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

[Adam Peake]

Dave, what would you estimate as a reasonable wholesale price?

 From IAHC days on I think you've probably thought about this as much as anyone.

Thanks,

Adam



>At 05:16 PM 2/14/2002 -0500, Milton Mueller wrote:
>>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 organizations in rich countries and doing web services, you are
>right.  It is cheap.
>
>However the range of uses for a domain name are rather larger than that
>and, for much of the world, the low end of financial conditions is
>dramatically worse than that.
>
>So, in fact, for much of the world yes, $6/year very much IS a big
>deal.  And, by the way, that is the wholesale price.  Real users pay more.
>
>
>>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.
>
>You have constructed a single, narrow situation.  It applies to some users
>of domain names, yes.  However it does not apply to others.  Note, for
>example, that I do not have my own Web server.  My domain name is serviced
>by a third-party service.
>
>You should visit some of the cyberbafe/ISP shops around the world that
>charge pennies per hour of use and have similarly low fees for domain name
>hosting.  In those parts of the world, economics AND usage scenarios are
>quite different from what you seem to be seeing.
>
>
>>As consumer protection issues go, registry prices are pretty far
>>down the list at this point.
>
>Gee.  And next you will be saying that there are no free speech issues, too.
>
>My but your positions have changed, Milton.
>
>d/
>
>----------
>Dave Crocker  <mailto:dcrocker at brandenburg.com>
>Brandenburg InternetWorking  <http://www.brandenburg.com>
>tel +1.408.246.8253;  fax +1.408.273.6464
>
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