Financial Times Op-Ed on ISOC/PIR sale of .ORG

[Ayden Férdeline]

Dear all,

The Financial Times has published an excellent Op-Ed today by Marietje Schaake that explores the impact of the sale of the Public Interest Registry and, by extension, .ORG, on the Internet Society's ability to exercise leadership in Internet governance. I recommend reading it (please let me know off-list if you are greeted by a paywall - the FT allows subscribers to 'gift' access to email addresses, so I can make sure you get to read it):

https://www.ft.com/content/0fa53e6a-1a79-11ea-81f0-0c253907d3e0

Until the sell-off to Ethos, each registration of a .org domain directly funded ISOC. The public had no chance to anticipate the privatisation of the main function of this not-for-profit, because there was no public consultation beforehand. That omission is rare for this kind of process and appears to be at odds with ISOC’s stated mission of ensuring that “the internet is for everyone”.

The decision may make sense for ISOC itself, as its supporters argue, because it now has new capital to deploy. But the way .org was sold could not be further from what is considered good practice in the very multi-stakeholder circles ISOC wishes to operate in. The question is whether it will be trusted ever again. And it needs credibility to make meaningful use of its newly acquired wealth. Would the US’s National Public Radio, for example, be trusted and appreciated by its listeners in the same way if it were to sell its news division to Facebook overnight?

...

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether a $1.1bn endowment will be sufficient to offset ISOC’s self-inflicted reputational damage. What is certain is that ISOC has dealt a huge blow to the multi-stakeholder governance model of the internet. We have learnt that the open internet needs governance that is not only based on stated values but also on principles that can be enforced.

Best wishes,
Ayden Férdeline
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