<div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">Hi Marita</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">And still lots more rumours and other information to come, no doubt.<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I think we should keep ourselves focused on what we have set out to do - to produce some constructive and forward thinking advice to the Board, along the lines that Ethos is the new owner and what we might suggest to ICANN (and PIR) about preserving the interests of current and future .org registrants through the contractual processes and other recommendations.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Otherwise we will be stuck in the same hole forever, as more information is thrown in.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Maureen</div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, 12 Jan 2020, 9:18 AM Marita Moll, <<a href="mailto:mmoll@ca.inter.net" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">mmoll@ca.inter.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>More information on the Ethos PIR takeover revealed in response
to ICANN questions.<br>
</p>
<div>Marita<br>
<br>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap align="RIGHT">Subject:
</th>
<td>Re: Reuters reports new cooperative formed to take over
management of .ORG</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap align="RIGHT">Date: </th>
<td>Sun, 12 Jan 2020 16:56:05 +0000</td>
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<tr>
<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap align="RIGHT">From: </th>
<td>Wisdom Donkor <a href="mailto:wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM></a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap align="RIGHT">Reply-To:
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<td>Wisdom Donkor <a href="mailto:wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM></a></td>
</tr>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap align="RIGHT">To: </th>
<td><a href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a></td>
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<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">DomainIncite has provided a summary of these
documents:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://domainincite.com/25176-25176" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://domainincite.com/25176-25176</a><br>
<br>
"here are the headlines:<br>
<br>
* The deal is being partly funded by an enormous loan.<br>
* Technically, Ethos isn’t the direct buyer. There are at
least three corporate entities involved in the acquisition
that we haven’t heard of before.<br>
* Ethos won’t reveal the names of the directors of PIR’s
would-be owner.<br>
* Another former senior ICANN staffer and long-time Fadi
Chehadé collaborator has been revealed as having an interest
in the acquisition."
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div><br clear="all">
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<div><b>WISDOM
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<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 10:28
AM Wisdom Donkor <<a href="mailto:wisdom.dk@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">wisdom.dk@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>In this <a rel="nofollow noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" title="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/reuters-america-internet-nonprofit-leaders-fight-deal-to-sell-control-of-org-domain.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/reuters-america-internet-nonprofit-leaders-fight-deal-to-sell-control-of-org-domain.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter&par=sharebar" target="_blank">7 January 2020
article</a> we learn that, "<i>prominent internet
executives told Reuters they have created a nonprofit
cooperative they are offering as an alternative owner
of .org.</i>"<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This would appear to me to pose an existential threat
to ISOC, as this nonprofit cooperative - whose
membership appears to me to have more political muscle
than ISOC has - is not proposing to buy PIR from ISOC,
but to instead have the .ORG Registry Agreement assigned
to it by ICANN.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The full article is here, and I have extracted some
relevant quotes below: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/reuters-america-internet-nonprofit-leaders-fight-deal-to-sell-control-of-org-domain.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter&par=sharebar" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/07/reuters-america-internet-nonprofit-leaders-fight-deal-to-sell-control-of-org-domain.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar</a><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><i>“What offended me about the Ethos Capital deal and
the way it unfolded is that it seems to have
completely betrayed this concept of stewardship,” said
Andrew McLaughlin, who oversaw the transfer of
internet governance from the U.S. Commerce Department
to ICANN, completed in 2016.</i><i><br>
</i></div>
<div><i><br>
</i></div>
<div><i>Maher and others said the idea of the new
cooperative is not to offer a competing financial bid
for .org, which brings in roughly $100 million in
revenue from domain sales. Instead, they hope that the
unusual new entity, formally a California Consumer
Cooperative Corporation, can manage the domain for
security and stability and make sure it does not
become a tool for censorship.</i><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><i>... </i><i>The initial seven directors of the
cooperative include former founding ICANN President
Michael Roberts, MacArthur Foundation philanthropist
Jeff Ubois and Bill Woodcock, whose Packet Clearing
House now runs the technical aspects of the .org
system under contract.</i><i><br>
</i></div>
<div><i><br>
</i></div>
<div><i>The new group has briefed members of the U.S.
Congress and hopes to prompt the Internet Society to
reconsider the sale. But its best shot at stopping the
pending sale lies with ICANN, which can veto any
change in ownership out of concern for the security,
reliability or stability of the .org domain.</i><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best wishes,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
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<div><b>WISDOM
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Research
Foundation</font></div>
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Box CT 2439,
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Accra | <a href="http://www.aodirf.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">www.aodirf.org</a> / <a href="http://www.afrigeocon.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">www.afrigeocon.org</a> </font></div>
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8851</font></div>
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