[governance] PIR Case/or the .org sell

[Niels ten Oever]

I (also) wrote a blog about it:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/hri/private-equity-firm-procures-org-internet-society-or-how-public-interest-got-sold-out-again/

On 11/28/19 5:11 PM, Norbert Bollow wrote:
> 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
> 
> 
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-- 
Niels ten Oever
Researcher and PhD Candidate
Datactive Research Group
University of Amsterdam

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