Latest news of the domain name industry

Recent Posts

US senators tell ICANN to reject .org deal

Kevin Murphy, March 20, 2020, 13:46:39 (UTC), Domain Registries

Five US senators have called on ICANN to not approve the acquisition of Public Interest Registry by Ethos Capital.
The senators — all Democrats — said in a March 18 letter published today that the proposed $1.13 billion deal is “against the public interest”.
The surprisingly detailed nine-page letter (pdf) was signed by Ron Wyden, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren and Anna Eshoo, following up from a similar letter sent in January. The new letter also has Ed Markey as a signatory. They write:

We were concerned that the sale would be contrary to ICANN’s commitment to the public benefit, that it might undermine the reliability of .ORG websites, and that Ethos is unlikely to be a responsible steward of the .ORG registry. New information we have obtained in the last two months, including statements made by ISOC, PIR, and Ethos, has validated these concerns. Accordingly, we write to reiterate our view that ICANN should block the proposed change of control of the .ORG registry.

Chief among their concerns is the lack of transparency about who is actually bankrolling the deal. Ethos has confirmed it will be partially funded by loans, but the identities of its actual owners have not been confirmed.
It’s been said that two of the backers are investment firms linked to high-profile Republicans — Senator Mitt Romney and the late Ross Perot.
The senators are also worried that the business plan Ethos has publicly laid out may not be realistic, suggesting that PIR will be forced to rip off customers in order to recoup the cost of the acquisition.
They go on to say that Ethos’ promise to only increase prices by 10% per year, enforceable via a Public Interest Commitment in its ICANN contract, is “weak”, particularly given that the commitment would automatically expire seven years from now.
They’re also not buying the notion that PIR’s proposed Stewardship Council, made up of outside .org stakeholders, would have enough power to guide registry policy, calling the council “toothless”.
ICANN is of course under no obligation to take its lead from a handful of legislators, but it’s yet another voice stacked against a deal that already had very little support.
ICANN has until April 20 to make a decision about the change of control.

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Comments (1)

  1. John Berryhill says:
    March 20, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    I’m old enough to remember the refrain of “if you don’t play along with (insert policy proposal here), then legislators will take note and act” as the all-purpose conversation-ender.
    A recent case in point was a ridiculous yarn-spinning piece at CircleID over an offhand comment made by an NTIA rep during a WG proceeding, as a harbinger of the heavy hand of government action.
    But for this one, I’m going to guess we pivot to “Multi-stakeholderism uber Alles” and staying the course as a community in the face of unilateral government throat-clearing.

    Reply

Add Your Comment