Techdirt Podcast Episode 234: Mike Godwin Defends Selling .ORG

from the pros-and-cons dept

We're back! It's been a lull over the holidays and we've gone a while without new podcast episodes, but now we've got several lined up for the coming weeks — and today we kick things off with a very interesting discussion. Many of you probably know about the controversy and concern over the Internet Society's sale of the .ORG domain registry to a private equity firm, but one prominent defender of the deal is ISOC trustee Mike Godwin, and today he joins us to explain his reasoning and try to convince Mike that the sale is a good idea.

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Filed Under: .org, icann, internet society, isoc, mike godwin, podcast


Reader Comments

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  • identicon
    anon, 15 Jan 2020 @ 12:43pm

    You're wrong M Godwin

    PIR is essentially selling itself to itself, under and different name.
    Stop trying to make excuses for those people.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    bobob, 15 Jan 2020 @ 12:45pm

    Selling anything to a private equity firm is a tragic mistake. As soon as "private equity firm" became the buyer, any reasoning that followed in favor of selling it was mooted.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      anon, 15 Jan 2020 @ 2:29pm

      Re:

      Its not just any private equity firm, but it is a private equity firm made up of former ICANN/PIR executives.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2020 @ 10:23am

        Re: Re:

        People who ran off the second they finished setting up to sell it.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2020 @ 1:04pm

    Selling might have been a thing for which i could be convinced, but the whole how and who is beyond shady AF.

    None of the internet governance bodies are what they used to be, and they were better, once upon a time. Still was never down with the whole Network Solutions and Verisign deals of the early days, though.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2020 @ 5:59pm

    Seriously, if they do something too bad to it then just migrate your DNS settings and investments to OPENNIC

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 16 Jan 2020 @ 10:26am

      Re:

      Sure. Any of the alternate namespaces will be fine. All we need is browser and OS settings which will choose which system we are using for us. Balkanize all the things!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2020 @ 7:02pm

    the comment almost writes itself.

    What a nazi.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2020 @ 7:02pm

    Mike Godwin, noted conservative think tank scholar or w/e tf they call themselves now.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    keithzg (profile), 15 Jan 2020 @ 8:38pm

    Worried about listening to this

    I've sometimes disagreed with Godwin, but I've always liked him. I worry after listening to him arguing for this that might not be possible anymore.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike Masnick (profile), 15 Jan 2020 @ 11:17pm

      Re: Worried about listening to this

      I think it was a respectful discussion, so I don't think you'll end up upset with him in the end. I didn't. He didn't convince me, but I thought he made some interesting and legitimate points that I had not considered before.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    David, 16 Jan 2020 @ 3:22am

    Mike Godwin?!?

    This thread is now officially Hitlered.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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