News Review: 1) ICANN EPDP Struggles; 2) New gTLD .WEB Updates

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-09-02) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) EPDP Struggles, 2) Other ICANN news: a. New gTLD .WEB Updates: Ruby Glen (Donuts) & Afilias, b. DNA & ICANN, and more, 3)a. IDNs--Who Needs Them? b. Afilias Inc., c. Centralnic, and more, 4) ICYMI: a. Facebook & Genocide, b. Egypt, c. Cybercrime & Blockchain, 5) Most Read.

1) ICANN EPDP Struggles

ICANN EPDP Team Meetings this week: Tuesday Sep 4, and Thursday Sep 6, 13:00 UTC, 9am EDT. Non-members of the EPDP Team can follow the EPDP meetings via Adobe Connect: https://participate.icann.org/gnso-epdp-observers, or audio cast via browser or application (e.g.,iTunes).

Editor's note: each EPDP meeting's links to key documents, transcripts, MP3 audio and Adobe Connect recording, will be posted in UPDATES below (as made available by ICANN--note that links to EPDP meetings' transcripts are usually posted on the GNSO calendar within 24 hours). See also EPDP Team wiki, mail list, Temp Spec, and EPDP Charter (pdf).

Sep 6, 2018, EPDP Team Meeting Notes UPDATED:

• Data Elements Matrix - updated - 5 Sept 2018

• 9/6 Mp3, Adobe Connect Recording, Chat transcript (embed below).

• Notes and action items from EPDP Team Meeting 9/6 here.

• 9/6 Meeting transcript (pdf).

* * * * * * *

Sep 4, 2018, EPDP Team Meeting Notes UPDATED:

Chat transcript p.5 (pdf)

Editor's note: Little of substance was accomplished at the EPDP team meeting on September 4, 2018. The EPDP team appears to be drowning in dysfunction and lack of direction. EPDP team members have been asking, repeatedly since August 7, for GDPR training which ICANN has yet to provide even though the GDPR was published in May 2016, and training was provided by other California corporations for their respective stakeholders long before the GDPR became enforceable on May 25, 2018.

• 9/4 Meeting transcript. 
• Some "additional considerations and materials" for Tuesday's meeting here.
• Adobe recording of 9/4 meeting, MP3, chat transcript (pdf).
• Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) rationale for removal and onward referral of the contents of Appendix C of the Temp Spec (highlighting added) here (pdf) not approved.
• Notes and action items here.
• Slides provided (pdf) were changed for the meeting--copy of 9/4 meeting's slides have not been published by ICANN

* * * * * *

UPDATE: Weekly Reports on the EPDP to GNSO Council here. Objection filed 3 Sep 2018 by Ayden Férdeline (NCSG): "I am reluctant to make this comment, but I think it is necessary. I do not see any substantial changes between the format of the previous report and this one. I don’t think this communicated anything useful then, and this update does not leave me with an accurate snapshot of the two two-hour long EPDP meetings that I sat through last week. We need something better. If there is a need for a report that will give the community confidence that multistakeholderism is working, fine, let’s use this one. But the Council, if it is to deliver proper oversight over this EPDP, needs a separate report that does not sugarcoat what is really happening within meetings and glosses over the challenges actually being faced. If this same reporting format is used again, I will raise this same objection again." (emphasis added)

* * * * * * *

Highlights from last week's ICANN EPDP Team meetings:

Kurt Pritz (the inept EPDP Team Chair appointed by the GNSO Council): "Thanks very much, Terri. And welcome, everyone. I’m holed up in a hotel room in Melbourne Australia at 11 o’clock at night and there’s a show of funny home videos playing in the background so if – I don't know how it got on the TV but if I laugh now and then that’s why." --Aug 30 transcript p. 2 of 48 (pdf). [Editor's note: turn off the TV during meetings Kurt!]

Kurt Pritz: "And I – gosh, I had one other item I wanted to talk about during this part of the meeting but I forgot what it was." Aug 30 transcript p. 3, supra. [Editor's note: Turn off the TV Kurt!]

Terri Agnew (ICANN staff): "And, Kurt, this is Terri. If you're speaking it looks like your line is still muted." Kurt Pritz: "That’s because it was still muted. So Alex, you sort of alluded to a proposed wording, do you have that? And, you know, it’s late here so I don't know if my coffee’s kicked in." Aug 30 transcript p. 6, supra.

Milton Mueller (NCSG): "Yes, so again I think we are very much going down a rabbit hole here that is completely unnecessary. The problem that we have with 4.4.2 as well as 8 and 9 is that it’s really an access issue; it’s not an ICANN purpose issue. So the problem we have with these so-called legitimate interest lists is that they are trying to incorporate those external third party legitimate interests into a definition of the purpose of ICANN's collection and display of the data which is just a mistake. If we could separate those two things very clearly we could come to an agreement. If you think you're going to accommodate access concerns by defining third party interests as part of ICANN's purpose then we, you know, our stakeholder group is never going to accept that because it is, you know, making the confusion that the data protection authorities told us not to do very explicitly, very clearly and repeatedly that the third party interests, even if they're legitimate and even if they would eventually produce access to the data, should not be confused with ICANN's purpose. And this is what we are persistently doing and that’s our main concern with the many items in Section 4 of the temp spec. Aug 30 transcript p. 7, supra.

Ashley Heineman (GAC, U.S.): "... So I’m going to cautiously agree with Milton, at least in part. I think what may have led us astray here is kind of commingling purpose and interest and so I don't have precise wording at this point but I agree with at least exploring the idea of at least separating out these concepts and exploring perhaps, you know, having them addressed elsewhere, perhaps Appendix A, Section 4. But I’m starting to understand the arguments here and I think fundamentally it’s because we’re confusing two concepts that are quite different. So I’ll stop there ...." Aug 30 transcript p.10, supra.

Alan Woods (RySG): "... I’m not sure that trying to polish up individual sections in this way is getting us – is getting us very far again, reading all the comments from people such as Thomas in the chat. Completely agree, it’s cutting off an awful lot of other aspects and I think it [Temp Spec] just needs a rewrite as opposed to a polish. Aug 30 transcript p.15, supra.

Marc Anderson (RySG): "... I think, you know, the drafting of this [Temp Spec], you know, there was an intent to, you know, the intent here was to, you know, to sort of, you know, bolt on some GDPR compliance to the existing system. You know, and so just sort of taking what's there and redlining it isn't going to – isn't going to be a successful endeavor." Aug 30 transcript p. 17, supra.

Terri Agnew: "Kurt, this is Terri. You may still be muted."

Kurt Pritz: "I know and I was – first it was really funny and second of all, it was really insightful."  Aug 30 transcript p. 17, supra.

Marc Anderson (RySG): "... I don't think that the, you know, the way the conversation is flowing right now where we’re sort of jumping around different sections of the temporary specification  and just sort of debating them ad hoc is moving us towards done. You know, and given how short a timeframe we have, you know, I think we need to focus that up a little more ..." Aug 30 transcript p. 27, supra.

Terri Agnew: "And, Kurt, this is Terri. Please check your mute. Actually, Kurt, it looks like perhaps your audio’s dropped from the Adobe Connect site?"

Kurt Pritz: "Yes, can you hear me now?" Aug 30 transcript p. 27, supra.

Alan Greenberg (ALAC): "I believe 4.4.8 [Temp Spec] tries to conflate too many things and the wording therefore becomes completely untenable." Aug 30 transcript p. 27, supra.

Chat 30 Aug 2018: Alan Woods (RYSG): "full rewrite of all the sections is necessary was my point- not polish what is there." 

Editor's note: a "full rewrite of all the sections is necessary" -- that, in a nutshell, is also what is so wrong with the EPDP's project plan and work plan (which impliedly presume the Temp Spec just needs to be fine-tuned or "polished").

For more info and updates on last week's meetings, go to last week's News Review. Note also:

• UPDATE ICANN v. EPAG Domainservices, GmbH: EPAG’s Comment on ICANN’s Plea of Remonstrance (English translation) (pdf). NOTE: Personal identifiable information has been redacted by ICANN. Original German here.

• Indian regulators call for European-style rules on big tech, focused on privacy and protecting local firms from competition--NYTimes.com: India Pushes Back Against Tech ‘Colonization’ by Internet Giants.

• 90 Days of GDPR: Minimal Impact on Spam and Domain Registration | recordedfuture.com.

• Fear mongers forced to eat shorts over spam swamping claims - GDPR and no Whois hasn't caused catastrophe | theregister.co.uk.

• ICANN org's Legislative / Regulatory Report Q4 FY18 (pdf) 28 Aug 2018 (announcement). 

• Proposed gTLD-Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Profile | ICANN.org

• Plenary Session of the EDPB (European Data Protection Board) 25-26 September 2018

• 40th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, side event 25 October 2018, by EDPS and EDBP.

2) Other ICANN News

a. New gTLD .WEB UPDATES

(i) U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Court Room 1, Richard H. Chambers Court of Appeals Building, 125 South Grand Avenue, Pasadena CA 91105:

ORAL ARGUMENT Oct 9, 2018: Case 16-56890: Ruby Glen, LLC v. ICANN (Ruby Glen, LLC [Donuts affiliate] appeals the district court's Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) dismissal of its diversity action against Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, seeking to temporarily enjoin ICANN from conducting an auction [for new gTLD .WEB]. The appellate briefs are here.

(ii) New gTLD .WEB applicant Afilias--Request 18-8: Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited | Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) Recommendation on Reconsideration Request 18-8, 28 Aug 2018 reconsideration-18-8-afilias-bamc-recommendation-28aug18-en.pdf [211 KB] excerpt:

See also 2018 Reconsideration Requests – Status Update – 29 August 2018 reconsideration-requests-status-2018-29aug18-en.pdf [pdf, 55.9 KB].

b.  DNA (Domain Name Association) & ICANN:

Domain Name Association will have six meetings at #icann63. Five of which will be closed. As it was said by the then chairman in 2016, it discusses matters that have nothing to do with ICANN mission. Why is it still allowed to use ICANN resources? pic.twitter.com/Y42hzS1KuH

— IGP Alert (@IGPAlert) August 31, 2018

Editor's note: not to mention that ICANN, by virtue of the above, is violating its own Articles of Incorporation and the provisions of IRC 501(c)(3). Remedies might include filing a complaint with the IRS, or the Attorney General of the State of California for initiation of, or authorization to file, a legal action pursuant to federal (U.S.) and state (California) law for involuntary dissolution of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN: incompetent, corrupt, unfit.
UPDATE: go here, here, and here for more on the sordid history of ICANN & the DNA.

c. The New ICANN Fellowship Program | ICANN.org: "... Future fellowship cohorts will consist of 45 participants per ICANN meeting, a 25% reduction from years past. Of the 45 slots, seven (7) will go to Fellowship mentors. We will uphold and enforce the rule which states an individual can only serve as a fellow a total of three instances ..."  See also ICANN Pays Senior VP Sally Costerton Secret Contract $$$ | DomainMondo.com.

d. Nothing of import: Minutes (pdf) of ICANN Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) Meeting 02 Aug 2018; and Agenda of BAMC meeting 04 Sep 2018.

e. Internationalized Domain Names | ICANN.org: Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) enable people around the world to use domain names in local languages and scripts. Editor's note: see the next item below.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. IDNs a/k/a Internationalized Domain Names: Who Needs Them? (Other than cyber criminals for homograph attacks) --

Nobody Needs Arabic Domain Names | muscatdaily.com  26 Aug 2018: "The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has been offering Arabic language domain names since 2012, but luckily, it does not seem that anyone in Oman has made the mistake of actually using one ... Almost ten years ago, ICANN, the global authority for regulating domain names, announced that it would allow the registration of top-level internationalised domain names written in local languages and scripts other than the Latin alphabet ... nobody seems to be using them. Contrary to what was argued by the proponents of [IDNs] ... We have had web content written in the Arabic language before Arabic domain names came out, and we continue to do so without using these domain names ...."

Editor's note: we (the global internet community) did not need 1200+ new gTLDs either, but that didn't stop ICANN.

b.  Afilias, which says it is the world’s second largest top-level domain registry operator, announced Aug 30, 2018, that it has

"formally established a new corporate parent entity, Afilias, Inc. of Delaware, USA.  Afilias plc of Ireland is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Afilias, Inc.  Afilias further announced the relocation of its global corporate headquarters to Horsham, PA [a suburb of Philadelphia], the current offices of its operating subsidiary Afilias USA, Inc." 

