News Review | ICANN65 June 24-27: EPDP, AMAZON & ICANN

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-23) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN65, Marrakech, Morocco, June 24-27: EPDP, .AMAZON & ICANN, 2) Other ICANN news: New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation Update, 3) a. Voice.com Record Sale Price, b. Website Security & Malware, 4) ICYMI: The Internet Is Changing Africa, 5) Most Read.
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1) ICANN65, Marrakech, Morocco, June 24-27

Date & Time (24-hour clock) in Marrakech:

The ICANN Policy Forum is the second meeting in ICANN's three-meeting annual cycle, duration is four (4) days, and format is focused on SO/AC/SG/C policy work and outreach, and therefore: • no welcome ceremony; • no public forum(s); • no public board meeting.

ICANN65 Schedule (all times local Marrakech), *Schedule Highlights below:

*GAC: New gTLDs Subsequent Procedures Discussion 15:15 - 16:15, Mon, Jun 24 [10:15am EDT in U.S.] "Assess progress of PDP WG deliberations on issues of importance to the GAC. Discuss formation and operation of the GAC Focal Group on Subsequent Rounds of gTLDs."

*GNSO-EPDP Phase 2 Meeting (1 of 2)  8:30 - 15:00, Tue, Jun 25 --Notes & Action Items

*GNSO-EPDP Phase 2 Meeting (2 of 2)  8:30 - 15:00, Thu, Jun 27 --Notes & Action Items

EPDP background: CPH comments on Purposes (pdf), SO/AC/SG/C early input, and last week's News Review 2)b. Links to the EPDP meetings' recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP Links: wiki, public mail list, legal memos & mail list, GNSO mail list, worksheets, definitions. Jun 20 meeting notes / action items.

*GAC: DNS Abuse Mitigation and dot Amazon Discussions 8:30 - 10:15, Tue, Jun 25

Editor's note: read Amazon wins ‘.amazon’ domain name, aggravating South American region and undermining digital commons | theconversation.com, excerpt:

"... At its inception, the internet was a great equaliser. It meant large and small businesses could compete with one another on a level playing field. ICANN has been entrusted with administering the internet and protecting it. That means protecting its broader purpose in society. ICANN appears to have forgotten that part of its role. It now charges costs USD$185,000 for a top-level domain name like “.amazon”. It’s not surprising that a company whose 2018 profits were reportedly USD$11.2 billion – for which it paid no federal taxes – was able to purchase the domain before an indigenous community in Brazil. The implications for the future of the internet are troubling. What was a global commons may become an exclusive field where those who have the most can acquire more. Those who have the least meanwhile lose even the right to use the name of their homeland." (emphasis added) [See also the author's letter to ICANN Board (pdf)]

The .AMAZON issues illustrate how ill-conceived and corrupt the entire .BRAND new gTLDs program is--a "brand" a/k/a "trademark" is neither a monopoly nor generic, and therefore all ".BRAND gTLDs" fail as "generic top-level domains" (gTLDs), see RFC 1591. The .BRAND new gTLDs program was a way for incompetent, corrupt, unfit ICANN, and some of its contracted parties, i.e., registry service providers, to make money by extorting trademark holders--"apply for a .BRAND new gTLD or ICANN may sell your .BRAND (trademark) gTLD to someone else"-- e.g., see .PING testimony. Most .BRAND gTLDs are primarily a costly expense in trademark defense (instead, ICANN should have given trademark holders a right to block any gTLD application that infringes a legitimate distinctive trademark, and governmental authorities the right to block any gTLD application that is for a recognized or protected geographic term under applicable law). Unsurprisingly, many .BRAND gTLDs have been abandoned and returned to ICANN, while .BRANDs like .GOOGLE (and .AMAZON), in effect, contribute to the splintering of the internet into a few monopolistic platforms, smothering all competitors, undermining the digital commons and the core internet principle that all TLDs are "global public resources"--see U.S. amicus brief in the Weinstein case.

"... ICANN is a corrupt racketeering organization. It's a crime syndicate that advances interests of a few insiders at the expense of the masses and the general good. They have abused their power and their role ..."

