A top story this year was the sale of .org falling through. This is the third in a series of posts about the domain name industry in 2020. Read the others here. One of my predictions for 2020 was that Ethos Capital's deal to acquire Public ... Continue ReadingLeave a Comment
.Org in 2019: $67.5 million to ISOC, $18.3 million to Afilias
· UncategorizedNon-profit that runs .org publishes tax return. Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit organization that runs the .org top level domain, has published its 2019 tax return (pdf). There are two big numbers on the return. First, the Form ... Continue Reading2 Comments
.Org registry sale officially terminated
· Policy & LawPublic Interest Registry notifies ICANN that the deal is dead. Even though all parties had already said this publicly, Public Interest Registry (PIR) made it official today: the transaction for Ethos Capital to acquire Public Interest Registry has been ... Continue Reading10 Comments
ISOC: .Org no longer for sale
· Policy & LawInternet Society says it doesn't plan to sell .org after ICANN rejects Ethos deal. Internet Society (ISOC) has poured cold water on the idea that Ethos Capital might still be able to pull off a purchase of the .org top level domain. In a post on ... Continue Reading9 Comments
Breaking: ICANN rejects .org sale to private equity company
· Policy & LawICANN denies controversial $1.135 billion sale. ICANN's Board of Directors today decided to withhold consent on the sale of the .org registry to private equity company Ethos Capital. The deal would have seen the .org registry transfer from ... Continue Reading11 Comments
Former ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom commenting on .Org deal
· Policy & LawBeckstrom posed arguments during forum last week. On February 11, American University Washington College of Law held a program about the sale of .Org to private equity company Ethos Capital. Former ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom was in attendance, and he ... Continue Reading9 Comments
Ethos adds legally-binding provisions to try to save .Org deal
· Policy & Law8-year price cap, censorship and data controls would be baked into registry agreement amendment. Ethos Capital, the company that is trying to acquire the .Org registry, took a big step today to try to push it over the finish line. It agreed to add ... Continue Reading16 Comments
ICANN Board quizzes Internet Society over .Org sale
· Policy & LawBoard questions how the deal is in the spirit of the original decision to assign .org contract to Internet Society. ICANN's Board of Directors is asking Internet Society (ISOC) pointed questions about the proposed sale of Public Interest Registry, ... Continue Reading14 Comments
What you really need to know about the sale of .Org to private equity
· Policy & LawLet's cut through the clutter and falsehoods. A lot has been said and written about Internet Society's (ISOC) sale of Public Interest Registry, the group that runs .org, to Ethos Capital. Some of it is true, some of it is false, and some of it is up to ... Continue Reading5 Comments
Guest editorial: ISOC’s broken funding model and profligate spending
· Policy & Law[Editor's note: The following is a guest editorial from Nat Cohen, who provides interesting details about the birth of Public Interest Registry and its role with Internet Society. While I don't necessarily agree with all of the conclusions, I think it's a ... Continue Reading15 Comments