"On the Internet there should be a place where public interests are represented." How society fights for the .org domain

The current owners are going to sell the domain of a private company for a billion dollars - this transaction is dangerous and a public organization united to stop it.

The fact that the Society of the Internet [ISOC, the current owners of the .org domain] is going to sell the .org of the private company Ethos Capital for a billion dollars is known last month, we wrote about this.

The risks of the sale of the domain, again. If .org falls into the wrong hands, it will become possible:

• Find out the names and place of residence of civil activists for online business, repression or censorship;
• Sell ​​information about site owners on .org repressive governments;
• Raising domain prices so that it is more difficult for public organizations to act online;
• Censored .org in mass order.

The reason for the sale of the domain was that the Internet society cannot control the domain, this is not included in its priorities. But the Internet society is a public organization and while .org was with it, it was safe. Ethos Capital has not yet established themselves as villains, but this is a commercial organization aimed at making profit and this puts the domain at risk.

However, the transaction has not yet been stopped and the only one who can stop it is ICANN. This organization takes the position of the regulator in the issue of such transactions. ICANN has time until the end of January to approve the deal, reject it or demand more explanations from Ethos Capital how the company will manage the .org domain.

The Ethos Capital, in turn, stated that in the case of buying a domain, they will leave the current team that manages them and will consult with public organizations on key issues.