Internet: dot-orgs changes from 1 January 2003.
The .org domain name is widely believed to be for charities, NGO's, etc. But there has been no checking of credentials and many dubious registrations have been made. Will the new .org Registrar improve the situation?
The .org domain name is widely believed to be for charities, NGO's, etc. But there has been no checking of credentials and many dubious registrations have been made. Many more have been made defensively, to prevent the blackening of a company's name by the registration of its brand by a devious person thinking there is money to be made.
As from 1 January 2003, the management of the .org domains will pass to The Public Interest Registry http://www.publicinterestregistry.org. One of the reasons that ICANN (the internet naming body) was said to be inviting tenders to run the .org domain was to try to prevent the domain falling into disrepute. But PIR says that it will continue to be "open and unrestricted."
It also says that there will be "no new registration requirements." However, it hopes that it will be used by non-commercial organisations. Some hope: every con artist in the world seems to have the internet in his sights. Appealing to their better nature is hardly likely to produce meaningful results.
So, if it says .org, you still can't trust it.
And, in any case, the lines between charity and commerce are so blurred (consider Oxfam with its chain of shops, as just one example) and so the .org / .com argument is clearly problematic.
Whilst the technical support may improve (for a variety of historical reasons it is a mess and it's not Verisign's fault), the underlying issue that it was hoped would be addressed is seemingly to be left outstanding.
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