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<p>More information on the Ethos PIR takeover revealed in response
to ICANN questions.<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-forward-container">Marita<br>
<br>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Subject:
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<td>Re: Reuters reports new cooperative formed to take over
management of .ORG</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Date: </th>
<td>Sun, 12 Jan 2020 16:56:05 +0000</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">From: </th>
<td>Wisdom Donkor <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM"><wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM></a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">Reply-To:
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<td>Wisdom Donkor <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM"><wisdom.dk@GMAIL.COM></a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap" align="RIGHT">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a></td>
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<br>
<br>
<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"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">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."
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<div>Cheers,</div>
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<div><b>WISDOM
DONKOR</b><br>
</div>
<div><font
size="1">President
& CEO</font></div>
<div><font
size="1">Africa
Open Data and
Internet
Research
Foundation</font></div>
<div><font
size="1">P.O.
Box CT 2439,
Cantonments,
Accra | <a
href="http://www.aodirf.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">www.aodirf.org</a> / <a
href="http://www.afrigeocon.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">www.afrigeocon.org</a> </font></div>
<div><font
size="1">Tel:
+233 20 812
8851</font></div>
<div><font
size="1">Skype:
wisdom_dk |
Facebook:
kwasi wisdom
| Twitter:
@wisdom_dk </font></div>
<div>__________________________________________________</div>
<div><font
size="1">Specialization:</font></div>
<div><font
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Network
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and
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Internet
Governance,
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<br>
<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"
moz-do-not-send="true">wisdom.dk@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
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<div dir="ltr">
<div>In this <a rel="nofollow"
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" moz-do-not-send="true">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>
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<div><br>
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<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"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">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>
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<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>
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<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>
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<div><br>
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<div>Best wishes,</div>
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<div><b>WISDOM
DONKOR</b><br>
</div>
<div><font
size="1">President
& CEO</font></div>
<div><font
size="1">Africa
Open Data and
Internet
Research
Foundation</font></div>
<div><font
size="1">P.O.
Box CT 2439,
Cantonments,
Accra | <a
href="http://www.aodirf.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">www.aodirf.org</a> / <a
href="http://www.afrigeocon.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">www.afrigeocon.org</a> </font></div>
<div><font
size="1">Tel:
+233 20 812
8851</font></div>
<div><font
size="1">Skype:
wisdom_dk |
Facebook:
kwasi wisdom
| Twitter:
@wisdom_dk </font></div>
<div>__________________________________________________</div>
<div><font
size="1">Specialization:</font></div>
<div><font
size="1">E-government
Network
Infrastructure
and
E-application,
Internet
Governance,
Open Data
policies
platforms
&
Community
Development,
Cyber
Security,
Domain Name
Systems,
Software
Engineering,
Event Planning
&
Management, </font></div>
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