Linux.com
Everything Linux and Open Source
Leading dot-org asks for dot-org top level domain control
Today, the Internet Society (ISOC) announced that it is applying to take over registration of ".org" domain names when Verisign's contract with ICANN expires on December 31, 2002. ISOC is a non-profit group, and membership is open to anyone interested in the Internet. It would certainly be fitting for an "org" to handle "org" registrations, which were originally supposed to be reserved strictly for non-profits.
There are about 2.4 million "org" names currently registered. ISOC is one of them. Slashdot.org is another, although many could correctly argue that Slashdot is now a commercial entity, so Slashdot.com would be more appropriate. (Note that Slashdot is now Slashdot.com as well as Slashdot.org. Note, too, that NewsForge.org resolves to NewsForge.com.)
Often site owners, including OSDN, which owns both Slashdot and NewsForge, register the same name under multiple TLDs [top level domains] as a purely defensive move, to keep others from using the same name with a different suffix, as it were. Perhaps putting "org" registrations under control of a strong, highly respected group like ISOC, a true non-profit with a wide membership base (anyone can join, including you) will help clear up some of this confusion. It's worth a try, anyway.
This is by no means a done deal. ISOC may or may not be able to pull this off.
There's a letter of support you can (and should) sign, and you don't need to be an ISOC member to put in your two cents here, so you might as well go ahead.
Perhaps ICANN, which controls the whole domain name schmear, will listen, although there's no way to be sure. ICANN's record of listening to the voice of the general Internet populace is, at best, spotty.