UPDATE May 10, 2018: ICANN CEO's Desperate 6-page Letter to WP29 Chair, embed below:
Original Post:
"The EU is fast becoming the world's de facto technology regulator. Without much in the way of home-grown global tech, they can act where the U.S. and China cannot"--DataTrekResearch.com.
1) GDPR & Antitrust: Europe Is The World's Tech Regulator
ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck: How Many Days Until May 25?
Data Protection/Privacy Update: Meeting with Contracted Parties on Apr 27 re GDPR Compliance | ICANN.org: "We aim to have a draft temporary specification to share with the community in the next few days."--Akram Atallah, ICANN Global Domains Division President, May 1, 2018 [Editor's note: no more delusional talk at ICANN about a fantasy "GDPR enforcement moratorium." ].
Letter from Graeme Bunton, Registrar Stakeholder Group Chair, to ICANN GDD's Akram Atallah 4 May 2018: "... Because of the uncertainty posed by GDPR and any Temporary Policy established by ICANN, including the immediate incorporation of such Temporary Policy into the Registrar Accreditation Agreement, the RrSG formally requests that the language of the Temporary Policy specifically include a statement that immediately pauses the work of the AFAV WG (Across-field Address Validation Working Group) and PPSAI IRT (Privacy/Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation Review Team) and keeps it paused until the announcement of the permanent policy that results from the EPDP."Behind the EU's record $2.7B fine for Google
Few realized it at the time, but this was just the beginning: CBS News video above published Jun 27, 2017: The EU says search giant Google must pay for antitrust violations.
'Accept and continue': billions are clocking into digital sweat factories without realising it | European Data Protection Supervisor | edps.europa.eu 20 Apr 2018: "... lawyers will always be able to fashion ingenious arguments to justify almost any practice. But with personal data processing we need to move to a different model. The old approach is broken and unsustainable ... We must all be vigilant about attempts to game the system ..."--Giovanni Buttarelli, European Data Protection Supervisor (appointed by a joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council on 4 December 2014 for a term of five years)."... The EU must use all tools, in particular antitrust ..."--Buttarelli speech 24 April 2018 embed below (highlighting added):
2) Other ICANN News
My conclusion: After spending a year trying to get honest and straight answers from ICANN management about its filed IRS Form 990 (pdf), including about Sr. VP Sally Costerton's Secret Contract $$$, I have decided to refer the ICANN IRS Form 990 / Sally Costerton Secret Contract $$$ matters (along with other info), to the IRS, U.S. Department of the Treasury, and other governmental authorities. As for future ICANN Quarterly Stakeholder calls, I would advise others "don't waste your time" trying to get honest answers from ICANN's management. For more on this, read News Review | ICANN Pays Senior VP Sally Costerton Secret Contract $$$ Oct 15, 2017.
b. How are gTLD Policies Implemented? | ICANN.org: 01 May 2018 how-gtld-policies-implemented-01may18-en.pdf [555 KB] embed below [Editor's note: LOL]:
c. ICANN Board to Hold Three Public Sessions ["listen-only"] and Board Meeting ["listen-only"] During Vancouver Workshop | ICANN.org 11-13 May 2018.
d. ICANN New gTLDs Consumer Fraud and .BRAND Extortion Racket Next Round(s):
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
b. Australia's ccTLD .au: In-fighting continues at domain name authority auDA | afr.com 1 May 2018.
c. $MMX: new gTLDs registry operator Minds + Machines Group Limited (AIM: MMX) (LON: MMX) (domain: MMX.co) announced on Friday morning its agreement to acquire ICM Registry LLC (operator of 4 gTLDs: .XXX, .ADULT, .PORN, .SEX), more info here and here. MMX shares closed Friday down 11.19% at 8.97 GBX −1.13. MMX discussion board here.
d. Google Product Forums: "Did I make the wrong decision to change Domain Name ..."--[Editor's note: short answer may be "YES" if you have been publishing for some time, unless you are willing to lose traffic (at least short term), and do ALL the work (or spend the money to have someone else do it for you) to correctly set up redirects (in the case at the link above there are 39,000+ redirects needed).]
e. Etsy Adds Another Basic Feature to Pattern Stores: Reviews | EcommerceBytes.com: "Pattern launched with limited features – Pattern stores were basically just mirrors of sellers’ existing Etsy shops but with the ability to have a unique domain name ..."
f. 20,000 [new gTLD .XYZ] domains registered and not 1 sale | TheDomains.com: the story of a registrant (domainer) who bought the hype and drank the Kool-Aid, but fortunately, only lost $200 (each domain had been registered for $0.01 each), plus 'his time' and now, hopefully, is a little wiser.
b. Chinese media giants hit snag with piracy block | ZDNet.com: "Cut the cord, the communication -- the domain name, that is -- between the application and the target application market, and that will prevent the infringement," counsel for TVB said in court."
c. Russia: Assault on Internet Freedom, Cybersecurity | Human Rights Watch | hrw.org.
d. IFF2018: Experts assess state of internet freedom in Africa | guardian.ng.
e. Amazon threatens to suspend Signal's AWS account over censorship circumvention | signal.org: "With Google Cloud and AWS out of the picture, it seems that domain fronting as a censorship circumvention technique is now largely non-viable ..."
5) Most read posts this past week on DomainMondo.com:
2. Tesla $TSLA Q1 2018 Results, LIVE Webcast May 2, 5:30pm EDT
3. DocuSign $DOCU IPO, Electronic Signatures & EU GDPR (video)
4. Fintech Startup Revolut CEO on Expansion Plans, Hiring Strategy
5. Tech Review | Big Tech's First Quarter 2018: $AMZN $FB $GOOG $AAPL
6. Tech Review | Tech Regulation and Volatility in the VC Landscape (video)
7 Apple $AAPL Q2 FY18 Results LIVE Webcast May 1, 5pm EDT
3. DocuSign $DOCU IPO, Electronic Signatures & EU GDPR (video)
4. Fintech Startup Revolut CEO on Expansion Plans, Hiring Strategy
5. Tech Review | Big Tech's First Quarter 2018: $AMZN $FB $GOOG $AAPL
6. Tech Review | Tech Regulation and Volatility in the VC Landscape (video)
7 Apple $AAPL Q2 FY18 Results LIVE Webcast May 1, 5pm EDT
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
