2017-10-22

News Review | Brazil Opposes Draft Report re: ICANN U.S. Jurisdiction

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-10-22) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Brazil Opposes Draft Report re: ICANN U.S. Jurisdiction2) Other ICANN news: ICANN60, GDPR, CPE Review, auDA FOI, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Malware Domains, Vanity.com sale, Q3 Verisign $VRSN, 4) ICYMI: Digital Data & Privacy, 5) Most Read Posts.

Update: see ICANN Jurisdiction: CCWG-Accountability WS2, Friday Oct 27, Abu Dhabi

UPDATE: CCWG-ACCT WS2 Jurisdiction draft report. Brazil's revised dissenting statement Oct 25, 2017--"Dear Co-Chairs, Dear All, Please find attached the revised version of Brazil's dissenting statement, which I submit on behalf of Brazil, and which is to be attached to the draft report on jurisdiction. Best regards, Thiago"--Brazil's revised dissenting statement (pdf) embed below:

1) ICANN Accountability WS2: Brazil Opposes Draft Report on ICANN Jurisdiction (U.S.) 
Excerpt from Statement of Brazil (pdf) highlighting added
[CCWG-ACCT] Jurisdiction Subgroup. Draft Report. Statement of Brazil | ICANN.org"On behalf of the Brazilian Government, I hereby submit the "Statement of Brazil" and its annex, which are to be annexed to the draft report of the jurisdiction subgroup, submitted on 11 October 2017, for consideration by the CCWG plenary."--Thiago Braz Jardim Oliveira, Sun Oct 15, 2017--Statement of Brazil, Brasília, 13 October 2017 (pdf).

See also Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (2005):
"... 29. We reaffirm the principles enunciated in the Geneva phase of the WSIS, in December 2003, that the Internet has evolved into a global facility available to the public and its governance should constitute a core issue of the Information Society agenda. The international management of the Internet should be multilateral, transparent and democratic, with the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations. It should ensure an equitable distribution of resources, facilitate access for all and ensure a stable and secure functioning of the Internet, taking into account multilingualism ..."
The Accountability-Cross-Community October 2017 mail list select responses (links) below (nationality of each respondent in parenthesis):
  • Milton Mueller (US)16 Oct 2017: "This is a disappointing statement [from Brazil], but it needs to be understood that this is a dissent from a tiny minority whose ideas were not accepted because they were unrealistic and unattainable. It was already known that proposals for an intergovernmental organization governed by some as-yet-nonexistent form of international law had support from only two or three people, and overwhelmingly strong opposition from everyone else. And it was also clear that petitioning the Trump administration and a Republican Congress for an act of Congress granting ICANN immunity would be a blunder of unprecedented magnitude that would achieve exactly the opposite of the proponents' stated objectives. While a small minority was wasting time on a futile attempt to turn the clock back to 1997, the rest of us were confronting real, practical jurisdictional issues. We came up with tangible progress on OFAC and choice of law. These recommendations enjoy overwhelming consensus. Thus, I do not see that this dissent causes any problems. Let them display their petulance and in Abu Dhabi  we can discuss and debate it as needed to expose their fallacies and move on."
Notes for CCWG Accountability Plenary #24 | 18 October 2017 Action item: "Co-Chairs to consider various suggestions made as to the way forward for the Jurisdiction report [pdf] and post their decision to the list." (emphasis and link added)

CCWG-Accountability-WS2-Plenary-Jurisdiction | Co-Chairs Statement on way forward | 20 Oct 2017: "... the Co-Chairs would propose that Brazil submit its revised minority opinion to the plenary list by 23:59 UTC 25 October so that the members and participants can consider it prior to the 27 October plenary. In order to be responsive to the issues raised, we will change the format of the face to face meeting and will be providing ample room for opinions and positions to be expressed and put on the record. This will allow for our group to recognize the different viewpoints and challenges that either could not be dealt with in the report or could not be reflected in the report to everyone’s satisfaction. During this time slot, we will be offering Brazil the opportunity to present its revised minority opinion to the plenary and answer questions on it from the members and the participants. Jurisdiction challenges have been discussed and caused controversial debates since ICANN’s inception and we hope and expect that these discussions will not end with the completion of work stream 2. Thus, a record of this discussion will surely serve as a valuable source of information to inform further discussions beyond the contents of our report. The Co-Chairs also recommend that the second reading of the Jurisdiction draft recommendations be conducted at the 27 October face to face meeting as staff have confirmed that any significant delay in approving these recommendations could endanger their inclusion in the WS2 Final Report. This would allow for the Jurisdiction draft recommendations to be published for public consultation soon after ICANN 60 and would allow the entire community to comment on the recommendations as well as the minority opinions. Although not a perfect solution we believe that this is the one which represents the majority of views." (emphasis and link added)

2) Other ICANN news
a. ICANN60, Annual General Meeting, takes place 28 Oct - 3 Nov 2017, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE):
Pre-ICANN60 Policy Open House Oct 19th slides (pdf)
Friday-Saturday, October 27-28, 2017, (times are local Abu Dhabi time unless otherwise indicated):
Next week's News Review will have more on ICANN60, from Sunday, October 29 through November 3, 2017.

