The ICANN Corporation has been given another month to approve the acquisition of the Public Interest Registry (PIR) by the Ethos Capital private company from the Internet Society. The acquisition of PIR, which manages the gTLD .ORG, for over $1 billion has been widely discussed by the entire domain community. ICANN does not have the power to prohibit the Internet Society from selling the registry. However, it can block the deal if it believes that it may harm the interested parties, first of all the registrants of domain names in .ORG.
The deadline has been repeatedly postponed because the announcement of the deal evoked criticism in the domain community. First of all, from charity, human rights and other non-profit organizations that traditionally use domain names in .ORG for online resources. The California Attorney General’s office also took an interest in the deal and asked to have detailed information provided about it. Until yesterday, the deadline for ICANN was March 20; the deadline has been extended for one more month.
“To ensure ICANN and the California Attorney General’s office, with which we have been communicating, have the time they need to address any outstanding questions regarding the transaction, especially in light of current events, we have agreed to an ICANN deadline extension to April 20th,” Domain Incite quoted the Public Internet Agency as saying.
