Showing posts with label CCT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CCT. Show all posts

2019-03-17

News Review 1) ICANN64 Report, TSG Model A House Built On Sand?

graphic "News Review" ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-03-17) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1)a. ICANN64 Report, TSG Model A House Built On Sand? b. ICANN64 Photo Album, c. Root Servers Governance, d. GAC Communique, e. EPDP, f. Post-Meeting Report, 2) a. .AMAZON, b. RPMs PDP Dysfunction, c. Alpnames, 3) Tucows $TCX 10-K, 4) ICYMI Data Privacy: China, Facebook, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, Apple, GDPR, 5) Most Read.

1) ICANN64 Report
a. GDPR, RDAP & Registrants' Data - TSG Draft Model A House Built On Sand?
TSG on Access to Non-Public Registration Data: Mar 11, 2019, ICANN64 Session. See also ICANN blogpost, the draft model (pdf), TSG page, and ICANN64 presentation (pdf), excerpts:

Twelve Assumptions: (1) RDAP will be used; adios port 43; (2) Everyone will use; (3) ICANN is only path; (5) Credentials protected; (7) Unauthenticated queries via policy; (10) ICANN ensures validity of credentials; System must evolve/fit to… (4) Changes in data sets, rules; (6) Match normal RDAP usage; (8) Existing RDAP practices; (9) Pilot experience; (11) Policy choices; (12) Implementation practicalities.
Considerations, Risks, & Liability: 
Next steps:
  • ICANN64: Community input to be incorporated into the draft Technical Model;
  • March-April 2019: TSG-RD continues discussions to finalize Technical Model;
  • 23 April 2019: Final Technical Model published.

b. Domain Mondo's ICANN64 Photo Album:
Photo of Cherine Chalaby, ICANN Board Chair, at ICANN64
Cherine Chalaby, ICANN Board Chair
Photo of Goran Marby, ICANN President & CEO, at ICANN64
Goran Marby, ICANN President & CEO
Photo of Stephanie Perrin, NCSG Chair, EPDP Member at ICANN64
Stephanie Perrin, NCSG Chair, EPDP Member
Photo of Mark Svancarek, Microsoft, Business Constituency, EPDP Member, at ICANN64
Mark Svancarek, Microsoft, Business Constituency, EPDP Member
c. A New Cooperation and Governance Model for the Root Server System
ICANN64 session and presentation (pdf); see also RSSAC037 and RSSAC038. Summary: a new cooperation and governance model for the Root Server System (RSS) based on RSSAC037: • Root Server System Governance Board (SAPF); • Root Server System Standing Committee (PMMF); • Root Server Operator Review Panel (DRF); • ICANN org as Finance and Secretariat Functions.

d. GAC Communique (pdf)--Manal Ismail (Egypt) is GAC Chair for the term March 2019 - March 2021. Communique highlights:

CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 2: "... One intervention raised an issue on possible future steps that need to be taken in order to address the concerns regarding ICANN jurisdiction stated in the Jurisdiction Sub-Group Final Report and Recommendations, and expressed that this issue remains open and requires further consideration by GAC and ICANN Board. There are different views on this matter in the GAC.

Issues of Importance to the GAC: 1. Dot Amazon applications; 2. Two-Character Country Codes at the Second Level; 3. IGO Protections.

GAC Consensus Advice to ICANN Board:

•  WHOIS and Data Protection Legislation: The GAC advises the Board to: i. Take necessary steps to ensure that the GNSO EPDP on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data institutes concrete milestones, progress reports and an expeditious timeline, similar to Phase 1, for concluding Phase 2 activities; ii. Take necessary steps to ensure that the scope of phase 2 activities is clearly defined with a view to expeditious conclusion and implementation; iii. Make available the necessary resources for Phase 2 to expeditiously advance on the complex legal issues deferred from Phase 1; iv. Consider instituting additional parallel work efforts on technical implementations, such as that carried out by the Technical Study Group, for purposes of informing and complementing the EPDP’s Phase 2 activities; v. Facilitate swift implementation of the new Registration Directory Services policies as they are developed and agreed, including by sending distinct parts to implementation as and when they are agreed, such as the questions deferred from Phase 1; vi. Consider re-starting implementation processes for relevant existing policies, such as rhe Privacy Proxy Services Accreditation Issues Policy.

