news .Org Buyout

[SirDrago]

A private equity firm is buying all of the .org domains. Here's what that means
In a move that could shake up the internet, private equity firm Ethos Capital is buying the company that owns every .org domain on the web.

Ethos, which was founded in May 2019, is expected to close its deal to acquire the Public Interest Registry (PIR) during the first quarter of 2020. The sale price has not been released.

Now, nonprofits, which make up the majority of the .org domains, are panicking about the purchase, scampering to sign a petition spearheaded by the National Council of Nonprofits that calls for blocking the deal.

Full story Here

Share your thoughts?

 

[Larion]

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST ICANN MAY BE ONLY ANSWER TO FUTURE OF DOMAINS

http://neusnews.com/2019/12/class-a...cann-may-be-only-answer-to-future-of-domains/

 

[Steven McEvoy]

Has the new company ever states anything about raising the price?

 

[bmugford]

Has the new company ever states anything about raising the price?

Even if you give this brand new private equity firm the benefit of the doubt, which is basically impossible when you factor in the timing and shady ICANN connections, once you go down this path what is to stop them from selling the registry operating rights to another party?

Let's say a foreign connected entity like China wants to buy the registry and use it for censorship for instance. Or another firm might want to buy it and raise individual prices to basically extort specific organizations.

ICANN can not let this happen. Saying they don't have control is absurd. They are the other party that signed the operating contract with ISOC and there is specific language in the contract they could use to block it.

I don't trust words. I trust actions.

There is a reason many utilities have consumer protections in place. Companies can't be trusted to do the right thing without being compelled.

Brad

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Has the new company ever states anything about raising the price?

This question should be addressed to Afilias.info
They manage .ORG registry for many years... And I don't see any news that .ORG backend will be changed...
Base (non-premium) fee depends on Afilias prices...
Frontend (previously it was PIR) just adds some margin on top.

Overall, on Jan'1/2020 Afilias fee will be increased (something like +10%) for all their solely owned TLDs, and later - should be the same increase for all their managed TLDs like .ORG

 

[bmugford]

There is an event tomorrow on this deal. I encourage people to take part.

https://www.nten.org/events/?event-id=a0l1U000002y52lQAA

You can send questions to - [email protected]

I submitted the following list -

1.) How was removing the .ORG price caps beneficial to the 10M+ registrants?

2.) How is this deal to sell the .ORG operating rights beneficial to the
same 10M+ registrants?

3.) Would this deal have been made if the price caps were not removed?

4.) What is the timeline of events that lead to this deal?
Why were the registry operating rights not put out for a public bid?
Why are so many former ICANN leadership and insiders connected to this
deal with a brand-new private equity firm?

5.) Does ICANN need to sign off on this deal, or do they claim to be
"powerless" to stop the transfer of a contract even when they are the only
other party?

If that is ICANN's stance then what protections are in place for these
registrants when it comes to pricing or censorship?

"Trust us" is not a protection. The registry could easily later be resold
to another party with far different policies. It could lead to de facto
censorship via pricing or other registry polices.

 

[Jurgen Wolf]

Was almost silence regarding .ORG since I use NamePros... including "Request Domains" section...
And real hype last ~2 weeks...

Very strangely...