John,

I fear that you have misunderstood and jumped to conclusions here. I have no idea how the current negotiations around the .org registry will play out, and of course under no circumstances would it, or any new gTLD registry rest with ICANN.

If there is an unspoken assumption here, it is that if (IF) there were a new non-profit gTLD registry, it would likely use profits for the ways envisioned for the Mechanisms. much the way ISOC has with PIR. It was presented as a "What if..." food for thought, and not a "Somebody should..." suggestion.

Sorry that was not clear enough.

Sam Lanfranco

However, whatever new gTLD auction proceeds Mechanism materializes, it involves building capacity to administer a grant making process. It is worth noting that if the .org registry needed a new home or especially if a new public interest gTLD were to be created, an option would be to create the registry out of the selected Mechanism, an entity that would have considerable expertise and hit the ground running.

I am a trustee of the Internet Society and I find this comment to be totally out of line.

ICANN cannot own a registry (other than the tiny and ancient .INT) and the process of running a registry has nothing in common with evaluating and giving grants.  In the unlikely event that the .org sale doesn't complete, the .org registry will still belong to ISOC as it does now.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

-- 
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"It is a disgrace to be rich and honored in an
 unjust state" -Confucius
 邦有道，贫且贱焉，耻也。邦无道，富且贵焉，耻也
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Dr Sam Lanfranco (Prof Emeritus), Econ, York U., CANADA
email: sam@lanfranco.net   Skype: slanfranco
blog:  https://samlanfranco.blogspot.com
Phone: +1 613-476-0429 cell: +1 416-816-2852