by Paul Cienfuegos
Although we are absolutely thrilled that the “.org domain” on the Internet has been saved from becoming just another commodity to be bought and sold by large corporations, we hesitate to call this “a huge win” or a “victory,” as the organization Open Media does in this article (You saved the .ORG domain!).
It becomes crystal clear how much this is anything but an authentic win as one reads further on in this article, when it states, “While there are no announcements yet as to where this leaves the future of .ORG, we are hopeful that it will continue to be operated by a mission-based, non-profit, as it has for the last 20 years.”
“Hopeful”?! How did we reach a point in this country where We The People have so little legal power and authority over the absolutely essential elements of communication infrastructure—tools citizens use to communicate with and educate each other? And why do We The People even allow such travesties to exist, where we came within just days or weeks of losing this fight? Why do We not insist that the essential elements of our online communications be publicly held and safeguarded in trust, under law?
According to the quote above, this threat could once again raise its ugly head at any point, and We will have to leap into action once again to save the “.org domain”. That really is no victory worth celebrating! Let’s instead change the structures of law in this country that would even allow such an outrage to take place legally in the first place. Presumably, we would start by withdrawing from business corporations their “intangible property rights as corporate persons” that allow their boards of directors to make what is essentially public policy that trumps what our own elected officials are authorized to do under law. Now THAT would be a victory worth celebrating!