California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) demanding more information about the private equity takeover of the .org domain registry. The attorney general is seeking answers to 35 questions concerning the sale as well as documents sent between ICANN, private equity firm Ethos Capital, and Public Interest Registry (PIR), which…
Tag: icann
ICANN Wants to Let VeriSign Raise Prices on .Com Domains
VeriSign has released a “proposed agreement” with ICANN to amend their exclusive .com registry agreement to allow them to raise the price of dotcom registrations up to 28% every six years. Those new terms “are now open to public comment” — and the Register points out that ICANN’s decision seems to come with a corresponding $20 million for ICANN: Operator of…
Internet Pioneers Fight For Control of .Org Registry By Forming a Nonprofit Alternative
Reuters reports that a group of “prominent internet pioneers” now has a plan to block the $1.1 billion sale of the .org internet domain registry to Ethos Capital. The group has created their own nonprofit cooperative to offer an alternative: “There needs to be a place on the internet that represents the public interest, where educational sites, humanitarian sites, and organizations…
The World’s Internet Registries Demand ICANN’s Records on .org Registry Transfer
The world’s five regional Internet registry have an unincorporated organization called the Number Resource Organization, and they also all have representatives on a supporting organization affiliated with ICANN called the Address Supporting Organization (ASO). This week the ASO “submitted correspondence” to ICANN about the proposed transfer for the .org registry to Ethos Capital, reports CircleID: This is a historic step as…
ICANN Delays .Org Sale Approval, Calls For More Transparency
“ICANN has delayed its approval of the sale of .Org to private equity company Ethos Capital by requesting more information,” reports Domain Name Wire:
According to its contract with Public Interest Registry (PIR) to run .org, ICANN had 30 days from when PIR notified it of the transaction to request more information. It has now done so. After it receives the responses,…
The Great .ORG Heist
Sam Klein: Ethos Capital, a new commercial investment firm founded in the past few months in Boston, has 2 staff and only one major investment: a deal to acquire the 501c3 non-profit that currently runs the .org domain (valued at a few $B), for an undisclosed sum. This was initiated immediately after ICANN decided in May, over almost universal opposition, to…