debate The fight for .ORG: is it about MONEY or is it about CONTROL?

[Rob Monster]

As some here are aware, I previously presented the bullish case for .ORG:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/why-i-am-bullish-on-org-plutocratic-guilt.1161692/

Although I remain bullish on the .ORG TLD as a domain asset class, there is now a footnote on .ORG because of the change of control event and the precedent that it represents for a major registry.

In the wake of organized backlash against the Ethos/PIR.org deal from capable organizations such as EFF, it appears that propagandists are makeing a case for "nothing to see here". For example note this article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/opinion/dot-org-domain.html

This article was written by a Stanford undergrad with a Stanford prof as the byline. Fade Chehade is a Stanford alum. This looks like a propaganda instrument. In fact, I put the odds at 90:10 on that.

Ultimately, I am not convinced that this is not about money. After all, Donuts is not exactly killing it since Abry took over. However, they now control a whopping 242 TLDs. These people are not stupid nor are they lazy.

Fadi is a globalist and an elite technocrat. He has a keen understanding of power, governance and realpolitik. I believe he is entirely sincere about what he thinks it is at stake. Check out his short TED interview:

https://www.ted.com/talks/fadi_cheh...itizens_can_do_to_claim_power_on_the_internet

The timing of this talk was curious. September 2018 is when the digital censorship programs went into overdrive. As some folks know, I was on the front line of that when Godaddy booted Gab.

Fadi wants "Geneva conventions", "technocratic oaths" and "stewards" for acceptable use.

Fadi also comments on Artificial Intelligence. He is absolutely right. Most folks have no idea how much impact AI combined with structured data, wireless broadband, and open standards is going to change the word.

People with access to domains, hosting and vast libraries of open source code, are capable of wielding remarkable things. The tools are already amazing. I believe AI is also in the process of being democratized.

As power of internet publishing gravitates to individuals, the framework for governance on the Internet comes down to the gatekeepers, of which domain registries play a critical role for at least the next 10 years.

Blockchain is plodding along to create a decentralized alternative. It is not ready for prime time yet. However, domains can become more resilient. That is where Epik is focused.

Now that the main industry pundits have had their commentary on .ORG, I am curious to hear what the open source community has to say about the .ORG transaction and its implications. Let's hear it.

 

[branding]

Part I: Who Pays When .Org Prices Rise? By Nat Cohen

... A review of a random extract of the .org zone shows that 8% of registrations are held by domainers. 27% are clearly identifiable as noncommercial, and 20% are clearly commercial. The remaining 45% are inactive and can't be readily identified as either commercial or noncommercial and will be a mix of both. Inactive domain names are unlikely to be owned by domainers for domainers ensure that their domain names are active in order to generate ad revenue and sales leads. When .org prices increase, therefore, the burden falls primarily on the nonprofits who heavily rely on .org domain names, on businesses using a .org to generate leads or as a defensive registration, and on individuals, families, bloggers and other noncommercial users.

Domainers on the whole have little interest in .org domain names because of the much lower demand for .org domain names and the much lower prices realized on average on resale than for .com domain names. The .org aftermarket is only 3% of the size of the .com aftermarket. Domainers hold 33 times as many .com domain names as .org domain names. In other words, out of every 100 .com and .org domain names held by a domainer, 97 will be .com and only 3 will be .org. .Org is a rounding error in most domainers' portfolios. The small share of .org domain names registered to domainers reflects this ...

read more (circleid)

Thanks. Good article. Finally someone questioning (and debunking) the numbers Ethos and affiliated strawmen are giving us. Great read.

 

[Lox]

SaveDotOrg Protest at ICANN

... We’ll rally outside ICANN’s offices in Los Angeles on Friday, January 24. This is an important moment in the SaveDotOrg campaign, and we want you to join us! Come as you are. We’ll have shirts and signs, and you are welcome to make your own!

read more (SaveDotOrg)

 

[bmugford]

Six U.S. lawmakers have asked (pdf) ICANN to reject the sale of .Org to Ethos Capital, a private equity company.

The lawmakers include presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Richard Blumenthal, Edward Markey, Anna Eshoo, and Mark Pocan.

In a letter to ICANN, they provide a litany of reasons that ICANN should reject the deal. One is that they believe the new owners will raise prices and cut costs as a way to pay down debt and return funds to investors.