•  ICANN Board Consideration of the CCT Review Recommendations: The GAC notes with concern the recent Board resolution in response to the Final Recommendations of the Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team, which approved only 6 of 35 consensus recommendations. The GAC advises the Board to: i. Promptly meet with the CCT Review Team leadership to discuss the Board’s resolution; and ii. Possibly reconsider certain decisions on recommendations if appropriate.

•  Subsequent Rounds of New gTLDs: The GAC recalls its advice in the ICANN56 Helsinki Communiqué, which states that the development of policy on further releases of new gTLDs needs to fully consider all the results of the relevant reviews and analyses to determine which aspects and elements need adjustment. The GAC advised the Board to address and consider these results and concerns before proceeding with new rounds. 

The GAC will next meet during ICANN65 in Marrakech, Morocco24-27 June 2019.

e. EPDP Phase 2 (and Phase 1 Implementation)
EPDP (Phase 2) meetings will restart after new EPDP Chair appointed by GNSO Council (no later than 25 April 2019). More on EPDP at ICANN64 on last week's News Review.
At ICANN64, ICANN's Brad White interviewed GNSO Chair Keith Drazek and GNSO Council Liaison & EPDP Acting Chair Rafik Dammak about the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP).

f. ICANN64 Post-Meeting Report | ICANN.org. See also last week's News Review for more on ICANN64 including videos. Finally, a few ICANN64 Quick Takes:
  • Q1 2022 is a tentative possible date for next round new gTLDs application window to open.
  • Cathrin Bauer-Bulst (EU): DPAs [EU Data Protection Authorities] "cannot engage in this travel circus we’re engaged in. We need to do our homework and then consult them."
  • Opening Ceremony, Cherine Chalaby: "Our new vision for ICANN is to be a champion of the single, open and globally interoperable Internet and the trusted steward of the Internet's unique identifiers."
  • Public Forum 1, former ICANN Board member Bruce Tonkin: ICANN doesn’t prioritize processes. It does everything at once, and that means too many things are done poorly in parallel. We need to prioritize what’s most important at any one time and work on those few things well.
  • ICANN Governance session, former ICANN Board Chair Steve Crocker: "GDPR has taken over our attention span. We could have seen it coming years ago. We should have solved the privacy issues inherent in GDPR by ourselves way before GDPR. Those issues are fundamental ...  Something’s broken in our DNA that we wait to be pushed, and pushed hard, by external forces ..."

2) Other ICANN News
graphic "ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers"
a. New gTLD .AMAZON: the ICANN Board "calls on the ACTO member states and the Amazon corporation to engage in a last effort that allows both parties over the next four (4) weeks to work in good faith toward a mutually acceptable solution regarding the Amazon Applications, and if one is reached, to inform the Board of that solution by 7 April 2019."--ICANN Board Resolution (pdf) March 10, 2019.

b. RPMs PDP Working Group Dysfunctions and ICANN Expected Standards of Behavior:
c.  ICANN terminated the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) with registrar Alpnames Limited (IANA #1857), effective immediately (March 15, 2019). "The RAA was terminated after the ICANN organization determined that Alpnames was no longer performing required registrar functions as specified in the agreement. These functions include allowing existing registrants to renew domain name registrations and processing new registrations." More here and notice of termination (pdf).

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
graphic "Names, Domains & Trademarks" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Photo of Elliot Noss, Tucows CEO, at ICANN64
Elliot Noss, Tucows CEO, at ICANN64
Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ: TCXFORM 10-K | Annual Report | sec.gov excerpt:
"We may not be able to maintain or improve our competitive position and may be forced to reduce our prices because of strong competition in the market for Internet services generally and domain name registration, in particular, which we expect will continue to intensify. Each registry and the ICANN regulatory body impose a charge upon the registrar for the administration of each domain registration. If these fees increase, this may have a significant impact upon our operating results. Regulation could reduce the value of Internet domain names or negatively impact the Internet domain acquisition process, which could significantly impair the value attributable to our acquisitions of Internet domain names."
4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
graphic "ICYMI Internet Domain News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Facebook gives up on China?--“As we build our infrastructure around the world, we've chosen not to build data centers in countries that have a track record of violating human rights like privacy or freedom of expression."--Mark Zuckerberg in Facebook.com.

