Re: [wg-c] registry contracts

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Sun, Nov 21, 1999 at 01:36:59PM -0800, William X. Walsh wrote:
> 
> On 21-Nov-99 Eric Brunner wrote:
> > I don't think the gravity of all this has sunk into the happy capitalist
> > campers, and I'm sure I've the letters "m" "e" "a" "t" on my own flanks
> > in someone's eyes.
> 
> Have you read the FTC report, Eric?  The one prepared by expert economists
> who actually hold degrees and know quite a bit about the subject at hand? 

Proof by appeal to authority?

They know quite a bit about economics.  That does not mean they know 
a lot about the Internet.  Nor does it mean that they are unbiased.  

Hal Varian, dean of the school of economics at Cal Berkely, has
studied this problem as well, and to him the obvious approach is
something like the Nominet model.

In particular, the FTC economists express a distressing lack of 
understanding on the issue of the potential extent of the switching 
costs involved.  That doesn't take a degree in economics to 
notice...just familiarity with the Internet


-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain