gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.NGO	Public Interest Registry	pir.org	View

PIR is a NGO, and thereby part of the NGO Community. PIR as a NGO has extensive gTLD management experience via the .ORG gTLD. PIR a supporting organization to the Internet Society (ISOC) and is committed to supporting the Internet Society’s (ISOC) mission stated below.

History of PIR’s Relationship to the NGO Community
In January 2003, PIR, assumed responsibility for operating .ORG and maintaining the authoritative database of all .ORG domains.

Created in 1984, .ORG is one of the Internetʹs original seven top-level domains (TLDs), along with .com, .net, etc. Although it is ʺopenʺ and ʺunrestrictedʺ, .ORG has been the domain of choice for organizations dedicated to serving the public interest. The high regard of these well-intentioned organizations was soon conferred to this domain, and today .ORG is considered around the world to be the domain of trust.

Public Interest Registry’s (PIR) primary activity is to maintain the .ORG domain registry as the exemplary top level domain (TLD) registry service, by advocating for higher standards of Internet security, safety and reliability. PIR’s mission is to facilitate the effective use of a global Internet among non-commercial and other Internet users worldwide. In its relationship with the ISOC, (reference Evaluation Questions #9a and #9b), PIR is committed to supporting ISOC’s goals of encouraging the evolution of the Internet as research, education and communication infrastructure equally accessible to the global non-commercial, NGO and nonprofit community. PIR’s activities also include funding educational programs focused on expanding the knowledge and ability of non-commercial, NGO and nonprofit organizations located in technologically deprived areas of the world to more efficiently and effectively use the Internet as a tool to better accomplish their important mission.

The 2003 transition of .ORG from the previous operator to PIR was the largest transfer in Internet history. More than 2.6 million domains were transferred in about a day, without negatively impacting any .ORG registrant or website.

Since 2003, PIR has been connected with NGOs through our management of .ORG, and recently in preparation for our pursuit of the .NGO gTLD domain, we have worked closely with the NGO Community to develop the requirements and specification for the proposed .NGO gTLD.

Current Relationship to the NGO Community
PIR is a strong supporter of NGOs in both a direct role as manager of the .ORG gTLD and through other efforts, including:
• A ʺStrategic and Sponsoring Partnerʺ of NTEN, the Non-Profit Technology Network of 10,000 members and over 30,000 participants in the community, covering 126 countries. NTEN aspires to a world where all nonprofit organizations use technology skillfully and confidently to meet community needs and fulfill their missions.
• Making financial contributions to various organizations, such as the NCUC (Non Commercial Constituency of ICANN) and Centr. For NCUC, annual donations have been in the $5,000 to $15,000 range every year since PIR assumed operations of the .ORG registry.
• In December 2005, PIR sponsored a symposium at the Nelson Mandela Center in Cape Town, South Africa bringing in various Internet leaders in Africa to discuss the needs of the Internet in Africa.
• In response to Hurricane Katrina, in New Orleans, Louisiana, PIR donated $1 for every new create for a limited time. The final donation was over $100,000 to the Red Cross.
• In response to JapanʹsTsunami disaster, a 3 month program was rolled out to waive renewal fees for Japanese domain name holders, in order to help those affected and unable to renew their .ORG domains.

Within the community, there is a wide appreciation of PIR’s role as an advocate of “do good” for the Internet at large, and in many countries around the world there is a general perception that .ORG domains are more trusted than other domains. At the time of application submission, PIR manages nearly 10 million .ORG domains, and is seen to do so in an exemplary way. We are very happy to be judged on this reputation.

PIR has over 500 letters of support from the NGO Community endorsing its application for .NGO. PIR will continue outreach to the community and anticipates receipt of additional support letters from NGOs throughout the ICANN application evaluation process. Specific recognition of PIR’s efforts to support the nonprofit community includes:
• “As a not-for-profit corporation, we believe that being part of the .org domain has done much to reinforce MITRE’s identity as an organization chartered to work in the public interest. [Thanks to PIR’s] continuing work to enhance the .org domain.ʺ - Al Grasso, President and CEO, The MITRE Corporation (the first .ORG registrant).
• “We recognize and applaud PIRʹs long-standing commitment to the non-profit community since taking over the management of .ORG.” - Lisa Vogt, APR, Director of Marketing & Communications, SOS Children’s Villages – USA.

PIR has conducted outreach, worked with established relationships, and developed new types of relationships which will facilitate the delivery of the .NGO domain and related services to the NGO Community. Our discussions and outreach have included NGOs in several countries across Asia, Europe, North America, South America⁄Latin America, and Africa as well as many different segments of the NGO Community to ensure wide acceptance and adoption of our proposed gTLD domain and related services. The segments include but are not limited to agriculture, environment, arts⁄culture, charitable services, human rights, humanitarian, and advocacy for a range of issues affecting societal development.

Accountability to the NGO Community
By offering .NGO as a secure and well-managed domain of trust uniquely for eligible NGOs, PIR believes that NGOs can benefit from the Internet and our specific services as a means to safely and reliably reach out to the community and sponsors. PIR will be accountable to the NGO Community by:
• A NGO Community input process soliciting input from the community through the NGO Advisory Council drawn from the community and accepting a broad range of input to stay current on the issues of importance to the community and manage the NGO verification process;
• Creating and marketing .NGO as a distinctive place on the Internet for NGOs to differentiate and promote their organization;
• Establishing community programs to support capacity building of NGOs with technical and educational platforms;
• Enforcing registration policies that elevate the integrity of the domains in the .NGO gTLD name space, soliciting input from the NGO Community;
• Easing discovery and promotion through the creation, management and promotion of the .NGO gTLD;
• Offering registration from a proven, scalable registry platform that can ensure 100% DNS availability;
• Delivering a challenge process for the NGO Community to dispute the legitimacy of a .NGO registrant or its activity on a .NGO domain; and,
• As a community priority gTLD, PIR is committing to manage the .NGO domain with participation of the community. Failing to do that would put our registry contract in jeopardy.

