ICANN status
There's a Board call on the 7th that has a discussion of org/info/biz on the agenda. I hope I'll be able to be on the call — I'll be at a conference that doesn't have great cell reception.
I am most concerned about the possibility of differential pricing for renewals. I personally think the contracts should require that no renewal at time T cost more than the lowest fee the registry is charging for individual (ie, not part of a bulk sales deal of any kind) new registrations at time T. It doesn't make sense to allow a registry to hold up a registrant at renewal. Switching costs are high.
The approval of these contracts isn't on the agenda, and I don't anticipate that they'll be approved on this call.
Given that the .com contract still hasn't been approved, it doesn't seem appropriate to assume that it will be approved unchanged.
Happy to hear from anyone about this, of course.