[governance] PIR Case/or the .org sell

[Norbert Bollow]

On Thu, 28 Nov 2019 15:22:27 +0000
James Gannon <james at cyberinvasion.net> wrote:

> Without commenting on the details just want to call out that we had a
> statement from ISOC BoT members yesterday that less than 1% of .org
> registrations sit with not for profits, food for thought in these
> dicsussions on impact.

I'm not sure whether that statistic is as meaningful as it might appear
to be at first glance.

For example, using a .org domain name used to be considered the most
appropriate domain name choice in (at least parts of) the Free Software
community for "free software projects". Only the biggest / most
successful of these communities would ever formally establish a legal
entity around the "project", so most of these communities would not
be counted with those "less than 1%".

I would tend to think that the part of the impact that really matters
is the impact on (formal and informal) non-profit organizations and
initiatives etc., since that's where the intended purpose of carving out
the .org domain space was. Of course, yes, there are others who
registered .org domains for commercial or personal purposes, etc.,
without in any way thereby intending to put distance between what
they were doing and the realm of profit-centric activities, and
without putting particular trust in ISOC and/or in any of the various
specific promises that had been made around .org

In my view, the problem is not only about the purely financial aspects.

The feelings of betrayal may be more significant and important.

I would suggest that a very central aspect of human dignity, to which
engagement in not-for-profit activities is very often tied, has been
violated by ISOC's decision.

Greetings,
Norbert