News Review | Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet?

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-09) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet? 2) ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Meetings, 3) a. IDN Homographs, b. Michael Gleissner, c. Dark Web Domains, 4) ICYMI: a. Data Privacy & Healthcare, b. U.S. v. Assange, c. Internet Freedom? and more, 5) Most Read.

1) Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet?

a. ".... We are witnessing corruption metastasizing at the root of the Internet at a breakneck pace. ICANN's precocity and opacity with alternative revenue sources is nothing short of remarkable. The spirit of cooperation that exists between ICANN and its largest ratepayer [Verisign] is unseemly, to say the very least. The stakeholder community that was supposed to serve as the check and balance on the ICANN organization has gone AWOL — bought off by the promise of a pittance and sung to sleep by fanciful lullabies of castles in the sky."--Greg Thomas, Managing Director of The Viking Group LLC (vikinginsight.com) (emphasis added) in ICANN and Voodoo Economics in Wonderland | circleid.com.

"... ICANN itself is probably Verisign's biggest "risk factor" -- see Weinstein case ... ICANN insists it is not a "regulator" and it could [and probably will] be replaced by the "global internet community" fed up with ICANN's incompetence [corruption] and shortcomings ("ICANN multistakeholderism does not work" has already become a common refrain in some sectors). ICANN has not had any governmental mandate since the IANA transition in 2016, and Verisign's .COM Registry Agreement with ICANN may not be worth the paper it is printed on, if ICANN is replaced, or a new internet root is adopted by most of the world. That is why the U.S. government refused to sign registry agreements with ICANN for the .MIL and .GOV [g]TLDs after [during] the IANA transition in 2016 (the U.S. maintains it has governmental "sovereignty" over the .GOV and .MIL [g]TLDs due to the anomaly of its historical "stewardship" over the internet.)"--comment on SeekingAlpha.com | VeriSign For A Defensive Strategy (emphasis, link, and [notes] added).

Editor's note: excerpt from transcript of US Senate Hearing Sept 14, 2016, Larry Strickling, NTIA Administrator, testifying:

"So ... the United States does not wish to cede any sovereignty that we may have over .mil and .gov. And that is why we have done this as an exchange of letters. The United States prior to the creation of ICANN, had the complete authority and control over .mil and .gov; that condition exists today and will continue on in the future." 

Later in the same hearing, Paul Rosenzweig testifying:

"But, I am puzzled by the argument that entering into a [registry] contract [with ICANN] about these [.MIL and .GOV gTLDs] is somehow a derogation of sovereignty. I had not heard that until Assistant Secretary Strickling said that earlier today or -- and so, I haven't had the chance to think about that."

Note also this video clip about Verisign's "hostile letter threatening witnesses" delivered just prior to that same hearing. Full video of that US Senate subcommittee hearing here.

b. ICANN and PTI U.S. Tax Returns for Fiscal Year Ending 30 June 2018, excerpts:

ICANN Form 990 (pp. 53-54 of 83) 2017 Calendar Year compensation:

Who's missing? Correct answer here.

PTI FORM 990:  "PTI's vendors are paid by PTI's sole member, ICANN ... during the reportable time period of calendar year 2017, PTI had no employees. ICANN employees performing PTI activities were paid by ICANN, its sole member, and ICANN issued their form W-2. Compensation was reported under PTI as paid by a related organization (ICANN). PTI reimburses ICANN for all employee compensation related to PTI activities." [PTI Form 990 pp.29-30 of 40.]

Editor's note: ICANN spent $15 million in legal fees in connection with the IANA transition, in part to set up PTI as a separate entity apart from ICANN for the "IANA functions." To what end?

PTI FORM 990, PART III, LINE 4A (p.29 of 40):
"PTI is an affiliate of the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"). PTI was established in August 2016 under the laws of the State of California as a non-profit public benefit corporation and ICANN is its sole member. ICANN is responsible for the performance of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ("IANA") functions. the IANA functions include the maintenance of the registry of technical internet protocol parameters, the administration of certain responsibilities associated with internet DNS root zone and the allocation of internet numbering resources. Through contracts and subcontracts, ICANN has delegated the performance of the IANA functions to PTI effective October 1, 2016. PTI's sole purpose is the performance of the IANA functions as delegated by ICANN under a direct contract with PTI as well as three subcontracts. through this series of agreements, ICANN is obligated to provide PTI with all funding necessary for PTI to perform the agreements. PTI has no other funding source."

c. Andean Presidential Council's Special Declaration on the use of .AMAZON (pdf):

Editor's note: the above letter should never have had to be written had ICANN acted in the global public interest and done its job properly from the beginning, but as most of us know, ICANN is incompetent, corrupt and unfit. "Sovereignty" is not just a prerogative reserved for the U.S. and China. The .BRAND (i.e., trademark) new gTLDs were an ICANN corruption of the concept of "generic top-level domains" (see RFC1591). A "brand" a/k/a "trademark" is neither a monopoly nor generic. The entire ICANN new gTLDs program was, from the beginning, and still is, ill-conceived and corrupt. It is no surprise that new gTLDs are failing. A report published by afnic.fr this week indicates the future belongs to ccTLDs and .COM [at least as long as .COM is regulated by the U.S. government]:

"... main market trends in 2018: with 142 million names, the .COM remains the market heavyweight. Its market share increased by 0.5 points in 2018, rising from 42.6% to 43.1%, as a result of a growth rate that increased sharply in 2018 (5.2% vs. 2.8% in 2017) ..." --afnic.fr

ICANN has yet to be held accountable for the billions of dollars (US) in capital destruction and malinvestment it has caused through its ill-conceived and corrupt new gTLDs program. Another sad tale (among many) came to light this week: DigitalTown “clean up efforts” to avoid bankruptcy--DomainNameWire.com.

2) ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 | Next EPDP Meeting June 13

Next EPDP Meeting Thursday, June 13, at 14:00 UTC (10am EDT), agenda, etc., here; observers' audiocast / phone (if needed). June 6 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, worksheets, purposes template (pdf, updated Jun10).

Steve Crocker presentation background document (pdf). Note also: Working Definitions draft June 5, 2019 (pdf)--'access' vs 'disclosure' for third parties-- the EPDP Team failed to come to a "consensual compromise" but the new [updated] revised "working definitions" are here.

EPDP subgroup meetings:

• Monday, 03 June - 14:00-15:30 UTC: Display of information of affiliated vs. accredited privacy / proxy providers; Legal vs natural persons.
• Wednesday, 12 June - 20:00 – 21.30 UTC: City field redaction; Data Retention.

• Monday 17 June – 13:00 – 14:30 UTC: Potential OCTO Purpose; Feasibility of unique contacts to have a uniform anonymized email address.
• TBC (post ICANN65): Accuracy and WHOIS ARS.

See also: 

• EDPS flags data protection issues on EU institutions’ websites--edps.europa.eu.

• Looker & GDPR: Google Cloud To Buy Data Analytics Startup Looker for $2.6B.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. 10 important academic findings about trademarks from the past 12 months--#8. IDN homograph domain names are a major threat to online brands.

b.  WTR infographic about the trademark activity of Michael Gleissner: 4400 trademark applications and 5300 domain names are linked to Gleissner, who was born in Germany but reportedly now lives in the Philippines.

c. The Dark Web is tiny and unreliable: analysis of 55K onion domains on the Tor network finds only 8,400 had a live site, with many having poor uptimes--recordedfuture.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. Data Privacy & Healthcare: a primer on complying with U.S. healthcare regulations on data privacy--9 Indispensable Steps to Becoming a HIPAA Hipster | PsychologyToday.com. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was enacted in 1996 and is applicable to the entire healthcare industry in the U.S.  The most common HIPAA violations are impermissible disclosures of protected health information.

b. U.S. v. Assange: The U.S. Government’s Indictment of Julian Assange Poses a Clear and Present Danger to Journalism, the Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Speech | eff.org.

c. Internet Freedom?

One of the greatest & most exciting promises of the early internet was its unparalleled freedom of expression, action & exploration unconstrained by Govt & corporate control. Just 2 decades later, it's about begging a handful of tech giants about who should & shouldn't be heard.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 1, 2019

d. Hong Kong's Tiananmen vigil attracts record turnout--nikkei.com: "The annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park drew over 180,000 people this year, according to the organizer, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. This number ties with the peak year of 2014."

e. Russia: the Russian plan for a “sovereign internet” will use deep packet inspection for censorship and a backup domain name system--FT.com.
•
5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

#1 News Review | ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions

#2 Looker & GDPR | Google Cloud To Buy Data Analytics Startup for $2.6B

#3 Amazon re:MARS Global AI Event, Las Vegas, June 4-7, 2019

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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Looker & GDPR | Google Cloud To Buy Data Analytics Startup for $2.6B

Looker + Google Cloud

Google to buy analytics software firm Looker for $2.6 billion in cash.

The Looker Platform for Data "delivers insights to user workflows, allowing organizations to extract value from data." Looker's headquarters: Santa Cruz, California.

Domain: looker.com

Looker & GDPR: Data in the Age of GDPR

Looker video above published May 30, 2019: One year on, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - one of the most comprehensive reforms to data regulation in recent times - continues to impact how companies approach their strategies for external data protections and internal data access and usage. The video on GDPR, data protection and privacy, covers:

• Data Governance: Understanding the people, processes, and technology required to create consistent and proper handling of data across the organisation.
• Data Centralization: Facilitating a more easily documentable data supply chain for GDPR compliance.
• Monitoring Data and Auditing: Determining who has access to personal data, why the data has been collected and how it will be used by your organisation.

GDPR Whitepaper: looker.com/gdprpaper

Looker Customer Stories: Data Around the World

From San Francisco to Berlin and beyond, data is evolving the way businesses operate and innovate. See how companies from Deliveroo, Stack Overflow and Kiva are using Looker to operationalize and scale their business data. Looker video above published Jan 15, 2019. Learn more about other companies data stories at looker.com/customers.
Tweets by LookerData

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Data Privacy & Protection | Will The European Union's GDPR Go Global?

One year on, can GDPR go global? Should it?

It’s been one year since the EU’s landmark privacy rules called GDPR went into effect. Now other countries, including the U.S., are looking to adopt their own versions of the law. CNBC.com’s Elizabeth Schulze reports. CNBC International video published May 22, 2019.

See also:

How Silicon Valley gamed Europe’s privacy rules--"The region’s data protection overhaul was supposed to help citizens. Instead, it’s helped Big Tech."--politico.eu; Editor's note: some are now saying GDPR has actually helped big tech companies enlarge their dominance in the digital data economy while smaller companies have suffered from GDPR complexity and its relatively high compliance costs.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission, the lead EU data protection authority (DPA) for Google, has announced an investigation into Google's online advertising data collection. 

Tweets by EU_EDPS
Tweets by EU_EDPB

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News Review | Next ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Meeting Thursday May 16

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-05-12) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Next ICANN EPDP Meeting Thursday May 16, 2)Other ICANN news: a. .BIZ Comments, b. New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation, c.RDS Roadmap, d. Webinar Invite, e. .AMAZON, f. .MERCK 3) Tucows $TCX Q1 2019 Financial Results, 4) ICYMI: What Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tesla, and the Internet Know About You, and more, 5) Most Read.

1)  ICANN & GDPR: GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Second Meeting, Thursday, May 16, 14:00 UTC

Next EPDP Team meeting Thursday, May 16, 2019, 14:00 to 15:30 UTC; meeting agenda, documents, audiocast info, etc., here. Recordings and transcript (when available) will be posted on the GNSO calendar. EPDP Links: wiki, public mail list, GNSO mail list. See last week's News Review for more info.

UPDATE May 16, 13:50 UTC: No Observers ALLOWED at May 16 EPDP meeting -- ICANN BOARD does NOT adopt two Phase 1 Recommendations:

Excerpt from ICANN Board Chair Letter (embed in full below) to GNSO Council Chair (highlighting added)

About 15 minutes before the May 16, 2019, EPDP meeting began the ICANN "EPDP support staff" posted the following to the public EPDP mail list:

"***BIG NOTE: Please note we are having technical issues with the audiocast for today's EPDP- Phase 2 Team meeting. It will not be available to listen 'live', but of course, the recordings will be posted immediately after the meeting. We will keep you posted if any changes."

Those "technical issues" may have something to do with the fact that the ICANN Board met in secret on May 15 (as is their usual custom) and only adopted some (pdf) (letter from ICANN Board Chair embed below) of the EPDP Phase 1 recommendations:

Original post:
EPDP Phase 2 work plan / draft approach:

Dear EPDP Team,
Following last week’s meeting, the leadership team and staff support have worked together on developing a draft approach for tackling phase 2. We hope this strikes a balance between the different views expressed and will form the basis for a detailed work plan with concrete milestones and deliverables. You will find attached [embed below] a couple of slides that outline our current thinking in further detail, but here are some points I want to emphasize:

This is a draft approach for discussion and review. Based on your input prior and our discussion during next week’s meeting, we will further iterate and detail our approach, the proposed work plan and accompanying timeline. This draft is for discussion that, hopefully, will lead to a consensual agreement.

For the purpose of our exercise it is important to use definitions and terminology with the same understanding. We propose to develop and use working definitions without prejudice to consensual outcome. Final definitions can only be developed once the Team has finalized its work and agreed on its recommendations.

Based on the Team’s feedback in relation to the request to form a small team to engage with ICANN Org, I suggest to keep a plenary setting which will avoid creating a separate structure and ensure that everyone is part of discussion. Nevertheless, as this work on obtaining legal certainty is ongoing, I would propose that we deal with the charter questions and list of issues identified on slide 5 in an agnostic manner. In other words, we should refrain at the outset to deliberate on whether or not a System for Standardized Disclosure should be centralized or not, but rather we should focus on the commonalities and where needed identify that differentiation may be required depending on which model is ultimately determined to be legally compliant with GDPR and workable. I also expect that this approach would help inform the engagement of ICANN org and DPAs.

I appreciate that some of you may consider the timeline ambitious, but I’ve heard from almost everyone that the work on a System for Standardized Disclosure is a priority and as such I am committed to setting a target date for us to work towards. This will require your support and dedication. I am pretty confident I can count on that.

