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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
.llpDot Registry LLChotmail.comView
DOT Registry is a corporate affiliate of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), an organization which represents state officials who oversee the business filings process in the US, and is working to develop individual relationships with each Secretary of State’s office in order to ensure our continued commitment to honor and respect the authorities of each state.
DOT Registry is acutely aware of our responsibility to uphold our mission statement of: building confidence, trust, reliance, and loyalty for consumers and business owners alike by creating a dedicated gTLD to specifically serve the Community of Registered Limited Liability Partnerships.DOT Registry has also specifically pledged to NASS and various Secretary of Stateʹs offices to responsibly manage this gTLD in a manner that will both protect and promote business development in the US. Further our policies were developed through direct collaboration with the above described offices as to mitigate any possibly of misrepresenting their regulations.

In order to ensure that we accomplish this goal and preserve the credibility of our operations DOT Registry has taken the following advance actions to ensure compliance and community protection:
1) Developed registration policies that are currently reflective of common state law dictating the creation and retention of Limited Liability Partnerships in the United States.
2) Created a strong partnership with CSC (an ICANN approved registrar also specializing in corporate formation services). Through this partnership DOT Registry was able to develop a streamlined verification process to validate potential Registrants as members of the community and ensure that continued annual verifications are completed in a time sensitive and efficient manner. This process will ensure that consumers are not misled by domains registered with the “.LLP” gTLD. Additionally, this process will create peace of mind amongst community members by ensuring that their integrity is not diminished by falsely identified corporations being represented by a “.LLP” extension.
3) Built a strong relationship with several Secretaries of State in order to receive and give consistent input on policy implementation and state regulation updates.
4) Established an in-house legal and policy director to review, enhance, and ensure compliance and consistency with all registration guidelines and community representations.
As indicated in many of the attached endorsement letters, DOT Registry will be held specifically accountable for protecting the integrity of its restrictions and of the members of this community. DOT Registry will consult directly with NASS and its Secretary of State policy advisors consistently in order to continue to accurately represent the Community of Registered Limited Liability Partnerships and live up to the vast standards associated to the “.LLP” gTLD.
In furtherance of this goal, DOT Registry has secured endorsement letters from critical advocates for and representatives of the proposed community, including:
1) The National Association of Secretaries of State Executive Committee: This association’s membership as described above consists of the Secretaries of State from all US territories and jurisdictions as well as the Lieutenant Governors responsible for overseeing business entity formation in the United States. This is the only organization in the US which services all states and jurisdictions related to business filings.
2) Various Secretary of States Offices: Specifically The Secretary of State of Delaware which is widely regarded as a leader in entity formation and policy in the United States and The Secretary of State of South Dakota, which serves as Chair of the NASS business services committee, which is working towards combatting business identity theft and fictitious business registration.
3) Members of the community including but not limited to Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP a national law firm specializing in corporate law. Specifically, partners at Drinker Biddle have consulted on many relevant business protection issues and collaborated with organizations such as NASS to form policy and programs to protect businesses in the United States.
DOT Registry can be viewed as an exemplary community representative not only through its pledged commitment to excellence, but also through its strong affiliation to the endorsing government offices charged with registering and overseeing members of this community. DOT Registry pledges through its registry policies to uphold a common standard of evaluation for all applicants and to add increased integrity to the Community of Limited Liability Partnerships. These pledges are further enforced by the endorsement letters from the above organizations, which call the authentication⁄verification measures proposed by DOT Registry critical to the success of the proposed community.
Similarly, DOT Registry will adhere to all standards of business operations as described in the Kansas state business statutes and will be equally accountable to consumers to deliver continuously accurate findings and valid registrations.