PAUL-B

VeriSign Inc, the company that keeps the master list of domain names ending in ".com" and ".net," said that effective Oct 1, 2008 the annual fee for ".com" names will go up 7 percent to $6.86 and the ".net" fee will increase 10 percent to $4.23.

The fees are what VeriSign charges companies that sell domain names on its behalf, and those charges are generally incorporated into the prices that companies, groups and individuals ultimately pay to register names.

VeriSign could make up to $37 million a year from the increase, with some 75 million ".com" names and 11 million ".net" names in use. The price hike, however, applies only at renewal and to new registrations, and many resellers offer discounts on multiyear deals.

VeriSign recently announced plans to further improve security and increase capacity for the servers that keep track of ".com" and ".net" names. Computers from around the world check them continually to find out how to reach ".com" and ".net" Web sites and pass along e-mail.

The price hike, disclosed in a letter to the Internet's key oversight agency, does not require any regulatory approval.

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Gregcyber

Inflationation, I also think that ICANN has a few more responsibilities too.

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Domain Registration and Web Hosting