I try not to blog about news that already saturates the web. I figure many other top level bloggers and news sites cover that stuff already; for example, no one wants to hear about my opinions on how eBay and Google are using Skype for a “click-to-call” program.

What’s pretty amazing, however, is the deafening silence on how ICANN is lifting its price controls on .info, .biz, and .org domains.

Basically, it appears that with the lifting of price controls, ICANN has the potential to engage in “variable-pricing” so that they might charge whatever the market will bear for a particular domain (with those top level domains).

This means they could charge thousands for domains that previously cost only $8-10 now.

And with the threat of a ’slippery-slope’, one wonders if the same effects could possibly happen with .com or .net domains in the future.

This has paticularly ominous implications for business owners, and it reaches into the heart of what it means to create a good business and, for marketing purposes, what it means to create a meaningful brand.

Domain names have no inherent value in and of themselves. Businesses create value, and therefore imbue those domains with that value.

Google.com — before it was a search engine giant, meant nothing. But the success of Google the business has created value for the name “Google” and its domain, Google.com. And now, for whomever owns Google.biz may be in for a bit of a surprise if the proposed legislation goes through — as the “market value” of that particular .biz domain might be astronomical.

$1000? $10 000? $100 000?
Who knows?

If YOU happen to create a valueable business, its almost as though ICANN is fining you and your business for its success, as the success of your business may have (organically and quite rightly) improved value of your domain name.

Since ICANN may charge the market-value price for domain registration, rather than paying the $8 or $10 you’re used to, you might end up paying thousands of dollars.

Incredible!

This has tremoundously important implications for the business world, for large and small business alike.

Today was the last day to file an “e-opinion” regarding the proposed situation … time will tell if this sort of change will go through.

And if it does, you can bet your bottom dollar, it will finally be covered en masse by the other larger web2.0 news sites.

Resources

• The Actual ICANN Proposal:
  http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-28jul06.htm
• Digg & their comments: http://www.digg.com/tech_news/ICANN_proposes_massive_increase_in_domain_name_prices
• Domain Industry News Journal:
  http://www.dnjournal.com/lowdown.htm
• CircleID breaks it down:
  http://www.circleid.com/posts/icann_tiered_pricing_tld_biz_info_org_domain/
• Ken McCarthy posts on it as well (a well regarded Internet Marketer) — a lively discussion ensues:
  http://kenmccarthy.blogs.com/ken_mccarthy/2006/08/domain_name_mad.html