[CPWG] Fwd: Re: Reuters reports new cooperative formed to take over management of .ORG
Marita Moll
mmoll at ca.inter.net
Sun Jan 12 23:23:24 UTC 2020
Well, this information shows that the financing of this deal is not
necessarily in the bag -- given that is mostly leveraged. These sorts of
things can fall through. So our response has to be owner-neutral --
setting conditions for any new owner - IMHO
Marita
On 1/12/2020 5:05 PM, Maureen Hilyard wrote:
> 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
> <mailto: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>
> <mailto:wisdom.dk at GMAIL.COM>
> Reply-To: Wisdom Donkor <wisdom.dk at GMAIL.COM>
> <mailto:wisdom.dk at GMAIL.COM>
> To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> <mailto: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
> <http://www.aodirf.org> / www.afrigeocon.org
> <http://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
> <mailto: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
> <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>
>
> /“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
> <http://www.aodirf.org> / www.afrigeocon.org
> <http://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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