Veni, thanks for the comment. We seem to be talking past each other. What problem was ICANN trying to solve by giving Verisign the ability to raise prices, sell TLD metadata and retain .COM forever? Until I know what problem ICANN thinks it is solving, I don't know how to give you an answer that would be helpful. I don't believe that the problem was simply the threat of litigation. I don't know of anyone who doesn't believe that ICANN was bound to win that litigation. Was it the funding issue? ICANN hasn't invoiced the registrars in six months. This conversation goes both ways. The Board was very quick to say that it was in "listening mode" in Vancouver. I didn't realize until I returned home that this hid the fact that the Board wasn't talking about what it had done to bring us to this point. If you detect anger and frustration in my comments, you're right. Transparency would solve many of these problems. So that's my specific, concrete answer: bulid transparency into all aspects of ICANN's work. Is ICANN asking a question to which that might be a response? Bret