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Public Interest Registry

Organization
Type Non-profit
Focus Registry
Region NA
Country
  • United States of America
City Reston
Founded 2002
Ownership Internet Society
Websites

Public Interest Registry (PIR) is a non-profit registry operator that manages the .org TLD.[1] They also manage the ".ORG Family of Domains", which are .gives, .giving, .charity, .ong, .ngo, and also the IDN versions of .org, .орг (Cyrillic), .संगठन (Devanagari), .机构[2] and .组织机构 (Simplified Chinese).[3] [4]

The non-profit was established in 2002 by the Internet Society (ISOC). PIR was originally formed to take over the operation and maintenance of the .org domain and its database from Verisign Global Registry Services.[5] The organization’s headquarters is located in Reston, Virginia, USA.[1]

History[edit | edit source]

.org and PIR[edit | edit source]

The .org TLD was created in October 1984 by Jon Postel and Joyce Reynolds along with .com, .gov, .edu and .mil. From the deployment of the DNS until the end of 1992, the gTLDs were managed by SRI International's Network Information Center (SRI-NIC).[6] In 1993, .org was privatized and transferred to Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI),[7] which was later acquired by VeriSign.[6]

In June 1998, the U.S. Department of Commerce launched the White Paper, which led to the formation of ICANN.

On March 14, 2002, the ICANN Board authorized the solicitation of proposals to succeed VeriSign as the operator of the .org registry.[6] After this open call, Verisign voluntarily surrendered control of .org.

In the same year, the Internet Society created the Public Interest Registry as a 501(c)3 non-profit in order to manage .org.[7] and submitted their proposal to ICANN. ISOC would be responsible for appointing the Board of Directors PIR, which otherwise would operate as a not-for-profit entity separate from ISOC.[8]

On October 14, 2002, the ICANN Board met to consider the proposals, as well as the evaluation reports by the various evaluation teams. At that meeting, it selected PIR as VeriSign's successor.

On November 26, 2002, the U.S. Department of Commerce approved PIR as successor registry under Amendment 3 of its Memorandum of Understanding with ICANN. The ICANN and PIR formally entered the .org Registry Agreement on December 2, 2002.[6]

ICANN Agreement Renewals[edit | edit source]

The agreements between ICANN and PIR that continue to designate Public Interest Registry as the sole registry operator for were renewed on December 8, 2006 (amended on July 16, 2008)[9], on August 22, 2013,[10] and on June 30, 2019.[11]

Relantioship with Afilias[edit | edit source]

From its inception as the operator of .org, PIR has subcontracted its back-end registry services to Afilias, a registry services provider. When ICANN and PIR signed the .org Registry Agreement in December 2002, ICANN announced that PIR had subcontracted with Afilias to provide back end services, with a 25-day transition period during which VeriSign would continue to run the registry while registrars adapted to the new system.[12] VeriSign continued to provide back-end services on behalf of PIR until January 25, 2003, when technical operations were cut over to Afilias.[13]

On February 16, 2016, PIR announced "the upcoming issuance of a Request for Information for the procurement of its back-end registry services."[14] After a competitive procurement process, PIR announced that it would retain Afilias as the .org back-end operator.[15] [16]

Other PIR TLDs[edit | edit source]

2012 New gTLD Program[edit | edit source]

Public Interest Registry announced ahead of the January 2012 launch of ICANN's New gTLD Program that it was planning on applying for .ngo,[17] which would be an exclusive domain for NGOs.[18]

PIR’s application for .ngo was accompanied by .ong, which stands for the equivalent of "NGO" in languages like French, Spanish and Portuguese.[19]

For Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), PIR submitted for the gTLDs that translate to “organization,” “org” or “structured organization” in Devanagari, Cyrillic and Chinese-simplified scripts. The four applications - one in Devanagari (.संगठन), one in Cyrillic (.орг), and two in simplified Chinese (.机构 and .组织机构) - were filed as part of ICANN’s global Internet expansion initiative.[20] On April 22, 2014, PIR launched the first registration phase, known as the Sunrise Period, for their new IDNs. Registration opened to all interested parties on May 27, 2014.

