2018-06-03

News Review | Europe Tells ICANN Again, No GDPR Moratorium

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Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-06-03) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) a. European Data Protection Board Tells ICANN, Again, No GDPR Moratorium, b. Handbook on European data protection law (2018 edition) 2) Other ICANN news: ICANN62 Webinar and more, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 5) Most Read Posts.

UPDATE 6 June 2018--ICANN v. EPAG Domainservices, GmbH | ICANN.org--ICANN published the German and English translations of EPAG documents filed in the German Court case in which ICANN's application for an injunction was denied: EPAG Protective Letter (German) [PDF 12.2 MB] and Affidavit of Alexander Schwertner (German) [PDF 145 KB]. English Translations below are unofficial; provided for information purposes only:

1) European Data Protection Board Tells ICANN, Again, No GDPR Moratorium
a. GDPR & WHOIS: In a week where a German Court rejected ICANN org's strong-arm attempt to maintain the public WHOIS personal data status quo, ICANN was also notified that the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) endorsed the statement of the WP29 on ICANN/WHOIS | edpb.europa.eu--27 May 2018 letter (embed below) to ICANN, excerpt:
"The European Data Protection Board endorsed the statement of the WP29 on ICANN/WHOIS during its first plenary meeting on 25 May ... The GDPR does not allow national supervisory authorities nor the European Data Protection Board (the WP29 will become the EDPB on 25 May 2018) to create an “enforcement moratorium” for individual data controllers. Data protection is a fundamental right of individuals, who may submit complaints to their national data protection authority whenever they consider that their rights under the GDPR have been violated ..." (emphasis added). 
Full embed below:

Editor's note: see also News Review | GDPR Moratorium Just Another ICANN 'Fantasy' 29 April 2018. For more on the GDPR & ICANN WHOIS, including litigation in Germany, see last week's News Review | GDPR Effect: ICANN Sues German Domain Name Registrar and updates therein.

I also recommend reading former ICANN staffer Kieren McCarthy's take on the events in Germany last week, including his review of how ICANN repeatedly deluded itself to reach this sorry state:
"... for an organization with a self-importance that often leads it down a path to delusion, being told that your most important contract is effectively unenforceable has to sting .... ICANN as an organization also has an opportunity to change with the times. The CEO and board have been able to see first hand how they were given terrible advice time and again from their own staff. The next year would be a good time to clean house and install a more diverse, open-minded and international team ..."
UPDATE: LIVE twitter feed of the European Data Protection Supervisor: b. Handbook on European data protection law (2018 edition) (pdf) (402 pages.):
 Handbook on European data protection law
Editor's Note: the manuscript for this handbook was completed in April 2018.

2) Other ICANN news
graphic "ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers"
a. Pre-ICANN62 90 minute Policy Webinar 12 June 2018 | ICANN.org: Pre-ICANN62 Policy Webinar Tuesday, 12 June 2018 at 10:00 UTC and at 19:00 UTC. The webinar will run in English with simultaneous Spanish interpretation. The presentation materials will be translated into Spanish, and posted following the Webinar with the recordings of the sessions hereRegister via this form by 11 June 2018. [Editor's note: ICANN62 Panama City, Panama, is June 25-28. See also ICANN Adobe Connect services restored effective 1 June 2018--ICANN.org.]

b. 29 May 2018 Letter (pdf) from NCSG Chair Farzaneh Badiei to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby--Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group's Input on ICANN's Fiscal Year 2019 Budget
 (full embed below):

See: ICANN Board Adopts the FY19 Operating Plan and Budget | ICANN.org
UPDATE June 4, 2018: Notice of ICANN Board Approval of FY19 Operating Plan and Budget to the Decisional Participants in the Empowered Community and the Empowered Community Administration: Pursuant to Section 22.4(a)(v) of the ICANN Bylaws: notice to the EC Administration and Decisional Participants in the Empowered Community that on 30 May 2018 the ICANN Board approved the FY19 Operating Plan and Budget. The resolution approving the FY19 Operating Plan and Budget is available at here. The FY19 Operating Plan is available here. The FY19 Budget is available here.

c. ICANN Reviews Webinars--ICANN.org: ICANN invites the community to attend one of two webinars being held to discuss short-term options and long-term options on the timeline of ICANN Reviews. The presentation will be identical for both one-hour webinars, scheduled as follows: Webinar 1: 07 June 2018: 5:00 UTC [local timeor Webinar 2: 07 June 2018:17:00 UTC [local time].

d. ICYMI: DENIC eG [domain: denic.de] as New ICANN-Designated Agent to Support Registrar Data Escrow Services | ICANN.org : "... ICANN org selected DENIC through a competitive Request for Proposal initiated in August 2017, following requests from the registrar community to expand the RDE program, in part to meet regional challenges such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR]. ... The Registrar Data Escrow program is intended to protect registrants in the event of registrar failure or termination of a Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) ..." More information at the link above.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
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a. Tips for cleaning up WHOIS data | EPAG.de: "... To prevent personal data in an organization contact from being displayed in a public WHOIS, we recommend ... roles rather than personal names for Organization contact details ... use a generic company email address like “info@company.com” ... remove personal data from any organization contacts ... These tips give registrants the added advantage that their organization is not reliant on a particular person (for example during a transfer), should that person be out of the office or no longer employed by the company."

b. How to Choose a Domain Name That Will Stand the Test of Time | SearchEngineJournal.com: "...  9. What TLD? ...  follow this rule: Is your target market global (as in do your potential customers live all over the world)? Yes: Choose .COM.
No: Choose a TLD for the country you’re targeting [ccTLD] ... Why? Google doesn’t give any priority to keywords in your TLD ... Most potential customers would guess your domain ended in “.com”. The same goes for your email address ... A “.COM” or a country TLD [ccTLD] is more trustworthy and known than keyword gTLDs (e.g., “.BIKE”) ..."

c. Banished by the Google God: 16 Ways to Get Deindexed by Google | .searchenginejournal.com

d. U.S. District Judge Orders 
(pdf) Partial Dismissal in Mainstream Advertising's Trademark Infringement Case--In January 2018, Mainstream Advertising filed its second amended complaint, alleging trademark infringement, wrongful garnishment/seizure, abuse of process, conversion and Accounting. Moniker then filed its motion to dismiss--Florida Record | flarecord.com.

e. Tesla CEO Elon Musk registered the domain name Pravduh.com after saying he would create a site to rate reporters--CNBC.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
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a. IGF2018 Update: "In view of the offer of the Government of France to host the 2018 IGF in Paris the week of 12 November, the deadline for workshop submissions has been extended ..." The new deadline is 6 June 2018, 23:59 UTC.

b. InternetNZ funds work on mobile services, internet addiction | computerworld.co.nz

c. Geoblocking: Amazon.com, Inc. will force Australians to use its Australian website instead of its much larger U.S. site to avoid a new sales tax.

d. EU & GDPR:

5) The three most read posts this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
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-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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