They point out that, even if Ethos raises prices 10% a year on average, this is three times how much PIR has traditionally raised prices.

The letter concludes:

The proposed sale of .ORG is against the public interest and would violate ICANN’s commitment to “preserve and enhance .. . the operational stability, reliability, security … and
openness of the DNS and the Internet.

https://domainnamewire.com/2020/01/16/6-lawmakers-urge-icann-to-reject-org-sale/

 

[tonyk2000]

Six U.S. lawmakers have asked (pdf)

Somebody wrote the letter for them (at least), and it is also possible that they were paid $$$ for signing the letter. No proofs, it is just a conspiracy theory. I am wondering who might do this?

 

[Lox]

ICANN Needs To Ask More Questions About the Sale of .ORG

...Before any change in who operates the .ORG registry can take place, ICANN, which oversees the domain name system, needs to answer important questions about the deal from those who use .ORG domain names as the foundation of their online identity. Working with the nonprofit community, we’re asking ICANN to ask more questions to confirm how the deal will protect .ORG users—questions that are still unanswered...

read more (EFF)

——-

Public Interest Registry, ICANN Extend Deadline

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Public Interest Registry (PIR) have mutually agreed to a 30-day extension of ICANN's time to review PIR's submissions. Also, ICANN will be requesting further information from PIR. The agreement can be found here.

This is an update to ICANN's Announcement on 11 January 2020.

———-

Don’t give your dot-org domain away to a private company
By Esther Dyson

... Esther Dyson served as the founding chair of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers from 1998 to 2000. She serves on the boards for a number of nonprofit organizations that use dot-org domain names and is executive founder of the nonprofit Wellville.

One of the Internet’s most trusted assets — the dot-org domain used by nonprofits from UNICEF to your local food bank — is being hijacked. Dot-org, which was built to support nonprofits globally, is being sold to the highest bidder with almost no public discussion or consideration of alternatives. Organizations and their supporters who rely on dot-org for website and email access deserve an open process. The institutions that govern the Internet should be transparent. It is up to those of us who believe in a free and open Internet to demand this deal be reconsidered...

read more (Washington post)

 

[Lox]

Now, Greenpeace, The ACLU, And Color Of Change Are Protesting.

read more (buzzfeed)

——

The entire market for domain name registries is broken, a troubling combination of government-granted monopoly, disinterested (at best) regulators, and eager extractors of profit. Users pay a relatively trivial amount for the rights to website names, and don’t really notice the enormous amounts of excess profit taken from them and hundreds of millions of their colleagues, a few bucks at a time.

read more (prospect)

 

[Lox]

11 NGO Leaders at Davos Warn Against Pending Private Equity Takeover of .Org Domain

read more (commondreams)

---

Domain sale could do 'irreparable harm' to millions of charities, NGOs warn

read more (reuters)

 

[oldtimer]

I don't think that this deal is going to go through, not only that, but there will be a serious assessment of all these money grabbing skims by ICANN insiders and their friends including the millions of dollars that are being charged for domain registrations (especially .com and .org) which amount to putting an arbitrary Tax on registrants which by the way are scheduled to go up every year instead of going down as the total number of registrations increases.

IMO

 

[bmugford]

Now, Greenpeace, The ACLU, And Color Of Change Are Protesting.

read more (buzzfeed)

——

The entire market for domain name registries is broken, a troubling combination of government-granted monopoly, disinterested (at best) regulators, and eager extractors of profit. Users pay a relatively trivial amount for the rights to website names, and don’t really notice the enormous amounts of excess profit taken from them and hundreds of millions of their colleagues, a few bucks at a time.

read more (prospect)

That is a lot of big, powerful organizations joining the what is essentially the unanimous group of organizations that have come out against this deal.

So now the question is ICANN going to further flush their own credibility down the toilet (even more) and allow this to happen?

It would be basically throwing every stakeholder under the bus but ETHOS and ISOC...Oh and all the former ICANN staff connected to this deal. All of whom have obvious self serving financial interests in the deal.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

which amount to putting an arbitrary Tax on registrants which by the way are scheduled to go up every year instead of going down as the total number of registrations increases.

Yep. Innovation and technology is supposed to drive the costs down.
Well, they are driving the operating costs down for sure.

However, the retail prices keep go up with no real justification.

