ICANN Finally Releases APNIC Report on New gTLDs UA Problems

Universal Acceptance (UA) screenshot from ICANN Quarterly Stakeholder Call August 20, 2015

"What data or metrics is ICANN capturing or measuring about new gTLDs Universal Acceptance issues, i.e., new gTLD domain names “failing to work as expected on the internet” and reportedly “breaking stuff”? Is this data being captured on an on-going basis? Will the data or metrics be published so the global Internet community and domain name registrants may be advised of “defect” issues relating to ICANN’s new gTLDs domain names?" -- Question asked by John Poole, editor of Domain Mondo at ICANN Quarterly Stakeholder Call, August 20, 2015

When the above question was asked on August 20, 2015, Fadi Chehade, ICANN CEO, referred it to Global Domains Division President, Akram Atallah, who basically indicated there were no such metrics or data being captured on an ongoing basis and did not mention the APNIC report. Then ICANN CTO Dave Conrad answered and indicated the "APNIC" Report had been published on the ICANN website and he would provide the URL before the stakeholder call concluded. At the conclusion of the stakeholder call, Conrad entered the following into the chat window:

David Conrad: My apologies, it seems that the report on the study on Universal Acceptance we developed with APNIC has not yet been released -- we wanted to look at the data a bit more.  We anticipate a release of the report very soon.

The referenced APNIC report (pdf) was finally released September 14, 2015. It is of limited scope and use, however the biggest takeaway was stated by David Conrad:

"There will need to be changes to systems and software to fully leverage the global opportunities these new TLDs enable."

The transcript of the Quarterly (FY15 Q4) stakeholder call on August 20, 2015, is still not available as of September 16th (3pm ET), but the recordings and presentation may be accessed here.

For more information about Universal Acceptance "problems" with ICANN's new gTLDs (new generic top-level domains) see Domain Mondo posts:

• Security Firm Recommends Blocking ICANN's "Shadiest" New gTLDs 01 September 2015
• Why New gTLD Domain Names Fail To Work Across the Internet 06 January 2015
• ICANN, New gTLD Domain Names, Universal Acceptance Another #FAIL 14 October 2014
• ICANN 52, Universal Acceptance, New gTLD Domain Names "break stuff" 09 February 2015

and
ICANN website on Universal Acceptance
and maillist: http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/ua-discuss/

Maillist posting of September 16, 2015, by ICANN Board Member Ram Mohan (and Chair, UASG):

"BlueCoat <https://www.bluecoat.com/company-overview>, a security vendor used by most of the Fortune 500, released a report on the Web’s shadiest TLDs <https://www.bluecoat.com/company/press-releases/blue-coat-reveals-webs-shadiest-neighborhoods> on Sep 1, 2015. They recommend to their 15,000+ customers to block all listed TLDs (report attached). Most of these are new gTLDs. There are implications for universal acceptance. This will result in some discussion at the upcoming UA Coordination Summit in Horsham tomorrow and Friday. The summit will have a conference bridge for anyone interesting in participating. Don Hollander will provide details."    -Ram Chair, UASG [BlueCoat report (pdf)] (emphasis added)
and
http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/ua-discuss/2015-September/000399.html
"BlueCoat’s methodology is discussed in some security group mailing lists. My understanding is that in the case of .zip, there were instances of <file>.pdf.zip which allowed for drive-bys, malware etc. regardless of the state of name registration. -ram"

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DISCLAIMER

ICANN CTO comments on "Stark-Raving-Greedy" Verisign

IANA Stewardship Transition Will "Impact on the Internet" says ICANN CTO:

On Monday, January 19, 2014, ICANN CTO Dave Conrad, speaking only for himself, dropped a bombshell comment on the public ICANN CWG-Stewardship mailing (email) list--excerpt below:

".... In all the discussions I've seen on the transition of the stewardship of the IANA Functions contract related to the Root Zone Management function, there has been precious little discussion of the actual root zone management processes despite the fact that, given NTIA will no longer be involved, those processes MUST change and those changes will have DIRECT operational impact on the Internet. I'll admit to a bit of surprise about this... I'll admit to not following the ICANN Accountability stuff all that closely, I'm just a technical person (or try to be) so much of that discussion is beyond me. However, my understanding (which is probably wrong) is that ultimately, Verisign, being a for-profit company incorporated in a state that is (perhaps unfairly) known to have the least stringent corporate responsibility requirements, has a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders to make a profit. ICANN, being a California public benefit not-for-profit, has a fiduciary responsibility to serve the public interest as interpreted by the State of California. While a for-profit like Verisign being "stark-raving-greedy" is arguably appropriate (at least according to
the laws of the state of Delaware), I have some skepticism that State of California would see an ICANN that was "stark-raving-greedy" as being in the public interest... "--Dave Conrad, ICANN CTO, "but speaking only for" himself, (emphasis added)

Domain Mondo has no idea what Mr. Conrad's reference to Verisign being "stark-raving-greedy" has to do with the IANA Functions or Internet Root Zone Management since it is well known that Verisign receives no fee for performing its services as Root Zone Maintainer. Is he implying that Verisign has started demanding "stark-raving-greedy" fees for performing its services as the Root Zone Maintainer now, or in the future? Also, the Chief Technology Officer of ICANN, speaking only for himself, did not elaborate on exactly how the Internet root zone management processes "MUST change" nor how those changes will have DIRECT operational impact on the Internet. Stay tuned--things are getting interesting in the IANA Stewardship Transition process!

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