.org sale not a done deal –
ICANN asks questions about new owner, will have 528 days to make decision.
Jon Brodkin –Dec (**************************************************************, ************************************************ (8:) ********************************************************************** (UTC UTC) ****************
************** ICANN is reviewing the ************ pending sale of the .org domain manager from a nonprofit to a private equity firm and says it could try to block the transfer.
While PIR has previously declined our request to publish the Request, we urge you to reconsider. We also think there would be great value for us to publish the questions that you are asked and your answers to those questions. We will of course provide you with the opportunity to redact portions of the documents that you believe contain personally identifiable information before posting and renew that offer here.As you, [ISOC CEO] Andrew [Sullivan], stated publicly during a (webcast meeting in which you participated on 5 December (****************************************************, 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.
We contacted PIR today and the organization said it isn’t able to comply with the request to make documents public because of confidentiality agreements. PIR told Ars:
PIR is committed to being transparent with ICANN and the Internet community, and PIR is working to answer ICANN’s questions and address why this acquisition will be good for the .org community. But like any company in the middle of an acquisition, and consistent with other changes of control that have been reviewed by ICANN, we are limited in what we can release publicly due to confidential [it] y agreements with other parties and proprietary information involving the transaction.PIR defends salePIR CEO Jon Nevett defended the pending sale in a (blog postlast week, calling it “the best path for .org’s future.”([A] diversified portfolio is much better, and less risky, than relying on one company like Public Interest Registry — in one industry — for nearly all of its funding, “Nevett wrote.
NCSG
has called on the ICANN board to require public-interest protections in the sale. For example, the NCSG said that before any wholesale price increases, .org domain registrants should be given “six months to renew their domains for periods of up to years at the pre-existing annual rate. “Ethos Capital should also have to commit to content neutrality with a pledge that it “will not suspend or take away domains based on their publication of political, cultural, social, ethnic, religious, and personal content, even untrue, offensive, indecent, or unethical material, like that protected under the US First Amendment, “the NCSG said.When contacted by Ars, PIR said that its existing agreement with ICANN “requires that PIR provide notification six months in advance of any price increase “and that” PIR under new ownership will honor the terms of that contract. ” However, PIR did not commit to accepting the NCSG proposals. (****************************************** (******************************************
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