Showing posts with label Dilma Rousseff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dilma Rousseff. Show all posts

2016-08-14

News Review: ICANN Says It Is Ready for the IANA Transition, Is It Really?

"ICANN reiterates that it, as an organization, and with the support of the global multistakeholder community, is ready for the IANA stewardship transition to occur."--see  FEATURE further below.

Domain Mondo's review and look ahead [pdf], starting first with the macro view, the big picture, after cutting through all the noise:

 • .The U.S. economy, absent consumer spending, is basically in a recession, said billionaire bond-fund manager Bill Gross, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. While employers are hiring, he said “there’s a dearth of investment spending.” See also The Great Productivity Puzzle | NewYorker.com: "Whatever is driving the slowdown in productivity growth in the U.S. appears to be affecting many other advanced countries, like Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. What is it?" and The big puzzle in economics today: why is the economy growing so slowly? | Vox.com.

•  The Big Disconnect: Triple record for U.S. stock indexes | SeekingAlpha.com: "All three major U.S. equity indexes rose to new highs on Thursday, in an alignment that hasn't occurred since December 31, 1999."--A bullish indicator or bearish? 

•  Macro update from Q2 2016 earnings season--after reports from 86% of S&P 500 companies--via FactSet.com (pdf):
  • Blended earnings decline is 3.5% year over year. If the S&P 500 index reports a decline for Q2 once all results are in, it will be the first time the companies in the index will have reported 5 straight quarters of earnings declines since the financial crisis (Q3 2008 - Q3 2009).
  • The number of companies issuing negative guidance for Q3 is double those guiding higher (53 vs. 26).
  • Wall Street analysts now expect Q3 2016 earnings to decline 1.7% versus the 0.4% growth factored into their models on June 30th. Earnings expectations are now reduced for every sector (not just energy) since the end of the Q2. 

• FEATURE: ICANN Says It Is Ready for the IANA Transition, Is It Really?

ICANN Submits Implementation Planning Status Report to NTIA | ICANN.org 12 Aug 2016: "... ICANN is confident that all implementation tasks and mechanisms will be implemented in advance of September 30, 2016 to allow the IANA functions contract to expire. With this report (pdf), ICANN reiterates that it, as an organization, and with the support of the global multistakeholder community, is ready for the IANA stewardship transition to occur."  But, is it really? Three negative indicators:

 1. Conversation on the CCWG-Accountability mail list:
ICANN stakeholder #1: "What is ICANN: public governance body or private coordination body? ICANN by its function is a public governance body, if it is a private body by its form and incorporation that is just an anomaly. All the discussions/ activities regarding the transition process etc are basically aimed at addressing this anomaly, in the practical ways possible. ICANN should therefore be subject to same level of transparency requirements as say the government of the US or of India is subject. Quoting 'standard commercial practices' cuts no ice. Government of India will not be able to give this response to a right to information query."
ICANN stakeholder #2: "ICANN by its function is not a 'public governance body' - it is actually a coordination body that supports the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s various identifier systems ..."
2. "The multistakeholder model may also be undermined from within. ICANN's new governance structure may prove inadequate, or the community too disunited, to hold the ICANN staff or Board accountable. ICANN has already morphed from the technical coordinating body set up in 1998 into something much more like a government: It has the de facto power to tax domain names. It is flush with cash from a flurry of top level domain name applications (e.g., .APP, .SHOP). It is increasingly exercising essentially regulatory powers (e.g., who may use .WINE or .AMAZON). There are good reasons to worry about what it may do with this power absent the incentive for self-restraint created by its contract with the U.S. Indeed, even with the transition at stake, ICANN has demonstrated a troubling willingness to ignore its bylaws and procedures, as demonstrated in the recent ruling in favor of Dot Registry."--Coalition Letter Urging Congress To Sue NTIA and Delay IANA Transition (emphasis added)

3. The vast majority of comments submitted to the Proposed Amendment to .COM Registry Agreement (comments closed August 12), indicate the global multistakeholder community wants a "public governance body"--a domain name price regulator, an intellectual property rights regulator, etc. --not a "private coordination body." 
  • How much longer will ICANN remain in denial? 
  • How long will the global multistakeholder community tolerate ICANN before looking elsewhere for a public governance body that better meets its needs?