Why move from Ireland (part of the EU) to the U.S.? 

"Afilias’ two largest customers, Public Interest Registry (the .ORG registry operator) and GoDaddy (the world’s largest domain name registrar), have US headquarters. These trends, coupled with recent favorable US tax changes, make Afilias’ US presence important in maximizing its future growth."  

Afilias is a privately-held legal entity, formed in September, 2000, by a consortium of nineteen ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, including Tucows Inc. Afilias recently replaced Neustar as the registry services provider for Australia's ccTLD .au, and is currently in litigation against Neustar over India's ccTLD .in. Afilias, (see 2)a. above) was the second-highest bidder for new gTLD .WEB and has been contesting the delegation of .WEB to the winning bidder, Nu Dot Co, financed by Verisign which has an agreement with Nu Dot Co for subsequent assignment of .WEB.

c.  Centralnic Group (LON: CNIC) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday, August 23, 2018, hitting a low of GBX 49 ($0.64), and then hit that low again on Aug 30:

LON: CNIC

Centralnic (domain: centralnic.com) reportedly is the 11th largest domain name registrar globally by generic top-level domain volume and among the top five new gTLD backend registry service providers supporting over 100 top-level domains (TLDs). Oh, the penny stock delusions of a new gTLDs true believer!

LON: CNIC

d. Who’s Behind the Screencam Extortion Scam? | KrebsOnSecurity.com: "The truth is we may never find out who’s responsible ..."

e. WIPO Center informal Q&A concerning the GDPR as it relates to the UDRP: In preparing a UDRP complaint post-GDPR, how can a trademark owner conduct a WhoIs search/access the domain name registrant’s details?--wipo.int.

f. Why are abandoned domain names dangerous? They are low-hanging fruit for attackers, who can use them to access sensitive email or customer data--csoonline.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. Facebook, Myanmar and Genocide: "... the most important global case study regarding the power and potential toxicity of social media; you have to look at Facebook’s enabling role in the Rohingya genocide ..."--datatrekresearch.com. See also U.N. calls for Myanmar generals to be tried for genocide, blames Facebook for incitement--reuters.com.

b. Internet Censorship: Egypt's Sisi signs new law tightening government control online--Law imposes hefty fines, up to five years in prison for those who administer websites deemed to harm national interests.--aljazeera.com.

c. Cybercrime & Blockchain: 4 ways in which blockchain technology will address the problem of cybercrime | techbullion.com: "DNS is effective but it is partially centralized. Blockchain can prevent denial of service attacks since it would decentralize the DNS."

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

1. News Review: ICANN & GDPR, 'WHOIS Is Mostly DEAD' Says Paul Vixie

2. Tech Review | Tesla $TSLA And Elon Musk's Wild August Ride (video)

3. Microsoft Democratizing Artificial Intelligence (video)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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DISCLAIMER

New gTLD Registry Service Providers, XYZ, CentralNic $CNIC & ICANN

"... downward pressure on prices due to competition among Registry Service Providers has drained capital from the marketplace that might otherwise be used to fund stable, resilient infrastructures ...  it is equally apparent that the downward spiral of Registry Service Provider pricing will lead to cut corners. The result will be a failure ..."--Kurt Pritz (former ICANN Chief Strategy Officer), Why Registry Service Providers Should be Accredited by ICANN | circleid.com.

.XYZ Domain Helping To Drive Growth at CentralNic Says CEO:

The chief executive of  domain name registry services provider CentralNic Group PLC (LON:CNIC), Ben Crawford, in the above video tells ProactiveInvestors that the .XYZ* new gTLD (new generic top-level domain) has been a revelation and helped the company to drive up revenues and profits in the first half of 2016. “We have six of the top 25 [new gTLDS]. Number one is .xyz which is very well known because Google used it for Alphabet, the new parent company,” says Crawford. “Mark Zuckerberg’s used it, the founders of Skype are using it for one of their new companies and it’s the most popular [new gTLD] all around the world.” Crawford estimates that CentralNic has about a 34% market share, adding that other domain names such as .art, .am and .fm are also boosting the finances. He also touches on the company’s cash position, explaining that there is “never an issue” with that as all of the company’s divisions are cash-generative. *CentralNic is the "backend" registry services provider for new gTLD .XYZ (registry operator XYZ.COM LLC), and for other new gTLDs.

