ICANN races towards regulatory capture: the great .ORG heist
http://blogs.harvard.edu/sj/2019/11/23/a-tale-of-icann-and-regulatory-captur... Internet could have moved root tld functions out to fully distributed coin / DHT / overlay network ages ago. " Ethos Capital, a new commercial investment firm founded in the past few months in Boston, has 2 staff and only one major investment: a deal to acquire the 501c3 non-profit that currently runs the .org domain (valued at a few $B), for an undisclosed sum. This was initiated immediately after ICANN decided in May, over universal opposition, to remove the price cap on .org registrations with no meaningful protections for existing or future registrants. This seems to violate a range of ethical, ICANN, ISOC, and non-profit guidelines. It is certainly the privatisation of a not-for-profit monopoly into a for-profit one, which will benefit a few by inconveniencing millions of others. I have questions: Do affected parties have recourse? Other than polite letters, is anything being done? Why does Vint in particular think this is a good idea… ? Has anyone currently at ICANN + ISOC made substantive comment? For more backstory, read on… A brief history of .org .... "
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grarpamp