ICANN Board finds no problems with fresh .Org contract

Board believes Reconsideration Requests are without merit.

ICANN’s Board of Directors has found no problems with ICANN’s handling of the .org contract renewal with Public Interest Registry.

Two organizations filed reconsideration requests over the controversial contract.

Domain name registrar Namecheap objected to the removal of price caps on .org domains.

Electronic Frontier Foundation objected to PIR’s ability to add fresh rights protections.

ICANN’s board believes its staff decisions were “consistent with ICANN Bylaws, policies, and procedures. Further, the Board did not fail to consider material information or rely on false or inaccurate materials…” in coming to its decision.

Now, both Namecheap and EFF have 15 days to submit a rebuttal.

While the decision is not unexpected, it’s interesting how the process played out. Usually, the Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) makes a recommendation to the Board on what to do. In this case, so many members of the BAMC recused themselves due to possible conflicts of interest that the BAMC couldn’t form a quorum.