[PLUG] The sale of .org domain

[Tejas Sanap]

Hey, folks!

If you have any connection to the world of NGO's, you must by, now, be
aware of the great scam that has occured regarding the `.org` registry.

The tl;dr version of the story is that three not-for-profit
organisations sold the `.org` registry to a private equity firm.

Disclaimer: I don't know if the registry laws in the US are different
from India or any other part of the world. I don't know if, this sale
has any effect whatsoever on .org websites which are registered out of
the US. That being said, recently we have seen a trend of Western
atrocities finding their to the Indian subcontinent.

There is a bit of back story to this incident. A few months ago, the
ICANN removed all caps on the registration prices of the `.org` domain.
This decision was widely unpopular and frowned upon. 

The `.org` registry is managed by PIR, which has as it's ICANN parent
body. Both, PIR and ICANN are not-for-profit organisations.

A few days ago, PIR, announced that it had sold `.org` registry and as a
result of this sale was going to convert to for-profit organisation.

I will reiterate the fact that, today the `.org` is synonymous to NGOs,
educational institutes, FOSS projects, and other institutes of
non-commercial nature.

There are two concerns here:
1. Should the `.org` registry be managed by a for-profit firm?
2. Who will make sure that the private firm will not strong-arm the
`.org` clients, by hiking prices or some other means?

This incident, is just one of the many, where we see a private body,
which is completely opaque, seize control of what should, rightfully, be
public-property. Proprietary software, which is one of the many ways, in
which capitalism has manifested itself in our society, threatens our
most fundatemental right, the Right to Freedom.[5]

The internet, is a safe public place, for people and organisation to
display their opinions. It must remain like that.

If, you are in a position of influence, I suggest checking out [0].

[0]: https://savedotorg.org/
[1]: https://drewdevault.com/2019/11/29/dotorg.html
[2]: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2019/11/isoc-pir-ethos-capital-deal-timeline/
[3]: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/20/org_registry_sale_shambles/
[4]: http://blogs.harvard.edu/sj/2019/11/23/a-tale-of-icann-and-regulatory-capture-the-dot-org-heist/
[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_Rights,_Directive_Principles_and_Fundamental_Duties_of_India

-- 
Tejas Sanap.
(whereistejas on Freenode)
https://whereistejas.me