Brad

 

[tonyk2000]

Actually, somebody like AMAZON might want to make a public offer to run .org registry for lets say $5 per domain per year, and with a promise to decrease prices each year. Good promotion.
They might even incorporate some not-for-profit company for this, with amazon sponsorhip. Nothing to lose actually. Their own infrastructure, such as AWS, is a perfect example: the prices were higher initially, and now it is cheaper - which is natural taking in account constantly decreasing costs to run such things.
Exactly amazon will unlikely do this though. They have they own specific relations with ICANN. Just recently they managed to finally receive an approval to run .amazon ngtld, which made a lot of South American countries very angry...

 

[Lox]

Just recently they managed to finally receive an approval to run .amazon ngtld, which made a lot of South American countries very angry...

The battle will continue and ACTO is going to ask the International Court of Justice (or relevant UN tribunal) to rule on potential violations. ICANN argued there's no evidence Amazon is a legit name for the country or reg. province in the region.

 

[Lox]

Mozilla.org
ICANN Directors: Take a Close Look at the Dot Org Sale

Ambiguous promises are not nearly enough given the stakes. A crystal-clear stewardship charter — and a chance to discuss and debate its contents — are needed before ICANN and the dot org community can even begin to consider whether the sale is a good idea.

read more (Mozilla org)

——

“This is a scandal of enormous proportion,” said Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation. The domain is already expensive for small NGOs, she said, adding that she doesn’t think private equity will be a good actor. “It is a joke against democratic rights and freedoms.”

Another concern is that eliminating the .org domain could limit people’s access to information, said Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair of Transparency International

read more (davex)

 

[Lox]

Thoughts on Our NPR Interview About Ethos Capital's Acquisition of .ORG
By Nora Abusitta-Ouri (Ethos Capital)

Investment Thesis

During our discussion on NPR (and many others), we have heard questions such as, "Why did Ethos pay so much for PIR?" and "What's in it for your investors?" I understand that this is where a lot of the fear about price increases comes from — at the heart of this, people are wondering why we would invest over $1 billion in PIR if we don't plan to profit by raising prices? As Erik Brooks, the Founder and CEO of Ethos, has stated previously, our investment thesis in buying PIR was very much driven by the stability and predictability of the company's current and historical performance. Like any business with stable revenues over time, the investment amount is one we're very comfortable with based on the current profitability of the business. When we first heard concerns on price constraints, it was easy to address them because we never had any plans for dramatic price increases.

Price Restrictions

Andrew made it clear that the removal of the price restrictions was not connected to the decision to sell PIR. As Andrew stated, various parties had expressed interest in acquiring PIR from the Internet Society before the price restrictions were removed. We have addressed these concerns directly: Ethos has committed to limiting any potential increase in the price of a .ORG domain registration to no more than 10% per year on average, even though today there are no regulatory pricing constraints on PIR or virtually any other domain name registry. At less than $10 today, .ORG is one of the most affordable domains in the world, and a 10% increase would equate to about $1. As such, .ORG will continue to be one of the most affordable domain names to use. As noted, without the transaction, PIR today could raise prices as much as it wished.

Ethos Investors

I was also asked about Ethos investors. First, I want to make it clear that as the majority stakeholder, Ethos Capital will control the board of PIR.

read more (circleid)

 

[bmugford]

Ethos Investors

I was also asked about Ethos investors. First, I want to make it clear that as the majority stakeholder, Ethos Capital will control the board of PIR.

This just confirms all the spin we are getting is BS.

We are not legally bound by any of the things were are saying. We have full control of the extension and can raise prices as much as we want, or re-sell the extension with no accountability.

(AKA investors just ignore the spin. We are saying what we have to in order to make this terrible deal look better. After approved, we will just do what we want anyway.)

"Trust Us" is not acceptable from a private equity firm with a public resource like this.

Brad

 

[Lox]

.Org: ICANN's Betrayals and its Opportunity to Act Now in the Public Interest
By Nat Cohen

ICANN's history with .Org is a story of one betrayal of .org registrants after another. The first betrayal was in 2002, when instead of selecting a registry for .Org that would act in the best interests of .org registrants, they chose ISOC so that ISOC could fund itself through its operation of .Org

ICANN's second betrayal of .org registrants occurred in the renewal of the .org agreement in 2006. In that agreement, ICANN permitted ISOC to raise prices on .org registrants by 10% per year, every year, without needing to justify the price increase, without providing any additional benefits to .org registrants, without linking price increases to the actual funding needs of the IETF, and without any accountability to .org registrants.

read more (circleid)

----

SaveDotOrg protest

Kieren McCarthy (Twitter) reports that ICANN Board has come out in full to accept signatures for the SaveDotOrg campaign.

