The digital home of nonprofits is under attack

Update April 30. 2020: Success! ICANN rejected the sale of .ORG. Read NTEN's joint statement with EFF.

Update December 5. 2019: watch a recording of a community call NTEN organized between Andrew Sullivan from Internet Society, Electronic Frontier Foundation, The National Council of Nonprofits, and Internet Society chapter leaders, as well as Jon Nevett from Public Interest Registry, and Erik Brooks and Nora Abusitta from Ethos Capital.

In an outrageous betrayal of its responsibility to steward the .ORG domain, the Internet Society (ISOC) has announced it will sell the Public Interest Registry (PIR) to private equity firm Ethos Capital. NTEN has signed a public letter with 26 other organizations in protest. I urge you to read the letter below and then visit SaveDotOrg.org to join us by signing and sending the letter yourself.

Earlier this year Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) eliminated price caps on purchasing a .org domain and changed the rules to make it easier for a nonprofit's site to censored. Handing control of the .ORG domain to a for-profit entity has made the reality of those changes chillingly clear.

https://twitter.com/timberners_lee/status/1199752059534413824

Promoting the noncommercial use of the Internet was an inspiration for the .ORG domain. And when ISOC spun off PIR it with the promise that the management of .ORG would be driven by the needs of the nonprofit sector. Instead, we've seen decisions made will richly benefit a handful of individuals at the expense of nonprofits.

One of NTEN's core beliefs is that "The internet is a powerful and necessary tool. It’s vital that it is affordable and accessible to all people." When we wrote that, we weren't envisioning nonprofits like ourselves, but here we are. But we also believe that each of us has a role to play in building, sustaining, and powering our community. I'm asking you to do your part. Sign the letter now.

News Coverage

• 11/14/19 Private Equity Ghouls Buy Non-Profit That Handles .Org Domains | Gizmodo


• 11/20/19 Internet world despairs as non-profit .org sold for $$$$ to private equity firm, price caps axed | The Register


• 11/20/19 Nonprofits Fear Cost of .org Domain Names Will Rise Sharply | The Wall Street Journal


• 11/23/19 ICANN Races Towards Regulatory Capture: The Great .ORG Heist | The Longest Now


• 11/24/19 Why we should save .ORG domains | Whole Whale podcast


• 11/25/19 Girl Scouts join protest over sale of .org domain | BBC


• 11/25/19 What to do about .ORG | Internet Governance Project


• 11/26/19 Associations and the .ORG Controversy | Association Chat


• 11/27/19 Internet Society's Vint 'father of the 'net' Cerf dodges dot-org sell-off during public Q&A | The Register


• 11/27/19 A private equity firm is buying all of the .org domains. Here's what that means | CNN Business


• 11/27/19 The Current with Laura Lynch | CBC Listen (jump to 22:15)


• 11/27/19 The .ORG Controversy, or How a Private Equity Company Will Manage a Nonprofit TLD | ICDSoft


• 11/29/19 Internet Society CEO: Most people don't care about the .org sell-off – and nothing short of a court order will stop it | The Register


• 12/2/19 The .ORG Fire Sale: How It Sold For Less Than Half Its Valuation | The Longest Now


• 12/2/19 Are ISOC’s claims about .org’s history bogus? | Domain Incite


• 12/2/19 Powerful internet authority says it’s powerless to stop billion dollar .org takeover | Mashable


• 12/3/19 Questions About .org | The Mozilla Blog


• 12/3/19 The Quest To Save .Org From Being Ruined By Private Equity | VICE


• 12/6/19 It’s called “F-You Money” for a reason: Why ISOC sold .ORG to VCs | easyDNS


• 12/8/19 Save the .ORG domain and all it symbolizes | The Hill


• 12/10/19 Erik Huizer: ISOC and the Sale of .ORG | Internet Society, Netherlands Chapter


• 12/11/19 ICANN demands transparency from others over .org deal. As for itself… well, not so much | The Register


• 12/12/19 The internet’s .org registry is snatched up by a private equity firm, provoking outrage | Los Angeles Times


• 12/13/19 Nonprofits Prepare for Fight Over Future of Dot-Org Domain | The Chronicle of Philanthropy


• 12/18/19 Nonprofits Fight Sale Of .Org Registry To Private Equity Firm | Here & Now, WBUR


• 12/19/19 More Questions About .org | The Mozilla Blog


• 1/7/20 Internet nonprofit leaders fight deal to sell control of .org domain | Reuters


• 1/7/20 Co-op aims to block PIR sale to venture firm | The NonProfit Times


• 1/7/20 Inside the Billion-Dollar Battle Over .Org | The New York Times


• 1/7/20 ICANN’s founding chairman joins the battle to keep .org out of private hands | The Verge


• 1/8/20 Private equity seeks .org domain control via purchase of the Public Interest Registry | Mic


• 1/9/20 Senators Still Skeptical .ORG Sale to Private Equity Firm Won't Harm Nonprofits | Gizmodo


• 1/16/20 Part I: Who Pays When .Org Prices Rise? | CircleID


• 1/20/20 State Charities Officials Want Stalling Of .ORG Sale | The NonProfit Times


• 1/22/20 Domain sale could do 'irreparable harm' to millions of charities, NGOs warn | Reuters


• 1/22/20 Everything You Need to Know About the Potential Sale of .ORG | Slate


• 1/22/20 'Stop This Sale': 11 NGO Leaders at Davos Warn Against Pending Private Equity Takeover of .Org Domain | Common Dreams