FTC v. Facebook: In the coming weeks, Joseph J. Simons, FTC Chair, and the FTC’s four other commissioners are expected to conclude an investigation into whether Facebook violated its promises to protect people’s data.--NYTimes.com. See also Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation--NYTimes.com.

“It is now abundantly clear that you have failed to be good stewards of your customers’ private location information"--US Senator Ron Wyden in his letter to AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon.

Privacy on iPhone (video):

Apple video above published Mar 14, 2019: "Your privacy matters. From encrypting your iMessage conversations, or not keeping a history of your routes in Maps, to limiting tracking across sites with Safari. iPhone is designed to protect your information."

The sun may be setting on the old privacy rulebook--"Europe is also heavily invested in the notice and consent approach, which forms the backbone of the General Data Protection Regulation  [GDPR] that went into effect last year and has become the de facto global standard"--axios.com.

5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
graphic "Domain Mondo" ©2017 DomainMondo.com

-- John Poole, Editor  Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2017-11-05

News Review | ICANN60: ICANN Board Crashes The Party in Abu Dhabi

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-11-05) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN60: ICANN Board Crashes The Party in Abu Dhabi, 2) Other ICANN news, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: ICANN, Registrars, Registries--Don't Be Censors! 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read Posts.
1) ICANN60 Recap: ICANN Board Crashes The Party in Abu Dhabi
 a. ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Review Team Work on October 28:

ICANN Meeting 60 - GNSO Working Session: (10/29/2017 02:55): Keith Drazek (RySG): "The scope of the SSR2-RT is pretty clearly detailed in the new, post-transition ICANN bylaws."... GNSO Chair James Bladel: "it's an open question whether the ICANN Board can pause the work of the SSR2-RT" ... Wolf Ulrich"nobody understands what the Board's problem with the SSR2-RT is" ... Michele Neylon"it would be helpful to get clarity" ... Chat (10/29/2017 03:00) --Keith Drazek (RySG): For additional context, prior to the IANA Transition, the Review Team members were appointed by the ICANN CEO and GAC Chair. Post-transition, the SOs and ACs are responsible for the appointment of RT members. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the SSR2-RT recommendations are binding  and the Board is obligated to accept them.  It appears there's some discomfort with these parameters. Susan Kawaguchi: Can we deny the request?  and move on?
ICANN GNSO Council Meeting, 1 Nov 2017(pdf): "Okay. Then let's move on to Agenda Item Number 5 ... Agenda Item Number 5 is a discussion on the SSR2 review team, which if you had told me a week ago that I would have been speaking more about SSR2 than GDPR, I would have probably laughed at you. But that's exactly how it went down this week."--GNSO Council Chair James Bladel.
Editor's note: Out of the gate, ICANN's Board of Directors, on the first day of ICANN60, Oct 28, took the unprecedented and questionable action of suspending the work of the Security, Stability, and Resiliency Review Team appointed by ICANN AC/SOs' Chairs as mandated by ICANN's bylaws Article 4. Section 4.6, and it became the lingering lead issue of ICANN60 throughout the entire meeting, including the last day, notwithstanding pending pressing issues of complying with EU's GDPR by next May, next steps in dealing with the contentious issue of new gTLD .AMAZON, ICANN's U.S. jurisdiction and the implications of OFAC brought up in the course of Accountability WS-2's work, and a myriad of other issues expected by stakeholders to be the focus of their work this past week at ICANN60.

On the last day, Friday, Nov 3, 2017, the beleaguered SSR2 Review Team, still in Abu Dhabi after almost everyone else had flown the coop, held its previously scheduled all-day face-to-face meeting with little more to do than "review feedback" from ICANN60 sessions, and then begin putting back the pieces the ICANN Board had left strewn about Abu Dhabi. For more read ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work and Statement from SO/AC Chairs, Nov 2, 2017, on the suspension of the Security and Stability Review.

b. Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Communique (pdf): The GAC elected Manal Ismail (Egypt) as Chair to complete the two-year term of Thomas Schneider. The GAC elected as Vice Chairs: Guo Feng (China); Ghislain de Salins (France); Milagros Castañon (Peru); Chérif Diallo (Senegal); Pär Brumark (Niue). The GAC discussed follow-up on previous advice re: 1. Application for .amazon and related strings; 2. 2-Character Country Codes at the 2nd Level;  3. Red Cross and Red Crescent Protections. Several GAC members "expressed major concerns regarding the draft report from the sub-group on jurisdiction. These members consider that it falls short of the objectives envisaged for Work Stream 2, and that its recommendations only partly mitigate the risks associated with ICANN’s subjection to US jurisdiction, which makes the adoption of the report unacceptable" (emphasis added). GAC Consensus Advice to the Board: 1. Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Protections; 2. Enabling inclusive, informed and meaningful participation in ICANN; 3. GDPR / WHOIS; 4. Applications for .amazon and related strings--a. The GAC advises the ICANN Board to: i. continue facilitating negotiations between the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization’s (ACTO) member states and the Amazon corporation with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable solution to allow for the use of .amazon as a top level domain name.

c. GDPR & WHOISData Protection/Privacy Issues | ICANN.org.

d. WS2-Accountability: see Co-Chairs Statement from CCWG-Accountability Meeting in Abu Dhabi | ICANN.org and ICANN Jurisdiction: CCWG-Accountability WS2, Friday Oct 27, Abu Dhabi.

e. Public Forum #2--Domain name registrant's complaint about new TLDs that "don't work" on the internet--Public Forum excerpts (as transcribed unedited, emphasis added)(pdf):

f. Public ICANN Board Meeting (Editor's note: see tweet below on why all ICANN Board Meetings should be public and accessible online):

g. Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review (CCT)

ICANN60 Interview With Jonathan Zuck and Drew Bagley: progress and next steps of the Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice Review from CCT Chair Jonathan Zuck and CCT Independent Expert Drew Bagley of securedomain.org. In this interview produced by ICANN, Zuck and Bagley share information about the CCT Review, including next steps. More information at ICANN.org.

2) Other ICANN news
.AMAZONApproved Board Resolutions | Request for New or Additional Information from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) re: Advice on Amazon Applications | ICANN.org 29 Oct 2017: Whereas, the BAMC has recommended ... Resolved (2017.10.29.02), the Board asks the GAC if it has: (i) any information to provide to the Board as it relates to the "merits-based public policy reasons," regarding the GAC's advice that the Amazon applications should not proceed; or (ii) any other new or additional information to provide to the Board regarding the GAC's advice that the Amazon applications should not proceed. Resolved (2017.10.29.03), the Board asks the GAC that if it has any new or additional information (as requested above) to provide to the Board, it does so by the conclusion of the ICANN61 meeting scheduled to take place from 10-15 March 2018, in order to assist the Board's appropriate and prompt consideration.

Data Protection/Privacy Statement--Statement from ICANN Contractual Compliance | ICANN.org: "As discussed at ICANN60, the extent of the impact of the GDPR on WHOIS and other contractual requirements related to domain name registration data is uncertain. The ICANN Board, org and community are engaged in multiple efforts to assess the impact of the GDPR on registry and registrar obligations in ICANN agreements and policies, and we continue to work with the Hamilton law firm to understand this impact. At this point, we know that the GDPR will have an impact on open, publicly available WHOIS ... During this period of uncertainty, and under the conditions noted below, ICANN Contractual Compliance will defer taking action against any registry or registrar for noncompliance with contractual obligations related to the handling of registration data. To be eligible, a contracted party that intends to deviate from its existing obligations must share its model with ICANN Contractual Compliance and the Global Domains Division." (emphasis added)

Approved Board Resolutions | Refinement of string similarity review in IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process | ICANN.orgResolved (2017.10.29.05), the Board thanks the ccNSO, GAC and SSAC for collaborating to address the issue related to string similarity review and for developing the "Joint ccNSO SSAC Response to ICANN Board on EPSRP". Resolved (2017.10.29.06), the [ICANN] Board approves amending the Final Implementation Plan for IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process as suggested in the Joint ccNSO SSAC Response. The President and CEO, or his Designee(s), is directed to incorporate the amendment into the Implementation Plan previously adopted by the Board on 30 October 2009 (and amended on 5 November 2013) and implement the amendment as soon as practicable.

