[governance] Proposed statement on .ORG sale

Tue Dec 10 10:15:19 EST 2019

+1 to this letter.

Brett Solomon
Executive Director
Access Now | accessnow.org

@solomonbrett
Key ID: 0x4EDC17EB
Fingerprint: C02C A886 B0FC 3A25 FF9F ECE8 FCDF BA23 4EDC 17EB

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On Tue, Dec 10, 2019 at 9:59 AM Ayden Férdeline <ayden at ferdeline.com> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> In response to comments in this thread and new developments today, I have
> proposed some further edits to the statement that we could potentially send
> to the ISOC Board. Please find below. Note that key changes are in red.
> Thanks!
>
> Ayden Férdeline
> --
>
> *To:    Gonzalo Camarillo, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Internet
> Society*
>
> *As members of a network which encompasses many non-commercial
> organizations and individuals, we are concerned by the announcement that
> Ethos Capital intends to acquire the assets of the Public Interest Registry
> (PIR) from the Internet Society (ISOC), including the .ORG, .NGO, and .ONG
> Registry Agreements. We ask that this sale be called off. *
>
> *Principally, we are concerned that the sale of PIR to a private entity
> investment firm will significantly alter the Domain Name System and weaken
> ISOC. PIR played an important role, as the only remaining non-commercial
> top-level domain registry operator, in serving as a counterbalance against
> commercial exploitation. PIR ran .ORG, .NGO, and .ONG for the benefit of
> its users, whereas other top-level domains are run by private companies
> with purely financial objectives. While the interests of companies and
> users do at times overlap, they can also conflict, and when this occurs
> there are significant human rights implications. PIR, as a subsidiary of
> ISOC, could be relied upon to do what was best for domain name registrants,
> and has a proud history of doing just that. However, PIR also gave ISOC
> legitimacy and influence. It allowed ISOC to take an active role in shaping
> Internet infrastructure. In relinquishing its control over PIR, ISOC would
> lose its ability to directly impact how millions of people around the world
> positively experience the Internet every day, and we think that is a great
> pity.*
>
> *We understand that Ethos Capital approached ISOC with an offer in
> September 2019 and that an agreement had been reached to sell PIR by
> November 2019. This secret process caught us, and everyone, unaware, not
> just of the transaction but of the urgency to divest of PIR. *
>
> *We join ICANN in its 9 December 2019 letter calling for ISOC to be more
> transparent about the proposed sale of PIR. We ask that ISOC commit to
> publishing on its website all correspondence and documents exchanged with
> ICANN in relation to the proposed change in control of PIR. In addition, we
> ask that ISOC commit to publishing on its website any filings (including
> motions and petitions) in the Pennsylvania Orphans' Court relating to the
> change in status of the PIR.*
>
> *We expect an organization that operates in the public interest, and who
> promotes the values of openness, trust, and transparency, to be open and
> transparent about major decisions. *
>
> *This is a major decision that will result in a significant change, for
> ISOC and for the Internet community, and it has been proposed a) without a
> human rights impact assessment being conducted, b) without consultation
> with impacted stakeholders, and c) without appropriate safeguards in place
> to protect the interests of .ORG, .NGO, and .ONG registrants and the people
> who visit their websites every day. *
>
> *ISOC has successfully stewarded .ORG via PIR for 17 years, gaining a
> reputation as a careful manager of a resource that truly is the global home
> for nonprofits and the noncommercial community. Given this background, and
> ISOC’s stated commitments to transparency and openness, we are unable to
> reconcile the path that you have taken with the values we thought ISOC
> espoused. Accordingly, we call upon ISOC to withdraw from its negotiations
> with Ethos Capital, to withdraw from selling PIR, and to honor its charter.*
>
>
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Monday, December 9, 2019 2:29 PM, parminder <parminder at itforchange.net>
> wrote:
>
> Thanks Imran, very useful..
>
> So a community asset given to ISOC for free, nay with a $ 5 million
> subsidy, for safe keeping and management on behalf of the community is
> suddenly declared by ISOC to just be a sterile financial asset -- with no
> community implications whatsoever -- that it is selling off to a newly
> formed for profit entity in order to maintain and augment its funding. And
> we are supposed to stay quiet or just applaud ISOC's financial
> astuteness....
>
> It cannot get more absurd that this..
>
> parminder
> On 09/12/19 12:19 PM, Imran Ahmed Shah wrote:
>
> Hi Parminder,
> There were 11 bidders. ICANN evaluated 11 proposals when VeriSign was
> leaving in 2002.
> At that time, the bidding criteria was different, the bidders were quoting
> their quality of services, as there was objections on VeriSign Support.
> Secondly, bidders were offering the cost of their fee for services per
> domain (registration and/or renewal). ISOC was not the lowest bidder.
>
> No, ISOC/PIR did not have to pay anything. In compensation from ICANN,
> VeriSign given seed money (Endowment) to ISOC/PIR for capacity building
> and Registry handling and support 2.6 million domain names.
>
> Regards
>
> Imran Ahmed Shah
>
> On Monday, 9 December 2019, 09:44:57 GMT+5, parminder
> <parminder at itforchange.net> <parminder at itforchange.net> wrote:
>
>
> From those who know I request response to this question:
>
> Was ISOC given the .org registry as a result of an auction (apart from
> other evaluation criteria) or not, meaning did ISOC pay anything, and if so
> how much?
>
> Thanks
>
> parminder
> On 09/12/19 3:27 AM, Ayden Férdeline wrote:
>
>
> Indeed John, this criteria is interesting, particularly number 6, which I
> have pasted below. I do not believe Ethos Capital has a "level of support
> for the proposal from .ORG registrants," but the Internet Society did, and
> that is why .ORG was assigned to them over other bidders.
>
> *6. Level of support for the proposal from .org registrants.*
>
> *Demonstrated support among registrants in the .org TLD, particularly
> those actually using .org domain names for noncommercial purposes, will be
> a factor in evaluation of the proposals. Noncommercial registrants do not
> have uniform views about policy and management, and no single organization
> can fully encompass the diversity of global civil society. There will
> likely be significant difficulties in ascertaining the level of support for
> particular .org proposals from throughout the .org registrants and
> noncommercial community. Nevertheless, proposals to operate the .org TLD
> should provide available evidence of support from across the global
> Internet community.*
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Ayden Férdeline
>
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Sunday, December 8, 2019 10:49 PM, Sylvain Baya
> <governance at lists.riseup.net> <governance at lists.riseup.net> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Le dim. 8 déc. 2019 9:19 PM, John Levine <icggov at johnlevine.com> a écrit :
>
> In article <
> CAJjTEvFXJ+ZLsdLwYF2vMkChKizoZ9RKN7p+O_Bj52yiAn858g at mail.gmail.com> you
> write:
>
> ><hxxps://www.icann.org/news/icann-pr-2001-03-01-en>
>
> It might be more useful to refer to the criteria used to evaluate
> the .org proposals and decide who got the registry:
>
>
> Dear John,
> ...have you used it yourselves ?
>
> https://archive.icann.org/en/tlds/org/criteria.htm
>
>
> ...for sure, these criteria are interesting ; but let me know if there is
> a specific criterion which contains, explicitely, the key words : **By
> and For** ?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Shalom,
> --sb.
>
>
> R's,
> John
>
>
>
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