It irritates me when people talk about "owning your own domain". This is great example of how "having" a domain does not at all match up with ownership as we commonly know it...
.org was very nearly stolen by its operators.
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/org-domain-registry-sale-...
Ancestor wrote "the actual governing entities don't play these kinds of games" and I gave a recent example of that kind of game being played.
> This concern grew after it was revealed that the [$1.1 billion] transaction required taking on a $360 million debt obligation.
Or if the country moves underneath you. Quite a few Brits lost their existing .eu domains after Brexit.
And they sometimes have undesirable policies. For example, .us prohibits any kind of WHOIS protection. It’ll be tied to your real name, address, and phone number, unless you take some steps like getting a P.O. box or buying in the name of a shell corporation.
The new owners didn't even use them properly.
The difference is that Verisign's registry agreement with ICANN prohibits this kind of pricing shenanigans whereas Google's does not. Expect Verisign to try to renegotiate this when their agreement is up for renewal.
It’s a very different relationship with ICANN and domain name owners and has basically zero leverage to set prices beyond what it costs them to operate the service and have some reasonable profit.
Feels to me like it would be a lost cause depending on where you are.