The importance of non-restricted .org access

[James Gannon]

According to the Chair of the BoT its less than 1% of registrations.

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James Gannon

From: NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> on behalf of Joan Kerr <joankerr at FBSC.ORG>
Reply to: Joan Kerr <joankerr at FBSC.ORG>
Date: Tuesday, 3 December 2019 at 18:58
To: "NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU" <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Subject: Re: The importance of non-restricted .org access

Hi Sam,

I am trying to find out how many of the 10 million .org domain names are actually noncommercial, because if there are substantial commercial domain names, then Ethos Capital can disregard any comments or suggestions because their registrants will be mainly commercial entities.
Regards,

On Tue, Dec 3, 2019 at 10:09 AM Sam Lanfranco <lanfran at yorku.ca<mailto:lanfran at yorku.ca>> wrote:
All,
I would like to underscore the part of Milton’s history about the decision to make .org open to all, and for it not to be restricted to officially registered ngos and non-profits. That openness is important for several reasons.
The first is that many small non-profits and community organizations simply do not have the finances and administrative capacity to register their organization, especially in countries where registration is not easy. As well, once registered they have routine reporting obligations that can be both burdensome and easy to overlook. One year earlier in this decade the South African government revoked the registration of (as I recall) about one-third of the registered ngo’s in South Africa, for failure to submit their annual report. Some no longer existed and some were poor or absent minded, but If .org were not open, a number of those ngos would have lost their websites as well.
The second is that some governments require that an ngo must be registered if it is to receive any “foreign funding” (e.g. ISOC or ICANN COPE). This requirement is used as a tool to punish ngo’s whose work displeases the government. The ngo is not closed, but its finances are crippled. It would be sad if they also had to lose their .org website.
The third of course is the need for some ngo’s and community groups to maintain a high degree of privacy under difficult circumstances. Even attempting to register as an ngo can result in serious harm to participants.
Lastly, social media platforms have become attractive as the first-choice digital presence for many because they are open and accessible to all. While that openness comes with its problems as well, it has fewer obstacles than working through a registered ngo and using a .org domain name website. Nothing should be done to make the .org less attractive.
That brings us back to the wisdom and integrity of the pending .org registry sale.
Sam Lanfranco


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Joan Kerr, Entrepreneur, Artist, Humanitarian

_____________________________________

Chair, Climate Smart Victory Garden Team

Chair, ICANN, Not for Profit Operations Constituency

Chair, IEEE Sustainable Agriculture Working Group

Chair, Science for Peace, Climate Smart Victory Gardens

Advisor, IEEE Humanitarian Initiatives Committee

Advisor, Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network, (CSAYN) Canada

UN WSIS Award Recipient, for Content & Creativity

Durham Region Recipient, Community Partnership Award

Founder, Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities

www.joankerr.ca<http://www.joankerr.ca/>, www.fbsc.org<http://www.fbsc.org/>

Skype: joankerr_fbsc

1-416-907-0783
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