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analysis The .org Heist!

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oldtimer

SaveThyWorld.com Let's not leave anyone behindTop Member
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It is bothering that what should be considered to be a public resource is now up for grabs by some for profit contenders that have been directly or indirectly involved with ICANN which is supposed to be looking after the public interest. Complaining and coming up with petitions isn’t going to help because these corporate vultures are going to continue doing what they do until they are stopped in their tracks by a higher force. It seems that they already have come up with some corporate skims to channel their profits through ghost corporate entities with unnamed board of directors that supposedly are going to end up owning and managing .org

I am also mad at the current managers of .org who are trying to cash out with a lucrative 1.135 billion dollar deal and by doing so are betraying all those who have depended on this extension as the only and last bastion of hope for non nonprofit organizations and NGOs who in many cases are sacrificing their own interests and comfort in order to help save Humanity and our Planet in addition to all those who are depending on .org as the defender of Human Rights and Free Speech in many suppressed and oppressed areas of the World. This is like as if they are going to get rich by selling a national Park to those who are more than likely are more interested in making more profits than being concerned about what was going to happen to the forest and the wildlife in the Park, you never know they might have already planned to sell those too.

From all these extensions that are already out there or others that might become available through the second round of New gTLDs in the future these people have decided to put their claws in to the one extension that has to remain neutral and nonprofit for the good of the World.

When I registered the domain name RighteousForce.com just recently the only other extension that came to my mind as being a good vehicle for the purpose of my website was .org and that’s why I also registered RighteousForce.org as in many cases the .org extension relays the message better than .com and now a few ICANN Insiders and their friends have come up with a skim to prevent people like me from having a way of telling truth to power and the rest of World because those who want to keep the statues quo in the World are scared of the truth coming out.

Conclusion: The .org extension has to stay Neutral and Nonprofit for the Good of the World.

IMO
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I believe that a New Nonprofit Entity has to be given the reins over .org

ICANN itself has to be Reformed and they have to find some decent people to run it that don't directly or indirectly participate in or facilitate personal and insider dealings on the side that are against the public interest and good.

This all needs to be done ASAP before the .org fate is sealed in betrayal.

Saving the World starts with saving .org !

IMO
 
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in my opinion

if you need an .org
to save the world

we all are doomed

Frank don't be so cynical ;)

We are trying to do some good here by bringing more attention to this issue.
 
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Well Franks got a point. Really saving the world would require some hard choices and sacrifices from most of us, least of which includes putting technology on the back burner. But this is a domaining forum, extreme metaphors may be made to exemplify our passion.
 
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The solution is simple, a non profit has to step up. Grab donations to cover costs and reserve same name as .org for current registrants and replace the whole damn show.

Let the company lose a fortune and others won't follow.

Make another .org type extension is the only real answer if this abomination of a deal goes through.
 
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Companies have to learn to evolve for the better just like people, perhaps a greater purpose for everyone should be to progress forward and make everything better for Humanity and for our Home Planet and beyond. To be a Force For Good requires that we all find some common ground over logic and compassion and establish some Universal principles and values that can protect everyone's and everything's rights and wellbeing. That is why it's so important what course and trajectory these big companies are taking and how they are going to use new technologies such as AI.

We depend on the CEO's and the board of directors to ultimately make the right decisions and keep everything on the right track, but then we the people also have a responsibility as guardians and overseers of our World to make sure that everyone involved is a Force For Good and that are working towards the betterment of the World.

The way it is now it seems like a few people in the Tech World are determining everyone's fate without any vote or input form the general public. Over the years we have done our best to move away from political dictatorship by encouraging and expanding democratic values and principles around the World, but now it seems like we have a new problem of Tech Dictatorship were a few large companies are forcing their interests, agendas, and wants over everyone else and by doing so are taking the World astray.

Whether it's the old fossil fuel, pharmaceutical, Insurance, healthcare, financial, automobile and other manufacturing companies and institutions or whether it's the newer tech companies we have to make sure that they are all working towards the good of Humanity and our Home Planet.

The most Important thing in today's world is perhaps data and information and those who control that are going to determine the fate of the world. All this data and information moves through the Internet and social media and the many websites and pages that are out there and it seems that for now domain extensions and domain names play an important role in this picture and as such what Registries and Registrars decide to do and what trajectory they choose to follow should be of great concern to all of us.

IMO
 
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A private equity firm wants to buy ‘.org’ for $1 billion. A Berkeley-based cooperative says, ‘not so fast’
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By Natalie OrensteinJan. 16, 2020, 2:47 p.m.
dot-org-bill-woodcock.jpg

Bill Woodcock, part of a collective of nonprofit executives trying to become the administrator of the .org domain, stands in front of the Berkeley mailing address. Photo: Natalie Orenstein

The suffix that most people absentmindedly type when they’re donating to an animal shelter or joining a synagogue or reading a research paper is for sale.

Private equity firm Ethos Capital wants to buy “.org,” the digital home to more than 10 million nonprofits, for $1.1 billion.

The move would initially be invisible to those organizations and their users, but internet access advocates say it could quickly upend the nonprofit world as we know it. The sale could lead to higher domain name prices, service outages and privacy breaches, as the firm tries to recoup its major investment, they say. Ethos Capital has dismissed those claims as fear-mongering, vowing to only raise the price of a .org address by a little bit.

But a group is fighting back — and it’s based in Berkeley.


Some of the most vocal anti-Ethos advocates have formed a cooperative of major nonprofits that wants to purchase the domain instead. The board includes Esther Dyson, former founding chairwoman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the entity that has the final say about who gets .org. ICANN has already delayed the sale, asking for more information.

Two of the cooperative’s board members — Packet Clearing House Executive Director Bill Woodcock and Jeff Ubois, who works in philanthropy and was once president of the Berkeley Hillside Club — have connections here. The group’s mailing address is in Berkeley, too.

