I was speaking with ICA officials and participating friends for a long time now and finally made the jump and joined in. Why join? It’s a good question. The short answer is there are many forces that constantly work against us, have been working against us long before most of us got in the business. While the ICA is still a relatively small organization it is not something we cannot change right now, one member at a time.
If you make your living with domains, if you would like to protect your investments, if you would like to have a say when others are taking your rights away, consider joining.
Hello Sahar,
One of the problems with ICA that I recently commented to Michael Collins (without getting a response) is they do not explain in their site what REAL and SPECIFIC benefits one get signing.
Why should I pay a membership when nowhere it’s explain the exact benefits I will get in return?
Why should I pay when others that don’t pay will get the same advantages of me. This not motivate me to sign and I am not alone.
Also, I think the fee is high for most domainers (and more when they don’t get nothing in return). They give the impression the association is not targeted to all the domainers but just an elite.
The choice of the domain name is also not very clever.
They advertise and speak about ICA when they do not own ica.com or ica.org … Finding their site is impossible except one note ther web site address.
Francois Carrillo
Domainers.org
Internet Commerce Association Executive Director Michael Collins and Legal Counsel Phil Corwin are on their way to New Delhi, India to monitor the upcoming ICANN meeting and make sure the interests of domain owners are represented there. Though I am not the ICA’s spokseperson, I am a member of the Internet Commerce Association’s board of directors and felt I should respond to Francois’s comments above (these are my personal opinions and I do not speak for anyone else on the board in stating them).
First of all, Francois failed to reveal that he is starting his own domain organization at Domainers.org, something I just learned by visiting the domain where his intention is stated, So whatever the merits of his comments (and I think there are some), I think it is obvious that his post criticizing the Interrnet Commerce Association is self-serving, rather than a completely unbiased observation (in addition I am told that Michael Collins did reply to Francois and knowing Michael I am confident that he tries to answer every inquiry he gets about the ICA).
Having said that, I would like address Francois’s questions. He said he can’t see any real benefits in exchange for becoming an ICA member. One obvious benefit is that the ICA gives the industry a full-time Legal Counsel and lobbyist in Washington, DC who helps the industry guard against people who would like to take our assets without paying for them by getting us legislated into irrelevance or out of existence.
Without the Internet Commerce Association in Washington, domain owners would have NO representation and would be invisible. If you are invisble you should expect to be treated accordingly. Our Counsel and Executive Director also attend every ICANN meeting to make sure policies the oversight body adopts take the interests of domain owners into consideration. This is critical because at this time domain owners, who pay all of the bills, are ironically the only people in the chain who have no constituency within ICANN.
Paying the salaries and travel expenses of the two professionals who fill these positions (the ICA’s only paid employees) costs money, but in my opinion that expenditure is critical to the health of our industry. Certainly we could give members something tangible like an ICA T-shirt or tote bag, but if we don’t use our resources to meet the real threats that are facing us, a T Shirt might end up being the only domain-related asset you have left a few years from now.
Why should you pay when those who don’t pay will get the same advantages? If the short term, that is true, those who are not supporting the ICA’s efforts are getting the same benefits as those who are supporting the non-profit industry trade association. But in the long term, if there is not broad based financial support for the association, there will be no benefits for anyone in this business and our futures will be decided by people who I assure you do not have our best interests at heart.
With respect to fees, as always you get what you pay for. What the ICA is doing now costs a considerable amount of money, the vast majority of which comes out of the founder’s pockets. They deserve an enormous amount of credit for footing the bill up until now but they are not going to keep paying the freight for everyone. There is no free lunch and a handful of forward thinking companies and indviduals will not keep picking up the tab for everyone else indefinitely. That is just common sense.
The Internet Commerce Association is for everyone and anyone who becomes a member can have an impact on the group’s direction. The presidency of the association can be held by any member. As Sahar very accurately stated “while the ICA is still a relatively small organization it is not something we cannot change right now, one member at a time.” That is 100% true. But if you want ICA positions tweaked or changed, if you want to see new leadership in the association, you need to be involved. You can’t help shape what you want the association to be by sitting on the sidelines. Everyone on the board wants your participation and input on where we go from here.
With regard to the domain name not be very “clever”, the association’s name is the Internet Commerce Association. The association’s domain name is InternetCommerce.org. It may not be a “clever” name but it I think it pretty straight forward and well states who we and what we want to protect - free and open internet commerce.
With a long name like Internet Commerce Association, it would be very nice to have the acronym, ica.com or ica.org. It would also be nice to own, say the Golden Gate bridge, but it is not for sale, nor is ica.com or ica.org which are already established sites. I think we purchased the best possible name on the aftermarket that was available to the association. I understand that Francois was interested in selling his Domainers.org domain name to the ICA. With all due respect to that name I don’t think it would fit the professional image and purpose of the association that the ICA wants to project as well as the current one does. I am hopeful that Francois will do something positive with it with his proposed new association.
In closing let me say that the ICA has been in existence for barely more than a year. It has certainly made some mistakes and mis-steps in the early going as any new organization will. But the founders and members currently involved want only the best for this industry and the people who make their living in it. We invite you to visit the site, send Michael any questions you have and come join us in building the ICA into an organization that will meet your needs and the needs of the domain business going forward. I think we all have a bright future ahead but I believe we are going to have to position ourselves to defend our rights and assets if that future is to be realized.
My brother Michael and I along with Josh Metnick (Chicago.com) and Patrick Carleton (AssociatedCities.com) will be joining Phil Corwin to attend the ICANN/JPA public meeting at the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC on Thursday February 28th.
Having heard Phil and Michael Collins speak many times, we believe in their efforts and look forward to watching them in action.