The GAC-ICANN Board discussion re: .AMAZON (1:07:50-1:55:00) Wednesday morning via Livestream below:

*Evolving the Effectiveness of ICANN's Multistakeholder Model  17:00 - 18:30, Tue, Jun 25  (Livestream video below)

*Impacts of EPDP Phase 1 Recommendations on Other ICANN Policies and Procedures 15:15 - 16:45, Thu, Jun 27, 2019 (10:15am EDT) slide deck, Livestrean video below:

ICANN Meeting & Media Resources:

• Remote Participation

• Remote Participation details for all the GNSO Open and Public Meetings at ICANN65

• ICANN pre- and post-meeting reports | ICANN.org

• GNSO Policy Briefing

• Nissaba.net ICANN65 Pre-meeting Report

• ICANN Org draft memo re: 'Assumptions' --Future Rounds of New gTLDs (pdf) /email.

  Conflict of interest when your employee is in charge getting the next round of #newgtlds launched ASAP? Most would think so. But not in #ICANN world https://t.co/Sh2RPYUrfx

  — thereforeICANN (@thereforeICANN) June 21, 2019

• ICANN65 Prep Week Materials

• Twitter:  @sgdickinson  #ICANN65  @ICANN

• ICANN Meeting Sessions on Livestream.com

• ICANNnews | YouTube.com

• "A simple way to focus your attention is to listen with the intention of summarizing the other person’s point of view. This stops you from using your mental energy to work out your reply, and helps store the other’s words in your memory as well as identify any gaps in your understanding so you can ask questions to clarify."--fs.blog.

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2) Other ICANN News

New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation Update: 

DotConnectAfrica Trust, a Mauritius Charitable Trust, Plaintiff, v. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California Corporation; ZA Central Registry, a South African non-profit company; and DOES 1-50, inclusive; Defendants:

May 21, 2019: "On the Court's own motion, the Trial Setting Conference scheduled for 05/21/2019, and NonJury Trial On Phase I (Estoppel) scheduled for 05/21/2019 are continued to 07/11/19  [July 11, 2019] at 10:00 AM in Department 53 at Stanley Mosk Courthouse ..."
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3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Website Security & Malware

a. Largest publicly reported all cash domain name sale in history revealed June 18, 2019, the $30 million sale of Voice.com, more than double the previous record of $13 million paid for Sex.com in 2010.

b. Website Security & Malware: More Than 150,000 Small-Business Websites in the U.S. could be infected with malware at any given moment--in one case, security firm SiteLock (sitelock.com) discovered the hackers had exploited a security hole in a Wordpress plugin--see A Cybersecurity Checklist for the Modern Small Business.  Also: FBI warns users to be wary of phishing sites abusing HTTPS.
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4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

The Internet Is Changing Africa: cheap smartphones are flooding Africa, bringing internet access to many for the very first time, but there are problems: gambling, particularly sports betting in Africa's more developed nations, with about 60 million Nigerians aged between 18 and 40 betting daily.  China is investing in infrastructure, but with that comes Huawei equipment, e.g., China built the African Union building in Ethiopia, including installation of tapped networking equipment [the building was built in 2012 by the Chinese, the African Union's IT staff later discovered that the entire content of its servers was being transferred to China.]

WeChat Is Watching: WeChat's data centralization has inextricably linked it to all aspects of daily life in China and made it a cornerstone of the government's social-credit system.
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5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

#1 News Review 1) Cyber Sovereignty Rising, 2) ICANN Fatally Flawed

#2 Greycroft's Alan Patricof on Big Tech & Antitrust Concerns (video)

#3 How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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News Review 1) Cyber Sovereignty Rising, 2) ICANN Fatally Flawed

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-16) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Cyber Sovereignty Rising, China's Vision of Internet Sovereignty Spreading, 2) ICANN Fatally Flawed? a.Afilias v. ICANN .WEB IRP Update, b. EPDP Meeting June 20 UPDATE,  3) a.Trademarkia v. LegalZoom, b. CJEU on Geograpnic Terms, c. Kaddish.com, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read.

1) Cyber Sovereignty Rising, China's Vision of Internet Sovereignty Spreading

China is offering a new version of the internet. This new vision combines sweeping content curbs with uncompromising data controls. It’s called Cyber Sovereignty and it’s already spreading to other countries around the world. Bloomberg.com video above published June 10, 2019.

Two Slides from Mary Meeker's 2019 Internet Trends Report:

Global Internet Users 3.8B (51% of world population), Growth Slowing: +6% vs. +7% Y/Y. Future growth in internet users will largely come from Asia Pacific, Africa & Middle East.