Video above published Oct 12, 2016, by ProActive Investors Stocktube [stocktube.com]. According to its website, "Stocktube is part of the Proactiveinvestors Group, a leading multi-media news organisation, investor portal and events management business with offices in New York, Sydney, Toronto, Frankfurt and London."

Centralnic Group PLC a/k/a CentralNic

Principal domain: centralnic.com

Stock exchange: symbol | LON: CNIC

Recent 5-year stock chart of Centralnic Group PLC (LON: CNIC) showing shares DOWN -41.81% since Sep 11, 2015. 

Note that $CNIC priced in GBX (pence sterling) on the London Stock Exchange. 43.50 pence sterling = US$0.53.

Also note that one of the larger domain name registrars, Namecheap, has experienced connectivity issues with CentralNic registry: 

"We are currently experiencing connectivity issues with CentralNic registry. As a result, recently registered .US.COM / .DE.COM / .PW / .WEBSITE / .HOST / .PRESS / .SPACE / .SITE / .XYZ / .TECH / .DESIGN / .ONLINE / .COLLEGE / .RENT / .BR.COM, .CN.COM / .EU.COM / .GB.COM / .GB.NET / .UK.COM / .UK.NET / .UY.COM / .HU.COM / .NO.COM / .QC.COM / .RU.COM / .SA.COM / .SE.COM / .SE.NET / .ZA.COM / .JPN.COM / .AE.ORG / .KR.COM / .LA / .AR.COM / .US.ORG / .GR.COM / .COM.DE / .JP.NET / .HU.NET / .WIKI / .IN.NET / .REST / .REIT / .FANS / .INK / .FEEDBACK / .MEX.COM / .CO.COM / .BAR / .COM.SE / .TICKETS / .LOVE / .PROTECTION / .SECURITY / .THEATRE domains may not resolve properly and DNS updates may not propagate as well. The case has been escalated to the Registry. They are aware of the issue and doing their best to resolve this. Kindly allow some time for the issue to get resolved and do not place new .US.COM / .DE.COM / .PW / .WEBSITE / .HOST / .PRESS / .SPACE / .SITE / .XYZ / .TECH / .DESIGN / .ONLINE / .COLLEGE / .RENT / .BR.COM, .CN.COM / .EU.COM / .GB.COM / .GB.NET / .UK.COM / .UK.NET / .UY.COM / .HU.COM / .NO.COM / .QC.COM / .RU.COM / .SA.COM / .SE.COM / .SE.NET / .ZA.COM / .JPN.COM / .AE.ORG / .KR.COM / .LA / .AR.COM / .US.ORG / .GR.COM / .COM.DE / .JP.NET / .HU.NET / .WIKI / .IN.NET / .REST / .REIT / .FANS / .INK / .FEEDBACK / .MEX.COM / .CO.COM / .BAR / .COM.SE / .TICKETS / .LOVE / .PROTECTION / .SECURITY / .THEATRE domain related orders for now. This status post will be updated once we have any news ... UPDATE @ 10:20 EDT | 14:20 UTC [Oct 12, 2016] We are glad to let you know that we received a confirmation from the Registry that the matter is resolved now ..."--Namecheap.com (emphasis added)

Caveat Emptor Domain Name Registrants: ICANN, the global monopoly authorizing new gTLDs, neither captures nor publishes information about registry service providers' failures. Instead, incompetent ICANN sees itself as a "marketing agency" for new gTLD domain names. To heck with consumer protection and the global public interest?

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DISCLAIMER

News Review: IANA Transition Drama in D.C. and ICANN & Zika

Domain Mondo's weekly review of the news and look ahead [pdf] starting with a macro view:

 •  "There is a sense that markets are waiting impatiently as various macro risks loom on the horizon"--David Folkerts-Landau, Group Chief Economist at Deutsche Bank--Central Banks Around the Word are Dovish | ritholtz.com.

•  Crude Oil Freight Rates Plunge to Record Lows | WolfStreet.com: "Overcapacity is the result of misallocation of resources by investors and/or governments that have been fooled by their own optimism, twisted policies, and central bank promises that their QE and a flood of cheap money would actually create real-economy demand. And overcapacity is now also sinking the oil tanker market." See also: The Great Debt Unwind Beneath the Surface: US Commercial Bankruptcies Soar | WolfStreet.com.