•  The 'Good Old Days' ain't never coming back:
Above: ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade's Last Letter to Dilma Rousseff (excerpt)
Brazil Senate Indicts Dilma Rousseff, Opens Impeachment Trial | NBCnews.com: Brazil's Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday [Aug 10] to indict President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws and to begin an impeachment trial that is expected to oust her from office and end 13 years of rule by the Workers Party. See also Brazil Insulted by ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Farewell Letter.

•  Cruz, Lee, and Duffy Increase Scrutiny on Obama Administration's Planned Internet Giveaway | Ted Cruz | U.S. Senator for Texas August 12, 2016: "... We therefore respectfully request that you respond to the following questions no later than 5:00 pm on August 15, 2016:  (1)  Has the DOJ conducted a competition review of Verisign’s .com Registry Agreement with ICANN to assist the NTIA in determining whether the agreement should be extended to 2024?  If so, please provide a complete copy and summary of the review. (2)  If not, will the DOJ conduct a competition review of the .com Registry Agreement before the agreement is extended and the NTIA transfers its oversight authority to ICANN?  Please explain."

•  New gTLD Registry Operator StartingDot "throws in the towel"--Afilias Acquires StartingDot | BusinessWire.com August 08, 2016: "... acquisition of StartingDot, the Registry Operator for 3 new TLDs: .ARCHI, .BIO and .SKI. The acquisition agreement is part of Afilias’ ongoing program of acquiring new TLDs to add to its portfolio ... Other Registry Operators interesting in talking with Afilias should contact us at WeBuyTLDs@Afilias.INFO." StartingDot Executive V.P., Stéphane Van Gelder, currently chairs ICANN’s Nominating Committee, and recently wrote a critique of ICANN in CircleID.

•  Approved Board Resolutions - Verisign as Root Zone Maintainer | Special Meeting of the ICANN Board - ICANN: "Whereas, ICANN and Verisign finalized negotiations on the terms of the proposed RZMA for Verisign to perform the root zone maintainer function, and published the proposed RZMA for a 30-day notice period as required by the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) proposal ... Resolved (2016.08.09.05), the proposed RZMA is approved, and the President and CEO, or his designee(s), is authorized to take such actions as appropriate to finalize and execute the Agreement."

•  ICANN Announces Incorporation of Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) | ICANN.org August 11, 2016: "ICANN today announced that the incorporation documents for the "Post-Transition IANA" organization have been filed and received by the California Secretary of State under the name Public Technical Identifiers (which will now be referred to as PTI). With this filing and receipt, PTI is now formed as a nonprofit public benefit corporation and controlled affiliate of ICANN.

 •  Comments close this coming week at ICANN on:

•  Other News:

• Q2 2016 Earnings Releases / Webcasts wrap-up:

• Five most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this week on DomainMondo.com:
  1. News Review 07Aug: ICANN Wins Appeal on ccTLDs But Castigated in IRP Loss
  2. Alibaba Group $BABA Q2 2016 Earnings Results, LIVE Webcast Replay
  3. Benefits of Brexit, How UK's Brexit Ministers Plan To Leave The EU (video)
  4. New gTLD WEB Loser, Ruby Glen, Files Amended Complaint vs ICANN
  5. Rightside $NAME Q2 2016 Financial Results, LIVE Webcast Replay
Readers - top 3 countries: 1. U.S.; 2. Germany; 3. France.

