[governance] Proposed statement on .ORG sale

[Bill Woodcock]

Milton is right on all points.  I’ve been very short of time, but he’s clearly articulated approximately the same set of objections that occurred to me. Complaining about transparency comes across as “I’m offended that I wasn’t in the room” rather than “this is a bad outcome.”

The letter needs to concern itself clearly and exclusively with our desired outcome. Else that, which is the most important point, will get lost in the noise. 
    
                -Bill


> On Dec 19, 2019, at 20:23, Mueller, Milton L <milton at gatech.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> Sheetal:
> This is not a very well-informed letter, sorry to say. See comments in line below:
>  
> Subject: Letter from the Internet Governance Caucus re: the sale of .org
> Principally, we are concerned that the sale of PIR to a private entity investment firm would significantly alter the Domain Name System and weaken ISOC.
> 
> MM: Odd. How would $1.135 billion weaken ISOC? How would the transfer of control of one medium-size TLD registry significantly alter the DNS? The letter loses credibility right off the bat by making claims that cannot be backed up.
> 
> PIR played an important role, as the only remaining non-commercial top-level domain registry operator, in serving as a counterbalance against commercial exploitation.
> 
> MM: Really? Aside from its annual support for NCUC (which was a fulfillment of the obligation in the original RFP), there was no meaningful difference between the way PIR was run and most other gTLD registries was run, both in terms of pricing and service. This observation both unfairly casts aspersions on all commercial registries while falsely idealizing PIR.
> 
> 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.
> 
> MM: Again, can you cite specific differences in behavior? And do you believe that if ISOC/PIR are forced to continue running ORG even if they don’t want to that things will be better?
> 
> 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.
> 
> MM: Yeah, that’s why it advocated for an end to price caps, added URS, and toyed with intellectual property takedown procedures.
> 
> However, PIR also gave ISOC greater legitimacy and wider influence. It allowed ISOC to take an even more active role in shaping Internet infrastructure. In relinquishing its control over PIR, ISOC would lose some of 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.
> 
> MM: This is a pretty absurd claim, it amounts to the IGC thinking that it knows what is good for ISOC better than ISOC’s trustees and staff do. This also shows a lack of knowledge. Running one TLD registry out of 2000 with less than 5% share of world registrations does not really do much to “shape internet infrastructure.” Supporting IETF shapes internet infrastructure, running ORG does not. It also ignores ISOC’s somewhat valid concern that tying their finances to a particular line of business distorts their objectivity regarding the future of the internet.
> 
> 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.
> 
> MM: This focus on the machinations around the sale totally misses the target. We want forward-looking information and commitments: we want Ethos to tell us how they will fulfill the obligations in the 2002 RFP and we want them to make new commitments, embedded in the Registry Agreement, that will protect ORG registrants.
> 
> We expect an organization that operates in the public interest, and who promotes the values of openness, trust, and transparency, to be coherent with those values when making major decisions.
> 
> MM: Again I cannot understand this morbid fascination with ISOC’s decision making process and the absence of a forward-looking agenda. Demand something meaningful, please! Wish IGC had paid more attention to advice from those of us actually active within the DNS policy environment.
> 
>  
> 
> ---
> To unsubscribe: <mailto:igc-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net>
> List help: <https://riseup.net/lists>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20191219/37c7cc17/attachment.htm>