ICANN rejects sale of .org registry to for-profit investor group

SAN FRANCISCO: A body overseeing web addresses said it has vetoed a $1.1 billion deal to sell control of domain names ending in .org to a private investment firm after an outcry from internet pioneers and officials including California’s attorney general.

The surprise plans by the Internet Society to sell the Public Interest Registry to a newly formed for-profit firm, Ethos Capital, announced in November, provoked alarm from many of the more than 10 million entities that use the .org suffix, associated with non-profit organizations.

ICANN, the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers, which gave the assignment of .org to the Internet Society and retains some rights, said on Thursday it was rejecting the deal.