Three weeks after the Internet Society announced the controversial sale of the .org internet registry to an unknown private equity firm, the organization that has to sign off on the deal has finally spoken publicly.
In a letter [PDF] titled “Transparency” from the general counsel of domain name system overseer ICANN to the CEOs of the Internet Society (ISOC) and .org registry operator PIR, the organization takes issue with how the proposed sale has been handled and notes that it is “uncomfortable” at the lack of transparency.
The letter, dated Monday and posted today with an accompanying blog post, notes that ICANN will be sending a “detailed request for additional information” and encourages the organizations “to answer these questions fully and as transparently as possible.”
As ICANN’s chairman previously told The Register, the organization received an official request to change ownership of PIR from ISOC to Ethos Capital in mid-November but denied ICANN’s request to make it public.
The letter presses ISOC/PIR to make that request public. “While PIR has previously declined our request to publish the Request, we urge you to reconsider,” the letter states. “We also think there would be great value for us to publish the questions that you are asked and your answers to those questions.”
Somewhat unusually it repeats the same point a second time: “In light of the level of interest in the recently announced acquisition of PIR, both within the ICANN community and more generally, we continue to believe that it is critical that your Request, and the questions and answers in follow up to the Request, and any other related materials, be made Public.”
And then, stressing the same point a third time, the letter notes that on a recent webinar about the sale organized by concerned non-profits that use .org domains, ISOC CEO Andrew Sullivan said he wasn’t happy about the level of secrecy surrounding the deal.
From the ICANN letter: “As you, Andrew, ISOC's CEO stated publicly during a webcast meeting... you are uncomfortable with the lack of transparency. Many of us watching the communications on this transaction are also uncomfortable.
“In sum, we again reiterate our belief that it is imperative that you commit to completing this process in an open and transparent manner, starting with publishing the Request and related material, and allowing us to publish our questions to you, and your full Responses.”
Here is what Sullivan said on the call [PDF]: “I do appreciate, however, that this creates a level of uncertainty, because people are uncomfortable with things that are done in secret like that. I get it. I can have the same reaction what I'm not included in a decision, but that is the reason we have trustees. That's the reason that we have our trustees selected by our community. And I believe that we made the right decision.”
As ICANN noted, there remain numerous questions over the proposed sale despite both ISOC and Ethos Capital holding meetings with concerned stakeholders, and ISOC’s CEO agreeing to an interview with El Reg.
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After the sale, Ethos Capital, having paid $1.135 billion for .ORG to ISOC, will have to recoup that investment on a scale that's expected of a private equity firm. This week, Ethos revealed for the first time that some $360 million of the purchase price will be financed with a loan. The payments on that loan will have to come out of Ethos's profits, so they will probably need to raise more money per year than ISOC currently does. While Ethos could try to simply increase the number of its "customers" for .ORGs, PIR has tried this in the past, and the demand for the domains has remained largely flat. This is no surprise; the nonprofit sector just doesn't grow at exponential rates.
That brings us to the myriad reasons nonprofits have criticized the deal: every other way that Ethos might increase profits is bad news for .ORG users. And these tactics aren't farfetched: every one of them is already delivering profits in other sectors, often while harming domain registrants and their visitors.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/01/icann-needs-ask-more-questions-about-sale-org
Previously:
As Internet Pioneers Fight to Preserve .org's Status, those in Charge are Hiding Behind Dollar Signs
ICANN Demands Transparency from Others Over .org Deal; As for Itself... Well, Not So Much
Internet Society Says Opportunity to Sell .org TLD to Private Equity Biz Came Out of the Blue
As Pressure Builds Over .Org Sell-Off, Internet Governance Orgs Remains Silent
.ORG TLD Sold to Investment Firm Ethos Capital
ICANN Eliminates .org Price Cap Despite Overwhelming Opposition
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Tuesday December 17 2019, @01:26PM
We are uncomfortable with this transaction - translation - what the fuck is this bullshit are you trying to ruin and break the internet or just steal it?
I appreciate that this creates a level of uncertainty - translation - I have noticed that people are angry at me and I don't like it
I find it difficult to understand the back and forth, it sounds like the public is asking for the questions and answers to be made public, a little like a hearing for a congressional appointment in the USA.
But the higher ups want to be able to have a private chitchat about their plans for the public, and the public is like, why are you talking about us behind our backs?
thesesystemsarefailing.net
decultification.org (one of first .org that ethos would likely censor, by putting ethos capital into the admin chain of the public internet, all public organizations would have a private camel nose in their tent, making it much more difficult to be truly accountable to the public, and making it much easier for private orgs to undermine and harass public ones)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @06:46PM
As mentioned in the previous thread on this topic, I went ahead and bought five years of domain name registration for the small .org that I help (volunteer) to maintain.
In our case it was from stablehost.com who (on their webpage) only offer a one year deal for hosting and domain name combined. Their help line came right back when I asked, and they were happy to provide an invoice for five years. The price had not gone up since our last re-up about six months ago, but there was no discount for five years either...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17 2019, @08:00PM
fuck ICANN we need something like handshake.org