Approved Board Resolutions | Defer Compliance Enforcement of Thick WHOIS Consensus Policy for 180 Days | ICANN.org: "Resolved (2017.10.29.04), the President and CEO, or his designee(s), is authorized to defer compliance enforcement of the Thick Whois Consensus Policy for 180 days to allow additional time for the registrars and Verisign to reach agreement on amendments needed to applicable registry-registrar agreements to implement the Policy and for Registrars to undertake system modifications required to enable the thin to thick migration and additional modifications, if any, required for GDPR compliance."

Minutes – Board Risk Committee (BRC) Meeting | ICANN.org 2 Nov 2017: "... ICANN organization will consider moving to a different auditor next year when it moves to NIST framework. One significant change ICANN organization has made internally this year was to reorganize within the engineering and IT function and integrated cybersecurity (which used to be a stand-alone function) with DNS engineering and networking teams. It was noted that cloud based security testing is becoming a part of ICANN organization's normal rhythm as 40 percent of the services utilized at ICANN leverages some aspect of cloud."

Letter from ICANN General Counsel & Secretary John O. Jeffrey to Jetse Sprey | ICANN.org:
01 Nov 2017 Issue: Gemeente Amsterdam FRL Registry B.V. (new gTLDs .FRL, .AMSTERDAMjeffrey-to-sprey-01nov17-en.pdf [604 KB] "... your clients appear to have violated its obligations under the Registry Agreement ..."

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
EFF to ICANN: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen | Electronic Frontier Foundation | EFF.org: "... And ICANN largely has itself to blame, by including in its 2013 revision to its agreement with registrars a provision requiring registrars to "receive reports of abuse involving Registered Names" and to "take reasonable and prompt steps to investigate and respond appropriately." This leaves ICANN open to an argument that goes, "No of course we are not asking you to become the content police, we are simply asking you to enforce your own contracts with registrars, when they refuse to carry out their obligations to be content police." ICANN appears to have voluntarily taken on further responsibility for addressing "abuse involving" domain names through its appointment this year of a Consumer Safeguards Director with a background in law enforcement. EFF attended and reported on the first webinar held by the new Director, in which he downplayed the significance of his role, stating that it does not carry any enforcement powers. Yet a draft report [PDF] of ICANN's Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team recommends that strict new enforcement and reporting obligations should be made compulsory for any new top-level domains that ICANN adopts in the future. ICANN's Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) has explained [PDF] why many of these recommendations would be unnecessary and harmful ..."

See also: EFF to ICANN's Registrars: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen | EFF.org and 

EFF to ICANN's Registries: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen | EFF.org: "... Our whitepaper broke down these choices in detail, explaining how some of the weakest protection for free speech comes from those domain registries whose policies offer additional privileges to trademark or copyright holders, or to overseas speech regulators. Amongst the worst examples that we called out were Donuts and Radix, who have a side-deal with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), bestowing it with a "Trusted Notifier" status that allows it to recommend domains for the registrars to suspend, without review by a court. We also called out the Domain Name Association (DNA) for a Shadow Regulation-style proposal to construct a private copyright arbitration system for its member registries, which include the Public Interest Registry (PIR) responsible for .org domains, and to promote that system of private law as an industry standard. This proposal was developed behind closed doors, fueling our concerns about its capture by copyright holders. Although the DNA and PIR shelved these plans after EFF brought them to light, the DNA is still pushing a similar pharmaceutical industry-penned policy that would allow for the rapid suspension of domains used for online medicine sales, bypassing any legal process. To give a final example, the new gTLDs contain an excessive level of protection for trademark holders when compared with most of the original gTLDs and ccTLDs. ICANN has imposed the requirement that all new gTLD registries utilize a secret Trademark Clearinghouse database to give priority access to brand owners when first offering their new domains for sale ("Sunrise Protection"), and to warn off registrants who register domains that might give rise to a trademark claim. Some registries have gone even further to offer brand owners additional protections that the ICANN community had rejected as requirements for the new gTLD program. An example is Donuts' DPML-Plus program that prevents the public from registering new domains that are merely typographically similar to a trademarked brand ..."