•  10 Other Reading Recommendations:
  1. Oil traders bid farewell to Yahoo Messenger | SeekingAlpha.com: "Yahoo is shutting down its "legacy" Messenger platform, the main tool used by oil traders to communicate since the late 1990s. The follow-up version of the messaging service cannot be used by the industry as it doesn't meet compliance standards like saving conversations."
  2. There's More Than One Way to Publish. I Know. I Tried Many of Them | publishersweekly.com: "An author discusses the publishing options she’s tried: traditional, self-, and, for her sixth book, Amazon ... in its first month, despite its limited bookstore availability, I have sold more copies of In Twenty Years than I did of my third and fourth novels combined. In Twenty Years has been well reviewed, but I have not madly tap-danced on social media, and I have not slowly spiraled into crazy worrying about promotion ..."
  3. China is flooding Silicon Valley with cash. Here’s what can go wrong. | WashingtonPost.com: In China, where there’s less rule of law, a powerful government relentlessly pushing for growth, and enormous competition among companies, brass-knuckled business tactics are more common, said Thilo Hanemann, an economist at the Rhodium Group. “... reflections of cultural norms of how business is conducted in China. The Chinese investor may ask for terms that would be considered overly aggressive in Silicon Valley, but these terms would be considered fair in China,” said Connie Chan, a partner with the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
  4. The Dirty Little Secret of Finance: Asymmetric Information | Bloomberg.com: "... financial markets ... [are] driven by differences in how much people know. ... asymmetric information ... It’s key to the way traders, including high-frequency traders, make their profits. And it’s probably at the root of why markets break down and crash."
  5. Interview With A High-Frequency Trader | ZeroHedge.com: High-frequency trading (HFT)–thousands of algorithmic-driven market transactions per second–now accounts for over 60% of all trades on American exchanges". How does HFT affect retail investors? "... Supporters claim that high-frequency traders (HFTs) are a net-positive market force because they provide liquidity and tighten bid-ask spreads. They say that high-frequency trading is rarely if ever used for nefarious purposes, and regulators make sure of it. On the other side, detractors claim that HFTs regularly manipulate unaware investors and otherwise destabilize markets. They say that HFTs are a net-negative force on the market and should be reined in ..."
  6. Why even the best investing advice may be wrong | MarketWatch.com: "Just think back to the Brexit vote, when a bunch of economists and market observers said things would get ugly fast in Europe. Instead, the market took a knee-jerk quick slide down — just enough for some of those pundits to claim they were right — before jumping off to new highs."
  7. Why China is Supercharging Dissident Trials | WSJ.com: "... In recent years, the government left maneuvering space for activists to pursue causes that do not have direct political implications. They did this, in part, to provide a safety valve for the letting off of social pressure. The trials last week and the accompanying propaganda offensive signal that the government has changed its mind ..."
  8. Clinton & Establishment Media Anti-Trump Narratives: Are all those 'Trump controversies' raising doubts in Trump Nation? Not really | LATimes.com: "... Cervantes doesn’t think Trump will start deporting or monitoring law-abiding Muslims. He’s close friends with a Syrian American family and would never want to see them harmed. “I just think the ones coming in should be screened extremely well,” he said ... the thought of a Clinton presidency overshadows any of Trump’s flaws in his mind ..."
  9. Every Number Tells a Story | FarnamStreetBlog.com: “Yet numbers also revealed abstract patterns,” writes Alex Bellos in his fascinating book The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life, which, he continues, “made them objects of deep contemplation."
  10. Advice for Startups: "Multi-tasking isn't a thing, switching costs are huge, do one thing at a time and do it really well. Find a way to block out interruptions ... Read every essay Paul Graham has written ... Everyone has a hidden stash of domains they've never used ..."--Ben Dixon in What I'd tell myself about startups if I could go back 5 years. See also: Read This Before Naming Your Startup | thenextweb.com.
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


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2016-04-17

News Review: dotAFRICA, Public Interest, Judge Holds ICANN Accountable

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Domain Mondo's review of the past week and look ahead [pdf of this post is here]:

 It was a rough week for arrogant and unaccountable ICANN. A U.S. District Court Judge, The Honorable R. Gary Klausner, in Los Angeles, actually held the California corporation accountable, a rare event, to which most stakeholders can attest, sweeping aside every one of the arguments interposed by Jones Day, ICANN's lawyers, and granted a preliminary injunction "barring ICANN from delegating the rights to [new gTLD] .Africa until this case [DotConnectAfrica Trust vs ICANN and ZA Central Registry] is resolved." You can read the Court's full decision at Will ICANN File An Interlocutory Appeal in DCA Trust gTLD AFRICA Case? | DomainMondo.com. [UPDATE June 16, 2016: New gTLD AFRICA Litigation: Defendant ZACR Dismissed as a Party.]

