Showing posts with label Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Congress. Show all posts

2018-06-26

AI, NTIA, Crypto, ZTE & CyberSecurity Hearings LIVE June 26-27 (video)

ZTE: A Threat to America’s Small Businesses

ZTE: A Threat to America’s Small Businesses | house.gov - "The Committee on Small Business will meet for a hearing titled, “ZTE: A Threat to America’s Small Businesses.”  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 11:00 A.M. EDT on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 in Room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

"This hearing will examine the imminent threat posed to America’s small businesses by the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE. The hearing will provide committee members the opportunity to hear from national security experts and cybersecurity firms on steps the administration can take to protect small businesses and American citizens from the dangers presented by ZTE. The hearing will also investigate ongoing efforts being by both the public and private sectors to reduce the challenges small businesses face in dealing with illicit Chinese backed enterprises."

Hearing Notice (pdf); Witness List (pdf)--witnesses:
  • Mr. David Linger, President & CEO, TechSolve, Inc., Cincinnati, OH; 
  • Mr. Andy Keiser, Visiting Fellow, National Security Institute, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, Arlington, VA; 
  • Mr. Matthew G. Olsen, President, IronNet Cybersecurity, Kensington, MD.
Editor's note: background--
  • US government action re: ZTE (pdf)
  • ZTE ceased most U.S. operations after the Trump administration imposed a ban in April. After that, the Trump administration reached a deal with ZTE which would allow it to continue doing business, which some in Washington now want Trump to reconsider, but other members of Congress support Trump’s deal with ZTE, noting it is the president’s prerogative to conduct foreign policy. For more read "U.S. senators want Trump to reconsider lifting ban on China's ZTE"--Reuters.com June 26, 2018. 

CyberSecurity: Examining The Trump Administration’s Government-Wide Reorganization Plan, Full House Committee On Oversight And Government Reform, Hearing Date: June 27, 2018 10:00 AM EDT. LIVE video and replay at link above.

The reform plan rolled out Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget makes addressing the federal government's cybersecurity workforce shortage among its priorities. It sets forth actions for OPM (Office of Personnel Management), the Department of Homeland Security, and the Pentagon to take to address the issue.

From the report: "The Federal Government struggles to recruit and retain cybersecurity professionals due to a shortage of talent along with growing demand for these employees across the public and private sectors ... The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), working in coordination with all Federal departments and agencies, will establish a unified cyber workforce capability across the civilian enterprise ... This Administration will work towards a standardized approach to Federal cybersecurity personnel, ensuring Government-wide visibility into talent gaps, as well as unified solutions to fill those gaps in a timely and prioritized manner."

The report (pdf) outlining the reform plan is embed below:

AI - With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Artificial Intelligence (AI) – With Great Power Comes Great ResponsibilitySubcommittee on Research and Technology and Subcommittee on Energy Hearing - Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - 10:30 am EDT.

Hearing Purpose: The purpose of the hearing is to understand the state of artificial intelligence technology and the difference between narrow and general intelligence. The hearing will also examine the types of research being conducted to advance artificial general intelligence technology and explore its game-changing potential and implications.

Witnesses:
  • Dr. Jaime Carbonell, director, Language Technologies Institute, and Allen Newell Professor, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University (Dr. Carbonell will not be present at the hearing.)
  • Dr. Tim Persons, chief scientist, GAO 

NTIA - Reauthorization Act of 2018

NTIA: The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at 1:15 p.m. EDT, in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled "DiscussionDraft: National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Reauthorization Act of 2018." [Editor's note: WHOIS & GDPR discussion begins at 1:45:47 in the video above.]

Witnesses:
  • The Honorable Michael D. Gallagher, CEO, Entertainment Software Association, Witness Statement (pdf)
  • The Honorable John Kneuer, President, JKC Consulting, Witness Statement
  • Ms. Joanne S. Hovis, President, CTC Technology and Energy, Witness Statement
Documents: Hearing Notice and Background Memo (pdf)--excerpt:
"Internet Governance: NTIA leads and participates in an interagency effort to develop American internet policy and works directly with stakeholders to develop policies that preserve an open, interconnected global internet, continued innovation, and economic growth. To that point, NTIA has jurisdiction over the Domain Name Service (DNS) and is the U.S. voice in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)’s Government Advisory Committee, ICANN maintains and enforces contracts with all registrars, requiring them to continue to collect identifying information from registries during the domain registration process. This information is maintained by registrars in a WHOIS database, pursuant to the terms of the registrar’s contract with ICANN. The discussion draft contains a sense of Congress that states NTIA should work to ensure that the multistakeholder model of internet governance maintains the security, stability, and resiliency of the DNS, and that new laws and regulations around the world do not undermine the WHOIS service."
The hearing webcast will also be available at energycommerce.house.gov. The legislative text may be found here. #SubCommTech