I look forward to receiving your feedback and would like to encourage you to focus your input on what, why and how things could or should be done differently, instead of simply saying that something cannot be acceptable or should not be done.--EPDP Chair Janis Karklins 8 May 2019.

EPDP Phase 2 draft approach / work plan (pdf) embed below:

From the EPDP public mail list:
Re: proposed response to ICANN CEO Göran Marby: 

Matt Serlin (RrSG): I agree from Goran’s letter the mandate of the small team is clear…what isn’t quite clear is how that mandate fits into the overall work plan for the broader group and how these two efforts ultimately will merge. Personally speaking I am very concerned that before we have really started our Phase 2 work at all, we are already looking to break off a certain group to work with ICANN [Org] on a critically important piece of the puzzle to our success. And let’s not forget our old friend Phase 1 which, to date, has not been approved by the Board and even when it is will still need to be implemented. (emphasis and link added)

Milton Mueller (NCSG): "I agree with Matt here. While I understand the motivation, the TSG itself was always a rather poorly conceived effort to jump the gun on the issues related to disclosure of redacted Whois data. We were told that its only purpose was to assess technical feasibility and make our work go faster, but in fact it opened up a parallel process raising all kinds of questions about how our work intersects with it.  Now we seem to be compounding the problem.  Let’s put a stop to it and get things in order before pushing out into yet another problematic direction ..."  (emphasis added)

Stephanie Perrin (NCSG): It [TSG] was a useful demonstration of RDAP capability.  Given the lack of legal/policy parameters and the assumptions on which it was based, we cannot rely on it as anything but that demonstration of technical possibilities. (emphasis added)

May 10, 2019, letter sent to Marby by Janis Karklins, EPDP Team Phase 2 Chair, excerpt:

"... before being able to respond to your request, the EPDP Team would like to ask you for some further information in relation to your expectations regarding, amongst others:
  *   What is the expected scope of work of the small group and could examples of the types of questions / issues the group is expected to work on be provided?
  *   Size of the group when you refer to ‘a small number’, factoring in that the EPDP Team has a representative composition, as well as desired expertise;
  *   Expected mode of operation for this work with ICANN Org, what does collaboration look like? – from the EPDP Team’s side there is an expectation that there would be full transparency around these discussions as well as engagement with the European Commission and Data Protection Authorities;
  *   Time commitment and duration – what is the expected time commitment for this collaboration and is there any indication of when this work is expected to conclude?
"... As the EPDP Team is eager to move forward with its planning for phase 2, we hope that you can provide us with a response in time for further consideration during the EPDP Team’s next meeting which is scheduled for Thursday 16 May ..." (emphasis added)

EPDP Related: 06 May 2019 Letter (pdf) from ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby to GNSO Chair Keith Drazek, & Vice Chairs Rafik Dammak, and Pam Little,  re: Resource Support for Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Phase 2, excerpt:

"... supplemental budget from ICANN org’s FY19 operations will be made available immediately to support the GNSO Council’s request for the following resources that were identified and prioritized by the EPDP Team:
• Continued support for telecom services and transcriptions (estimated at $7,000);
• Professional mediation services to support the EPDP Team’s deliberations at
ICANN65 in Marrakech (estimated at $40,000);
• Continued availability of legal counsel, following the same process and approach in
phase 1, i.e., all proposed legal questions are vetted through the EPDP Team’s legal
committee (estimated at $50,000);
• ICANN65 travel support to be made available for EPDP Team members who would
otherwise not be able to attend and where no alternate is able to step in (estimated
at $28,000) ..."

2) Other ICANN News

a. ICANN's Proposals for Unlimited Price Gouging of .ORG, .INFO, .ASIA, and .BIZ domain name registrants:

Public Comments close on .BIZ May 14. All .BIZ comments may be read here. My .BIZ comment is here.and embed below.

b. New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation 

Case Status: "On the Court's own motion, the Trial Setting Conference scheduled for 04/04/2019, and NonJury Trial On Phase I (Estoppel) scheduled for 04/04/2019 are continued to 05/21/19 at 10:00 AM in Department 53 at Stanley Mosk Courthouse."--Judge: Honorable Robert B. Broadbelt

c. Registration Directory Service (RDS) Roadmap Update | ICANN.org: "... ICANN org has notified registries and registrars that they must implement a Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) service by 26 August 2019. RDAP enables users to access registration data and has several advantages over the current protocol (WHOIS), including more secure and differentiated access to registration data. ICANN.org worked with a discussion group of gTLD registries and registrars to develop an RDAP profile that provides technical instructions to how to implement an RDAP service in a consistent way ..."