Acquisitions[edit | edit source]

In 2021, PIR acquired four new domains. Three of them were transfered from Donuts, .foundation, .charity, and .gives.[21] In 2022, PIR relaunched these TLDs as part of its .ORG Family of Domains. [22]

The fourth one was .giving, acquired from Giving Limited, although still not launched at the time.[21] In January 2023, PIR launched .giving, intended for all types of mission-driven organizations, regardless of non-profit status.[22]

.org Statistics[edit | edit source]

Registration for .org passed the 11 million mark on November, 2024. When PIR became the steward of the .org domain in 2002 years ago, the number was 2.6 million .org domains managed.[23]

Deployment of DNSSEC[edit | edit source]

In April 2008, Public Interest Registry submitted a request to ICANN to amend the .org registry, specifically the function of the registry and the corresponding Whois and DNS systems for the .org gTLD, in order to facilitate the use of "Domain Name System Security Extensions" (DNSSEC) as specified in RFCs 4033, 4034, 4035 and 5155.[24] The ICANN board approved this proposal in June 2008.[15]

On June 23, 2010, Alexa Raad, Public Interest Registry’s CEO at that time, announced at an ICANN 38 Brussels press conference that .org had become the first generic top-level domain to offer full deployment of DNSSEC. DNSSEC had become the most robust security protocol on the Internet as of 2010, and registrars who have implemented DNSSEC in their system can "offer added security protection to their customers by enabling .org website owners to sign their respective domain name with validation keys."[25]

The benefit of DNSSEC to a .org registrant is the "added ability to thwart the increased predominance of attacks like pharming, cache poisoning, DNS redirection and domain hijacking - all of which have been used to commit fraud, distribute malware and identity theft."[26]

Leadership[edit | edit source]

their leadership is structured in three main layers: The Board of Directors, the Executive Management and the Advisory Council.

The Board of Directors is appointed by Internet Society and is responsible for setting strategy and oversight. Currently, the Board is comprised of:

The Executive Management is responsible for day-to-day management, and is currently comprised by:

The Advisory Council provides input and recommendations on issues affecting the broader .ORG Community, including noncommercial Internet users, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations. Council members reflect diverse subject matter interests, including, but not limited to, educational, artistic, cultural, human rights, political, religious, and scientific sectors. It is currently comprised of:

Project 94[edit | edit source]

In October 2012[28] Project94 was announced, which was the allocation of 94 1-2 character .org domain names never released before for registration.[29] The names were released when PIR renewed its agreements with ICANN earlier in the year, and while 94 were released, 9 of them were held back given that they match ccTLDs. Only organizations with registered and recognizable trademarks and rights to the letters and possible acronyms were allowed to participate in the auctions. Also, these organizations had to be pre-approved to participate. PIR auction the domain names via eNom and GoDaddy.[28]

.ORG Impact Awards[edit | edit source]

The .ORG Impact Awards is a global awards program that started in 2019.[30] The goal to recognize individuals and organizations that have a connection to a registered . ORG domain for their contributions, achievements and impact in their communities.[31]

As of 2025, there are seven categories:

  • Quality Education for All: recognizes an organization or individual for contributions in providing education for all.
  • Health and Healing: recognizes an organization or individual dedicated to providing health and wellness resources to the community, including education and awareness, vaccine development, equitable distribution of supplies, and mental health resources.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: recognizes an organization or individual for efforts toward furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion in society through creation of policies, programs, and initiatives that address systemic challenges and historic injustices.
  • Environmental Stewardship: recognizes an organization or individual that works to combat the increased threats to our environment and promotes responsible consumption and environmental sustainability in communities around the world.
  • Community Building: recognizes an organization or individual whose efforts have contributed to changing or enhancing the lives of those in the community the nominee serves, whether on a local, national, or global level.
  • Hunger and Poverty: recognizes an organization or individual who has made significant contributions and innovations in the fight to end hunger, alleviate poverty, and reduce resource inequalities on a local, national, or global scale.
  • Rising Star: recognizes an individual under the age of 25 who has created a positive impact in their community through leadership on a project, platform, task, or campaign.
  • .ORG of the Year: recognizes and honors an organization or individual for outstanding achievement as evidenced by results and/or contributions to its sector, constituents, community, or society at large.

