Easier said then done, but if you choose to sue them over this you have my respect.
We NEED laws against dirty dark pattern business practices like this.
This doesn't sound like it's retroactive, they're negotiating a renewal and Google changed their price. Doesn't seem out of the ordinary unless there were some particular terms about pricing and renewals.
Google isn't a charity, they're a greedy non-ethical corporation that is not famous for providing reliable consistent products. I'm surprised this kind of behavior comes as a surprise to anybody in tech.
I don't think it would be extortion, it would just be Verisign breaching their agreement with ICANN.
> People build brands on these, and it’s odd that you can’t permanently buy one or at least have a predictable cap on price increases.
I think you could have those things if you use services that are backed with appropriate contracts or regulations. It's more odd that people would build their brand using a company that is not known for providing stable, consistent, long term products and services.
A classic example is creating a dependency and then raising the price.
Also look up "antitrust".
Okay let's see your example then. What's a case you are thinking of that is vaguely similar to this that was ruled a breach of contract?
> Also look up "antitrust".
This isn't a constructive argument. I could equally just rebut it by telling you to look up "antitrust", right? What part of antitrust laws would apply here? Surely if you have an idea you can write a sentence or two to explain.