d.  Webinar Invitation: Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model | ICANN.org: "... the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) invites the community to continue an ongoing conversation about evolving ICANN's multistakeholder model of governance. Please join one of two webinars on 14 May 2019 at 1600 UTC or 15 May at 2300 UTC ..." More info here.
Webinar Details & How to Attend--dates and times:

• 14 May 2019, 1600 – 1700 UTC via Zoom: https://icann.zoom.us/j/612538404

• 15 May 2019, 2300 – 0000 UTC 16 May 2019 via Zoom: https://icann.zoom.us/j/964732040

• Dial-in phone numbers for the webinars

• Draft Issues List for Public Comment (pdf)

e. .AMAZON

07 May 2019 Letter from Director, Department of Technological Promotion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Achilles Zaluar to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby re: new gTLD applications for .AMAZON, excerpt:

"... I sincerely hope that the decision of the ICANN Board on the .amazon applications will take into account the public interest represented by the eight Amazon countries, and that it will strengthen the legitimacy of ICANN as an entity with significant responsibilities for the management of Internet’s critical resources for the entire world." (emphasis added)

See also: 29 April 2019 Letter (pdf) from Hartmut Glaser, Executive Secretary to the Board, The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby re: new gTLD applications for .AMAZON, excerpts:

"The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br, in the exercise of its prerogatives under the Presidential Decree no. 4,829/2003, REAFFIRMING the positions already expressed in resolution CGI.br/RES/2013/011 on April 26, 2013, resolution CGI.br/RES/2013/022 on June 28, 2013, and in the PUBLIC NOTE of August 8, 2017 regarding the request for the “.AMAZON” top-level domain; CONSIDERING that the top-level domain name “.AMAZON” refers to, and is inextricably intertwined with, the identity of the Amazon communities and the Amazon region .... HEREBY REITERATES the support of all sectors of the Brazilian society represented in the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br (third sector, scientific and technological community, business sector, and government) for the rejection of the delegation of the top-level domain name “.AMAZON” exclusively to a private interest, to be operated as a closed brand top-level domain and in a manner that is inconsistent with the public interest, which would lead to the confiscation of the entire name space that is inextricably associated with the region, the countries and the peoples of the Amazon, contributing to the disappearance of the link between the term “Amazon” and the region, the countries and the peoples of the Amazon, their natural and cultural heritage and their identity on the Internet." (emphasis added)

Editor's note: as I've said before, first, know that ICANN continuously misidentifies the applicant as "Amazon Corporation." The new gTLD .AMAZON applicant is Amazon EU S.à.r.l., a European legal entity owned, controlled, and formed by Amazon.com, Inc., primarily to dodge taxes.

"Amazon EU S.à.r.l. ... was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Amazon EU S.à.r.l. operates as a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc."--source.

Second, as I've said before, "the idea of having private .BRAND gTLDs was a mistake from the beginning, a corruption of the concept of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) as set forth in RFC 1591 written by Jon Postel, which predates the formation of ICANN and its "Californication" of the internet and global DNS. I'm with the South American countries. ICANN should do the "right thing" for once and end the .BRAND gTLD program, refund the application fees, and "undelegate" all .BRAND gTLDs from the internet "root," while allowing every owner of a distinctive trademark to block use of that mark as a gTLD in the future. End the ICANN extortion racket -- see .PING testimony."

A "brand" or "trademark" is neither a "monopoly" nor "generic." ICANN's .BRAND new gTLDs program is both ill-conceived and corrupt.

f. .MERCK: ditto the above

ICANN's Response To Claimant Merck KGaA’s Request For Independent Review Process, p.1

"Like .COM"? LOL!

The fight over .BRAND new gTLD .MERCK is set for "ICANN last resort auction" 17 July 2019:

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ: TCX) (brands include registrars eNom, Hover, OpenSRS, and ISP Ting), posted first quarter (Q1) 2019 financial results on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, after the market close.

$TCX

Until Tuesday, May 14, shareholders, analysts and prospective investors can submit questions to Tucows’ management at ir@tucows.com. Management will post responses to questions of general interest to the Company’s website on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at approximately 4:00 p.m. EDT.  All questions will receive a response, however, questions of a more specific nature may be responded to directly. See also Earnings Call Transcript, Tucows Inc. CEO Elliot Noss on Q1 2019 Results. Tucows is the second largest domain name registrar in the world with about 25 million domain names under management. See also Good Luck, Tucows Bulls | seekingalpha.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

What Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tesla, and the Internet Know About You. See also Consumer Data Privacy Advocates to US Senate Committee: Here's How to Protect Consumers--eff.org and

Google Assistant is 10x faster and knows where your mom lives, "after three years, the voice-activated helper gets its biggest update yet. And it shows just how much Google already knows about you"--cnet.com.

The End of Cyberspace--internet theorists and companies once declared themselves free of nations and governance, but that’s all over now.--theatlantic.com. How ‘Cybersovereignty’ Splits the Once World Wide Web--bloomberg.com.