Crypto: Protecting Our Elections: Examining Shell Companies and Virtual Currencies [Crypto] as Avenues for Foreign Interference - US Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at  2:30 P.M. EDT, Dirksen Senate Office Building 226. Presiding: Senator Graham. LIVE video and replay at link above.


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DISCLAIMER

2018-04-13

Facebook Data Privacy Week On Capitol Hill: The $FB Fallout (video)


GOP Rep. Lance on Facebook, Browser Act, Ryan

Bloomberg.com video published Apr 11, 2018: Republican Congressman Leonard Lance of New Jersey discusses Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress, internet regulation, and Speaker Paul Ryan's decision not to seek re-election on "Bloomberg Technology." See A Comprehensive List of Everything Mark Zuckerberg Will Follow Up On for Congress | WIRED.com.

See also on Domain Mondo:

Facebook, Inc. is a U.S.-based online social media and social networking service company based in Menlo Park, California, founded in 2004. Principal domain: facebook.com.
Stock Exchange: Symbol  |  NASDAQ: FB
$FB DOWN 15% since Feb 1, 2018
See also:
FirstMark's Ferreira Says 'Very Carefully' Watching Facebook Hearing

Bloomberg.com video above published Apr 11, 2018: Beth Ferreira, FirstMark Capital (domain: firstmarkcap.com) Managing Director, discusses the Facebook hearing and regulations. She speaks with Emily Chang on "Bloomberg Technology."

Mark Zuckerberg's Senate testimony on Tuesday, in two minutes:

Highlights from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Senate testimony on data privacy issues.

Zuckerberg Through Time: How Facebook's Message Has Changed:

Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) video above published Apr 11, 2018: What exactly is Facebook? It depends on when you asked Mark Zuckerberg--a look at the company's changing view of itself.

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DISCLAIMER

2018-04-11

Hearing April 11: Facebook $FB Transparency and Use of Consumer Data

Facebook: Transparency and Use of Consumer Data

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, by Order of Chairman Walden, will hold a hearing on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. EDT in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., entitled “Facebook: Transparency and Use of Consumer Data.” The hearing will be webcast LIVE above.

Editor's Note: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, testified Tuesday, April 10, 2018, before the U.S. Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees--video of that hearing is here.

WITNESS: Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO, Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) (domain: Facebook.com) Witness Statement (pdf) embed below:

See also: Witness Invitation and Truth in Testimony and CV.

Links:

Infographic: Facebook Trailing In Trust  | Statista source: Statista.com Infographic: Techlash – Is Facebook Doing More Harm Than Good? | Statista source: Statista.com Infographic: Where U.S. Adults Are Active on Social Media | Statista source: Statista.com Infographic: Facebook's the Common Ground for Adults on Social Media | Statista source: Statista.com


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DISCLAIMER

2018-02-27

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Testifies Before Congress Tuesday

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, February 27 at 10:00 a.m. ET to deliver the Federal Reserve’s semi-annual Monetary Policy Report to Congress and to discuss the state of the economy.

"Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy"

Hearing entitled “Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy” | House Committee on Financial Services: Tuesday, February 27, 2018 10:00 am ET in 2128 Rayburn HOB (Full Committee)--Witness List: The Honorable Jerome H. Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Committee Memorandum (pdf) embed below:

Report embed below:

On Thursday March 1, 2018, 10:00 a.m. ET Fed Chair Powell testifies before Senate Banking Committee--The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress - Hearings - U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: "March 1, 2018 10:00 AM 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building,  hearing on “The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress.” The witness will be: The Honorable Jerome H. Powell, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System."
See also:

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DISCLAIMER

2017-10-12

Hearing on 21st Century Trade Barriers & Cross Border Data Flow Policies

21st Century Trade Barriers: Protectionist Cross Border Data Flow Policies’ Impact on U.S. Jobs

The above LIVE Replay Congressional hearing video: Thursday, Oct 12, 2017, 10:15 A.M. EDT (hearing starts at 20:28).

