It is crystal clear from the RFC's that the .ORG TLD
was never designed or intended to be restricted to Non-Profit Corporations under
the US or any other law. Even the limited distinctions that were drawn between
"commercial" domains (.COM) and "other organizations" (.ORG) have nothing to do with
Non-Profit status, since nonprofits can engage in commercial activity (which simply
means selling something, like PBS sells videotapes and the Lighthouse sells talking
phones) and they are effectively companies under law. (One assumes that the
non-profit ICANN is aware of this, since they have registered the ICANN.COM domain,
and their full website is displayed when you browse to that address.) It is also
clear that Verisign Inc., faced with loss of control over the catchall .ORG TLD,
would stand to benefit from denying present and future revenues to potential competitors
by 'gutting' the TLD in accordance with a sloppy misinterpretation of the original
intent. If ICANN has really forgotten why the various TLD's were set up, I confidently
anticipate that its memory will be sparked and refreshed by the courts at an appropriate
time.
|
| |