Europe Is Reining In Tech Giants. But Some Say It’s Going Too Far.--NYTimes.com.

How Tech Culture Has Changed Since The GDPR--forbes.com. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which became enforceable 25 May 2018, requires companies to disclose when they’ve been hacked. But greater acknowledgment of cyberattacks may lead to bigger premiums for cyberpolicies, and some policies written before "cybercrime became rampant" have outdated terms, leaving companies exposed--bloomberg.com.

China's Mass Surveillance App Hacked; "Code Reveals Specific Criteria For Illegal Oppression"--zerohedge.com. See also: "How Mass Surveillance Works in Xinjiang, China"--‘Reverse Engineering’ Police App Reveals Profiling and Monitoring Strategies--hrw.org; and Chinese Fund backed by Hunter Biden (Joe Biden's son) invested in tech to surveil Muslims--zerohedge.com.

Russia: Putin signs Russian internet isolation bill into law, move will tighten government control over information.--engadget.com.

David Redl resigned May 9, 2019, as US Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary and NTIA Administrator, a position he had held since November 2017. Diane Rinaldo is now Acting Assistant Secretary and NTIA Administrator.

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

#1 News Review | ICANN & GDPR: GNSO EPDP Phase 2 First Meeting Recap

#2 Tech Review | How Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Each Hit $1 Trillion Valuation

#3 China Hacked & Stole, and U.S. Businesses Turned A Blind Eye

#4 Google Pixel 3a | The $399 Smartphone That Changes The Game (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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News Review | ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Chair Janis Karklins

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-04-21) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Chair Janis Karklins,  2) EPDP Phase 2 Budget & EPDP notes, Domain Hijacking, 3) Other ICANN news: a. Domain Metrics, b. Name Collisions, c. DNS Hijacking, d. .AMAZON Update,  4) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Declining TLDs: .EU & New gTLDs, 5) ICYMI: Chinese-style Internet and more, 6) Most Read.

1) ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Chair Janis Karklins

Ambassador Janis Karklins

"... the extended call for EOIs closed on Monday, 8 April. We received a total of two EOIs, one from Chris LaHatte, former ICANN Ombudsman, and another from Janis Karklins, former GAC Chair and current Latvian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. The GNSO Council Leadership Team and the Standing Selection Committee (SSC) Leadership Team met on Tuesday after conducting individual scoring assessments for each candidate. After approximately one hour of discussion and deliberation, we agreed to unanimously recommend that the Council appoint Janis Karklins as EPDP Phase 2 Chair. We are confident in Janis' ability and commitment to perform the EPDP Phase 2 Chair duties in a neutral manner and consistent with the GNSO PDP Operating Procedures. We are also confident Janis will ensure the work is performed efficiently, effectively, and in a timely manner. Therefore, we will now update the 18 April 2019 GNSO Council agenda to reflect this recommendation and to add Janis Karklins' name to the Consent Agenda item on this topic. If anyone has questions, please raise them prior to the GNSO Council meeting. We thank both candidates for their willingness to serve."--Keith Drazek, GNSO Chair, Apr 10, 2019 (emphasis and link added). Editor's note: the appointment of Janis Karklins was unanimously approved by the GNSO Council on April 18, 2019, after discussion of possible conflict of interest (Karklins is past chair of the WIPO General Assembly) [see also CV].

2) EPDP Phase 2 Budget: 12 April 2019 Letter (pdf) from GNSO Chair Keith Drazek to ICANN Chairman Cherine Chalaby re:Resource Support for Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Phase 2, excerpt:

"Pending the appointment of the Phase 2 Chair and the subsequent finalization of a detailed workplan with milestones, the EPDP Team has identified a preliminary list of the following four key resources needed to support the timely delivery of Phase 2 policy recommendations:
1. Continued availability of legal counsel, following the same process and approach in phase 1 (any questions are vetted through the legal committee);
2. Continued support for telecom services and transcriptions, but to reduce costs, transcriptions would have a 72-hour turnaround time (instead of 24-hour);
3. Mediation support for the EPDP Team meetings at ICANN65 in Marrakesh;
4. Travel support to be made available for ICANN65 for EPDP Team members who would otherwise not be able to attend and where no alternate is able to step in.
We look forward to receiving your feedback."

Additional EPDP related notes:

From the EPDP mail list:16 April 2019:"... Members from the CPH [Contracted Parties House, i.e., Registrars and Registry Operators] ... want to express our concern with discussing proposed working methods / prioritization without a Chair. We believe it is counterproductive to have these discussions without the new Chair in place, and that discussions and feedback should be placed on hold pending the new Chair. We are all anxious to get Phase 2 work underway, but trying to make decisions now increases the likelihood that we will need to revisit all decisions regarding work plans once the new Chair is in place. Accordingly, we respectfully request that all comprehensive discussions be paused until the new Chair is seated ..."--James Bladel (RrSG EPDP member) (emphasis added). April 16, 2019: "I support the CPH position"--Alan Greenberg (ALAC EPDP member).

