legal ramifications.

    • Konstantinos Zournas

      That was before they sold their soul to the devil. Before Abry and Ethos bought everyone.
      My post will stay here and we will see what happens.

      • I tend to agree with you Konstantinos. I feel nothing good will come of this for registrants. It just is too bad ICANN does not care anymore. What a mess they have unleashed on the world!

    • I’m with Andrew on this one. PIR’s incentive is for lower RSP prices, not higher.

      • Konstantinos Zournas

        If PIR wanted to make money for themselves only then they wouldn’t try to sell to Ethos.
        You increase the RSP prices by $1-$2 per domain and serve your friends. You then double the price of .org domains. Everybody is happy.

      • Or just double the price of .org domains plus an extra $1-$2 for the same financial impact. Why bother cutting Donuts a slice?

      • Konstantinos Zournas

        Because many were co-workers, and will soon be again co-workers when the next acquisition comes or when they move from one company to the other.
        Why was ICANN so eager to give unlimited price increases? So that when they leave ICANN they get a job with the people they served.
        Do I need to continue?

      • Konstantinos Zournas

        They are doing favors for the future employers. They don’t care about registrants. We have no power over them whatsoever even though we are paying their salaries.

        Time will be my best friend on this.

  2. The prices of domain names never decrease for end users, even though the economies of scale are getting bigger.
    Worse, we are subject to price hikes that are well above inflation.
    Unlike other industries, the domain name business is very noncompetitive.

    I pay less and less for hosting, and I get more storage, more bandwidth over time, without even asking. Imagine if Icann was in charge of the hosting business and enforcing another cozy monopoly. No thanks.

  3. Wake up! ICANN and the entire industry is corrupted and rigged. Go visit http://www.bdq.ca

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.