Google no longer lets you change domains to search different countries | TheVerge.com: "Google said that it’ll now deliver search results relevant to your current location no matter which domain you visit. So if you’re in New York and visit google.ru, you’ll still get results relevant to New York City. Fortunately, it’ll still be possible to escape your country’s results. You’ll be able to change locations, you’ll just have to do it through the settings menu at the bottom of google.com ... The policy of always serving local results will now apply to desktop and mobile searches, as well as Google Maps and the iOS Google app."

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
US Federal Court Rejects Global Search Order | EFF.org"... a federal court in the US has weighed in on a thorny question: Does Google US have to obeyCanadian court order requiring Google to take down information around the world, ignoring contrary rules in other jurisdictions? According to the [U.S. District Court for the] Northern District of California, the answer is no. The case is Google v. Equustek ..."

Data Breaches: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a hearing titled “Protecting Consumers in the Era of Major Data Breaches,” at approximately 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 8, 2017, to examine data breaches. The hearing will feature testimony from current CEO of Equifax and past Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer.--U.S. Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, & Transportation | commerce.senate.gov.

The DDoS Attack Against Dyn One Year Later | forbes.com"... we now find news of a botnet which is reportedly spreading on IoT devices again ..."

Nov 4-5, celebrate the life and work of Aaron Swartz at the Fifth Annual Aaron Swartz Day and Hackathon | blog.archive.org.  Aaron would have turned 31 on November 8.--eff.org

5) Top 3 Most Read Posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
1. Securing Consumer Credit Data in the Age of Digital Commerce (video)

2. News Review | ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work

3. Ad Agencies & Brands Vs Google $GOOG, Facebook $FB, Amazon $AMZN

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2017-10-29

News Review | ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-10-29) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work, 2)Other ICANN news: a. WS2 Plenary re ICANN Jurisdiction, ... e.Will Puerto Rico Be Ready for ICANN61, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Verisign $VRSN Q3 2017 results,  Blockchain & Domains, ccTLD .AU4) ICYMI: Apple, China and Internet Censorship, 5) Most Read Posts.

1)  ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi | Annual General Meeting 28 Oct - 3 Nov 2017
graphic: ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi  ©2017 DomainMondo.com

ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi meeting schedule--mobile: https://schedule.icann.org/mobile/#page:page-schedule--highlighted sessions (times shown are local Abu Dhabi unless otherwise indicated):
  • Sunday, Oct 29, 13:30 - 14:00 GAC Meeting with Amazon.com "The GAC will be meeting with the Amazon Company in order to discuss the Independent Review Process (IRP)"
  • Tuesday, October 31 • 12:15 - 13:15 Internet Governance Public Forum "This Public Session will explore and discuss the global Internet Governance agenda making reference to the outcome of the ITU WTDC and looking forward to the 2017 IGF and GCCS conference. It will also consider trends in the Internet Governance Ecosystem post the IANA Transition."
  • Wednesday, Nov 1, 14:00 - 15:00  ICANN GDD: Update on ICANN Domain Name Registrant Work"This session will provide the community with an update on the Domain Name Registrant work being carried out by GDD, including how information from registrants' contact with ICANN Global Support Center is used to inform the work, the registrants educational series, as well as engagement with the community."
ICANN60 Oct 28, 2017: ICANN Board Suspends Work of SSR2 Review Team
UPDATES:
Nov. 3: SSR2-RT Face-to-Face meeting in Abu Dhabi (see session link above for more info)

Nov 2ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi: Joint Meeting: ICANN Board & SSR2 Review Team (closed meeting) Thursday, November 2 • 13:45 - 15:00.

Oct 30Transcript--ICANN60 | Abu Dhabi--ccNSO/GNSO Joint Council Meeting, Monday, 30 October 2017 12:15 GST (pdf) embed below, highlighting added starting at page 21:

Oct 29: reaction to the Board's letter of October 28 (below) at ICANN60, ranges from shock (SSR2 Mail List) to befuddlement at the ICANN GNSO session today, as apparently no one at ICANN60 knows the specifics (other than the Board and SSAC--and so far neither is talking specifics) which caused the ICANN Board to take this unprecedented and questionable action. A key video replay from an ICANN60 session today has been hidden from the public behind a VPN sign-in which forced this complaint to be filed today.--Update Oct 30: the issue has now been fixed per ICANN Complaints Office, and I reviewed Sunday's Adobe Connect replay of the SSR2 outreach public session, but no information was disclosed relating to the Board's or SSAC's issues with SSR2. Co-Chair Denise Michel told GNSO on Sunday that the SSR2-RT had received no "actionable information" from either the Board or SSAC.