Also note that ICANN61 is scheduled for 10-15 Mar 2018 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is recovering from the devastation caused by a direct hit from a category 4 (at landfall) hurricane on Sep 20, 2017. AT&T has restored, as of Oct 20, wireless service to 60% of Puerto Rico's population, and has limited LTE connectivity in remote areas in partnership with Project Loon.

b.  GDPR--Data Protection and Privacy Update | ICANN.org--"... we engaged the European law firm Hamilton to provide an independent legal analysis, that will be developed in phases ... the first part of the initial independent legal analysis was published (pdf, 252KB) ... which includes an appendix with the general questions we provided to Hamilton as "food for thought" in analyzing GDPR in relation to gTLD registration data ..."
See also ICANN Correspondence | ICANN.org
  • 19 October 2017 Letter from Rafik Dammak to Theresa Swinehart and Akram Atallah[Published 20 October 2017] Policy Committee Chair | Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group re General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Concerns 
  • 13 October 2017 Letter from Paul Diaz and Graeme Bunton to Göran Marby [Published 19 October 2017] Registries Stakeholder Group & Registrars Stakeholder Group re General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Concerns
  • 10 October 2017 Letter from Jean-Jacques Sahel to Elena Plexida - ICANN Vice President of Stakeholder Engagement & Managing Director, Europe | ICANN Fact-finding exercise on GDPR
  • 09 October 2017 Letter from Jetse Sprey to Göran Marby [Published 19 October 2017] Versteeg Wigman Sprey Advocaten FRL Registry B.V. Registry Agreement (.FRL): "... ICANN states that my clients are in breach of Clause 2.5 of the RA. My clients believe ICANN’s position is mistaken. Publishing all of the registrants’ data as required by the RA is a clear breach of the EU Regulation 2016/679 (the General Data Protection Regulation, “GDPR”) that will go into effect 25 May 2018 and also a breach of the Dutch Data Protection Act which is based on the EU Directive 95/46/EC. In particular when the registrants are private citizens ..." (emphasis added)

c.  CPE Review: Letter from Chris Disspain to Arif Ali | ICANN.org re: CPE Review for Dot Gay LLC disspain-to-ali-10oct17-en.pdf  (pdf 507KB)

d. Community Travel Support at ICANN--ICANN.org: 16 Oct 2017 community-travel-support-consultation-questionnaire-16oct17-en.pdf [pdf -731 KB]

e. .au Historical Financial Irregularities? - a Freedom of Information request to Department of Communications and the Arts | righttoknow.org.au--Ron Andruff made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Communications and the Arts (Sep 15, 2017)--".... we request access to the following documents: • a copy of the PPB Report;  • copies of any findings or reports relating to "the under-reporting of FBT to the ATO" as noted in item 4(a) of the minutes of the Board meeting held on 13 February 2017;  • internal meeting minutes or any other record (in any form) of matters discussed at in-camera discussions held during auDA's board meeting on 24 March 2016 relating to the termination of the ex-CEO Chris Disspain (excluding the board minutes dated 24 March 2016 which are published on the auDA website); and  • copies of any reports or other records relating to expenses incurred by the ex-CEO Chris Disspain during the period(s) the subject of the PPB Review and rational for extensive international travel and explanation of benefit to auDA and the Australian public in general ...." (link and emphasis added). [Editor's Note: At ICANN60, auDA ex-CEO Chris Disspain will become Vice-Chair of the ICANN Board of Directors. .auDA (.au) is a member of ICANN's ccNSO.]

f. About FY18 ICANN Board Activities & Priorities | ICANN.org

g. Framework for Registry Operator's Response to Security Threats--ICANN.org 20 Oct 2017: "The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers today announced a voluntary Framework for Registry Operator's Response to Security Threats (Framework). The Framework provides guidance to registry operators to respond to security threats ..."

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
Malware Domains"Swift on Security said the developer used Cyrillic Unicode characters in the extension name allowing the malicious plugins to again sidestep Google’s malware filters.--Google Busy Removing More Malicious Chrome Extensions from Web Store | Threatpost.com--We need to stop Unicode until we can get a handle on the situation,” Swift on Security said. No more Unicode [i.e., use of Unicode characters to represent Cyrillic and Greek alphabets in order to mimic Latin characters and fool users into thinking they’ve landed on a legitimate domain]." [Editor's Note: see News Review | Report: ICANN's New gTLDs As Global DNS Malware.]