See also:

• Google’s Chrome Browser Becomes Web ‘Gatekeeper’--Google has far-reaching control over how the web works, and who gets to create new ways of accessing it--bloomberg.com.
• $20 Phones Could Bring a Billion People Online: about half of humanity doesn’t have internet access, and a lot of those people are in Africa. Enter a $20 device with smartphone brains and a five-day battery.
• Taiwan's digital minister on combating disinformation without censorship--cpj.org.
• Telegram says it faced a massive DDoS attack originating from China coinciding with protests in Hong Kong, where organizers used the app to evade surveillance.

2) ICANN News: ICANN Fatally Flawed?

ICANN Articles of Incorporation: "... The Corporation shall operate in a manner consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and international conventions and applicable local law and through open and transparent processes that enable competition ..."

ICANN Bylaws: "ICANN shall not apply its standards, policies, procedures, or practices inequitably or single out any particular party for disparate treatment unless justified by substantial and reasonable cause, such as the promotion of effective competition."

"ICANN was created through an express transfer of powers and authority from the United States

government. While this express transfer included the powers and authority necessary to oversee

the secure and stable operation of the Internet’s DNS, the transfer did not include the power,

authority, or expertise to act as a competition regulator by challenging or policing transactions

and conduct that could be deemed anticompetitive."--ICANN Board Member and Neustar former employee, Becky Burr, infra, at p. 10, May 31, 2019, in Afilias v. ICANN IRP (emphasis added).

Editor's note: if Becky Burr (a/k/a J. Beckwith Burr) is right, the competition provisions in ICANN's articles and bylaws (see above) are essentially meaningless, and ICANN is fatally flawed and should therefore be replaced by the global internet community forthwith, remembering the competition advice that was given to ICANN (via NTIA) by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division in 2008, but which ICANN disregarded in favor of its own ill-conceived and corrupt new gTLDs program full of anti-competitive provisions.

"Let’s face it, the Internet is a utility and so are the corporations who control it ... Technology needs to be regulated."--Alan Patricof, longtime innovator and venture capitalist, April 30, 2019. 

a. .WEB IRP Update: Dueling ICANN Board Members & Dueling Expert Witnesses

Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited, Claimant, v. ICANN, Respondent, Independent Review Process  (IRP), 31 May 2019 filing by ICANN:

ICANN's Response to Claimant's Amended Request for IRP, excerpt, p.25:

 Exhibits to ICANN's Response below (basis for redactions):

• Exhibits R-1 to R-16; Claimant's Exhibits cited in ICANN's Response; Legal Authorities R-LA-1 to R-LA-3

• Witness Statement of Christine Willett (ICANN GDD VP, gTLD Operations)

• Exhibits A to H

• Witness Statement of J. Beckwith Burr (ICANN Board Member, formerly employed by Neustar) a/k/a Becky Burr [Burr basically counters the statement previously filed by Afilias of former ICANN Board Member George Sadowsky];

Burr statement excerpt (p. 12): "No policy, precedent, or authority permits ICANN, based on competition concerns, to block Verisign from acquiring the rights to operate .WEB or to second-guess the judgment of the DOJ – the ultimate competition regulator in the United States – in determining not to act following its own expert and thorough investigation."

• Exhibits A to B

• Expert Report of Dennis W. Carlton (ICANN's Expert Witness) who counters the Expert Report previously filed by Afilias of Jonathan Zittrain;

Carlton report excerpts (pp.9-12): "Applicants have collectively spent several hundred million dollars to become the operators of these new gTLDs. From 2013 to 2017, applicants spent a total of $294.6 million in new gTLD application fees, paid another $240.6 million for winning public auctions (including the .WEB auction), and expended many millions more in privately resolved contention sets. While I understand that ICANN does not have precise information about the sums spent in private resolutions, existing information suggests that the number is substantial. For example, one publicly-traded registry operator has disclosed that it has received over $50 million from losing private auctions."(pp.9-10) .... there exists evidence suggesting that an Afilias-operated .WEB is not likely to cause Verisign to reduce its already relatively-low .COM price below the regulated level." (p.12)

• Appendices A to B

See also on DomainMondo.com

• News Review | Afilias vs ICANN, IRP UPDATE re: new gTLD .WEB (May 19, 2019)

• UPDATE Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited v. ICANN re: new gTLD .WEB (Feb 28, 2019)

• News Review | Verisign $VRSN & New gTLD .WEB, Afilias vs ICANN (Dec 9, 2018)

b. ICANN EPDP Phase 2

Next EPDP Meeting June 20 (agenda / docs), 14:00 UTC (10am EDT), June 13th notes and action items. June 20th meeting observers' info re: audiocast / phone. Links to the EPDP meetings' recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar.  Other EPDP Links: wiki, mail list, GNSO mail list, worksheets, definitions. CPH comments on Purposes here (pdf).

