Proposes to conduct an all-inclusive, transparent online auction of one-letter .com domains; estimates sales to generate approximately $2-$5 million.

Sedo, a facilitator of sales and purchases of domain names, yesterday issued a proposal whereby The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), could conduct an all-inclusive, transparent online auction for one-letter .com domain names.

The proposal comes in response to discussions that ICANN is considering making one-letter .com domains available to the public. These domain names would be extremely valuable to any potential owner due to their branding potential, said the company. Most experts estimate these domain names to be worth up to six or seven figures each. Sedo's objective is to allow any global citizen, that is interested in purchasing these high-value domain names, to do so at fair market value rather than limiting the process to large corporations or to those with a technology advantage.

Concurrently, ICANN is proposing an increase to its imposed fees per domain name registered. Critics argue that ICANN does not have legal standing to issue such fees or increases and such decisions should be governed by an outside body. Sedo also proposed that the proceeds from the auction of uniquely valuable domains go directly to bolster the ICANN budget, offsetting the proposed new ICANN fees. The company estimates that the sale of the remaining 23 one-letter .com names would generate approximately $2 to $5 million.

"As ICANN comes under increasing scrutiny from international critics, it must operate in the most self-sufficient and democratic way possible," said Matt Bentley, CEO of Sedo. "This proposal allows ICANN to accomplish both goals by capitalizing on its most underutilized asset - high-value domain names - and distributing them in a fair, transparent manner and using those funds to eliminate any proposed Internet taxes."