PIR is in an excellent position to provide such support to the NGO Community given documented experience running a stable and trusted registry. PIR holds a track record demonstrating good intent to the global community by being a leader in activities such as implementation of anti-abuse policies, DNSSEC, active participation in numerous public interest events, etc.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.pars	Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti.	agitsys.com	View

• Relations to any community organizations.

Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. (AGITSys) was founded by individuals of Persian origin who derive a great sense of honor from their community, history and ancestry. AGITSys’ founders have gathered together a team with extensive experience in Persian language on the Internet, a daunting but critical task.
The company is headquartered in Turkey, which ties together the global Persian population through close relations both with the citizens of Persian-speaking countries in the East, as well as the diaspora of Persian language speakers in Western nations. Turkey’s geographical and political location aids it enormously in this endeavor, as it literally and figuratively sits in-between the East and West. The .PARS gTLD is designed to accommodate a global community, and AGITSysʹ team’s work with ICANN has always looked toward not just to serving the Afghan, Tajik and Iranian people but all users of Persian-script languages.
The team behind AGITSys has pioneered the introduction of Persian text on the Internet, a daunting but critical task. They have taken a leadership role in working toward Persian domain names for more than 8 years. No entity is better suited to manage the .PARS gTLD, nor more dedicated to providing new online tools and services to facilitate the unification of the .PARS community online. The .PARS gTLD will open up the vast resources of the Internet to this community, while stimulating the introduction of more online resources in the Persian language.

ICANN is well-positioned to facilitate Persian-based domain names due to the efforts of AGITSysʹ leadership. Mr. Shahram Soboutipour, an expert in Persian linguistics has labored for years in anticipation of ICANNʹs introduction of Persian TLDs including:

GNSO Internationalized Domain Names Working Group

Soboutipour engaged directly with this IDN-related ICANN Working Group. Over a four-month period ending in 2007, Shahram participated in policy discussions regarding new TLDs as the only representative of Persian concerns. The report can be found here: http:⁄⁄gnso.icann.org⁄drafts⁄idn-wg-fr-22mar07.htm

GNSO Policy Process Steering Committee (PPSC)
Since 2008, AGITSys has been working with the GNSO PPSC. Soboutipour indirectly promoted policies and steering processes for future development of Persian TLDs within the Working Group-Work Team (WG-WT). The WG-WT is responsible for making recommendations concerning processes and methods involved for a new WG model, including suggestions for transition to a new model. As has been the case in other Working Groups, we were the only representatives looking out for Persian concerns.
Public Interest Registry (.org Registry) Advisory Council
Shahram has been a member of the Advisory Council of PIR, Public Interest Registry (.org Registry) from April 2008 to 2012. He was especially engaged in the Advisory Council’s Working Group, where PIR was interested in programming its future activities in this world.
Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG)
Is a self-organizing group that consists of interested parties in the implementation of Arabic script in Internationalized Domain Names. Persian script is known as part of the Arabic script (Perso-Arabic script). Soboutipour was also active in this group,

• Relations to the community and its constituent parts⁄groups.

As stated above, AGITSys operates at the heart of the community as defined both by geography and population. But as this application demonstrates, it has a clear understanding of the larger community that would be served by .PARS, the spread over more than two millenniums of the Persian people and alphabet.

• Accountability mechanisms of applicant to the community.

AGITSys will oversee the formation of a .PARS Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) populated by members of the .PARS gTLD community. AGITSys intends that the PAC be representative of the entire broad spectrum of the Muslim community. It therefore intends to engage religious figures, academics, public figures and a broad range of community members and simply interested parties as a part of this board. Anyone with a desire to do so will be able to apply to become a member of the PAC, and AGITSys will not discriminate against any applicants; if their application is strong then the simplest farmer has as much chance of joining the board as a distinguished academic.
The PAC would serve as a conduit for the community to weigh in on any policy matters that impact the operation of the gTLD. These can range from abuse prevention and mitigation to registration policies and the maintenance and structure of the .PARS community.
This advisory Board will also be critical for our continued outreach across the community as we spread the word about the .PARS gTLD. It will serve as a key channel of communication with, and anchor to, the community which this effort hopes to serve.

AGITSys has received endorsement letters from the following organizations and individualsʺ
1 The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Cultural Institute
2 Ferdowsi Foundation
3 Iran-Tajikistan Friendship Association
4 Institute for Trade Studies and Research
5 Iranian Scientific Society of Command And Control
6 Iranian Cavers & Speleologists Association
7 Dr. Majid Tafreshi, Historian and Researcher
In addition to the support of these leading organizations, there is already widespread grassroots support within the Persian Community for AGITSysʹ application for .PARS. More than 40,000 people have signed a petition to ICANN supporting our effort. As members of the Persian community, these people recognize the historical and cultural importance of the .PARS gTLD to Persians and endorse this effort.
In a short period of time, with very little effort invested in PR or promotion, we were able to recruit more than 40,000 supporters of our application for .PARS. Once delegated and properly promoted, we expect to see even greater results. As it is not possible to upload all 40,000 signatures, we encourage you to view the petition at http:⁄⁄www.ipetitions.com⁄petition⁄dot-pars⁄.