UPDATE EPDP Meeting #7 20 June 2019: Chat transcript; Audio Recording; Zoom Recording. Does EPDP Phase 2 need a course correction? See excerpt below from Zoom June 20 transcript:

See also ICANN CEO June 18, 2019, Letter (pdf) re: "Planned ICANN org Communications to European Data Protection Board Regarding the Expedited Policy Development Process."

June 13th EPDP chat transcript (pdf) also gives the gist of what's going on:

From the EPDP public mail list:
"... I wanted to offer a thought that I hope will not be received as negative. A lot of the work that our group is doing cannot only be characterized as the community’s policy work, but it is in fact ICANN’s (org) compliance. Looking at the cost of becoming compliant, the easiest way to save money is to use synergies. We have asked in the past whether ICANN has written a record of processing activities, carried out DPIAs, asked for legal advice on related aspects etc. To my knowledge, we have not been provided with any such documentation. To be clear, it would be extremely helpful for our group to be able to review existing documents. Even though if our group might hold different views on certain questions, any existing work products would expedite our work. Maybe there are documents in the making, in which case we could build our workplan around potential delivery dates to be able to benefit from such work products. If there is actually no documentation already, it would be good to get clarity around that, too, and we could try to work so that duplicate efforts of the org and our group can be avoided, i.e. so that the org can benefit best from the legal advice we are seeking. Either way, when looking at where the money shall come from, I think it would be fair not to consider expenditures as the community’s policy making only, but as part of ICANN’s overall compliance activities. I hope this helps."--Thomas Rickert (ISPCP) (emphasis added).

UPDATE: Response from ICANN Org.

What's ahead? EPDP meetings will be at ICANN65 in Marrakech, Morocco, June 25 and June 27.

Also note:

• EPDP subgroup meeting on potential OCTO [ICANN Office of Chief Technology Officer] Purpose Feasibility of unique contacts to have a uniform anonymized email address, is scheduled on Monday, 17 June at 13:00 UTC for 90 minutes. 
• EPDP Team input in response to GNSO Council's request re ICANN Board not approving two Phase 1 recommendations.  
• 12 June 2019 Letter from GNSO Chair Keith Drazek to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby  re:  Resource Support for Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Phase 2.

Related:

• Privacy Fix: Search and Destroy Old Email Accounts--an unused email address can be a backdoor to your entire digital life--consumerreports.org.
• Afnic enhances and simplifies the handling of identity theft complaints--since 2017, Afnic has registered 102 complaints for identity theft by individuals when registering a domain name under the .fr ccTLD.--afnic.fr.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Trademarkia's trademark infringement complaint against LegalZoom: LegalForce Inc., d/b/a Trademarkia.com, alleges LegalZoom bought the domain name LegalZoomTrademarkia.com in 2012 and from 2014 to 2018 used it to direct people to LegalZoom.com.

b. Use of figurative signs and words that evoke a geographical area which is associated with a protected designation of origin may constitute an unlawful evocation of the latter. This was the CJEU’s conclusion in its judgment of 2 May 2019 concerning a legal dispute about the protected designation of origin for Manchego cheese (C-614/17)--limegreenipnews.com.

c. Kaddish.com: not long after Nathan Englander’s latest novel "kaddish.com" was published in March, someone actually developed the domain name kaddish.com offering mourners the same services as described in Englander’s book, and the author, reportedly thrilled, said, "The concrete joy of dreaming something up and as soon as it goes into the world, seeing someone actualize it, was purely joyous to me.” Turns out that the person behind the website kaddish.com, is a 65-year-old Orthodox lawyer from New Jersey, who said he registered the domain name 22 years ago after his father passed away, but it wasn’t until he read Englander’s “terrific” book, that he decided to develop and launch the website. Read more here.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Cisco Live 2019: Cyberattacks Emerge Against the Internet Itself--threat intel group Talos discovered a Domain Name System attack ("Sea Turtle") that its director calls ‘incredibly concerning.’

