Re:Ask HN: ICANN charges only 18¢ per domain name, why am I ...
by jklein11 on Saturday December 19, 2015 @01:26PM
(#10764358)
Verisign isn't hitching the proverbial chain across the river, because they are a necessary part of the domain registration of domain names. They are providing a necessary service and raising the barrier to entry with their patents. If their role were unnecessary, then it would be rent seeking behavior.
Wow. It's like we are reading two different articles. If Verisign isn't doing typical rent-seeking, then we might as well delete the Wiki entry, because the concept doesn't exist.
Just from paragraph 1:
Exactly what Verisign is doing. They are supplying infrastructure to the Internet. They're not creating anything, they're simply charging everyone an excessive fee for using the existing Internet. They're inserting themselves into every single .com and .net domain purchase or renewal.From paragraph 2:
Regulatory capture. This is exactly what happened when ICANN awarded no-bid contracts to Verisign, under the pretense that no other firm would have the capacity to do it.[1][1] http://timothyblee.com/2010/01/22/verisign-angling-for-no-bi...