•  Markets: Gathering Clouds?

From August 10 to September 9: US benchmark S&P500 -2.19% and UK benchmark FTSE100 -1.30% 

•  Julian Assange Vows Huge Wikileaks Dump on Hillary, Just Before the Debates | SantaMonicaObserver.com: "No fan of Donald Trump, Assange really hates Hillary Clinton. Release may come on eve of 3d [final] debate."  Presidential Debates: 1) Sep 26; 2) Oct 9; and 3) Oct 19. Election Day: November 8, 2016. The USC Dornsife / Los Angeles Times tracking poll shows the race between Clinton and Trump tied (within margin of error). See Trump closes in on Clinton's projected electoral lead: Reuters/Ipsos Poll: "A separate Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters showed an 8-point lead for Clinton has vanished since the last week of August." See also Democrats wonder and worry: Why isn’t Clinton far ahead of Trump? | WashingtonPost.com  and Hillary's speech full of invective Friday night.

___________

Feature • IANA Transition Drama in D.C.: Less than three weeks to go before the IANA Stewardship Transition is complete on October 1, 2016, and Republicans in Washington, D.C., have multiple forays underway in a last-ditch effort to delay the transition and extend the IANA functions contract which will otherwise expire September 30, 2016. Meanwhile ICANN and pro-transition forces in Washington are countering. For more see on Domain Mondo:

• Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec.
• US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)
• ICANN Answers Questions About The IANA Stewardship Transition

This coming week U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) will hold a subcommittee hearing entitled "Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications of Ending U.S. Oversight of the Internet,"--United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary | judiciary.senate.gov: Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, Wednesday, September 14, 2016, at 10:00 AM EDT, in Dirksen Senate Office Building 226, Washington, D.C., Chairman Cruz presiding.

See also ICANN fight intensifies ahead of Cruz-called hearing | POLITICO.com: Jamie Hedlund, VP of strategic programs in ICANN's Global Domains Division, argued in an interview with POLITICO.com that opposition was coming from individuals "who don't understand fundamentally what's at issue."  

and The ICANN Debate: 6 Things You Need to Know | heritage.org: "... six key points you need to know on this issue from Heritage expert Brett Schaefer ... 'the Obama administration has allowed political concerns to trump prudence and U.S. officials have downplayed and dismissed the many legitimate concerns that people have raised about the transition because it wants the transition to occur before it leaves office.'..."

Feature • ICANN and Zika--tweets from #ICANN57 this past week:

• If you need a 1 hour webinar and two blog posts to explain how to get to the #ICANN meeting, maybe you picked the wrong location. #ICANN57
• @ICANN said on #ICANN57 webinar today, #zika has been endemic to India since 2013. Why, then, was this mtg moved from Puerto Rico to India?

For more see CALENDAR and LINKS | DomainMondo.com:

• ICANN 57 | Hyderabad, India, 3-9 Nov 2016 (ICANN57 was moved from Puerto Rico due to the Zika virus. See: Relocating ICANN57 | ICANN.org and cdc.gov/zika/).

and ICANN Public Meetings:

• WEBINAR: ICANN57 Hyderabad
• Download Presentation [PDF, 432 KB] | 
• Adobe Connect Session Recording
• ICANN57 Hyderabad: What You Need to Know (Part 2)
• ICANN57 Hyderabad: What You Need to Know (Part 1) 

___________

Other ICANN, Internet Governance, and Domain Name News:

•  The South China Morning Post has suddenly shut down its Chinese-language website | Quartz | qz.com: "... the Chinese-language website [domain: nanzao.com] of Hong Kong’s main English newspaper, the South China Morning Post, is gone ... The South China Morning Post was acquired by Jack Ma, one of China’s richest men and the founder of e-commerce platform Alibaba, in December 2015. Joseph Tsai, the executive vice-chairman of Alibaba, told the New York Times then that the decision to purchase the newspaper was made in order to provide coverage of China that was untouched by the “negative” bias of the Western media. In 2013, Jack Ma was reportedly furious at the Chinese language website of the South China Morning Post after it ran an interview with him, in which he said that the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square was “the most correct decision.”..."

