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I believe that technically generic top level domains "belong" to ICANN, and the registry operators (who collect most of the money) are just contractors operatin
by profmonocle 7y ago
I believe that technically generic top level domains "belong" to ICANN, and the registry operators (who collect most of the money) are just contractors operating the infrastructure on behalf of ICANN. So PIR doesn't actually own .org, ICANN could find a new contractor if they abuse their power.
Of course, that's in theory. In reality ICANN's contracts are very controversial, and there have been plenty of accusations of corruption.
Honestly, I don't see why the GTLDs couldn't be operated by a non-profit. They could charge as much as necessary to maintain the extremely high availability the service requires without needing to enrich any shareholders.