EPDP Links: EPDP wiki & mail list, Phase 1 Final Report (pdf), GNSO mail list & calendar. Link to legal questions and memos.

IRT Wiki: gTLD Registration Data Policy Implementation | Pre-IRT  ("IRT" Implementation Review Team)--"the pre-IRT is going to be a short-lived team to be replaced with the IRT, and all the members will be transitioned to the IRT ... we are putting this team together to get a fast start on the real IRT"--Dennis Chang, ICANN Org, 10 Apr 2019, transcript.). Pre-IRT mail list.

Public Comments closed April 17, 2019, on EPDP Phase 1 Final Report Policy Recommendations.

"... the European Commission considers that the purposes for processing WHOIS personal data by ICANN and/or the contracted parties should not include enabling access by third parties. This is also at the core of the concerns expressed for some time by the DPAs and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which have clarified that the purposes of ICANN and contracted parties must not be conflated with the interests of third parties in accessing registration data ..."--European Commission comment, infra.

All comments may be found here, including the comment (pdf) by DomainMondo's editor, embed below, and the comment (pdf) by the European Commission, embed further below:

European Commission comment:

See also:

• Failure to Redact Personal WHOIS Data Led to Domain Hijacking: Jury Convicts Social Media Entrepreneur in Plot to Hijack Internet Domain | justice.gov Friday, April 19, 2019--"... On June 21, 2017, Adams drove Hopkins to the domain owner’s house and provided Hopkins with a demand note, which contained instructions for transferring the domain [doitforstate.com] to Adams’ GoDaddy account ... Hopkins pulled out Adams’ demand note, which contained a series of directions on how to change an Internet domain name from the domain owner’s GoDaddy account to one of Adams’ GoDaddy accounts. Hopkins put the firearm against the victim’s head and ordered him to follow the directions on the demand note.  Hopkins then pistol whipped the victim several times in the head.  Fearing for his life, the victim quickly turned to move the gun away from his head.  The victim then managed to gain control of the gun, but during the struggle, he was shot in the leg.  The victim shot Hopkins multiple times in the chest.  He then contacted law enforcement ..."  

• TorrentFreak.com: Copyright holders and the US Government (NTIA) want ICANN to make domain WHOIS data more accessible again.

• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg under close scrutiny--FTC probe into Facebook's privacy practices is also looking at past statements by Zuckerberg and weighing whether to seek oversight of his leadership--washingtonpost.com.

3) Other ICANN News

a) ICANN Publishes Updated Domain Name Marketplace Indicators--ICANN.org see also Global Domains Division (GDD) Metrics. [Editor's note: these metrics or "indicators" are mostly worthless, but as often is the case with "ICANN metrics" it is a situation where instead of counting what is really important and relevant, someone has decided to make what they have selectively chosen to count, "important."]

b) Name Collisions Analysis Project (NCAP) Discussion Group--ICANN.org. [Editor's note: better late than never ICANN, after dumping 1200+ new gTLDs into the global DNS, knowing (since 2003) new gTLDs "fail to work as expected on the internet" and "break stuff."] See also the ICANN NCAP-Discuss mail list.

c) DNS Hijacking: a nation-state backed group of attackers identified as 'Sea Turtle' by Cisco Talos, have been actively exploiting domain name information, by going after domain registries for entire countries.

"The actors behind this campaign have focused on using DNS hijacking as a mechanism for achieving their ultimate objectives. DNS hijacking occurs when the actor can illicitly modify DNS name records to point users to actor-controlled servers. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an alert about this activity on Jan. 24 2019, warning that an attacker could redirect user traffic and obtain valid encryption certificates for an organization's domain names ... Talos was able to identify two distinct groups of victims. The first group, we identify as primary victims, includes national security organizations, ministries of foreign affairs, and prominent energy organizations. The threat actor targeted third-party entities that provide services to these primary entities to obtain access. Targets that fall into the secondary victim category include numerous DNS registrars, telecommunication companies, and internet service providers. One of the most notable aspects of this campaign was how they were able to perform DNS hijacking of their primary victims by first targeting these third-party entities ..."--talosintelligence.com.

d) 17 Apr 2019 Letter from Amazon VP Brian Huseman to ICANN Board Chair Chalaby (pdf)

Re: new gTLD applications for .AMAZON:

"... Unfortunately, despite best efforts, Amazon and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (“ACTO”) member states have not reached a mutually acceptable solution regarding Amazon’s applications, but we have listened intently and heard their concerns. Thus, in accordance with the Resolutions and in support of the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance, we submit the following modified proposal for how we will address the concerns of the ACTO member states regarding our applications .... our modified proposal consists of a Public Interest Commitment (“PIC”) and joint Steering Committee that reflects our commitment to operate the TLDs in a way that respects the culture and heritage of the people in the Amazonia region. We commit to: (1) not use as domain names in each .AMAZON TLD those terms that have a primary and well-recognized significance to the culture and heritage of the Amazonia region; (2) provide nine domain names in each .AMAZON TLD to be used for non-commercial purposes by ACTO and its member states to enhance the visibility of the region; and (3) block from all use up to 1500 domain names in each .AMAZON TLD that have a primary and well recognized significance to the culture and heritage of the Amazonia region ..."

Editor's note: I have little to add to what I already said last week (News Review 3)c. .AMAZON Redux), but see the New York Times:

Battle for .amazon Domain Pits Retailer Against South American Nations: "Amazon is the world’s biggest online retailer. It is also the world’s largest rain forest. The question is who owns the name. This is the core of an epic battle between the tech behemoth Amazon.com and eight South American countries that contain parts of the rain forest. At stake is the [new gTLD] domain ... .amazon, and who should control it on the internet ..."

But ICANN neither listens nor learns, just continues its mindless and relentless Californication of the internet and global DNS:

“… we have learned that there is tremendous concern about the specifics of the [new gTLDs] program that may lead to a number of unintended and unforeseen consequences and could jeopardize its success …”--Larry Strickling, NTIA, Jan 3, 2012, letter to ICANN (pdf).

4) Names, Domains & Trademarks

ccTLD .EU: EURid Annual Report (2018) (pdf): Compared to 2017, total net registrations decreased by 130,305 (from 3,815,055 to 3,684,750)--"The decline in the overall number of registrations can be attributed both to a reduction in the number of new registrations in the UK (mainly due to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, which resulted in the UK falling from being the No. 4 market for .eu to No. 6 in one year), and to the increased efforts of EURid to build a trustworthy and secure .eu namespace which resulted in over 35 000 domain names being suspended in H2 2018."

Editor's note: .EU is not the only declining TLD, look at new gTLDs since the first of the year:

New gTLDs total net (adds minus drops) registrations decline Jan-Apr15, 2019: 

Source: ntldstats.com - new gTLDs total net registrations Jan-Apr15, 2019

Total net registrations in new gTLDs declined -669,064 from Jan 1 thru Apr 15, 2019. At that rate of loss in registrations, total net registrations in new gTLDs will decline in 2019 by over 2.3 million registrations. You won't hear ICANN or its Global Domains Division (GDD) talking about this (at least publicly), even though it is incontrovertible proof that ICANN's new gTLDs program was, and is, ill-conceived, and this has nothing to do with "lack of public awareness" of new gTLDs. Go to your registrar of choice, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Hover, et al, and look around, you can't avoid seeing all the crappy new gTLDs. Too bad ICANN didn't listen to the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (via NTIA) nor FTC, nor many others including Esther Dyson.

5) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Governments across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Thailand, are adopting Chinese-style internet and data controls, raising alarms in the U.S.--bloomberg.com.

Scribd taking down the Mueller Report is the future the EU has voted for--Scribd took down multiple copies of the Mueller Report, which is in the public domain, claiming that its algorithms identified it as a copyrighted work--qz.com.

Singapore's fake news bill poses 'risks to freedom of speech'--require social media sites to carry warnings on posts the government deems false and remove certain comments--aljazeera.com.  

Russia: Kremlin Moves Toward Control of Internet, Raising Censorship Fears--NYTimes.com.

German Data Privacy Commissioner Says Article 13 Inevitably Leads to Filters, Which Inevitably Lead to Internet "Oligopoly"--eff.org.

EU gives final approval to the new Copyright Directive, with its controversial Article 11 and 13 provisions, after 19 of the 28 member countries voted in favor --europa.eu.

Era of internet freedom is over.--spiked-online.com. 404 The Internet--forbes.com.

The prosecution of Julian Assange is about much more than attempting to hack a password--eff.org.

EFF’s Tweet About an Overzealous DMCA Takedown Is Now Subject to an Overzealous Takedown--eff.org.

Websites like Reddit and Telegram are being blocked in India by internet service providers.

Turkey: Turkish Economist Arrested After Insulting Erdogan On Twitter--zerohedge.com.

Will a Free Press Cheer on Government Censorship of the Internet? Will a thirst to punish Silicon Valley destroy our liberty?--reason.com.

How digital technology is destroying our freedom--“We’re being steamrolled by our devices” says Douglas Rushkoff--vox.com.

Notice: Vacancy of the European Data Protection Supervisor.

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

#1 News Review | GDPR & ICANN EPDP Phase 2, The Facebook Effect?

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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