Energy and Commerce Committee | Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee (115th Congress)

Domain Mondo editor's note: Cross-border data flows are the flow of digital information between countries. The hearing's focus is addressing data localization laws, which require companies to store certain types of data, such as personal information of its citizens, within its own borders. Other nations have increasingly considered or adopted such laws after the Edward Snowden revelations which detailed the extent of international surveillance by U.S. intelligence. Proponents see such data localization laws as one way to prevent U.S. intelligence from being able to collect data on non-U.S. citizens. The hearing's witnesses would like to see provisions in all international agreements similar to the terms of the data sharing agreements known as the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks, which allow data to continue to flow freely across borders.

WITNESSES:

Ms. Jennifer Daskal
Associate Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law (wcl.american.edu)

Ms. Victoria A. Espinel
President and CEO, BSA – The Software Alliance (bsa.org)

Mr. Dean C. Garfield
President and CEO, Information Technology Industry Council (itic.org)

Mr. Morgan Reed
President, ACT – The App Association (actonline.org)

DOCUMENTS:


About the Energy and Commerce Committee"The Committee on Energy and Commerce is the oldest standing legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and is vested with the broadest jurisdiction of any congressional authorizing committee ... Today, the committee has responsibility for matters including telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health and research, environmental quality, energy policy, and interstate and foreign commerce among others."  More information, including members of the committee, is at the link above.
US House of Representatives, Energy and Commerce Committee

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DISCLAIMER

2017-10-03

LIVE Congressional Hearing: Equifax Data Breach, Answers for Consumers

Oversight of the Equifax Data Breach: Answers for Consumers

House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, Hearing Oct 3, 2017, 10am EDT (video starts @22:22)@HouseCommerce  #SubDCCP



WITNESS:
Mr. Richard F. Smith
Former Chairman and CEO, Equifax Inc.
Witness Statement (embed below)


Subcommittee documents:




feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2017-06-13

Hearings June 13: IOT Opportunities and Challenges & Wireless Security

Disrupter Series: Update on IOT Opportunities and Challenges

Scheduled for Jun 13, 2017, 10:30am EDT (US). #SubDCCP

Disrupter Series: Update on IOT Opportunities and Challenges | Energy and Commerce Committee: Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - 10:30am EDT
Location: 2123 Rayburn, Washington D.C.
Disrupter Series: Update on IOT [Internet of Things] Opportunities and Challenges
Subcommittees: Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection (115th Congress)

Witnesses:

Dr. Mark Bachman
CTO and Co-Founder, Integra Devices

Dr. Gary D. Butler
Founder, Chairman and CEO, Camgian Microsystems Corporation

Mr. Cameron Javdani
Director of Sales and Marketing, Louroe Electronics

Mr. Peter B. Kosak
Executive Director, Urban Active Solutions, General Motors North America

Mr. Bill Kuhns
Director of Product Development, Vermont Energy Control Systems LLC

Dr. William S. Marras 
Executive Director and Scientific Director of the Spine Research Institute, The Ohio State University

Documents: Hearing Notice and Background Memo.


Promoting Security in Wireless Technology

Scheduled for Jun 13, 2017, 10 am EDT (US) #SubCommTech

Promoting Security in Wireless Technology | Energy and Commerce Committee:
Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - 10:00am EDT
Location: 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington D.C.
Promoting Security in Wireless Technology
Subcommittees: Communications and Technology (115th Congress)

Witnesses

Dr. Charles Clancy
Director and Professor, Hume Center for National Security and Technology, Virginia Tech

Ms. Kiersten Todt
Managing Partner, Liberty Group Ventures, LLC

Mr. Bill Wright
Director, Government Affairs & Senior Policy Counsel, Symantec

Mr. Amit Yoran
Chairman and CEO, Tenable Network Security

Documents: Hearing Notice and Background Memo

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2017-04-05

LIVE Hearing Replay: Facilitating the 21st Century Wireless Economy

Facilitating the 21st Century Wireless Economy Hearing:

US Congressional Subcommittee Hearing Scheduled for Apr 5, 2017, 10:00 AM EDT
(Editor's note: several subcommittee members spent the first part of the hearing disagreeing about the recent repeal of internet privacy protections for consumers.)

Facilitating the 21st Century Wireless Economy | Energy and Commerce Committee

Subcommittee: Communications and Technology (115th Congress) (members)

Subcommittee Leadership:

Witnesses:

Mr. Scott Bergmann

Mr. Jared Carlson

Ms. Jennifer Manner


Mr. Dave Wright


Text of Legislation
S.19, To provide opportunities for broadband investment, and for other purposes.

