ICANN nixes sale of .org top level domain

The controversial proposal to sell the .org domain name to a newly created private equity group may be off the table as ICANN concluded that a privatization of this top level domain isn't in the public's best interest. ARS Technica writs this may be a possibly fatal blow to the Internet Society's plan to sell the .org domain:

Currently, the .org domain registry is run by the Public Interest Registry, a non-profit subsidiary of another non-profit called the Internet Society. PIR was created in 2002 to run the .org domain and has been doing so ever since. But last fall, the Internet Society stunned the non-profit world by announcing it would sell the PIR—and, effectively, ownership of the .org domain—to a new and secretive private equity firm called Ethos Capital for more than $1 billion.

The .org top level domain, which was originally intended for non-profit entities, is used by over 10 million organizations. There's fear that the sale of this domain to a private equity firm will result in massive price hikes.

The Internet Society regrets ICANN’s decision but it's not clear whether the organization will attempt another sale of the .org domain.

"We are disappointed that ICANN has acted as a regulatory body it was never meant to be, as laid out in Article 1 of its bylaws," the Internet Society said in an email statement. "The outcome seems inconsistent with prior decisions made by ICANN in similar cases. We stand by our decision in favor of the transaction to unlock the full potential of the Internet Society, PIR, .ORG community, and ultimately the Internet."