• 1/22/20 How the Sale of .ORG Could Hurt Non-Profits IRL | CircleID


• 1/23/20 Sale of Dot-Org to Venture Capital Firm Draws Ire From Lawmakers, Charity Regulators, and Nonprofit Leaders | The Chronicle of Philanthropy


• 1/24/20 .Org: ICANN's Betrayals and its Opportunity to Act Now in the Public Interest | CircleID


• 1/24/20 Why Nonprofits Are Concerned About The Sale Of The Dot-Org Domain | AirTalk


• 1/24/20 SaveDotOrg Supporters Protested Outside ICANN | The Nonprofit Times


• 1/24/20 Protestors in Los Angeles force ICANN board out of hiding over .org sale – for a brief moment, at least | The Register


• 1/24/20 Protesters fear rising costs if firm buys dot-org universe | The Public's Radio


• 1/24/20 .Org: ICANN's Betrayals and its Opportunity to Act Now in the Public Interest | CircleID


• 1/27/20 The Shaky Future of .org Domains | The New York Times


• 1/29/20 A ‘symbol of public good’ on the internet is under attack | Fast Company


• 1/31/20 California AG Questioning The Sale of .ORG | The NonProfit Times


• 2/19/20 Revolution, comrades: Internet Society told to halt .org sale… by its own advisory council | The Register


• 2/21/20 Private Equity Firm Trying to Take Over .Org Registry Pinkie Swears to Only Be Sort of Evil for a Limited Time | Gizmodo


• 2/25/20 Would-be .org gobbler Ethos Capital promises to keep prices down in last-ditch effort to keep $1.1bn deal alive | The Register


• 4/13/20 Private-Equity Company Offers Changes Designed to Quell Criticism of Its Dot-Org Purchase | The Chronicle of Philanthropy


• 4/17/20 ICANN delays .org sell off after California's attorney general intervenes at last minute, tears non-profit a new one over sale | The Register


• 4/17/20 Sale of .Org Registry to Private Equity Vampires Stalled After California AG Warning | Gizmodo


• 4/24/20 'Selling censorship': proposed sale of .org web registry sparks fears for non-profits | The Guardian


• 5/1/20 ICANN finally halts $1.1bn sale of .org registry, says it's 'the right thing to do' after months of controversy | The Register


• 5/1/20 Private equity firm won't get to control the .org domain after all | Mashable


• 5/1/20 A Private Equity Firm Is Blocked From Buying .Org | The New York Times


• 5/1/20 ICANN rejects sale of .org registry to for-profit investor group | Reuters


• 5/1/20 ICANN blocks controversial sale of .org domain to a private equity firm | Ars Technica


• 5/1/20 “Dangerous precedent” as ICANN rejects $1.13 billion .org buyout | Domain Incite


• 5/1/20 $1 Billion Sale Of Dot-Org Domain Blocked | The NonProfit Times


• 5/4/20 PE's $1.1B battle for the .org domain may not be over | PitchBook

Letter

November 22, 2019
Internet Society
Attn: Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO
11710 Plaza America Drive, Suite 400
Reston, VA 20190

Dear Mr. Sullivan,

We urge you to stop the sale of the Public Interest Registry (PIR) to Ethos Capital.

Non-governmental organizations all over the world rely on the .ORG top-level
domain. Decisions affecting .ORG must be made with the consultation of the NGO
community, overseen by a trusted community leader. If the Internet Society (ISOC)
can no longer be that leader, it should work with the NGO community and the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to find an
appropriate replacement.

The 2019 .ORG Registry Agreement represents a significant departure from .ORG’s
34-year history. It gives the registry the power to make several policy decisions that
would be detrimental to the .ORG community:

• The power to raise .ORG registration fees without the approval of ICANN or
  the .ORG community. A .ORG price hike would put many cash-strapped
  NGOs in the difficult position of either paying the increased fees or losing the
  legitimacy and brand recognition of a .ORG domain.


• The power to develop and implement Rights Protection Mechanisms
  unilaterally, without consulting the .ORG community . If such mechanisms
  are not carefully crafted in collaboration with the NGO community, they risk
  censoring completely legal nonprofit activities.


• The power to implement processes to suspend domain names based on
  accusations of “activity contrary to applicable law.” The .ORG registry
  should not implement such processes without understanding how state
  actors frequently target NGOs with allegations of illegal activity.

A registry could abuse these powers to do significant harm to the global NGO sector,
intentionally or not. We cannot afford to put them into the hands of a private equity
firm that has not earned the trust of the NGO community. .ORG must be managed
by a leader that puts the needs of NGOs over profits.

When ISOC originally proposed transferring management of .ORG to PIR in 2002,
ISOC’s then President and CEO Lynn St. Amour promised that .ORG would continue
to be driven by the NGO community—in her words, PIR would “draw upon the
resources of ISOC’s extended global network to drive policy and management.” As
long-time members of that global network, we insist that you keep that promise.

American Alliance of Museums
American Society of Association Executives
Aspiration
Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.
Creative Commons
Crisis Text Line
Demand Progress Education Fund
DoSomething.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
European Climate Foundation
Free Software Foundation
Girl Scouts of the USA
Independent Sector
Internet Archive
Meals on Wheels America
National Council of Nonprofits
National Human Services Assembly
NTEN
Palante Technology Cooperative
Public Knowledge
R Street Institute
TechSoup
VolunteerMatch
Volunteers of America
Wikimedia Foundation
YMCA of the USA
YWCA USA