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| linkedin        =  

| twitter        =  

| twitter        =  

| keypeople      = [[Brian Cute]], CEO<br/>[[David Maher]], Senior VP, Law and Policy<br> [[Maarten Botterman]], Chairman

| keypeople      = [[Brian Cute]], CEO<br/>[[David Maher]], Senior VP, Law and Policy<br> [[Maarten Botterman]], Chairman<br> [[Kathy Keiman]], Director of Policy<br> [[Lance Wolak]], Director of Marketing and Product Management<br> [[Lawrence Martin]], Director of Finance and Administration<br> [[Kim VanWyngaardt]], Executive Administrator

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'''Public Interest Registry''' (PIR) is a [[gTLD|generic top-level Domain]] [[registry]] that manages the [[.org]] [[TLD|top level domain]]. The non-profit was established in January, 2003 by the Virginia-based [[ISOC|Internet Society]]. PIR was formed to take over the operation and maintenance of the .org domain and its database from VeriSign Global Registry Services, a division of [[VeriSign]]. The organization has its office in Reston, Virginia.

'''Public Interest Registry''' (PIR) is a [[gTLD|generic top-level Domain]] [[registry]] that manages the [[.org]] [[TLD|top level domain]]. The non-profit was established in January, 2003 by the Virginia-based [[ISOC|Internet Society]]. PIR was formed to take over the operation and maintenance of the .org domain and its database from VeriSign Global Registry Services, a division of [[VeriSign]]. The organization has its office in Reston, Virginia.

== History ==

== History ==

The .org top-level domain was first created in October, 1984 by the [[IANA|Internet Assigned Numbers Authority]]<ref>http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/org.html</ref>, as part of its implementation of the [http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc920 RFC 920]. Though the RFC limited the scope of the .org domain to non-profit organizations or to organizations of a non-commercial nature, over time the scope of the domain has expanded to include any entity, whether organizational or individual, commercial or non-commercial.

The .org top-level domain was first created in October, 1984 by the [[IANA|Internet Assigned Numbers Authority]]<ref>[http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/org.html iana.org]</ref>, as part of its implementation of the [http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc920 RFC 920]. Though the RFC limited the scope of the .org domain to non-profit organizations or to organizations of a non-commercial nature, over time the scope of the domain has expanded to include any entity, whether organizational or individual, commercial or non-commercial.

The first .org domain was registered by MITRE Corporation, a non-profit organization providing systems engineering and information technology support to the US government, on July 10, 1985.

The first .org domain was registered by MITRE Corporation, a non-profit organization providing systems engineering and information technology support to the US government, on July 10, 1985.

On May 25, 2001, [[ICANN]] entered into an unsponsored registry agreement with [[VeriSign]] Inc. for operating the .org domain.<ref>http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/verisign/registry-agmt-org-25may01.htm</ref>  This agreement expired on December 31, 2002. A request for proposal was circulated by ICANN on May 20, 2002.<ref>http://www.icann.org/tlds/org/rfp-20may02.htm</ref> [[ISOC|The Internet Society]] was one of the eleven applicants who put in their proposals to become the successor operator.<ref>http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/org/applications/</ref> ISOC proposed to set up a separate entity, the "Public Interest Registry", to operate the .org [[gTLD]], with the sole power to appoint its board of directors. As part of the arrangement, PIR would appoint [[Afilias]] to handle the full range of back-end registry services on behalf of PIR. The [[ICANN Board]] selected PIR as the successor operator to VeriSign for managing the .org gTLD on October 14, 2002.<ref>http://www.icann.org/minutes/prelim-report-14oct02.htm#SuccessorOperatorfororgRegistry</ref> Finally, the reins of .org domain came into PIR's control in January, 2003; the agreement was signed for a period of 3 years, expiring December, 2006.

On May 25, 2001, [[ICANN]] entered into an unsponsored registry agreement with [[VeriSign]] Inc. for operating the .org domain.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/verisign/registry-agmt-org-25may01.htm ICANN.org]</ref>  This agreement expired on December 31, 2002. A request for proposal was circulated by ICANN on May 20, 2002.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/tlds/org/rfp-20may02.htm ICANN.org]</ref> [[ISOC|The Internet Society]] was one of the eleven applicants who put in their proposals to become the successor operator.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/org/applications/ ICANN.org]</ref> ISOC proposed to set up a separate entity, the "Public Interest Registry", to operate the .org [[gTLD]], with the sole power to appoint its board of directors. As part of the arrangement, PIR would appoint [[Afilias]] to handle the full range of back-end registry services on behalf of PIR. The [[ICANN Board]] selected PIR as the successor operator to VeriSign for managing the .org gTLD on October 14, 2002.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/minutes/prelim-report-14oct02.htm#SuccessorOperatorfororgRegistry ICANN.org]</ref> Finally, the reins of .org domain came into PIR's control in January, 2003; the agreement was signed for a period of 3 years, expiring December, 2006.

On December 8, 2006, the agreement between ICANN and PIR was renewed for another 6.5 years, and is set to expire on June 30, 2013.<ref>http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/org/registry-agmt-16jul08.htm</ref>

On December 8, 2006, the agreement between ICANN and PIR was renewed for another 6.5 years, and is set to expire on June 30, 2013.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/agreements/org/registry-agmt-16jul08.htm ICANN.org]</ref>

.org has emerged as the third-largest generic top-level domain in the world, as per the bi-annual domain name report published by PIR for January to June 2010.<ref>http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf</ref>

.org has emerged as the third-largest generic top-level domain in the world, as per the bi-annual domain name report published by PIR for January to June 2010.<ref>[http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf PIR.org]</ref>

== Governance ==

== Governance ==

On June 23, 2010, Ms. [[Alexa Raad]], PIR's CEO at that time, announced at an ICANN 38 Brussels press conference that .org has 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".<ref>http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf</ref>

On June 23, 2010, Ms. [[Alexa Raad]], PIR's CEO at that time, announced at an ICANN 38 Brussels press conference that .org has 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".<ref>http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf</ref>

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".<ref>http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf</ref>

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".<ref>[http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf PIR.org]</ref>

== Miscellaneous ==

== Miscellaneous ==

* There are 8.5 million domains registered under the .org domain as of end of July, 2010.<ref>http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf</ref>

* There are 8.5 million domains registered under the .org domain as of end of July, 2010.<ref>http://www.pir.org/pdf/dashboard_1H_2010.pdf</ref>

* The [[gTLD]] registry celebrated its 25th anniversary of existence in June, 2010 by hosting a birthday bash during Music Night at ICANN 38 Brussels.

* The [[gTLD]] registry celebrated its 25th anniversary of existence in June, 2010 by hosting a birthday bash during Music Night at ICANN 38 Brussels.

* .org registrations surpassed the growth of .com and .net by posting a percentage growth rate of 7.6% in the period January to July 2010; however, the .info domain beat them all with a growth rate of 20.0%.

* .org registrations surpassed the growth of .com and .net by posting a percentage growth rate of 7.6% in the period January to July 2010; however, the .info domain beat them all with a growth rate of 20.0%.

* North America is the largest market for .org domains, making up 64% of .org registrants.

* North America is the largest market for .org domains, making up 64% of .org registrants.

== References ==

== References ==

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