Notice at http://www.hilcostreambank.com/assets/vanity-intellectual-property-assets
Vanity Shop selling Vanity.com domain name and Vanity® brand in Chapter 11 Auction "... The auction will open with a stalking horse bid from Media Options S.A. for the Vanity.com and Vanity.net domain names for $100,000. The minimum overbid amount for the domain names is $115,000. The opening price for the Vanity® brand and related customer data has been set at $67,500. Interested parties have until Monday, October 23, 2017 @ 5:00PM CST to submit competing bids. If competing bids are received, an auction will be held on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 @ 10:00AM CST ..."--hilcostreambank.com

Q3 2017 Earnings Webcasts Oct 26: .COM & .NET Registry Operator Verisign, Inc. $VRSN, and Twitter, Inc. $TWTR, Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL $GOOG, Amazon.com Inc. $AMZN.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
•   US: (a) Trump to Nominate Antitrust Lawyer Joseph Simons to Lead FTC--Bloomberg.com. (b) The internet IS interstate commerce | aei.org.

•  Digital Data & Privacy: U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether law enforcement officials conducting a criminal investigation can demand data held overseas by Microsoft Corp. and other technology companies in a high-stakes clash over digital privacy.--Bloomberg.com

•  Study: One in four emails from a federal .gov account is a fraud | TheHill.com"There is a newer protocol that can automatically authenticate emails, known as DMARC. That protocol double-checks that messages were sent by their listed senders, allowing fake emails to be deleted or sent to spam. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week issued a directive requiring all federal agencies to implement DMARC."

•  Pass the Protecting Data at the Border Act | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org"... The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims that border officers—from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—can freely ransack travelers’ smartphones and laptops and the massive troves of highly personal information they contain. This practice is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy and free speech rights. Congress can and should fix this problem by enacting the bipartisan Protecting Data at the Border Act (S. 823 and H.R. 1899). The need for reform is urgent ..."

•  NSA Declassifies Internet Surveillance Files from 2011 Case: In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The New York Times, the National Security Agency (NSA) has declassified previously secret documents from  a 2011 case before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court. The case concerned problems with the NSA's so-called "upstream" Internet spying conducted under the FISA Amendments Act warrantless surveillance program, and resulted in a then-secret ruling, made public in August 2013, that the agency had violated the Fourth Amendment. The NSA previously released two other tranches of files--NYTimes.com.

•   First Amendment protects the right to disclose government requests for telephone and Internet services subscriber information | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press | rcfp.org"the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a coalition of 20 media organizations submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the case of In re National Security Letter."

•  China: President Xi Nails Shut Chinese Internet's Coffin | international.thenewslens.com"... weeks ahead of the Congress, which is expected to renew Xi’s mandate for another five years, the U.S. encrypted messaging app WhatsApp suddenly began malfunctioning in China ... control of the Chinese internet has grown day by day for more than a year. President Xi ... has established a very sophisticated system of information censorship and surveillance in recent years, one that has now gone to a whole new level ..." and China's Xi lays out vision for 'new era' led by 'still stronger' Communist Party | Reuters.com.

•  EU: The European Union's first annual review of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework"On the whole, the report shows that the Privacy Shield continues to ensure an adequate level of data protection. However, there is room for improvement."--European Commission | ec.europa.eu. 

•  EU--"Rather than allowing the internet monopolies to call the tune ["false digital freedom”], we should try to establish a system of smart governance and regulation, out of a sense of European self-awareness, leading to the installation of a regulatory framework enabling us to benefit fully from our fundamental rights and civil liberties on the internet. The example of Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, who is in the vanguard of a progressive competition policy with her proactive approach towards Apple, Google & co in the US, shows that this can be done. The first ideas for new structures and instruments are close at hand, with a more robust right to access algorithm-linked data for citizens coming into force in May 2018. New tax models for digital companies trading in Europe are being drawn up by the Commission ..."--EURACTIV.com 

•  UK eyes regulating Google and Facebook like news providers--cnbc.com

5) The Top 5 Most Read Posts this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

2. News Review (Oct8) | RySG Requests $$$ and "Detailed Accounting" From ICANN

3. Automotive Disruption: Electric Car Dreams Come At A Cost (video)

4. Technology To Disrupt Fossil Fuels: Solar, Wind, Batteries, Electric Vehicles

5. News Review (Oct1) | Esther Dyson Interview, ICANN Founding Board Chair

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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