Hearing Notice (pdf)

Hearing Memo (pdf) (embed below)

5G spectrum

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2016-09-25

News Review: BIG Winners of the Week ICANN and TRUMP

Shining A Light: © DomainMondo.com Domain Mondo's weekly review of the news, analysis, and look ahead [pdf]: 

Further updates at DomainMondo.com: IANA Transition: What the U.S. Government Is Really 'Giving Up'.

UPDATE Sep 29, 2016: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, and Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt, have filed a lawsuit (pdf) in a last minute attempt to stop the IANA stewardship transition, in the U.S. District Court, Galveston, Texas, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, including a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. According to Tucson.com, U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. (who was appointed by President Obama in 2015) has set a hearing for Friday in Galveston, Texas, 1:30 pm CDT.

UPDATE Sep 28, 2016: TheHill.com reports a short-term government funding bill passed in the Senate on Wednesday and did not include any measure to block the Obama administration from handing off oversight of the internet domain naming system [IANA stewardship transition] to ICANN. The bill is now headed to the U.S. House of Representatives--2nd UPDATE: The U.S.House of Representatives has, on Wednesday evening, Sep 28, 2016, concurred with the U.S. Senate and passed the government funding bill without any block of the IANA stewardship transition which will take effect October 1, 2016, upon expiration of the IANA functions contract between NTIA and ICANN on September 30, 2016:
 House Vote on Government Funding | c-span.org

previous update:
UPDATE 27 Sep 2016Senate Blocks Republican Stopgap From Advancing | RollCall.com"The Senate on Tuesday voted 45-55 not to cut off debate on a 10-week continuing resolution proposed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to keep government agencies and programs funded into December 2016." In addition, a coalition of 77 national and cybersecurity leaders sent a letter (pdf) September 26, 2016, to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford urging them to oppose the IANA transition. Senator John Thune (R-SD) told TheHill.com that next steps for supporters of a delay of the transition were unclear. "It was one of those deals where we thought the Dems were OK with it and at the last minute they started moving the goalposts ... And so I think at this point, it may be that the House tries to do something with that but I don't have a good answer in terms of the path forward at the moment."

original post Sep 25, 2016:
Feature • BIG Winners of the Week ICANN and TRUMP:

•  ICANN got what it wanted: Spending bill doesn't include Cruz internet fight | TheHill.com.


For ICANN that means there are only 5 working days left before the IANA transition is complete, effective October 1, 2016. I predicted last week that stopping the IANA transition was unlikely, and unless Democrats re-open negotiations in these final days and trade it away, it looks like a done deal.

For TRUMP that means he got a major endorsement and campaign boost on the eve of the first Presidential debate scheduled for Monday, September 26, 9:00-10:30 PM EDT, at Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY. As reported elsewhere, the Trump-Clinton debate is expected to shatter records--the first debate between President Obama and Governor Romney saw TV viewership of 67 million, and the first 2008 debate between then-candidate Obama and Senator McCain pulled in 52.4 million viewers--Monday night's debate is expected to bring in 100 million viewers (Super Bowl 50 had 112 million TV viewers). The debate has the potential to shape not just political opinions but even investor psychology.

Most political observers agree that in this first debate, Hillary has the most to lose while upstart Trump has the most  to gain: Nervous Democrats Fret About Clinton’s Stumbles as Race Tightens | Bloomberg.com"Hillary's been her own worst enemy ... People think she's dishonest."  The debate will be six time segments of about 15 minutes each on topics selected by the moderator Lester Holt: America's Direction; Achieving Prosperity; and Securing America. The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. Candidates will then have an opportunity to respond to each other. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a deeper discussion of the topic.

This debate may also set a record for internet viewership. Watch free online via Twitter.com, Facebook.com, Bloomberg.com or abcnews.go.com/Live. See also Trump shatters GOP records with small donors| POLITICO.com: Inside the GOP, Trump is being called the Republican Obama. Trump has been actively soliciting cash for only a few months, but his campaign’s financials show he has already crushed the total haul from small-dollar donors to the past two Republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney, during the "entirety of their campaigns" and not only does 20 percent of the money go to the RNC but the RNC will end 2016 with access to a far larger email and donor file than ever before in its history.