----

(Twitter post ) ICANN Board Chair Maarten Botterman and the ICANN Board listen to organizers of SaveDotOrg, part of ICANN's commitment to accountability and transparency.

 

[Lox]

Jacob Malthouse - SaveDotOrg advisor
Amy Sample Ward - leading the charge with SaveDotOrg
Bill Woodcock - CCOR

 

[oldtimer]

It's kind of funny that some of the staff in institutions like ICANN that are supposed to look after public good and interest choose the path of self serving schemes and public betrayal as their first choice until they are exposed and then they decide to be on the people's side, but someone needs to ask them why didn't they do that from the very beginning. We shouldn't always have to force these people to do their job right, they should do the right thing even if they think no one is watching.

IMO

 

[Lox]

An investment firm might buy the dot-org domain. Protesters fear rising costs

.... “Who is going to stand up when the pressure comes from the owners of this private equity firm to get more money off their investment and to raise domain prices?” said Elliot Harmon, activism director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Who is going to stand up for nonprofits when governments come along that don’t have the civil society’s interests at their best hearts, asking them to take down the websites of their critics?”

Read more (PBS News Hour)

——-

Protestors in Los Angeles force ICANN board out of hiding over .org sale – for a brief moment, at least.
DNS overseer accepts 35,000-signature petition... and then runs away

read more (the register uk)

 

[Lox]

Nonprofit Supporters Rally to Save the .ORG Registry

 

[Lox]

What Should the ICANN Board Do About the .org Registry Sale?

...What is not clear is whether the ICANN Board is seeking information or advice to insure that the nature of the sale, in terms of the legal structure of the company holding the .org registry contract and in the wording of the contract, preserves some understanding of the public interest integrity of the .org registry. This is where the ICANN board will have to stand up and be held accountable for its actions, or inactions.

read more (circleid)

 

[Lox]

.ORG Will Thrive Under Ethos Capital
By Jeff Bedser, VC of the Board of Directors at PIR

The PIR Board spent a great deal of time analyzing the details of the transaction, discussed it at length, and weighed the benefits and potential concerns related to the acquisition. We asked serious questions of Erik Brooks and Ethos Capital regarding his intentions for PIR, where he expressed his intention of being a long-term partner of the organization. Ethos, PIR and the Internet Society have since worked diligently to address questions about the transaction, which has been one of the most transparent requests for a change of control in ICANN's history.

Actions speak louder than words, of course. And Ethos has taken steps to back its promises...

read more (circled)

 

[bmugford]

.ORG Will Thrive Under Ethos Capital
By Jeff Bedser, VC of the Board of Directors at PIR

The PIR Board spent a great deal of time analyzing the details of the transaction, discussed it at length, and weighed the benefits and potential concerns related to the acquisition. We asked serious questions of Erik Brooks and Ethos Capital regarding his intentions for PIR, where he expressed his intention of being a long-term partner of the organization. Ethos, PIR and the Internet Society have since worked diligently to address questions about the transaction, which has been one of the most transparent requests for a change of control in ICANN's history.

Actions speak louder than words, of course. And Ethos has taken steps to back its promises...

read more (circled)

How in the world are the millions of registrants better off with no price caps and a for-profit private equity company running the extension?

You would have to be a real idiot to swallow this marketing BS.

Brad

 

[Lox]

How in the world are the millions of registrants better off with no price caps and a for-profit private equity company running the extension?

You would have to be a real idiot to swallow this marketing BS.

Brad

The next step? ... converting ICANN into a for-profit ...

Regards

 

[bmugford]

Just received this -

Last night ICANN posted a letter it received a week ago from the California Attorney General that makes dozens of serious inquiries and demands for documentation, and is effectively a subpoena according to ICANN itself (see https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/jeffrey-to-nevett-30jan20-en.pdf).

The AG is apparently looking into ICANN decision-making, governance, the Ethos deal, and ICANN’s removal of price caps in particular.

This appears to be the greatest pressure that ICANN has faced to date, and has caused ICANN to request that PIR delay further delay the deal approval process.