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--></style></head><body lang=EN-IN link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>What would be Parminder’s reaction if they joined various civil society organisations rather than “big domain name” (like big telecom, big lumber and all the other bigs?)? </span><span style='font-family:"Apple Color Emoji";mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>😊</span><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>From: </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Governance <governance-bounces@lists.igcaucus.org> on behalf of Ayden Férdeline via Governance <governance@lists.igcaucus.org><br><b>Reply to: </b>Ayden Férdeline <ayden@ferdeline.com><br><b>Date: </b>Friday, 20 November 2020 at 4:40 PM<br><b>To: </b>parminder <parminder@itforchange.net><br><b>Cc: </b><governance@lists.igcaucus.org><br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [Governance] Acquisition of Afilias by Donuts<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks Parminder,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>On the revolving door point - I have also noticed that many former ICANN execs are now working at companies in the domain name space, and others have pointed this out as well. But I don't see why there would be anything wrong with that unless, for example, they made decisions <i>prior</i> to leaving ICANN <i>purely</i> for the benefit of their post-ICANN careers and against the best interests of the ICANN community. If you (or anyone else) are able to provide verifiable evidence of such, I think there would be considerable media interest in such a story...<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Best wishes,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Ayden Férdeline<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐<br>On Friday, November 20th, 2020 at 05:32, parminder via Governance <governance@lists.igcaucus.org> wrote:<br><br><o:p></o:p></p><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><p><span style='font-family:"Liberation Sans",serif'>I understand all that this is being directed by a murky mafia behind the scene, of which we got some sightings during the .org saga. This mafia both consists of ex-CANNers and is in cahoots with existing people in ICANN... This is why revolving doors is such a bad word in policy and governance circles.... But wasnt the multistakeholderism version practised by ICANN always a formalisation and white-washing of revolving doors...</span> parminder<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On 20/11/20 4:01 AM, Ayden Férdeline via Governance wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal>Hi all,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Just flagging this press release that says Afilias has been acquired by Donuts:<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/donuts-inc-to-acquire-afilias-inc-301177508.html" target="_blank">https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/donuts-inc-to-acquire-afilias-inc-301177508.html</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>This means that Donuts now owns over 450 generic top-level domains (out of a total of 1,200). The (continued) consolidation in the domain name industry is something that civil society might want to track. I am not sure if this sale is problematic from a competition perspective (though that is my gut reaction), but it is significant nonetheless.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Donuts is owned by private equity firm Abry Partners, connected to former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Afilias, which Donuts is now acquiring, is paid roughly $20 million a year by the Public Interest Registry to offer backend services. Late last year another Fadi Chehade-connected entity, Ethos Capital, attempted to acquire the Public Interest Registry.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Best wishes,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Ayden Férdeline<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><br><br><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>-- Governance mailing list Governance@lists.igcaucus.org https://lists.igcaucus.org/mailman/listinfo/governance <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>