And BTW: Be skeptical of the pollsters (remember how most Brexit polls were wrong)--We Gave Four Good Pollsters the Same Raw Data. They Had Four Different Results | NYTimes.com"...in truth, the “margin of sampling error” – basically, the chance that polling different people would have produced a different result – doesn't even come close to capturing the potential for error in surveys. Polling results rely as much on the judgments [biases] of pollsters as on the science of survey methodology. Two good pollsters, both looking at the same underlying data, could come up with two very different resultsHow soBecause pollsters make a series of decisions when designing their survey, from determining likely voters to adjusting their respondents to match the demographics of the electorate. These decisions are hard. They usually take place behind the scenes, and they can make a huge difference ..."  Exactly, which is another reason these ICANN surveys are also a joke (and that's putting it nicely) as I wrote last week. For a good drill down on ICANN's latest survey and its questionable results, read this DomainIncite.com post.

Other ICANN, Internet Governance, and Domain Name News:

•  If You Build A Censorship Machine, They Will Come | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org"Power, once again, creates temptation. This year, MPAA made agreements with two domain name registriesDonuts and Radix, which control new top-level internet domains such as .movie, .online, and .site. Both registries agreed to receive accusations from MPAA that particular websites are engaged in copyright infringement, and to consider taking away those websites’ domain names. MPAA, along with other representatives of major entertainment companies, has also been pushing ICANN, the group that oversees the domain name system, to mandate this new copyright enforcement regime worldwide. There are many problems with this initiative, which we’ll be exploring in the coming weeks. But one lesson that MPAA should have learned this year is that once one special interest obtains power to block the channels of communication, others will come knocking."  Note: EFF is referring to the same arrangement which incompetent ICANN leadership, including its inept former President & CEO Fadi ChehadĂ©, have encouraged--see this tweet dated February 9, 2016, which is actually from ChehadĂ©, not current CEO Marby. Maybe Ted Cruz is right after all. 

•  Cops are raiding the homes of innocent people based only on IP addresses | Fusion.net: "IP addresses can be incredibly useful for a police investigation, but they can also lead cops astray. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wants police officers and judges to be more careful in how they use IP addresses, thinking of them as helpful clues rather than a smoking gun. “Police too often take IP address information to mean that a person associated with an address is the party who committed a crime,” write EFF lawyer Aaron Mackey, technologist Seth Schoen, and Executive Director Cindy Cohn in a white paper aimed at courts and cops." Read the EFF article and white paper to find out how sloppy law enforcement combined with judicial and prosecutorial ignorance can lead to disastrous results.

•  Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) .COM Registry Agreement extended by ICANN to November 30, 2024. See UPDATE at Comment to ICANN on Proposed Amendment to .COM Registry Agreement.

•  .WEB UPDATE: 9 September 2016 Letter from Scott Hemphill (Afilias) to Akram Atallah (ICANN) (pdf), which was not published by ICANN until 20 September 2016, reads like a preparatory "notice to sue" letter from .WEB applicant Afilias VP & General Counsel, Scott Hemphill, to ICANN's Global Domains Division (GDD) President, Akram Atallah. BIG difference from the first Afilias letter of August 8, is the additional cc: to Arif Hyder Ali, Dechert LLP, indicating Afilias has now retained outside counsel. As I noted in Domain Mondo's News Review [21Aug]: 
"Of the 18 Independent Review Process (IRP) proceedings brought to date to hold ICANN accountable for its actions, only three claimants have succeeded: ICM Registry (.XXX), DCA Trust (.AFRICA), and Dot Registry (.LLC, .INC and .LLP). All three were represented by Dechert LLP (dechert.com) lawyers." 
It would not surprise me if this latest Afilias letter was in fact prepared by Dechert LLP. However, what is completely lacking in the allegations of Afilias, as well as the claims of Ruby Glen LLC (see below), is that the "the specific terms of the agreement between Verisign and NDC [Nu Dot Co LLC] have not been disclosed" which Afilias concedes in its latest letter. The agreement between Verisign and NDC is proprietary information which, without a subpoena or Court order, may never be voluntarily disclosed but may be a completely proper arrangement as I discussed here. ICANN GDD President Akram Atallah, a crony of former ICANN CEO Fadi ChehadĂ©, has not answered nor responded to either the Afilias letter of August 8, nor the letter of September 9, so any conclusions thus far are purely speculative. For example, the fact that .WEB winning bidder Nu Dot Co LLC has not yet written (as far as we know) a demand letter to ICANN, while Afilias has now written a second letter after its first letter went unanswered, could indicate Afilias senses it has lost or is about to lose "the battle" for .WEB within ICANN, or it may merely reflect Dechert LLP's desire to revise and expand the earlier letter from Afilias. For more see Afilias Challenges New gTLD WEB Auction Results in Letter to ICANN.

