[CPWG] Fwd: Re: Reuters reports new cooperative formed to take over management of .ORG

[Maureen Hilyard]

Hi Marita

And still lots more rumours and other information to come, no doubt.

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.

Otherwise we will be stuck in the same hole forever, as more information is
thrown in.

Maureen

On Sun, 12 Jan 2020, 9:18 AM Marita Moll, <mmoll at ca.inter.net> wrote:

> More information on the Ethos PIR takeover revealed in response to ICANN
> questions.
> Marita
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: Re: Reuters reports new cooperative formed to take over
> management of .ORG
> Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2020 16:56:05 +0000
> From: Wisdom Donkor <wisdom.dk at GMAIL.COM> <wisdom.dk at GMAIL.COM>
> Reply-To: Wisdom Donkor <wisdom.dk at GMAIL.COM> <wisdom.dk at GMAIL.COM>
> To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>
> DomainIncite has provided a summary of these documents:
>
> http://domainincite.com/25176-25176
>
> "here are the headlines:
>
> * The deal is being partly funded by an enormous loan.
> * 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.
> * Ethos won’t reveal the names of the directors of PIR’s would-be owner.
> * Another former senior ICANN staffer and long-time Fadi Chehadé
> collaborator has been revealed as having an interest in the acquisition."
>
> Cheers,
>
> *WISDOM DONKOR*
> President & CEO
> Africa Open Data and Internet Research Foundation
> P.O. Box CT 2439, Cantonments, Accra | www.aodirf.org  /
> www.afrigeocon.org
> Tel: +233 20 812 8851
> Skype: wisdom_dk | Facebook: kwasi wisdom |  Twitter: @wisdom_dk
> __________________________________________________
> Specialization:
> 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,
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 10:28 AM Wisdom Donkor <wisdom.dk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> In this 7 January 2020 article
>> <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> we
>> learn that, "*prominent internet executives told Reuters they have
>> created a nonprofit cooperative they are offering as an alternative owner
>> of .org.*"
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> The full article is here, and I have extracted some relevant quotes
>> below:
>> 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
>>
>> *“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.*
>>
>> *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.*
>>
>> *... **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.*
>>
>> *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.*
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> *WISDOM DONKOR*
>> President & CEO
>> Africa Open Data and Internet Research Foundation
>> P.O. Box CT 2439, Cantonments, Accra | www.aodirf.org  /
>> www.afrigeocon.org
>> Tel: +233 20 812 8851
>> Skype: wisdom_dk | Facebook: kwasi wisdom |  Twitter: @wisdom_dk
>> __________________________________________________
>> Specialization:
>> 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,
>>
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