The .com registry Verisign has come under fire from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in a letter to the Department of Justice and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). In a letter obtained by Wired News, Senator Warren is asking these agencies to investigate Verisign for potential antitrust violations following their most recent contract renewal, accusing the registry of “predatory pricing.”
“VeriSign is exploiting its monopoly power to charge millions of users excessive prices for registering a .com top-level domain,” the letter claims. “VeriSign hasn’t changed or improved its services; it has simply raised prices because it holds a government-ensured monopoly.” The letter also alleges that VeriSign might be in violation of the Sherman Act, a set of antitrust laws that were deployed against Microsoft in the 1990s.
Verisign has yet to respond officially to these allegations, but Verisign spokespeople have made a statement to Wired, declaring “We look forward to correcting the record and working with policymakers toward real solutions that benefit internet users.”
