[Chapter-delegates] What's going on? As presented, the sale of PIR should be rejected by the Board

[Sam Lanfranco]

Amr, 

	Thanks for your view here, but I think that the absence of a restriction
on who could apply for a .org is not the issue at hand. The bigger issue,
as an understanding with or without contract language, is that PIR was
expected to manage .org in the public interest. The cap on registration
fees was part of that strategy.  

	It is a separate issue as to whether or not some .org registrations were
not non-profit organizations.  Spamhaus gives .org a minuscule Badness
Index rating of 0.26, compared to (say) 5.33 for .gdn, 4.51 for .work, and
4.02 for .buzz. Those who acquired .org names have behaved with integrity. 


	The real issues here are (a) how will a private-for-profit owner of .org
impact on the public interest and costs to .org domain name holders, and
(b) is there another option on the table if ISOC is to divest itself of
PIR? I note that any other option is likely to result in less of a
financial windfall for ISOC.  

	Sam Lanfranco, NPOC 
---- Original Message ----
From: Amr Elsadr 
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Wed, Nov 20, 2019, 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] What's going on? As presented, the sale of
PIR should be rejected by the Board

Hi,
 > On Nov 20, 2019, at 4:02 AM, Raphael Beauregard-Lacroix  wrote:
 > 
 [SNIP]
 > There was an understanding that .org was meant to have a broader purpose
than just making money. Now it looks it is headed the same way as every
other TLDs. I gather that this seems to be the most problematic issue in
all the comments on the list. But was this understanding enshrined in
anything beyond the previously-existing price caps? Or was it just some
loose commitment by ISOC/PIR? 
 I’d say it was the latter. To my knowledge, there was never any
contractual restriction on PIR regarding who could register a .org domain
name. It certainly has never been limited to civil society orgs. Many
For-Profit organizations and individuals have registered domain names under
the .org TLD over the years. Individuals include both registrants who use
the domain names in whatever ways they do (wether commercial or
non-commercial), as well as those who invest in them for potential semantic
value, like domainers.
 Obviously, no change in additional restrictions on who may register one
has happened since PIR have signed the base registry agreement so many were
opposed to.
 Thanks.
 Amr
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