NetBeacon Institute[edit | edit source]

Main article: NetBeacon Institute

In 2021, PIR founded the DNS Abuse Institute to act against online DNS abuse, which was renamed NetBeacon Institute in 2024. The Institute is fully funded and supported by PIR.[32]

Partnerships[edit | edit source]

Global NGO Technology Report[edit | edit source]

From 2016 to 2018, PIR partnered with Nonprofit Tech for Good to sponsor the Global NGO Technology Report, an annual survey of how NGOs worldwide use online tools and digital technology.[33] [34] [35] After 2018, the report continued under different sponsorship[36] and was later restructured by Nonprofit Tech for Good as the Global NGO Technology Open Data Project.[37]

IWF Partnership[edit | edit source]

PIR has a partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a hotline in Europe dedicated to finding and removing child sexual abuse material from the Internet, to help combat the commercial distribution and exploitation of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) across their TLDs.

The PIR and IWF partnership seeks to amplify the impact of IWF’s work to protect children online by enabling all TLD registries with new tools to identify and remove CSAM more quickly: TLD Hopping Lists and Domain Alerts. The IWF Domain Alerts program provides real-time alerts to participating registries if CSAM is detected on a domain they operate to allow for fast removal of content before it is further spread online. Thanks to PIR's sponsorship, access to Domain Alerts could be expanded to over a thousand TLDs at no cost to participating registries.[38]

Revenge Porn Helpline[edit | edit source]

Safety and Security Online (SWGfl) partnered with PIR and Nominet to further the removal of non-consensually shared intimate images (NCII) from the Internet. This partnership will enable these registries to address NCII which has been adjudicated by a court to be non-consensual.

SWGfl operates a service named Revenge Porn Helpline, which identifies instances of NCII across the Internet, working closely with industry platforms to ensure content can be swiftly actioned and taken down. This new partnership with PIR and Nominet sthat protections will now be extended in the removal of NCII in the TLDs operated by Nominet and PIR.[39]

Ethos Capital Sale Proposal[edit | edit source]

On November 13-14, 2019, PIR announced that ISOC, its parent company, had reached an agreement with Ethos Capital, under which Ethos Capital would acquire PIR and all of its assets from ISOC. PIR would also become a for-profit Pennsylvania limited liability company. PIR formally submitted to ICANN a "Notice of Indirect Change of Control and Entity Conversion."[40] EFF, NTEN, and Access Now organized a petition that 871 organizations and 27,183 people signed to stop the transaction, paying special attention to the future of the .org domain. [41]

