Letter from Senators+ on .ORG Sale

[Sam Lanfranco]

	RE: Questions put by the Members of the U.S. Congress.
	My thinking here is between a rock and a hard spot (as the saying goes).
The rock is that ISOC will proceed with a sale, as it has every right to
do. The hard spot is what can be done, by ICANN and Ethos Capital, to
address the issues that have been raised by everybody from small
stakeholders, to journalists and online commentators, and now by members of
the U.S. Congress.  

	A key issue is how do we get clarity on the actual legal structure of the
PIR that is to be created by Ethos Capital? Some of the concerns expressed
get addressed, or are left hanging, with little more than the expressed
good intentions of Ethos Capital, depending on the actual form of
incorporation for PIR under Ethos Capital.  

	As far as I can tell Ethos Capital has suggested a B Corp Certified LLC
(Certified by B Lab?) which appears to fall considerably short of an
incorporated Benefit Corporation (B Corp) in terms of addressing expressed
concerns and  binding commitments to the public interest. It also falls
considerably short of embedding safeguards to deal with the concerns that
have been raised. Some clarity would help here.  

	It would go a long way toward informing concerns and addressing the issues
that have been raise if Ethos Capital and ICANN would jointly clarify both
the form of the new corporation and how the discussed safeguards would be
embedded to protect the public interest.  

	Sam Lanfranco NPOC

	_________________________________________________________________
  > On Dec 26, 2019, at 8:38 AM, Kathy Kleiman  wrote:
 > 
 > Hi All,
 > 
 > Happy New Year!! I don't think this has been posted on this list yet. On
12/23, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal,
with Representative Anna Eshoo wrote a letter to PIR, Ethos Capital and
ISOC questioning whether nonprofit groups, free speech and internet users
would be harmed selling control of .ORG domains to a private equity firm.
It's a good letter that shows their staff did some in depth research.
 > 
 > Overview webpage:
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-blumenthal-warren-and-eshoo-question-sale-of-org-domains-to-private-equity-firm

 > 
 > Letter itself:
 >
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/122319%20RW%20Letter%20to%20PIR%20ISOC%20Ethos.pdf
 > 
 > Best,
 > Kathy (Kleiman)
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