On Wednesday, Woodcock, who lives in Berkeley, was rushing around, making t-shirts for a likely upcoming protest at an ICANN meeting in Mexico. But he took a break to have coffee with Berkeleyside to talk about what his cooperative is vying for and what a .org sale could mean.

This Q&A has been edited and condensed and portrays one perspective on the issue. Ethos Capital was not interviewed.

https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/0...a-berkeley-based-cooperative-says-not-so-fast
 
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History is being made right here and right now,

be sure that you are on the right side of the History by speaking out when some Tech Dictators are trying to destroy .org which is the only true sanctuary for nonprofit organizations and activists and a protector of freedom of speech and thought. So stand up and protect the future of the World from these Tech Tyrants who only are concerned about their own agendas and interests with no regards for the public good.

The current managers of .org have proven that they are money hungry wolves who are only pretending to be nonprofit.

The .org has to be managed by a new neutral and nonprofit organization that doesn't want to sell the general public out the first chance that it gets.

IMO
 
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Looks like there might be some hope to save .org after all now that a movement has started by the many nonprofit organizations and activist that are marching in the streets in protest.

The important lessons that we have learned here is that those whom we put in charge of managing and protecting public resources have to be watched very carefully because otherwise they might get tempted to sell the public out if they think no one is watching.

There are two issues at the heart of this matter, one is greed as some people are inclined to take advantage of their position whether in private or public sector to enrich themselves even if they have to betray the very principles, values, and the public that they have sworn an oath to protect, and the other issue is the political forces that seem to want to control or even stifle any channel that could be used by activists to expose the agendas of those who want to force their way of life and ideologies on everyone else and that their ultimate goal is to achieve global dominance through suppression and oppression of others.

So it just comes down to Money and Politics, doing what's right and good for Humanity seems to be at the bottom of some people's priorities, but fortunately it's the top priority for activists who have no fear and who are not driven by greed and self serving agendas. (like me ;))

IMO
 
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Through the process of saving .org we have come to see how important the voice of the activists are and that why we should never allow anyone to silence them. By now it's proven that those whom we put in charge of protecting public interests and resources in some cases might have a tendency to give in to their own self serving agendas and betray the public trust if they think that no one is watching. As most average people are busy with their own daily lives and might not have enough time to worry about issues such as what is going on with .org it makes it imperative that we support those activists who are in many cases sacrificing their own interests and comfort and have to endure being treated harshly in order to protect the public good from those who seem to want to sell everyone out the first chance that they get.

Whether it's dealing with global entities such as ICANN or having to watch after the environment or looking after people's wellbeing and welfare the activists are our last line of defense for forcing those who want to go astray from doing the right thing to correct their ways.

As a Human Rights and Environmental activist and intellectual for many years I myself have been put through much hardship over the years that was meant to silence my voice, but it all has only made me stronger and has made me realize the importance of protecting the right of Free Speech for those who speak truth to the power.

IMO
 
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California attorney general is asking questions.
 
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This situation is much more serious than most people think, the consequences of this sale or any other sale that gives control over .org to any company or organization that has hidden political and financial agendas will gradually start to come to light after people are falsely convinced that all is going to be okay. But later on they will soon come to realize that all is not going to be okay and that this sale was designed as part of a bigger plan to take away the freedom of speech from nonprofit organizations and activists who are advocating for Humanity and the Environment in ways that are against the interests and wishes of the status quo.

Instead of advancing to a higher level that is based on Universal values and principles that are derived from logic and compassion the status quo is digging in deeper into the extremist and fanatical ideologies, doctrines, and philosophies that have already failed both Humanity and our Home Planet.

It's a pity that my voice and the voices of many others like me are going to be allowed to be silenced by the status quo. This is the continuation of the campaign that has been trying to silence the voice of reason through character assassination, intimidation, and derailing the lives of those who have challenged the evil and animalistic ways that the World is conducting itself. It's a fact that those who want to continue with all the inequality, hate, abuse, delinquency, suppression, oppression, killing, and War around the World don't want to allow anyone to shine the light on the truth and whether they are Communist, Capitalist, Socialist, Religious Fundamentalist, or belong to the Left or the Right they all want to put a mechanism in place to silence the activists and if they can't kill them outright like in some places then they try to discredit their voices and turn the people against them by portraying them as some kind of monster that everyone is going to despise, but then in today's modern times the easiest way to silence the activists is to gain control over their websites through owning and managing the .org

Mark my words this Feb , 10, 2020

IMO
 
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Whatever price increase caps, restrictions, or promises made are just temporary in the long scheme of things and after their time runs out they can do whatever they want with .org

.org is a public resource just like the National Parks and Monuments. Imagine if a private equity firm was given total control over National Parks a hundred years ago, even if they put some voluntary restrictions on their power and activities for the first lets say 8 or 10 years, but after that time limit ran out they could have done whatever they wanted with what they would have considered to be their property by then.

Fortunately there were some Conscientious and Righteous people back in the history who had the Wisdom and Foresight to save the Public Parks and Monuments from the private equity firms who most likely would have gutted everything out from the trees to the animals and all the other natural resources in the Parks just to make more money for the shareholders, not to mention the outrageous fees that they would have been able to charge just to let the people visit those Parks and Monuments.

People shouldn't be fooled by any promises or restrictions that have a time limit attached to them, because this is not just about protecting the current .org registrants it is also about protecting the future generations of registrants from predatory tactics and insider dealings that are going to undermine their rights and interests.


If there are going to be any restrictions or promises made for protecting the .org registrants rights and interests we just have to make sure that there is no time limit to them that will make them expire when it comes to the Future Generation Registrants.

IMO
 
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