Nov 26, 2019 12:14:00

What led to the management of the “.org” domain being sold to an investment company just a few months after its establishment?

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Capri23auto

One of the top-level domains, ' .org ' is a domain mainly used for non-profit organizations and schools. In November 2019, the public interest registry (PIR) , a non-profit organization that manages '.org', was found sold to an investment company called Ethos Capital. A lot of people view this as a problem, and Samuel Klein , a researcher at the Berkman Center , a cyberspace research institute at Harvard University, blogged about the background of the uproar in sales of the “.org” management organization. It is summarized.

ICANN races towards regulatory capture: the great .ORG heist
http://blogs.harvard.edu/sj/2019/11/23/a-tale-of-icann-and-regulatory-capture-the-dot-org-heist/

“.Org” is derived from the word “organization”, meaning “organization / organization” and is also one of the first domains established in 1985. Since 2003, PIR has been maintained and managed as a registry that manages the '.org' domain database, and more than 10 million '.org' domains have been registered at the time of article creation.

As of June 30, 2019, the domain database management organization Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and PIR have entered into a registry agreement. , And one of the contracts that included the removal of the upper limit of the .org domain registration price. In the past, the registration fee that PIR can charge to registrars of domain registrars with business capabilities was capped at $ 9.05 per domain per year. However, the renewal of the contract has lifted the price cap, and the use of the '.org' domain could be raised.

Over 3,000 oppositions have been lifted, the upper limit of the `` .org '' domain registration price has been decided, and the possibility of price increases in the future-GIGAZINE

Over 3000 public comments on contract renewal were received, 98% of which disagreed with price ceilings, but ICANN and PIR renewed the contract by ignoring comments. PIR stated in the statement : “There is no specific plan for raising the registration fee for the“ .org domain ”. We are proud to have been working as a .org registry operator for over 15 years. I will never betray the trust that I have given us with the '.org domain' 'and asked for understanding.

However, on November 13, 2019, just a few months later, Internet Society (ISOC) , a PIR superordinate organization, announced that it had sold PIR to an investor, Ethos Capital. Signing activities against the acquisition are starting.

It turns out that the `` .org domain '' for non-profit organizations and schools has been sold off to private companies together with management organizations-GIGAZINE

The activity of signing against the fact that the management organization of the `` .org '' domain was sold to an investment company started-GIGAZINE

According to Klein, Ethos Capital was founded in May 2019, just a few months before the acquisition of PIR became known, with only two staff members within the company, and the business it was doing was the acquisition of PIR It ’s just that. Klein points out that a small number of people, including Fadi Chehadé, who served as CEO of ICANN, were in the midst of the uproar of the “.org” domain management organization from 2012 to 2016.

Since 2014, the number of sectoral top-level domains (gTLDs) available under Chehadé has increased dramatically, bringing the total to about 1400. Meanwhile, Donuts, a startup company established to apply for and operate a new gTLD, has successfully owned about 250 TLDs.

In 2016, Chehadé left ICANN to join Boston-based investment firm Abry Partners , which helped Abry Partners acquire a majority stake in Donuts in September 2018. Immediately after that, Donuts co-founder Jon Nevett resigned from Donuts and became the new CEO of PIR in December 2018.

In early 2019, shortly after Nevett took office, PIR called on ICANN to raise the price limit for '.org' and renewed the contract, stressing that PIR is a non-profit organization. As a result, Chehadé registered the domain of “EthosCapital.com” in May 2019, and from 14 May 2019, Ethos Capital was incorporated as a new “investment company” based in Boston. . Ethos Capital was founded by Erik Brooks, an executive at Abry Partners, and Nora Abusitta-Ouri, registered as another employee, is a former senior vice president of ICANN. .

Later, in November 2019, the acquisition of PIR by Ethos Capital was announced at an alarming rate. PIR CEO Nevett explained that there was an acquisition approach from Etos Capital in September 2019, but it was clear that he had been familiar with the people around Etos Capital.

“The series of moves seems to violate ethical, ICANN, ISOC, and nonprofit guidelines. The acquisition of PIR by Ethos Capital is clearly a private sector to move from a nonprofit monopoly to a commercial monopoly. It will benefit by injuring millions of people, ”he accused stakeholders, including Chehadé.

by Free-Photos

・ Continued
Explain the reason why the person who sold the `` .org '' domain sold-GIGAZINE