UPDATE via Public Forum #1 Oct 30, 2017:
Steve Delbianco:  "Thank you, Steve Delbianco with the Business Constituency within ICANN … I was troubled this week when the Board under that mandate decided to pause one of the reviews, the SSR2 review, and Rinalia Abdul Rahim [ICANN Board member] today explained that in your obligation to cause a review, you certainly would want to hit pause if you had any reason to believe the review wouldn't happen according to the bylaws.  And I appreciate a heads-up, if that's the case. But my question for you is: having hit pause, does the community need to come back to the board to hit the play button, to hit the resume button again?  Or can we exercise the authority I think the bylaws give us to pay attention to your heads-up, your alert, but it's up to us to resolve any considerations with respect to the scope, composition, or structure and it's up to you in the ACs and SOs to determine we're going to go ahead and resume or hit the play button after you hit the pause button?  So I'd love to hear your answer on this so we can get past this and move on.  Thank you."
Cherine Chalaby, ICANN Board Vice Chair:  "Steve, thank you very much for the question. The answer is very simple.  It's really the Board is backing the community's hand and it's up to you to resume when you want to resume.  It's not for the board to tell you when.  All we did is we fulfilled our fiduciary responsibility.  We saw something wasn't working well.  We raised it to you.  We asked for a pause.  And you then -- it's up to you to decide when you want to resume and how you want to resume."
Later comment at the Forum from Jonathan Zuck (Innovator's Network): "... following on Steve Delbianco's comment,  I guess I fear that he let the Board off the hook maybe a little too easily in his presentation  and I really want to bring to the surface the notion that the optics of how this all went down with the SSR2 are not good ..."  
Response from Steve Crocker, ICANN Board Chair: "... The current situation is that the issues have been identified, we can spend time here if we want to go into it a little bit more.  We wrote a letter a couple of hours ago laying out more background and so forth, that's intended to be the beginning of a consultation process that the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees are intended to partake in.  The Board does not like -- I can absolutely assure you that we took no relish in this.  We don't view it as a comfortable situation  and we absolutely are not trying to either stop it or control it in detail.  And we have no stake for ourselves for sure in any of the issues and we're not particularly trying to protect the organization, but we do care a lot about the use of the resources, we do care a lot about whether there is a sensible, organized process and that the internal dynamics are effective.  So I'll stop there, unless you want to press further.”
Oct 30 UpdateEditor's note: the "letter" identified by Steve Crocker above was published late today (pdf) by ICANN, embed below (highlighting added):


[Editor's note: Like most domain name registrants, I will not be in Abu Dhabi, and like most in North America, I will be fast asleep during most ICANN60 sessions. Next week's News Review will have an ICANN60 recap drawn from various sources, including some of those shown below.]

ICANN Meeting Media Resources:
ICANN FY17 Audited Financial Statements [PDF, 212 KB]--p.27: "ICANN’s President and CEO, Göran Marby, has an employment agreement with ICANN through May 2021. Pursuant to that employment agreement, Mr. Marby is entitled to an annual base salary of $653,846 and at-risk compensation of up to $196,154 – not to exceed a total of $850,000 annually per year based on the President’s and CEO’s achievement of the established performance goals."
PTI FY17 Audited Financial Statements [PDF, 124 KB].
Payments to ICANN Directors (1 Jul 2016 - 30 Jun 2017) highlighting added:

ICANN60, Abu Dhabi (click on image below to go to Google Map of ICANN60 venue):
وكالة أنباء الإمارات - TRA hosts ICANN’s 60th Public Meeting | wam.ae"The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, TRA, will host the 60th International Public Meeting, ICANN60, of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, ADNEC, from 28th October to 3rd November 2017." 

