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?

 

[wwwweb]

If something is illegit - proof is a nice thing to have.

Well if you do your homework ex chair of Icann created Ethos domain name, day before icann cleared the sale.

Ex icann employees are using their connections within to create a sweetheart deal for themselves, no idea what promises are being made to current employees. The .org registry was undersold based on the revenue it generates, along with potential in regards to current market ratios.

There are a lot of things that don’t add up if you take the time to read up, on the surface all business, is business, but there is a lot more to it. These extensions were never meant to belong to a single for profit venture capital group, there is a message, and standard of trust that .org portrays.

That is why we have thousands of gtlds, they are all for profit, go at it, but these legacy tlds need protections. There is no shortage of domains out there, it is the principal of trust that they portray, and that is why many non profit organizations chose a .org, over per say .com etc...

To be honest most domainers only hold a small % of their portfolio in .org, there are probably more in the past 3 years who have shifted to .org, as .net collapsed, but it’s not as large as you think.

You basically have 4-5 people squeezing money from charities so they can buy a bigger house, or boat, it’s just a transfer of wealth from millions to a few rich people who want to be richer. It really goes against what is happening today in society, as you have a few thousand people who control more wealth than a few billion people, it makes very little sense for them to hoard such assets when the funds can be used for a greater good.

For a company to make $100 million dollars, and have expenses of $20 million dollars, seems like a pretty fair margin. Now to go, and try to squeeze people for more, when their costs go down over time, that seems a bit opportunistic.

 

[trelgor]

Sure it may be ”Unethos Capital”. But is there a law or regulation that has been breached? If there is - they should be in court. If not - vote for someone that will reform corruption legislation to encompass this type of ”scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” behaviour.

I’ve heard that Icann is corrupt since I first discovered the industry 10 years ago. Still noone has proved anything.

 

[uzver]

Sure it may be ”Unethos Capital”. But is there a law or regulation that has been breached? If there is - they should be in court. If not - vote for someone that will reform corruption legislation to encompass this type of ”scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” behaviour.

I’ve heard that Icann is corrupt since I first discovered the industry 10 years ago. Still noone has proved anything.

It’s an obvious conflict of interest and behind the scenes deal.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/20/org_registry_sale_shambles/

 

[uzver]

“Pressure is now mounting for ICANN to block the transaction. Since it involves a top-level internet domain, the transfer of .org to a new owner requires the agency’s formal approval.

In a statement to the FT, however, ICANN appeared to brush aside the calls for action, saying that it “does not have authority over the proposed acquisition”. Instead, it said its job was simply to “assure the continued operation of the .org domain” — implying that it could only stop the sale if the stability and security of the domain name infrastructure were at risk.

That minimalist interpretation of its responsibilities has not appeased its critics. Mr Rotenberg said that ICANN had taken a broader interest in ensuring appropriate ownership of top-level domain in the past — including when the .org registry was first transferred to the Internet Society.

Others, meanwhile, claim the sale highlights a deeper governance problem at key institutions involved in the smooth workings of the internet.

“It raises the question again: Who is ICANN accountable to? Under the current governance structure, it’s only accountable to itself,” said Nao Matsukata, an executive in the domain-name industry, which has long chafed at the way ICANN has handled the internet’s addressing system.”

Complete article https://www.ft.com/content/08066a5a-11b2-11ea-a7e6-62bf4f9e548a

 

[trap3]

Sure it may be ”Unethos Capital”. But is there a law or regulation that has been breached? If there is - they should be in court. If not - vote for someone that will reform corruption legislation to encompass this type of ”scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” behaviour.

I’ve heard that Icann is corrupt since I first discovered the industry 10 years ago. Still noone has proved anything.

Next you'll be saying you DON'T believe in aliens.

 

[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...