• ICANN Litigation UPDATE: 1) ICANN response to Ruby Glen LLC's Amended Complaint now due by Wednesday, October 26. Ruby Glen LLC, an affiliate of Donuts, is another losing bidder for .WEB (see Afilias above); 2) Appellants' Petition for Rehearing En Banc and Appellants’ Petition for Panel Rehearing DENIED by Court of Appeals in Weinstein vs Iran. For more: ICANN Litigation, Cooperative Engagement, and IRP Status Update.

•  Dot Registry UPDATE (new gTLDs .INC, .LLC, .LLP): Approved Board Resolution | September 15, 2016, Meeting of the ICANN Board"Resolved (2016.09.15.15), the Board directs the Board Governance Committee to re-evaluate Dot Registry's Reconsideration Requests 14-30, 14-32 and 14-33 in light of the Panel majority's Final Declaration in the Dot Registry IRP and the issues it identified with respect to the BGC's actions in evaluating these Reconsideration Requests."

•  Internet Sovereignty? South Korea has no formalized stance amid the changing internet world order says BusinessKorea.co.kr"China and India support the idea of a private multilateral organization managing the Internet, while they insist that the Internet order needs the government-led management at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) level."

•  Why the silencing of KrebsOnSecurity.com opens a troubling chapter for the ‘Net | ArsTechnica.com: "“Free speech in the age of the Internet is not really free,” journalist warns ... The growing supply of IoT malware is creating a tipping point in the denial-of-service domain that's giving relatively unsophisticated actors capabilities that were once reserved only for the most elite of attackers ... that, in turn, represents a threat to the Internet as we know it. "The biggest threats as far as I'm concerned in terms of censorship come from these ginormous weapons these guys are building," Krebs said. "The idea that tools that used to be exclusively in the hands of nation states are now in the hands of individual actors ...""

•  Welcome to the Dark Net, a Wilderness Where Invisible World Wars Are Fought and Hackers Roam Free| VanityFair.com: Master hacker turned security expert, William Langewiesche chronicles the rise of the Dark Netwhere weapons, drugs, and information are bought, sold, and hacked—and learns how high the stakes have really become.

•  Who's Trying to Take Down the Internet? "Over the past year or two, someone has been probing the defenses of the companies that run critical pieces of the Internet ... precisely calibrated attacks designed to determine exactly how well these companies can defend themselves, and what would be required to take them down. We don't know who is doing this, but it feels like a large a large nation state. China or Russia would be my first guesses ..."--Bruce Schneier, Schneier.com

No comments close this coming week at ICANN.

•  ICANN Quarterly Stakeholder Report | ICANN.org:  ICANN has announced its FY17 Q1 Stakeholder Call will take place on 18 October at 0300 UTC / 17 October 2000 PST. The call will focus on how ICANN has implemented community policy for the Quarter ending 30 September 2016 as well as provide an APAC update. To register for the call and to receive joining instructions, go the link above.


Tech News:
  1. New Rules For Raising Venture Capital | Forbes.com.
  2. Twitter (NYSE: TWTR | twitter.com) in play?--CNBC.com
  3. Amazon Says It Puts Customers First. But Its Pricing Algorithm Doesn’t. | ProPublica.org: Amazon's "algorithm is hiding the best deal from many customers."
  4. T-Mobile.com is not only the fastest 4G LTE network in the U.S. according to OpenSignal, Ookla and the FCC, the Uncarrier is getting 5G speeds of 12 gigabits per second or more than three times as fast as the Verizon 5G trials last February.
  5. October 4th, 9 am PDT: Google hardware event showcasing new Pixel smartphone streamed LIVE via YouTube. Meanwhile its holding company Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), is sucking away Google's profits--see SeekingAlpha.com"what they are spending money on isn’t successful"--and ABC.xyz may have Indonesia tax problems--Reuters.com.
  6. Comcast mobile phone service (MVNO via Verizon) to launch in 2017, with a Wi-Fi hotspots service similar to Google Fi (fi.google.com)--WSJ.com.
  7. Rents too expensive for your tech start-up? The solution, whether in London, New York, San Francisco, or elsewhere, may be "co-working spaces" says CNBC.com.
  8. Most popular color on the internet? Blue--WIRED.com