"Mark Zuckerberg is a sociopath, and Facebook has institutionalized sociopathy" says NYU's Scott Galloway. See also Facebook is the 'biggest fraud in history' says Aaron Greenspan who studied at Harvard University with Mark Zuckerberg, in an interview with UK MPs over spread of fake news, basing his claims on his theory that Facebook has billions of fake accounts. See also:  Facebook Settles Class Action re: Inflated Video Viewership Metrics--ad agencies'  lawsuit claimed Facebook misstated video metrics by 150-900%.

The Clock runs down for passage of any (U.S.) federal privacy legislation this year--axios.com.

What Is a DNS Leak? A DNS Leak can compromise your online privacy and security. How to Check, Test & Fix? See this comprehensive guide which explains what DNS leaks are, what causes them, and how to prevent or fix them. Also: ipleak.net.
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5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

#1 News Review | Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet?

#2 Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report & Highlights

#3 CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz on the $CRWD IPO 12 Jun 2019

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz on the $CRWD IPO 12 Jun 2019

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz on the company's IPO

George Kurtz, co-founder and CEO of CrowdStrike, discusses the cybersecurity company's IPO on the Nasdaq with CNBC's "Squawk Alley" team, June 12, 2019.

CrowdStrike, Inc. is a U.S.-based cybersecurity technology company, with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, and a wholly owned subsidiary of CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. The company provides endpoint security, threat intelligence, and incident response services to customers in more than 170 countries. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform protects customers against cyberattacks on endpoints on or off the network by offering visibility and protection across the enterprise.

• Domain: crowdstrike.com
• Founded: 2011
• Parent organization: CrowdStrike
• CTO: Dmitri Alperovitch
• Founders: George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, Gregg Marston

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD), announced June 11, 2019, the pricing of its initial public offering of 18,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a price to the public of $34.00 per share. CrowdStrike granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 2,700,000 additional shares of Class A common stock at the initial public offering price less underwriting discounts and commissions. The shares began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, June 12, 2019, under the symbol "CRWD."  The offering is expected to close on June 14, 2019, subject to customary closing conditions.

$CRWD June 12, 2019

Tweets by CrowdStrike

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Launch of the Report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation

Launch of the Report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation

Read the report at: https://www.un.org/en/pdfs/DigitalCooperation-report-for%20web.pdf

LIVE Event June 10, 2019:

Monday, June 10, 2019, 10:45 - 11:30 am EDT, New York City, NY (US).

"The High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation was established by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to advance a dialogue on strengthening international cooperation in the digital age."

The High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation will launch its final report on Monday 10 June 2019. To mark the occasion, join a live conversation on digital cooperation with:

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres
• Melinda Gates
• Jack Ma

Moderated by international broadcast journalist, Femi Oke.

The LIVE webcast will begin at 10:45am EST and will be streaming on multiple channels, including:

• UN Web TV website: http://webtv.un.org

• YouTube: http://youtube.com/unitednations

• Facebook: http://facebook.com/UNWebTV

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/UNWebTV

"This global online event is an opportunity to discuss how the public sector, private sector and civil society can work together to realize the potential of digital technologies for advancing human well-being, while mitigating the risks. Communities, organizations and individuals working on issues ranging from digital inclusion, digital rights & security, governance and more are encouraged to tune in and join the online conversation during the broadcast." 

More information here. | #digitalcooperation  | email: digitalcooperation @ unops.org

Later Event: June 11: The Age of Digital Interdependence: The Launch of the Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation
Tweets by UNSGdigicoop

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News Review | ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-02) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions,  Next EPDP Meeting June 6, 2) a. .AMAZON Update, b. ICANN65 Prep Webinars,  c.ICANN & PTI Tax Returns, d. Public Comments, 3) 351.8 Million Domain Name Registrations?  4) ICYMI: Law Firms' Online Fake Reviews, and more, 5) Most Read.

1) ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions

Next EPDP Meeting Thursday, June 6, at 14:00 UTC (10am EDT), agenda, etc., here; audiocast / phone (if needed) for observers. May 30th meeting notes and action items. Links to the EPDP meetings' recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP Links: wiki, public mail list, GNSO mail list, and worksheets.

