Sale of .Org Domain Registry Delayed By California Attorney General (mashable.com)
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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) demanding more information about the private equity takeover of the .org domain registry. The attorney general is seeking answers to 35 questions concerning the sale as well as documents sent between ICANN, private equity firm Ethos Capital, and Public Interest Registry (PIR), which manages the .org domain. Mashable reports: Ethos Capital disclosed last year that it was acquiring PIR from its non-profit parent organization, the Internet Society, for $1.135 billion. ICANN, the non-profit organization that oversees domain names, disclosed the letter on its website along with its own correspondence with PIR, informing it of the development. Previously, ICANN had until Feb. 17 to approve or deny the sale. According to ICANN, as a result of the California AG's letter, it's seeking to delay this deadline until April 20.
ICANN says it's "fully cooperating" with the request. In its letter to PIR, ICANN gives a heads up that it will be providing the attorney general "confidential material" to comply with the AG's demands. As ICANN's letter states, it has terms in its contract with PIR which forbid the organization from disclosing information that the registry deems confidential unless required by law. ICANN clearly views the AG's letter as applicable.
ICANN says it's "fully cooperating" with the request. In its letter to PIR, ICANN gives a heads up that it will be providing the attorney general "confidential material" to comply with the AG's demands. As ICANN's letter states, it has terms in its contract with PIR which forbid the organization from disclosing information that the registry deems confidential unless required by law. ICANN clearly views the AG's letter as applicable.
Jail Time (Score:5, Interesting)
These clowns are going to go to jail, and in the end the California Attorney General's office is going to select a nonprofit to receive the property.
That's my prognostication.
OK trolls, you're up. Prove you don't understand that ICANN is a California non-profit, and prove you didn't know that it is unlawful for a non-profit to sell its core assets to a for-profit.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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'Whether it's legal for the Internet Society to do this is something I'm not qualified to answer,'
Well said, neither I. But just because it may not be illegal doesn't make it beneficial for users and in this case it appears the only benefits are between the buyer and seller and users are about to get a high hard one.
Once again California steps up.
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So, is your position that it will be the Virginia Attorney General that will be selecting a receiver?
It could end up being so, but California would still have to approve the transfer, so who really chooses?
This is reasonably viable outcome though, Virginia nominates and California consents.
But the transfer contract from ICANN to Internet Society still had conditions, like the needed approval, so I still think it is all up to California.
It may be that by trying, the individuals making the decision expect to
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You seem to want to both be shielded from having knowledge, by declaring ignorance, and yet also you want to assert knowledge. These contradict each other.
What I do know is that ICANN isn't the non-profit here that is selling anything.
BZZZZT, RONG.
ICANN transferred control under a contract that has remaining terms, eg, ICANN has to approve the transfer to somebody else. Therefore they are still involved, and they could even end up being given back the property. If there are still remaining terms, then the original transfer wasn't complete. It should be the same to understand that they
Congress investigation also needed (Score:2)
Ethos plans to increase fees "no more than 10% per year on average" (*). This means a .org domain, priced at $10 today, may cost $100 by 2044.
By then, 10 million-odd charities and non-profits (if not more) will be putting at least $1 billion/year into Ethos' pockets -- $800 million/year more than under the old price policy. That's $800 million a year diverted from the poorest and most vulnerable on this planet, to a bunch of rich people. All so some policy makers get an endowment to fund themselves and thei
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It's not just the poor and most vulnerable and the agencies that assist them. My 'personal' domain is a .ORG and only five letters long, so 1) I've had it forever; short URLs are like low slashdot numbers, and 2) It's not going to be something I can simply move to the same thing at .COM or whatever. And 3), I refuse to move it to some stupid subsdomain like
vvvvvvv.geocities.com/somecity/somerandomthing/someotherrandomthing/~notmydomainname -Not a real nightmare URL but it could be!
I don't have business c
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I just had to punch in geocities.com to see if it still existed. I got "Yahoo - 400 Bad Request." All the major internet players of the 90s have been absorbed into something bigger (including Yahoo).
I understand you were just making a point, but it sparked a bit of nostalgia in me.
.org vote! (Score:1)