"The failure to consider material information concerning the potential adverse effects that the settlement would have on competition is contrary to ICANN's core values and would be harmful to consumers," said 19 leading Internet companies in a joint filing asking the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to reconsider a decision about the future of the .com domain.

Network Solutions and other registrars are asking for reconsideration and emergency relief following the Board's split decision on February 28 to approve the proposed .com registry agreement and settlement between ICANN and VeriSign. Calling the adverse consequences of the .com deal "far-reaching and permanent," the request said the proposals demonstrate that ICANN has failed to foster a market with appropriate controls on .com registry pricing or to provide adequate regulatory oversight.

In a decision that, the companies noted, failed to gain backing from 40% of its own members, ICANN's Board approved a .com contract extension and proposed settlement with VeriSign, without altering provisions that drew sharp concerns from all corners of the Internet community.

In a statement the 19 companies said:

"These anti-consumer provisions would:

(1) Foreclose future competition in the .com registry and

(2) Let VeriSign raise .com registration fees by a compound rate of up to 31 percent over six years without cost-justification or review in most years.

Not a single one of the Internet Constituencies created by ICANN as part of the required bottom-up form of governance supported the proposed amendments to the .com agreement."

Statements in opposition are set forth in the comments section of the ICANN website. The proposal is now before the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration for final review. The Department must approve the proposed amendments.

"Over the past month, the DOJ [Department of Justice] has actively investigated the registry market and the potential impacts of the proposal on competition," the companies said in the joint request, which was filed late Friday (March 10). "The Board should be privy to the results of this investigation and solicit the DOJ's advice prior to approving the agreement."

The joint request for reconsideration was filed under ICANN procedures that allow reconsideration requests to be granted if a Board decision was made without considering material information. The filing demonstrates that ICANN's Board did not have key facts about VeriSign's market position and did not apply traditional antitrust analysis in evaluating the competitive effects of the settlement.

The proposals narrowly approved by the Board would settle pending litigation between ICANN and VeriSign, which solely operates the registry for the .com generic top level domain.