EPDP Team members to provide any additional comments on the working definitions draft by COB (close of business) Tuesday, June 4, 2019 (excerpt from the draft):

Some EPDP members have suggested deleting highlighted section above of "request of third parties for access" as inconsistent with GDPR, and in reference to Disclosure, insert "registration" -- "Disclosure refers to provision of non-public registration data to third parties."

Sarah Wyld (RrSG): "Right of Access under GDPR is the data subject's right, not a third party's right .... let's call access what the data subject does when they get their own data, and disclosure is when it's given to a third party" (May 30 meeting chat transcript, emphasis added).

From the EPDP public mail list:

Milton Mueller (NCSG): "I am still having trouble with this:

"The request of third parties for access to full set or subset of non-public gTLD domain name registration data through disclosure policy that is fully compliant with GDPR and developed as a result of the EPDP."

"This definition seems to be straining to get the word "access" into the definition even though the substance of the definition renders the word meaningless. Please do the following experiment. Delete the words "access to full set or subset of" from this definition. This is what you get:

"The request of third parties for non-public gTLD domain name registration data through disclosure policy that is fully compliant with GDPR and developed as a result of the EPDP."

"In other words, the definition works fine without the word access.

"So let's be frank and realistic. We have a solid legal basis for talking about access for data subjects and none for access for third parties. Ergo, there is no reason to include third party requests in the definition of "access" unless we are trying to leverage the definition to lead to a particular policy outcome.

"I respectfully suggest, again, that we stop wasting time trying to impose idiosyncratic and politically motivated definitions on the process, and move straight on to having the policy debate about what kind of disclosure processes and rights third parties are going to get. That, ultimately, is all that matters. The definitional stuff is just spinning our wheels with political spin and positioning." (emphasis added)

Reply from EPDP Chair Janis Karklins: "... we don't need to waste too much time on working
definitions. If after further reflections [EPDP] members will not be able to come to a consensual compromise, I will park the document in the folder - Chair's proposals ..."

UPDATE: Working Definitions draft June 5, 2019 (pdf) The EPDP Team was unable to come to a "consensual compromise" but one of the "action items" from June 6th meeting is "Support Staff to update the working definitions based on input received from the EPDP Team."

2) Other ICANN News

a. .AMAZON: The Presidents of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia have denounced the ICANN Board decision on .AMAZON, a .BRAND new generic top-level domain (.BRAND new gTLD) applied for by Amazon EU S.à.r.l., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., formed primarily to dodge taxes.  Peru’s Martin Vizcarra, Colombia’s Ivan Duque, Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno and Bolivia’s Evo Morales vowed to join forces to protect their countries from what they described as inadequate governance of the internet.

Editor's note: as a follow-up to last week's News Review 2)b. .AMAZON Call To Action, I was advised by ICANN staff on Friday, May 31, 2019, that ICANN is receiving inquiries from several parties regarding the proposed .AMAZON PICs [pdf] (Public Interest Commitments). The .AMAZON PICs have not yet been posted for comment. ICANN is currently working with Amazon.com, Inc., to receive, review and prepare the PICs for publication, which will likely take at least a few more weeks, according to one ICANN staff member, and ICANN expects the PICs to affect all three .AMAZON applications (includes 2 IDNs). Once the PICs are ready for publication, they will be available within each Application's webpage for a 30-day comment period on the new gTLD microsite here:

• Application 1-1315-58086 | AMAZON Application Detail

• Application 1-1318-5591 | xn--jlq480n2rg Application Detail

• Application 1-1318-83995 | xn--cckwcxetd Application Detail

Meanwhile negative comments on the .AMAZON applications continue pouring in at ICANN here.

b. ICANN65 Prep Week Webinars June 11-17

ICANN65 Prep Week webinars June 11-17-- register by June 7, 2019 (more info at the link).
Note: the webinars will run in English; however the Policy Team's Policy Update webinar will run in both English and French. Recordings and materials will be posted here. Materials from Policy Team's Policy Update will also be available in French.

c. ICANN and PTI publish U.S. Tax Returns for Fiscal Year ending 30 June 2018.

d. Open Public Comment Periods Closing in June

 Open Comment Periods closing in June, 2019, at 23:59 UTC on the respective dates below:

• Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model 4 Jun 2019  extended to 13 June 2019;

• Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone Version 3 (RZ-LGR-3) 4 Jun 2019; 

• Study on Technical Use of Root Zone Label Generation Rules 30 Jun 2019.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: .COM & ccTLDs Grow in Q1, gTLDs 'Dying on the Vine'

351.8 Million Domain Name Registrations?  VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), announced (pdf), that the first quarter of 2019 closed with 351.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 3.1 million domain name registrations, or +0.9%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 [see footnotes 1, 2, 3], and total domain name registrations have grown by 18.0 million, or +5.4%, year over year.

