Tag Archives: ICANN

‘Stop This Sale’: 11 NGO Leaders at Davos Warn Against Pending Private Equity Takeover of .Org Domain

“The security of civil society should not be entrusted to private equity.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-22-2020

Leaders of top NGOs are protesting the pending sale of the registry that operates the .org domain to a private equity firm. (Image: Andrew Stroehlein/Human Rights Watch/Twitter)

The executive directors of 11 major international nongovernmental organizations on Wednesday added their voices to a swelling chorus opposed to the pending sale of the nonprofit registry that operates the .org top-level domain to a recently established private equity firm.

The NGO leaders came together at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland to unveil a letter (pdf) they sent Tuesday to Andrew Sullivan, president and CEO of the Internet Society (ISOC), and Göran Marby, president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Continue reading

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Internet Undergoes ‘Biggest Change in a Generation’ (That You Never Heard About)

Transition to ICANN goes ahead despite fear-mongering crusade led by Ted Cruz and other Republican lawmakers

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 10-1-2016

Transition to international multi-stakeholder nonprofit said to be "the best way to assure that the internet of tomorrow remains as free, open and accessible as the internet of today." (Photo: Christiann Colen/cc/flickr)

Transition to international multi-stakeholder nonprofit said to be “the best way to assure that the internet of tomorrow remains as free, open and accessible as the internet of today.” (Photo: Christiann Colen/cc/flickr)

Though Republican lawmakers have painted this moment in Internet history as ‘doomsday,’ and rallied a last ditch-effort to block it, at midnight on Saturday the U.S. government cede control of the web’s core naming directory to a multi-stakeholder nonprofit.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California-based group of international stakeholders will now control the functions of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which includes the database that translates website names into Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Continue reading

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