[Advisors] The .org domain issue on CBC's The Current

[Marita Moll]

Just as some back ground to this link Evan has sent out:

.org is the top level domain used primary for non-profit organizations 
(I am being generous here -- it is a bit more complicated). .org is 
managed by PIR which stands for Public Interest Registry which is a 
non-profit organization itself. The money from this organization goes to 
fund ISOC which helps chapters around the world deal with digital issues 
including accessibility and literacy. This is a lot of money but the 
arrangement was part of a set aside early in the history of the Internet 
to recognize that the Internet should not be reserved totally for for 
profit ventures -- that there was a public interest aspect that needed 
to be recognized and preserved.

The current controversy, which is creating a lot of turmoil in the 
internet governance world, refers to the fact that ISOC has just 
announced that it was selling PIR to a private equity firm with the 
proceeds from the sale being turned into an endowment to fund ISOC. 
Sounds like a good arrangement -- but what about the public interest? 
Many people feel that the last vestige of the early idea that the 
Internet was a public good has just fallen away.

Here is an article which explains with more detail.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/26/org_selloff_internet/

Marita

On 11/27/2019 2:45 PM, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/15748621-national-affairs-panel-on-scheers-leadership-the-fight-to-save-.org-dayna-spiring-the-first-woman-on-the-grey-cup-hiv-activist-ruth-awori
>
> The entire episode is 75 minutes and covers a lot of different topics, 
> some of which would interest you for other reasons.
>
> The segment about ICANN and dot-org runs from 22:08 to 39:39
>
> -- 
> Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
> @evanleibovitch or @el56
>
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