Re: Fees

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

Kent,

  Please read below your comments.

Kent Crispin wrote:
> 
> Dave Crocker allegedly said:
> >
> > At 2:13 PM -0800 12/26/96, Karl Auerbach wrote:
> > >Seems like a good use of some of that 30% being witheld by NSI.
> >
> >       Why should folks interested in starting a commercial venture for
> > name administration be subsidized?  Our model is to have future efforts be
> > self-funding.  That requires charging applicants to cover the costs of the
> > review and allocation process.  Looking for subsidies elsewhere merely
> > perpetuates the "daddy pays" model that should have been eliminated when
> > the Internet moved from research into commercial production, roughly 6
> > years ago.
> 
> Of course the folks seeking to be registrars should bear the cost of
> starting their business.  I don't think anyone disputes this.  The
> heat develops because of three factors:
> 
> 1) a large part of the cost seems to be in the pre-checking of the
> qualifications of the potential registrars.  This pre-checking is
> motivated by a fear that "unqualified" registrars will damage the
> system.  Many people feel that this pre-checking is largely
> unwarranted, that "unqualified" registrars will put themselves out of
> business very quickly, and that in fact there isn't any serious
> damage they can do.
> 
> 2) unavoidably, a large part of the cost at first will be in
> establishing procedures and setting up infrastructure.  The $20000
> seems to reflect this cost -- once all the procedures are well
> established, automated, and running smoothly the administrative costs
> will obviously be much cheaper than at first, and in fact it is hard
> to see how a well-established automated procedure could cost $20000.
> 
> 3) the $20000 is presented as an arbitrary fixed figure, instead of
> being couched in terms of the requirements at hand.  That is, things might
> be much more acceptable if the draft had been worded something like
> this:
> 
>     "The administrative costs of establishing a registrar must be born
>     by the registrar itself.  To cover all contingencies, therefore,
>     all registrar applicants will be required supply a $30000 deposit
>     to cover administrative costs.  All money in excess of actual
>     costs will be refunded.  It is expected that in many cases the
>     actual cost will be substantially less than $30000, but there are
>     circumstances where the whole amount may be used.  IAHC will
>     provide a schedule of administrative tasks, their approximate
>     costs, and what conditions trigger various administrative tasks
>     to give prospective registrars help in planning their projected
>     expenses."

  I agree with part of this thought.  The NOW $30k is way too much,
however.  I think that requiring that the IAHC provide a schedule of
administrative tasks, their approximate costs, ect..  This would in
my mind incumber the IAHC in administrative tasks that are in part
of little value.  A quarterly review and statment of expenses should
be posted on their site for review and comment.  The committee should
determine of those costs and expenses what is reasonable and what is
not, and the adjustments and recomendations of the committee posted
for public review.  This should be sufficient.  Registrars should
handle their own expenses and publication of such should be their
own determination.

  I do agree with your statment that all fee moneys be refunded that
are not used.  I would add that a breakdown for what those moneys 
used went for might be a good idea.

Regards,

> 
> --
> Kent Crispin                            "No reason to get excited",
> kent@songbird.com,kc@llnl.gov           the thief he kindly spoke...
> PGP fingerprint:   5A 16 DA 04 31 33 40 1E  87 DA 29 02 97 A3 46 2F

-- 
Jeffrey A. Williams
DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java Development Eng.
Information Eng. Group. 
Phone :972-447-1878
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com