Macro view:
  1. The Fed punked out yet again: Divided Fed Holds Fire, Signals 2016 Rate Increase Still Likely | Bloomberg.comMaybe AFTER the election, but it may be too late anyway, the Fed once again mismanaged monetary policy and interest rates, keeping rates too low for far too long (8 years of ZIRP), and now apparently is trapped.
  2. Lower Your Expectations: The John Bogle Expected Return Formula: "Future Market Returns = Dividend Yield + Earnings Growth +/- Change in P/E Ratio"--this formula currently gives him an estimate of stock market returns in the 4-6% range, well below the long-term average that falls in the 8-10% range.--aWealthOfCommonSense.com
  3. China Containerized Freight Index remains near record low--Why Hanjin’s Zombie Collapse Won’t Be the Last One | WolfStreet.com.
  4. U.S. Services Industries Expand at Weakest Pace in Six Years"The figure is lower than the most pessimistic projection in a Bloomberg survey" --the U.S. Might Not Dodge a Recession says Deutsche Bank:  "... there's a 30 percent probability that the U.S. will succumb to a recession over the next 12 months. That compares pessimistically with the 20 percent that is the average expectations of analysts surveyed"--Bloomberg.com.

Four most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this week on DomainMondo.com:
  1. News Review [18 Sep]: After Cruz Attack, What Now For ICANN & IANA Transition?
  2. Women Techmakers Mountain View Summit 2016 (video)
  3. Smartphone Industry Disrupted by BLU: Life One X2 First Look (video)
  4. Smartphone Apps Are Now 50% of All US Digital Media Time Spent

4 Other Reading Recommendations:
  1. 3 Lessons From Warren Buffett's Bet Against Hedge Funds that, for the ensuing decade, the S&P 500 would outdo a pool of five hedge fund of funds: 1) costs matter; 2) time periods matter; and 3) taxes matter.--Morningstar.com
  2.  How the EU's Leaders Should Think About Brexit | Bloomberg.com Editorial"... In the long term, crippling London's ability to provide services to the EU in order to encourage the growth of new financial centers in Europe would be a gamble; in the short term, like any other kind of import barrier, it would harm the European businesses and consumers that buy those services. EU leaders should ask themselves: If barriers like that make sense, what was the point of the single market in the first place?"
  3. Giant problemThe entrenchment of a group of superstar companies at the heart of the global economy ... they have two big faults. They are squashing competition, and they are using the darker arts of management to stay ahead. Neither is easy to solve. But failing to do so risks a backlash which will be bad for everyone."--Economist.com
  4. "Happiness may not be about how much overall wealth you have, but how much cash you have on hand."--The More Cash People Have, the Happier They Are | WSJ.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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2016-09-15

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz vs ICANN and IANA Transition: Veni, Vidi, Vici?

Sen. Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing, Sept 14:

Video above: US Senator Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016 (transcript further below). See also on Domain MondoIANA Transition Hearing: Implications of Ending US Oversight of the Internet for the witnesses' (prepared) testimony, and the full hearing video replay link.

Say what you will, it was Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz's hearing from beginning to end. He came prepared with charts, even warning NTIA employees, including NTIA's Larry Strickling, that violating the Federal Antideficiency Act could end their careers and incur prison sentences of up to 2 years. At times, it even seemed as if ICANN's former President and CEO Fadi Chehade was on trial in absentia (see photos below).

While it may have been entertaining D.C. drama for some, what effect, if any, it will have on the IANA stewardship transition (scheduled to be complete October 1), is yet to be seen. TheHill.com reports it is not clear just how much support there is for Cruz’s position among Republicans though Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) was quoted as saying:
"We’re working trying to coordinate with Cruz and others who have concerns about the [IANA] transition ... I think that right now we all want that on September 30 that transition does not occur because we don’t think it’s ready yet. He may have a different endgame than we do, but right now our objective is the same."
Photos from Cruz Senate Subcommittee Hearing Sept 14, 2016 | DomainMondo.com
U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016
Transcript of US Senator Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016 via YouTube.com:

0:00  the internet is one of the most revolutionary forces ever unleashed on
0:05  the world this transformational technology has changed how we learn how
0:10  we communicate how we do commerce how we live our lives people even meet and get
0:17  married through the internet and of course the internet didn't invent itself
0:23  it wasn't invented by any politicians it was invented by the incredible ingenuity
0:30  of the American people with the financial support of american taxpayers
0:35  in the spirit of freedom and generosity that is the essence of our great nation
0:41  the American people didn't try to keep the internet just for themselves but
0:45  made it available for the benefit of all humanity since the internets inception
0:51  the United States government has stood guard over critical internet functions
0:56  in almost any other country that power could have been used to deny internet
1:01  access to websites that were deemed politically undesirable or unpopular on
1:07  or threatening or simply disfavored by the powers that be but not here not in
1:15  the United States because of the first amendment to our Constitution which
1:19  affords more protection for speech than anywhere else in the world the United
1:24  States government as long as it has authority to oversee the infrastructure
1:30  of the internet has a duty to ensure that no website is denied internet
1:35  access on account of the ideas that espouses under the guardianship of the
1:41  United States and the First Amendment the Internet has become truly an oasis
1:45  of freedom but that could soon change in 16 days without seeking the consent of
1:53  the American people without seeking the consent of Congress the Obama
1:58  administration is stated that it intends to relinquish the government its
2:01  historic guardianship and give it instead to an international body known
2:07  as ICANN
2:07  now what is ICANN
2:10  it is not a democratic body it is a corporation with Byzantine governing
2:16  structure designed to blur the lines of accountability that is run by global
2:21  bureaucrats who are supposedly accountable to the technocrats to
2:26  multinational corporations to governments including some of the most
2:30  oppressive regimes in the world like China Iran and Russia sadly ICANN
2:38  officials have already begun showing extraordinary affinity for China the
2:42  world's worst abusers of Internet freedom
2:45  according to Freedom House and 2015 numerous I can gathering to feature
2:50  Chinese officials responsible for Chinese government censorship and
2:54  propaganda ICANN's recently departed president/ceo Fadi Chehade who shepherded
3:04  the transition plan through the Obama administration made China a central focus
3:10  within ICANN and the future of that organization Mr. Chehade is on record
3:16  saying that quote  ...  "engagement with China is not an option
3:21  if we do not engage with China at every level of our community we frankly lose a
3:27  part of our global legitimacy." It is striking that an organization we are
3:34  being told we should trust with control of the internet believes that legitimacy
3:39  depends upon engaging in a regime that is the world's leading censor on the
3:44  internet silencing speech on the internet and that imprisons democracy
3:50  and human rights advocate and nobel laureate ... not surprisingly Mr.
3:59  Chehade left ICANN after the transition plan was approved to lead a high-level
4:03  working group for wait for it
4:07  China's World Internet Conference
4:11  a conference that was rightly criticized for refusing to let New York Times and
4:16  Washington Post reporters cover it as a result Reporters Without Borders
4:22  demanded a boycott calling China an enemy of the internet and yet we are
4:28  being asked to trust an organization without having our government have the
4:34  authority to protect free speech to trust an organization whose former
4:38  leader who shepherded this plan has gone to associate himself with and stand with
4:44  those who are in the words of reporters without borders the enemy of the
4:49  internet once the government's out of the picture
4:56  First Amendment protections go away the first amendment by its term binds the
5:02  government doesn't bind private individuals that means when I can
5:06  escapes from government authority ICANN can escape from having to worry about
5:11  the First Amendment having to worry about protecting your rights or my
5:14  rights
5:15  imagine an Internet run like one of our large private universities today with
5:25  speech codes and safe zones an internet that determine some terms are too scary
5:33  microaggressions are two troubling we will not allow them to be spoken on the
5:37  Internet
5:37  imagine an Internet run like far too many European countries that punish
5:45  so-called hate speech a notoriously malleable concept that has often
5:52  been used to suppress views disfavored by those in power are imagine an
5:58  Internet run by like many Middle Eastern countries that punish what they deem to
6:05  be blasphemy
6:07  imagine an Internet run like China or Russia that punish and incarcerate those
6:15  who engage in political dissent. Now some will say none of that parade of horrible
6:22  will happen there's nothing to fear here in handing control of the internet to
6:27  this international group of stakeholders this mini-UN well that's what this
6:34  hearing is here to determine--is there something to fear--and i will point out a
6:45  question I think a lot of Americans are asking is: why risk it?
6:50  the internet right now works it's not broken
6:54  what is the problem that is trying to be solved here that's what this hearing is
7:02  about ...

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