Editor's note: the biggest problem with Verisign's report is that it includes domain names in the .TK ccTLD. .TK is a free ccTLD that provides free domain names to individuals and businesses. Revenue is generated by monetizing expired domain names. Domain names no longer in use by the registrant or expired are taken back by the registry and the residual traffic is sold to advertising networks. As such, there are no deleted .TK domain names. At the end of the first quarter of 2019, there were 22.5 million .TK domain names counted in the total numbers published by Verisign, skewing the total for ccTLDs and overall total for all TLDs (top-level domains). The real number of total registrations is therefore likely not more than 330 million, 135 million ccTLDs, and 195 million gTLDs of which 141 million are .COM registrations. Therefore .COM has 72% gTLD marketshare and 43% marketshare among all TLDs (ccTLDs + gTLDs).

• Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names Q1 2019 (graphic opens in new window).
• Excluding .TK, ccTLD domain name registrations increased 1.4 million in the first quarter of 2019, or +1.1%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. ccTLDs, excluding .tk, increased by 7.8 million domain name registrations, or +6.2%, year over year.
• Total domain name registrations in new gTLDs were 23.0 million at the end of the first quarter of 2019, a decrease of 0.8 million domain name registrations, or -3.4%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Year over year, registrations in new gTLDs increased by 2.8 million, or +13.8% (March 2018 - March 2019).
• .COM: as of March 31, 2019, the .COM domain name base totaled 141.0 million domain name registrations, an increase of 2.0 million, or +1.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Year over year, .COM increased registrations by 7.1 million or +5.3%. 
• .NET: as of March 31, 2019, the .NET domain name base totaled 13.8 million domain name registrations, a decrease of  0.2 million, or -1.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Year over year, .NET decreased registrations by 0.6 million or -4.2%. .NET registrations have been declining continuously since 2016.

• Background Data: As of Dec. 31, 2018, the .COM domain name base totaled approximately 139.0 million domain name registrations, while the .NET domain name base totaled approximately 14.0 million domain name registrations. As of Mar. 31, 2018, the .COM domain name base totaled approximately 133.9 million domain name registrations, while the .NET domain name base totaled approximately 14.4 million domain name registrations.

Verisign's first quarter 2019 Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained at Verisign.com/DNIB. Editor's note: compare this Verisign Q1 2019 report with Q1/2019  CENTRstats Global TLD Report (download here; interactive version here), discussed at News Review 2) a. Dying Domains - CENTRstats.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Law Firms' Online Fake Reviews: online reviews have become a critical marketing tool for law firms.  An ABA article advised law firms to be on the lookout for the “serious problem” of fake reviews, noting the New York State Attorney General has gone after companies that provided businesses with fake reviews. The Federal Trade Commission also frowns on deceptive online reviews. Law firms likewise could be liable for fake reviews.

A Tale of Two Internets--Today, there are two predominant flavors of internet on the menu–the U.S. offering dominated by its major tech companies, and the top-down, state-controlled version being spread in earnest by China. In many countries in Africa, communications infrastructure is still being built out, so assistance from Chinese companies is accepted with open arms.

China: President Xi Invites World To Join China In Building New Internet--zerohedge.com.

How the FTC Can Make Facebook Better--Fines Aren’t Enough--eff.org.

EU: Poland has challenged the EU's copyright directive in the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) on grounds it threatens freedom of speech on the internet.

The world will be freer, safer by smashing firewalls of closed societies (opinion)--thehill.com.

Internet Freedom in Central Asia beset by ‘technical’ difficulties. governments in the region routinely censor online speech for short-term political goals. Could Uzbekistan reverse the trend?--tol.org.

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

#1 News Review | Law Firm Conflicts of Interest in ICANN GNSO EPDP

#2 European Election Results LIVE

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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