2) Other ICANN news
a. ICANN Jurisdiction: CCWG-Accountability WS2 Plenary, Friday Oct 27, Abu Dhabi | DomainMondo.com: links to recordings, documents, chat, transcripts. The Jurisdiction Subgroup Draft Recommendations passed a successful second reading at the WS2 Plenary on Oct 27, 2017.

b. DNSSEC Root Key Operations and the Infineon Smartcard Bug | ICANN.org: "... we believe that the DNSSEC KSKs are not subject to this vulnerability. However, no system is perfect ..."  (emphasis added) [Editor's Note: comforting words from ICANN?]

c. ICANN Public Comment periods closing in November at  23:59 UTC on closing date indicated (subject to change):

d. IANA Transition costs through Sep 2017? $33.4 million of which lawyers grabbed $15 million:

e. ICANN61 | San JuanWill Puerto Rico be ready by 10-15 Mar 2018? See status.pr and FEMA.gov. 17 Oct 2017: "Over the next several months, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Department of Energy, and private industry will unite to restore emergency power to Puerto Rico’s electric grid, which was heavily damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Currently, only 14 percent of Puerto Rico has electricity ...."--FEMA.gov. 

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
•  Verisign $VRSN Q3 2017 results:
  • Financials: revenue of $292 million for the third quarter of 2017, up 1.7 percent from the same quarter in 2016. Verisign reported net income of $115 million and diluted earnings per share (diluted “EPS”) of $0.93 for the third quarter of 2017, compared to net income of $114 million and diluted EPS of $0.90 for the same quarter in 2016. The operating margin was 61.9 percent for the third quarter of 2017 compared to 60.8 percent for the same quarter in 2016.
  • .COM and .NET: At the end of September, 2017, domain name base registrations in .COM and .NET totaled 145.8 million, consisting of 130.8 million .COM domain name registrations, and 15 million .NET. The .COM and .NET domain name base increased by 1.47 million net names during the third quarter after processing 8.9 million new gross registrations which benefited from continued strength from U.S.-based registrars.
  • Renewal Rate: Verisign projects renewal rate for third quarter of 2017 will be 74.3%.
  • Q4 2017 guidance: Verisign expects increase to the .COM and .NET domain name base during Q4 2017 between 0.4 million to 0.9 million registrations, consistent with a full year 2017 growth rate of 2.8% to 3.1%.
  • New gTLD .WEB update: no new news, although there is activity, the process is ongoing. "We are continuing to cooperate with the Justice Department regarding the CID ..."--James Bidzos, Verisign CEO, October 26, 2017.

•  Blockchain & Domains? Undeveloped.com Oct 20--The Future Of The Domain Industry Lies In Blockchain--"... Domains are currently illiquid assets. We can change that. Anyone will be able to invest in premium domains and entire domain portfolio’s after we introduce fractional domain ownership. This can lead to the inception of the first stock exchange for domains. And that’s just the start ..."

•  ccTLD .AUauDA welcomes Federal Government review of .au domain | auda.org.au. The next step is Australia's Department of Communications and the Arts will shortly release a discussion paper seeking input from interested industry and community stakeholders with the review expected to be finalized by early 2018.--Terms of Reference for a review of the .au Domain Administration | Department of Communications and the Arts.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
  • Apple, China & Internet Censorship--US Senators Cruz, Leahy Probe Apple’s Stance on Chinese Internet Censorship:"Cruz was a lead opponent of the U.S. government’s 2016 handover of technical internet oversight to a nonprofit—out of concerns that such a move could open the door to online censorship. Cruz had questioned the role of Fadi Chehadé, former CEO of the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in the China-organized World Internet Conference and whether that made ICANN complicit in China’s censorship practices."--BNA.com. See also: Senators press Apple to explain removal of apps in China | TheHill.com.
  • Sky Views: China has won the internet's future | news.sky.com"... We're edging closer to the Chinese model. Perhaps because we've realised, with the original freewheeling dream of cyberspace gone, there's not much to choose between the Chinese approach and Facebook, Google and the rest. Both models of sovereignty - rule by an authoritarian state or rule by digital platform - rely on surveillance, whether in the service of political control or of free-market capitalism. For a long time, the Chinese approach to the internet appeared to be a relic of a repressive past. These days, depressingly, it looks like the future."
5) Top 4 Most Read Posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

     2. News Review (Oct22)| Brazil Opposes Draft Report re: ICANN U.S. Jurisdiction

     3. Q3 2017 Earnings Webcasts Oct 26: $TWTR, $GOOGL, $VRSN, $AMZN


-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

Domain Mondo archive