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20(b) Explain the applicant's relationship to the community identified in 20(a)

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.NGOPublic Interest Registrypir.orgView
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.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.taxiTaxi Pay GmbHtaxi.euView
RELATIONS TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
In accordance with the answer to question 20(a), the taxi community currently lacks a single and overarching international umbrella organization. Even though there are a handful of organizations with a global claim, none of those comes close to even covering the majority of all community organizations. TaxiPay GmbH is on good terms with a multitude of organizations and with representatives of such organizations, as well. It is the strong interest of TaxiPay GmbH to establish long term and sustainable relationships with stakeholders, thus creating a network based on all four major constituent parts of the taxi community (compare answer to question 20(a)): The core taxi industry, members of the immediate surrounding industry, superordinate organizations and affiliated businesses. TaxiPay GmbH is therefore proud to count the following community organizations to its major supporters of the application for the gTLD .taxi:

RELATIONS TO THE COMMUNITY AND ITS CONSTITUENT PARTS & GROUPS
- Taxiverband Deutschland e.V.: In 1999, the organization was founded in Stuttgart as a Federal Association of German taxi and car-hire businesses. The Taxiverband Deutschland e.V.’s constituents are over 8,000 taxi entrepreneurs and companies – over 3,000 more than the once largest German Taxi trade Association BZP. Taxiverband Deutschland e.V. and TaxiPay GmbH have been very closely cooperating since 2005 on advocacy issues regarding the further development and the influence of public policy relevant to the taxi industry.

- Taxi Deutschland e.V.: The organization was founded in 2008 by Stuttgarter Taxiverband (Taxi Association Stuttgart), the Federal Taxi Associations of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Berlin and Brandenburg, as well as two taxi associations of the State of Hamburg. Thus, Taxi Deutschland e.V. represents a major portion of regional German taxi companies, associations and entrepreneurs. Taxi Deutschland e.V. and TaxiPay GmbH have been very closely cooperating since the foundation of Taxi Deutschland e.V. in 2008. The cooperation grew so close that Taxi Deutschland e.V. has even moved its headquarters to the same premises as TaxiPay GmbH so as to demonstrate a clear commitment to the long term nature of the stakeholder relationship.

- fms Datenfunk GmbH and Austrosoft® Weiss Datenverarbeitung Ges.m.b.H.: Both companies are in a close business relationship with TaxiPay GmbH. The fms Datenfunk GmbH was founded in 1999 and works works to form a lobby for the taxi business, and actively participate in improving the economic and legal environment on a federal, provincial and international level. Austrosoft was founded in 1982. The company develops a fleet management system (FMS). Austrosoft and TaxiPay GmbH have been cooperating very closely since 2007. TaxiPay GmbH itself is using Austrosoft’s software for its business operations. Together the two companies constitute Eurocap Group.

- Taxi 40100 Taxifunkzentrale GmbH: Taxi 40100 Taxifunkzentrale GmbH was founded in 1963 in Vienna, Austria, and operates as a switching center for taxi reservations. Taxi 40100 counts over 1,500 taxis in Vienna alone and is therefore one of the largest operators in Austria. Taxi 40100 Taxifunkzentrale GmbH and TaxiPay GmbH have been operating closely together since 2007. Primarily, TaxiPay GmbH and Taxi 40100 Taxifunkzentrale GmbH share information related to upcoming issues in the taxi business, and develop new action plans for the further development of the European taxi community.

- IsarFunk Taxizentrale GmbH & Co. KG: Isarfunk was established in 1999 and is since then operating in the metropolitan area of Munich as an intermediary between passengers and taxi drivers. The company coordinates more than 1,000 contracted taxi drivers. Isarfunk and TaxiPay GmbH have been cooperating very closely since 2007. For instance, the two companies have successfully and jointly developed the smartphone app “Collexio” which offers fully automatic billing on just one platform for taxi sharing.

- Hansa Funktaxi eG: Hansa Funktaxi eG was established in 1973 in Hamburg, Germany. Today, the company is the second largest switching center for taxis in Hamburg. The registered radio taxi cooperative consists of about 700 members. Hansa Funktaxi eG and TaxiPay GmbH have been cooperating very closely since 2006, most notably on the development of taxi.eu – the largest European online platform for taxi reservations.

- WBT Wirtschaftsgenossenschaft Berliner Taxibesitzer eG: Established in 1938, the company developed into the of the most advanced service provider for passenger transport. Today, the company is specialized in the area of operating as a switching center. In addition, WBT offers a special transport service for people with disabilities on behalf of the State of Berlin. WBT and the Managing Director of TaxiPay GmbH, Hermann Waldner, have been working together very closely since 1983. Even though the two companies are competing on the same market, they cooperatively strive to further develop the taxi business.

All of the just described community organizations share two main characteristics: Firstly, all of the named organizations have close ties to the International Road and Transport Union (IRU) – an international organization that works to facilitate road transport worldwide and ensures its sustainable development. The IRU is no taxi-specific organization, which is why TaxiPay GmbH maintains only indirect ties to the organization. Secondly, all of these organizations share a common interest of elevating the taxi community onto a new level of professionalism. As described in the answers to question 18(a) and 20(a), the core taxi industry is operating mostly offline, due to the offline nature of the taxi service itself. Therefore, TaxiPay GmbH has initialized a project to catalyze the achievement of this objective by launching “taxi.eu” – the largest European online platform for taxi reservations. The consumer-centric online platform facilitates the ordering process of taxis based on an iPhone⁄Android application, as well as a mobile device optimized browser option. Based on this app, taxi drivers are able to attract new, tech-savvy and usually financially strong customers. Based on taxi.eu, TaxiPay GmbH establishes a crucial connection between the taxi community’s constituents and potential customers, and currently represents over 40,000 taxis with 150,000 drivers in over 60 major cities throughout Europe.

ACCOUNTYBILITY MECHANISMS TO THE COMMUNITY
Although there are no established and formal accountability mechanisms between TaxiPay GmbH and the taxi community, TaxiPay GmbH is fully aware of its general accountability and responsibility towards the community itself. A large group of passengers and taxi companies already rely on the services provided via taxi.eu. The added value of the information supplied and demanded on a daily basis, the business that is generated, and the inherent business relationships between all organizations connected with taxi.eu constitute a vital part of the professional life of a not negligible part of the community. By applying for .taxi, TaxiPay GmbH is fully dedicating itself to being a transparent, trustworthy and accountable representative of the taxi community and all of its constituent individuals, parts, groups and organizations.