•   New gTLD Registry Operator and Registrar Rightside (eNom.com, Name.com), CEO Taryn Naidu, and CFO Tracy Knox, will be conducting one-on-one institutional investor meetings at the 2016 Deutsche Bank Technology Conference on Tuesday, September 13, 2016, at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas. A copy of the investor presentation will be available in the Investors section of Rightside's website. Rightside shares (NASDAQ: NAME) have declined -32.86% since August 10th:

•   New gTLD Registry and Registrar services provider Centralnic Group PLC (LON: CNIC) reported first-half 2016 results this past week: adjusted pre-tax profits of £948,000, though after tax the group had a £1,306,000 loss. $CNIC shares have declined -13.33% since August 10th (see chart above). Centralnic CEO's Statement: "The domain name industry is undergoing a period of disruption and consolidation ..."

•   Trump Org. Beats Defamation Claim From Domain Name Pitchman | NewYorkLawJournal.com: "... Brooklyn federal Judge Eric Vitaliano said the complaint in Stephens v. Trump Organization, 15-cv-2217, failed in every respect. Vitaliano said, "It is inconceivable that Stephens could, as the silence in his papers emphasizes, plead any facts that would entitle him to co-opt the Trump name" or "that any words used by the Trump defendants to denounce cybersquatting (in all its forms) would be defamatory."..."

•  John McAfee, creator of antivirus software, sues Intel for right to use his name: "McAfee  joined digital gaming company MGT Capital Investments Inc as chairman and chief executive, and plans to rename the company 'John McAfee Global Technologies Inc.'''--domain-b.com. Intel acquired the McAfee trademark (mcafee.com, @mcafee) in 2010, and utilizes the name in connection with its cybersecurity unit called "Intel Security." See also Intel Sells a Majority Stake of Cybersecurity Unit to TPG | NYTimes.com: "Under the terms of the deal, [the spinoff] will borrow money to pay out a roughly $2 billion dividend to Intel, which will retain a 49 percent stake in the business. TPG will pay $1.1 billion in cash for a 51 percent stake. The business, currently called Intel Security, will again adopt the McAfee name when the deal closes, which is expected in the second quarter of 2017."

• Internet in Russia freer than in US, claims top Kremlin official | rt.com: "Volodin was giving a press conference in the central Russian city of Tambov, where a local reporter asked him to comment on the possibility of introducing a rule that would require social networks to obtain ID from their users “so that people could know who is on the other side of the internet.” The official replied that unlike many countries, Russia has chosen self-regulation on the internet and he saw no need to change this."

•  Open Internet Advocates Claim Victory in Europe Net Neutrality Fight: "The BEREC guidelines state that internet users “have the right to access and distribute information and content, use and provide applications and services, and use terminal equipment of their choice, irrespective of the end-user’s or provider’s location or the location, origin or destination of the information, content, application or service, via their internet access service.”"--Motherboard.Vice.com.

•  Facebook’s satellite went up in smoke, but its developing world land grab goes on | Emily Reynolds | Opinion | TheGuardian.com: "The whole point of the internet – the joy of it, the endlessly radical possibilities that are part and parcel of it – is that it’s open, that it’s neutral, that its users are free to say, do, and read almost anything they want on it."

•  How internet pirates became a political force in Iceland | newstatesman.com: "In 2013, five months after its founding, the Pirate Party won three of Iceland’s 63 parliamentary seats – the only one of the world’s thirty or so officially registered Pirate Parties with a presence in a national legislature – and it is expected to gain between 15 and 20 in the elections later this year. It has been quite a rise for an activist movement that initially focused on internet freedom and copyright reform."

•  Comments close this coming week at ICANN on Proposed Renewal of .TEL Registry Agreement: Close Date 13 Sep 2016 23:59 UTC.