On April 30, 2020, the ICANN Board formally announced that it would withhold consent for a Change of Control of PIR from Internet Society to Ethos Capital.[42]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 PIR: Who We Are
  2. ↑ PIR: .ORG Family of Domains
  3. ↑ PIR: RRA Data Processing Addendum
  4. ↑ IANA: Delegation Record for .组织机构
  5. ↑ ISOC: Public Interest Registry (PIR)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 IANA: Report on Redelegation of the .org Top-Level Domain
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 PIR: History
  8. ↑ ICANN Announcements: ICANN Board Selects New .org Registry Operator
  9. ↑ ICANN Registry Operators: ORG Registry Agreement - 8 Dec 2006, amended 16 July 2008
  10. ↑ ICANN Registry Operators: .ORG Registry Agreement - 22 August 2013
  11. ↑ ICANN Registry Operators: REGISTRY AGREEMENT
  12. ↑ ICANN Announcements: .org Agreement Signed; Transition Plans Announced
  13. ↑ InterNIC: InterNIC FAQs on the .org Transition
  14. ↑ PIR Blog and News: Public Interest Registry Announces Back-End Registry Procurement
  15. ↑ PR Newswire: Public Interest Registry Selects Afilias for Back-End Registry Services
  16. ↑ Domain Name Wire: .Org sticks with Afilias for backend
  17. ↑ CircleID: PIR to Present .NGO Domain Extension Plans At CIVICUS World Assembly
  18. ↑ https://circleid.com/posts/20110102_why_pir_is_pursuing_ngo CircleID: Why PIR Is Pursuing .NGO]
  19. ↑ CircleID: PIR Files Applications to Create and Manage .NGO and .ONG Domains
  20. ↑ PR Newswire: Public Interest Registry Aims to Broaden International Reach With Creation of Cyrillic, Chinese and Devanagari Web Addresses
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Domain Name Wire: PIR acquires 4 charitable top level domains, announces RSP contract bidding
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 PIR Blog and News: Public Interest Registry Launches .GIVING, a New Top-Level Domain to Streamline Online Fundraising
  23. ↑ PIR Blog and News: 11 Million Domains
  24. ↑ Jump up↑ Understanding the Role of Registrars in DNSSEC Deployment, Conferences.SigComm.org.
  25. ↑ 1.   Jump up↑ ICANN Adopted Board Resolutions (26 June 2008), ICANN.org. Published 2008 June 26.
  26. ↑ Jump up↑ Dakar42, ICANN.org.
  27. ↑ PIR: Teams
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Domain Incite: Domainers Not Welcome in One Character Org Auction
  29. ↑ Project94: Main Page
  30. ↑ PIR: Why Should .ORGs Enter the OIAs?
  31. ↑ .Org Impact Awards, Domain Name Wire
  32. ↑ PIR: NetBeacon Institute
  33. ↑ Balkan Civil Society Development Network: 2016 Global NGO Online Technology Report
  34. ↑ PR Newswire:Survey Uncovers Global Trends in Technology and Social Media Use Among NGOs
  35. ↑ 2018 GLOBAL NGO Technology Report: About The Report
  36. ↑ Website Files: Global NGO Technology Report 2019
  37. ↑ Nonprofit Tech for Good: Announcing the 2021 Open Data Project!
  38. ↑ PIR Blog and News: Internet Watch Foundation and Public Interest Registry Extend Online Safety Initiative to Disrupt Criminal "brands" Selling Child Sexual Abuse
  39. ↑ PIR News: Revenge Porn Helpline Partners with Public Interest Registry and Nominet to Extend Protections Against NCII
  40. ↑ https://thenew.org/the-internet-society-public-interest-registry-a-new-era-of-opportunity/ PIR sell announcement]
  41. ↑ Statement of request for contract protections
  42. ↑ ICANN Blogs: ICANN Board withholds consent of PIR sale

North America, according to the ICANN Geographic Regions (ICANN Geographic Regions).

Request For Comments. Archival series dedicated to documenting Internet technical specifications, including general contributions from the Internet research and engineering community as well as standards documents (RFC Editor Model, Version 3).

Country code top-level domain. Determined by "ISO 3166-1: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions — Part 1: Country codes".

Child Sexual Abuse Material

Retrieved from "https://icannwiki.org/index.php?title=Public_Interest_Registry&oldid=1398129"
Semantic properties for "Public Interest Registry"
RDF feed
Date foundedStores the date that an object was founded, normalized to the "Month DD, YYYY" format.
2002 +
Has ICANN regionAssociates an object with an ICANN-determined Geographic Region.
NA +
Has cityStores the city associated with an object. This value does not get normalized.
Reston +
Has countryAssociates a page with a country. Territory names are extracted from ISO 3166, "Country Codes".
United States of America +
Has entity typeSpecifies the primary classification or fundamental type of the page's subject (e.g., Event, Organization, Person).
Organization +
Has focusAssociates an object with a focus theme. Not normalized.
Registry +
Has organization typeAssociates an organization with its organizational or legal type (e.g., Non-profit, Government agency, Commercial).
Non-profit +
Has owner
Internet Society +