Dot-org: regulatory agency may change. (The Web).

The three letters punctuating most nonprofits' Internet addresses will fall under a new registry operator this January.

And if the nonprofit group overseeing the some 2.4 million registered dot-org domain names has its way, few nonprofits will notice the change.

"We hope existing registrants will see nothing," said Stuart Lynn, president of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

A collective yawn among registered nonprofits would mean registry stability continued through the transition, an important point to ICANN.

ICANN is a Marina del Rey, Calif.-based nonprofit formed to oversee the Internet's name and address functions. It recently announced Reston, Va.-based Internet Society (ISOC), as its preliminary choice to operate the dot-org registry. If ISOC is chosen, it will establish a separate nonprofit, Public Interest Registry (PIR), to operate the registry.

ICANN board members are scheduled to announce a final decision later this month. A few people familiar with ICANN said the board would probably follow the preliminary staff recommendation.

The change is happening because VeriSign, a Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet addressing company that operates the dot-org registry, signed an agreement with ICANN to cease as operator beginning in 2003 for competitive reasons. VeriSign retained operation of .com and .net registry in that deal. VeriSign also will provide a $5 million endowment if the successor is a nonprofit organization.

This is how the process works: ICANN chooses a registry operator, such as VeriSign, to run the registry, which is the database of nonprofits' domain names. Some 150 companies are accredited by ICANN to sell domain names. These companies, known as registrars, register domain names with the database. A registry operator may select some entity or itself to maintain back office services. In ISOC's case it's Dublin, Ireland-based Afilias, which also runs the .info domain registry.

ICANN has received 11 proposals for dot-org registry operators since April. Three separate groups evaluated the proposals. ICANN's staff report integrated them into its report and recommended ISOC to the board.

ISOC's goal in making the bid is to help the noncommercial world "take full advantage of Internet-based technologies," according to its Web site. Among other things ISOC proposes to:

* Create a dot-org advisory council focusing on dot-org issues;

* Develop services that monitor a dot-org domain name or a key word and its domains associated with the keywords;

* Prevent modifications, transfers or deletions of domain names without explicit permission from the registrant with a provision that the registry or registrar may override this under certain conditions to be explained later;

* Give organizations the ability to submit their sites to various search engines;

* Protect organizations from spamming;

* Create a free dot-org directory that lists information about registered dot-org domain from which registrants can opt in or opt out after registration.

Some of these proposed services will be free. Others will carry a nominal fee, according to ISOC's proposal. ISOC plans to expand the utility of dot-org for users, spokeswoman Julie Williams said.

Heather Carle, a spokeswoman for Afilias, said if ISOC wins, an improvement to the technical operations will cut down registrant process from a day to a few hours.

The cost of registering a domain name should stay affordable, as well.

Wholesale registration fees that the dot-org registry charges companies to sell domain names are currently $6 per year. ISOC intends to keep the same price.

Companies selling domain names to nonprofits can charge any dollar amount but competition keeps retail prices low.

Patricia Goldman, e-Business director for White Plains, N.Y.-based March of Dimes, said a single domain name costs approximately $35 a year. Obtaining a domain name has never been "cost-prohibitive," Goldman said.

She said for the most part it's standard pricing, and deals can be struck for multiple years.

Approximately two-thirds of the estimated $14 million in revenue ISOC would receive from registrars would go toward running back-end services. The remainder would go toward administrative and outreach costs, Williams said.

Nonprofits will see some changes such as how the domain is marketed, said Milton Mueller, an editor of ICANNwatch.org, an online publication that covers ICANN. A strength of ISOC and another bidder, Unity Registry, proposals is marketing the domain to nonprofits overseas, he said. United States-based nonprofits dominate the domain now.

If ISOC gains approval to operate the registry, the switch would be seamless from a technical standpoint, said Michael Palage, chair of ICANN Registrar Constituency, which represents companies that sell domain names. This "seamless" transition is because Afilias, in its capacity as .info registry operator, has technical relations with companies that account for approximately 99 percent of registered dot-org names. The .info registry has approximately 925,000 registered domain names.

Some in the nonprofit community are unfamiliar or unconcerned with the registry change. "Whenever I raise this issue, I'm basically telling them about it," Mueller said.

Michael Gilbert, founder of the Gilbert Center in Seattle, said the nonprofit sector is "out to lunch" on this issue. "This is so many levels removed," Gilbert said. "It's like asking if nonprofits are in touch with the body that determines what their street address is, or if they're familiar with postal service regulations."

The difference is those are mature and unlikely to suddenly fall into hands of private interests, and this is immature and could fall into hands of private interest or at least unaccountable ones, Gilbert said.

Gilbert said it's natural that people aren't paying attention, but because of the emerging central role of the Internet for nonprofits it's "alarming."

Lack of interest from some nonprofits may be because a back end change won't affect them unless the transition goes awry, Goldman said.

Generally speaking, the switch isn't on the top of people's minds. "Just switching to a new provider doesn't affect too many people," Goldman said. "I think people are pretty concerned about fundraising right now."

Michael Langford, Web master at Atlanta-based CARE USA, said the switch probably won't impact his organization from a technical standpoint.

"Assuming it all goes smoothly it should all happen on the back end," Langford said. "People typing in care-dot-org aren't going to be going to anywhere new. I'm hoping that's the way it's going to work," if not it will affect every dot-org in the world.

One of ICANN'S objectives in choosing a different dot-org registry operator is continuing to differentiate the dot-org domain from commercial domains, which could benefit nonprofits.

"I think the goal of any of the bidders is to create a feeling that this is a natural home for not-for-profit organizations because it's not an exclusive restriction," Lynn said. "The goal has been to make a place for nonprofits."

Afilias and ISOC plan marketing toward registrars so they steer nonprofits to dot-org.

Gregory B. Paxton, president and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, based in Atlanta, said if an online nonprofit community further develops it could benefit his organization.

"I think this represents an opportunity for nonprofits to begin to network and for the services to be more readily available to the public at large," he said.

Despite the registry operator change and attempt to further set it out as a home for nonprofits, for-profit companies can still buy dot-org domain names.

"We're simply not going to dispossess people who are already there" and invested in a Web site, Lynn said. Secondly, there isn't a quick way to define a nonprofit on a global basis, Lynn said.

ICANN'S preliminary choice of ISOC has drawn some grumbling about objectivity.

Mueller said the appearance and close ties between ISOC's board and ICANN "is making a lot of people uncomfortable." Some ICANN board members are also members of ISOC.

But Lynn, president of ICANN, called insinuations that choosing ISOC could be an insider deal "totally preposterous and pure fantasy." He cited the separate groups' evaluation of proposals as proof of an objective review.

Williams, of ISOC, said ICANN board members aren't involved in any kind of leadership role with ISOC.

ICANN has faced criticism for activities before. On board member, Karl Auerbach, sued ICANN earlier this year to gain access to information withheld by management, according to an ICANN watchdot.org report. IN late July, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ordered ICANN to give Auerbach access to requested information, according to the ICANN watch report.

The DotOrg Foundation, another bidder, said some inaccuracies happened in one committee's report that could have affected final rankings of bidders.

Mueller, who contributed to the report in question, said mistakes were typographical errors that didn't change rankings. "We're absolutely sure that nothing has really changed," Mueller said.