Key to the case was the application of California state law (a California statute invalidating "Covenants Not to Sue" or "Releases"), to ICANN in connection with new gTLD applicants. Specifically, the U.S. District Court case involves Plaintiff DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust), a Mauritius Charitable Trust, applicant for new gTLD .AFRICA, and Defendants ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a California corporation, and  ZA Central Registry, a South African non-profit company.

If this all sounds like a confusing mix of global internet governance with California state law and jurisdiction and U.S. federal law and jurisdiction (U.S. District Court), welcome to the world of ICANN and the legal system of the United States of America, see Erie doctrine (Wikipedia).

Here's the California state statute in question, California Civil Code §1668:
"All contracts which have for their object, directly or indirectly, to exempt any one from responsibility for his own fraud, or willful injury to the person or property of another, or violation of law, whether willful or negligent, are against the policy of the law." 
Here's the“Release and Covenant Not To Sue” that ICANN is relying on (yellow highlighting added):

Judge Klausner:
"On its face, the Release is “against the policy of the law” because it exempts ICANN from any and all claims arising out of the application process, even those arising from fraudulent or willful conduct. Cal. Civ. Code § 1668. ICANN argues that Section 1668 is limited only to agreements involving the public interest which the Guidebook is not, and cites to Tunkl v. Regents of Cal., 383 P.2d 441 (Cal. 1963) for support. However, Tunkl concerns the validity of a release from liability for negligence, not intentional acts or fraud. Here, the Release waives all liability, not just liability resulting from negligence. Thus, Tunkl is distinguishable, and the Court need not determine whether the Release is in an agreement involving the public interest ... ICANN fails to recognize that the alleged conduct giving rise to this claim is intentional. Specifically, DCA alleges that ICANN intended to deny DCA’s application after the IRP proceeding under any pretext and without a legitimate reason ... The evidence suggests that ICANN intended to deny DCA’s application based on pretext. Defendants have not introduced any controverting facts. As such, the Court finds serious questions regarding the enforceability of the Release due to California Civil Code § 1668 .... the public has an interest in the fair and transparent application process that grants gTLD rights. ICANN regulates the internet – a global system that dramatically impacts daily life in today’s society. The IRP Declaration recognizes that ICANN’s function is “special, unique, and publicly important” and ICANN itself “is the steward of a highly valuable and important international resources ... the Court finds that both the likelihood of irreparable injury and the public interest favors the injunction ..." (emphasis added).
Boiled down to its essence, ICANN's argument seems to be:
  1. There is no public interest involved with new gTLD applications nor the new gTLD guidebook which resulted from ICANN policy-making;
  2. ICANN can, therefore, do whatever it wants with new gTLD applications without any liability because California Civil Code §1668 does not apply, and all new gTLD applicants are required to accept the terms and conditions of the guidebook which includes a Covenant Not To Sue and Release;
  3. There is nothing any Court, including a U.S. District Court, can do about this, other than dismiss all cases filed by parties claiming otherwise.
Judge Klausner's response, in essence, seems to be:
  1. The public has an interest in the fair and transparent application process that grants gTLD rights. ICANN regulates the internet, a global system that dramatically impacts daily life in today's society;
  2. California Civil Code §1668 applies and the guidebook's Covenant Not To Sue and Release violates California public policy, i.e., the Release is “against the policy of the law”;
  3. In such cases, the United States District Court for the Central District of California, at Los Angeles, serves as a judicial forum to provide remedies, legal and equitable, for injured parties.
The fact that ICANN is arguing in a U.S. Court that there is no public interest involved in the new gTLD application process is illuminating. This may be related to what Internet Hall of Famer Dr. Paul Vixie characterized as the corruption of ICANN and its new gTLDs program. Contrast the ICANN position on its new gTLD process with that elucidated by Timothy Berners-Lee:
"When a decision is taken about a possible new top-level domain, ICANN's job is to work out, in a transparent and accountable manner, whether it is really in the best interest of the world as a whole, not just of those launching the new domain."
Sir Tim is referring to the public interest. Judge Klausner apparently agrees, there is a public interest involved.

