[ncdnhc-discuss] Re: Mission creep and consumer protection

[Milton Mueller]

One of the things that is truly bizarre about this whole conversation
is that in the broad scheme of Internet use - which requires 
a computer, Internet access, site hosting, etc. - registry prices are an 
utterly trivial part of the picture. $6/year is 50 cents a month. Cut that in 
half and you've saved a quarter a month. Big deal. 

For poor people or undeveloped countries, the real obstacle 
to Internet access is bandwidth (connectivity), not domain names. 
Not to mention the $1000 or so ($100/month) for the computer 
itself, and the labor required to post and host content.  Bandwidth is 
horrendously expensive in many developing and undeveloped countries, 
and many people don't have telephone lines at all. 

As consumer protection issues go, registry prices are pretty far
down the list at this point.