Tech News:

1. World's fastest optic undersea cable now links U.S. to Japan and Taiwan: "... in June, the six-member FASTER Consortium began beaming light through the FASTER cable [which] connects the United States and Japan ... we [Google] invested in a cable that links FASTER in Japan on to Taiwan, where our largest data center in Asia ..."--googleblog.com. See also: FASTER Cable System | NEC.com and FASTER | Wikipedia.org.
2. "Amazon.com Inc. is pursuing video rights to a wide range of sports, including the French Open tennis championship and professional rugby, as the company looks for ways to draw new customers to its online TV service"--Bloomberg.com
3. Apple's new iPhones: 'The Thrill Is Gone'--if what I have already is good enough why should I upgrade?--See "'Good Enough' theory could be taking hold"--SeekingAlpha.com. See also Samsung out as much as $1 billion for Note 7 recall, will reportedly stop using its own batteries--9to5Google.com.
4. IoT: A Zion research report indicates the commercial telematics market is set to grow from $20.42 billion in 2015 to $55.14 billion by the end of 2021, at a CAGR of more than 18% between 2016 and 2021.--ConnectedCar-news.com
5. Google to acquire Apigee | cloudplatform.googleblog.com: "The addition of Apigee’s API solutions to Google cloud will accelerate our customers’ move to supporting their businesses with high quality digital interactions."  See also: Google given more time to reply to EU antitrust charge on Android | Reuters.com. 
6. Can Uber Make A Profit? "... unclear whether Uber is a sustainable long-term business that justifies its current valuation. Ride services are fungible and thus competition will drive down prices to the point of marginal supply."--SeekingAlpha.com
7. Tech Startups Face Dwindling Funding | WSJ.com: "China’s technology startups were red-hot for years. Today, the catchphrase among some in the industry to describe the funding environment is “deep winter.”"
8. Tax Avoidance Schemes: How Apple—and the Rest of Silicon Valley—Avoids the Tax Man | WIRED.com: "... By selling intellectual property rights to sock-puppet subsidiaries, tech giants shift profits to low-tax nations like Ireland. But that’s just a start. Sublicense the IP to a second Irish unit that books global sales, have entity B pay onerous royalties back to A (wiping out its earnings), then show that A is headquartered in the Caribbean, making its royalty income untaxable in Ireland ..." See also: Brussels calling: tech firms add lobby strength as EU gets tough | Reuters.com.

Four most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:

1. News Review [4Sep]: Threats to the Open Internet and ICANN Culpability
2. ICANN Litigation, Cooperative Engagement, and IRP Status Update
3. US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)
4. Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec.

4 Other Reading Recommendations:

1. The High Cost of Honesty in a Sea of Low-Cost BS | CharlesHughSmith.blogspot.com.
2. Shopping Malls in Crisis: "[L]andlords are essentially making the case that Aeropostale is better off with only a fourth of its brick-and-mortar locations, ideally in the best-performing malls where traffic trends haven't been pummeled. The company can then pursue growth through online sales, as well as licensing pacts and wholesale contracts in the U.S. and abroad -- much as Authentic Brands is trying to do with Juicy Couture."--Bloomberg.com
3. Fundamental Attribution Error, Why Predicting Behavior Is Hard--FarnamStreetBlog.com
4. A Farewell Guide to Political Journalism | TheAtlantic.com by Ron Fournier: "A reporter’s job isn’t to make friends. It’s ... to hold powerful people accountable. Remember the Balz lesson: Your sources are more likely to respect you if they’re a little afraid of you. Don’t cede power to the powerful."

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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DISCLAIMER

CentralNic Reports Loss, Admits New gTLDs Demand Has Fallen Short

This is becoming a pattern--now another new gTLD registry, CentralNic, not looking so good, financially--a big loss being reported (in contrast to a profit a year ago) in their most recent financials--

UPDATE - CentralNic confident of upsurge once super-brand domains launch - Proactiveinvestors (UK): "Chairman John Swingewood admitted that demand levels for the new TLDs has thus far fallen short of industry expectations"

But not to worry--somehow they are betting on .google???--

Chief executive Ben Crawford: "Some high profile launches, including so-called super-brand domains such as .google, .apple., .sony and .hsbc, have yet to take place and when they go live next year interest in gTLDs is likely to go through the roof, Crawford reckons." (source supra, emphasis added)

Oh sure, that's going to make the other unwanted, unneeded new gTLDs all of a sudden, be in demand. Ben, it's called denial and delusion and you got a bad case of it.

Wonder why he didn't mention Facebook.com, Amazon.com, and the other 114,000,000+ .COM domain names?

You can read all about it here.

Caveat Emptor!


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