| 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 | | .kids | DotKids Foundation Limited | tld.asia | View |
The Registry intends to remain independent to the community. However, the Registry will work closely with community organizations and will invite community organizations in its policy development processes and governance structure. Also, we see the participation from the community crucial to our success.
Relations of Initial Working Group to the Community
Cheney Cheng has been devoted to the advocacy of childrenʹs rights in Hong Kong and international level since 2004. In 2006, he co-founded Kidsʹ Dream, the first child-led organization promoting childrenʹs rights in Hong Kong with members more than 200 people now. He represented Kidsʹ Dream to attend various international conferences and meetings organized by United Nations (UN), Save the Children and other organizations. Cheney was leading the preparation of a report about the implementation of children’s rights in Hong Kong to the UN. He was selected by the UN to be the Asia-Pacific representative in an advisory group evaluating the reporting system of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2008. Cheney is currently working in an Investment Bank and acts as a volunteer advisor to the DotKids Foundation.
Elaine Cheng has been devoted to the advocacy of childrenʹs rights in Hong Kong and international level since 1999 when she was selected as one of the UNCRC Child Ambassadors of Hong Kong. As a founding member of the Children’s Council in Hong Kong, she has also co-founded Kidsʹ Dream. She is now currently working at the DotAsia Organisation which is a not-for-profit registry of the TLD .Asia. Devoted to promote youth participation in Internet Governance, she thereafter founded the NetMission Ambassadors Programme in 2009.
Bianca Ho has started her involvement with Internet Governance in 2008, where she was selected to be a NetMission Ambassador, a program organized by DotAsia Organisation. She received comprehensive training including seminars, workshops, site visits to gain a better understanding of the complexity of the Internet Governance discussion. Afterwards, She led a social campaign in the local community to raise public concerns towards digital divide.
Relations to the community and its constituent groups
Community support is a key element of the success of the DotKids foundation. We have gathered support from various parts of the world, including Hong Kong, Asia, Europe etc. We will continue to outreach to and engage with the community as the .kids Registry develops.
Some of the many endorsements Received to Date:
- Child Rights Coalition Asia (CRC Asia), Asia
- Child Rights Information Center Moldova
- The Smart Internet Foundation, Russia
- Internet Learning Support Centre (ILSC), Hong Kong
- Alliance for Children’s Commission, Hong Kong:
- Against Child Abuse
- Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association (BFHIHKA)
- Caritas Family Crisis Line & Education Centre, Children Counseling Services
- Children Rights Association
- Caritas Youth & Community Service Head Office
- Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong – Hin Keng Centre
- Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong Social Service Head Office
- The Hong Kong Childhood Injury Prevention and Research Association
- Hong Kong College of Paediatricians
- Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF
- Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights (HKCCR)
- Hong Kong Council of Early Childhood Education and Services
- Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association
- Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children
- Playright Children’s Play Association
- Society for Community Organization
- Suen Mei Speech & Hearing Centre
- The Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong
- The Hong Kong Council of Social Service
- TREATS
- Save the Children Hong Kong
- Kids’ Dream
- Ms Chan C.Y. Eliza
- Mr Ken Chan
- Dr Cheung Chiu Hung, Fernando
- Dr Kwok Ka Ki
- Mrs Priscilla Lui
- Mrs Mak Yau Mei Siu, Teresa
While we have people from the community in our working group, plus the necessary endorsement, .kids have mechanisms in place that ensure our accountability to the community.
About DotKids Foundation
The operating registry, DotKids Foundation, is a not-for-profit organization founded with the support of children rights organizations and a governance structure that openly invites children as well as children’s rights organizations to participate in the application and operation of the domain “.kids”.
The initial working group will form the secretariat function of the Foundation and actively reach out to the community and invite children-right organizations to join the Foundation as members and form the Board of Councilors and Advisory Councils according to the following framework.
Special Features of the Governance Structure and Operation:
1. A membership consortium formed by children-right organizations and children-led groups
2. Board Members formed by children-right organizations and professional individuals
3. Advisory Councils formed by children right professionals, IT technology specialist and children-led groups
DotKids Foundation Governance Structure:
The DotKids Foundation will conceptually be a consortium of Children Rights Group and relevant Organizations globally with the below 3 categories of membership established and the admission determined by the Board:
a) International Members
Organizations of children rights group or relevant organizations that are beneficial to children with proof, and with legal entities incorporated in 2 or more countries
b) Local Members
Same eligibility as international members, but only incorporated in 1 country
c) Children Members
Organizations or that are proven to be child-led and nominated by the existing International or local members
The Board of Councilors will in total have not more than 11 seats with the below composition: including maximum of 3 Directors from the DotKids Foundation, maxiumum of 3 Directors nominated by International Members, maxiumum of 3 Directors nominated by Local Members and a maximum of 2 Directors shall be professional individuals.
2 Advisory Councils will be formed to offer advice and opinion to the Board on the all policy matters of the DotKids Foundation, including professional advisory council and children advisory council.
We view Children Advisory Council is a good demonstration on our dedication to the community. We ensure a children-friendly discussion environment will be created where they may form different concern groups at times to freely express their opinion. The inclusion of children is a perfect exemplification of the principles of uor foundation.
Finally, the Board of Councilors will create a Proceeds Steering Committee to oversee the
allocation of surplus proceeds, if any, from the operations of Registry.Kids. This Committee may consist of board members, advisory councilors and or outside consultants.
In general, the principles for the conceptual structure of DotKids Foundation are:
- Ensure broad representation from the community and the voice of children are heard
- Ensure operations and strategic direction of the registry to be towards the benefit of the community
- Ensure that surplus management will be directed to relevant children-centric initiatives
In summary, the .kids foundation’s founding team members are experts in children rights. Moreover, we have already received endorsement from many of our community members. Also, our governance structure is the best example for our dedication to the community, and clearly states our accountability towards our members.