In a November 13 press release, the Internet Society announced it had reached an agreement with Ethos Capital, under which Ethos Capital would acquire Public Interest Registry (PIR), the company that owns the .ORG domain.
In a November 13 press release, the Internet Society announced it had reached an agreement with Ethos Capital, under which Ethos Capital would acquire Public Interest Registry (PIR), the company that owns the .ORG domain. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
Nonprofits have raised concerns about the sale and the possible future implications for their organizations.
Two key concerns from the sector: the possibility of domain price increases and the threat of censorship.
The former concern largely stems from an action earlier in the year, when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the governing body which oversees .ORG domain rights, removed a price-hike cap at 10 percent for annual increases on.ORG domains.
“The concern is not just about this purchase,” Rick Cohen, COO, National Council of Nonprofits, said in an interview with CNN Business. "It is about this purchase, coupled with the removal of pricing caps that have protected nonprofits from exorbitant price increases on the .ORG domains they rely upon.”
During a December 5, 2019, community call organized by NTEN, a membership organization of nonprofit technology professionals, Erik Brooks, founder and CEO of Ethos Capital, shared, “Keeping .ORG accessible and reasonably priced for everyone is 100% our intention. Annual price increases could be no more than 10% on average, which is consistent with historic practice.” He later reiterated, “We are committed to staying within the spirit of how PIR has operated within the price system that they operated with before.”
The concern of censorship relates to the registry having the power to develop and implement Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs). According to ICANN’s website, RPMs are designed “to support a trusted marketplace.” A letter crafted in opposition to the sale says that if not carefully crafted, such mechanisms could “risk censoring completely legal nonprofit activities.”
The letter goes on to say, “A registry could abuse these powers to do significant harm to the global NGO sector, intentionally or not. We cannot afford to put them into the hands of a private equity firm that has not earned the trust of the NGO community. .ORG must be managed by a leader that puts the needs of NGOs over profits.”
While it is true that nonprofits are the primary users of .ORG, it’s also important to understand that nonprofits are not the only users of the domain, a fact that complicates the issue.
During the recent community call, Andrew Sullivan, CEO of the Internet Society, said, “It’s not true and it’s never been true that .ORG is exclusively for nonprofits. There is no requirement for anything in terms of a .ORG registration.”
The PIR website states, “Whether you're a social enterprise, non-profit, community group, blogger, or anyone interested in making an impact online - and in the world - .ORG is the right fit for you.”
For many nonprofits, .ORG is part of their brand. Making a domain change at this time would be incredibly costly and difficult to accomplish.
Mitch Stolz, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who also participated in the community call said, “There are now millions of nonprofits who are essentially captive audience of .ORG at this point. There are people for whom switching domain names is nearly impossible at this point.”
On December 9, ICANN shared that it has requested additional information from PIR about the transaction. In a message shared on its website, the group states, “ICANN will thoroughly evaluate the responses and then ICANN has 30 additional days to provide or withhold its consent to the request.”
At the time this article was published, the petition at savedotorg.org has been signed by 17,426 people.
This issue has been raised to CMF’s Public Policy Committee for their discussion; a resolution opposing the sale is being presented for action. If approved, a resolution would later be brought to the full board.
Want more?
Check out the PIR and Ethos Convene Community Webinar on December 19.
Watch the video of the community call hosted by NTEN on December 5 with Andrew Sullivan from Internet Society, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The National Council of Nonprofits and Internet Society chapter leaders, as well as Jon Nevett from Public Interest Registry, and Erik Brooks and Nora Abusitta from Ethos Capital.