Nonetheless, ICANN is not giving up, and repeated the same arguments in a filing two days after the injunction was granted:

"Plaintiff [DotConnectAfrica Trust] asserts “[i]t [the Release or Covenant Not To Sue] cannot mean that ICANN can decide to reject a qualified applicant for any reason whatsoever.” (Opp’n at 16: 24- 26.) However, that is exactly what the contract term means. Thor Seafood Corp. v. Supply Management Services, 352 F.Supp.2d 1128, 1131 (2005) ...."--ICANN's Amended Reply Memorandum (pdf) filed April 14, 2016, in support of ICANN's Motion to Dismiss DCA Trust's First Amended Complaint in its entirety, with prejudice, set for hearing on April 25 (emphasis added).

Of course, all of this bears on the touchy subject of ICANN's future jurisdiction, which was deferred to Work Stream 2 (WS2) of the CCWG-Accountability process, for political reasons--foreign and domestic--Congress would not otherwise approve an IANA transition that changed ICANN's jurisdiction, and others outside the U.S. are adamant that ICANN should be located in a neutral jurisdiction such as Switzerland. Jurisdiction is not a fundamental bylaw under the proposed new bylaws, and theoretically ICANN could change its jurisdiction at any time in the future after the transition is complete and the Affirmation of Committments (see paragraph 8), is no longer in effect. However, this decision to defer the threshhold issue of jurisdiction has only contributed to the dysfunction of the overall CCWG-Accountability WS1 process--all of the new proposed bylaws are drafted in accordance with, and dependent upon, ICANN's jurisdiction remaining in California.

ICANN has tried to "play both sides of the fence" on the jurisdiction issue--telling Congress (under oath), ICANN will stay in the U.S., and telling, e.g., the French Senate, that ICANN is moving forward with plans to create a “parallel, legal, international structure, maybe in Switzerland, for ICANN,”--see Fadi Chehadé, Will ICANN Move to Switzerland? | DomainMondo.com and Will ICANN Board Disclose New Swiss Legal Structure at ICANN 50 London? | DomainMondo.com.

 Wonder why people don't trust ICANN?

• In the IANA Transition process, this Wednesday, April 20, is the scheduled posting date for public comment on ICANN's new proposed bylaws in connection with the IANA transition and ICANN accountability proposal. Public comment period is scheduled for the period April 20 through May 20, 2016:

• Calls with Community on Public Comments Submitted on ICANN's Draft FY17 Operating Plan and Budget - Finance Community Wiki: ICANN will be holding community calls during which the comments submitted on the Draft FY17 Operating Plan and Budget will be presented by the submitters to ICANN staff. According to ICANN, this is intended to enhance the understanding of the comments and so improve the quality of the response. The schedule for these calls will be published as dates and times are agreed with each constituency group, more info here.

• In the world of tech,  the Yahoo ($YHOO) bid deadline is Monday, April 18, 2016. Yahoo's Q1 2016 earnings release is Tuesday, April 19, after market close. Google n/k/a Alphabet ($GOOGL, $GOOG) will be reporting Q1 2016 earnings Thursday, April 21, after market close [corrected to delete reference to Amazon which will report April 28].

• In Washington this week, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is hosting a summit on Tuesday and Wednesday (media not invited), which will feature Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), interviewed by a16z.com co-founder partner, Marc Andreessen.

• On Tuesday, April 19, House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing entitled, “Deciphering the Debate Over Encryption: Industry and Law Enforcement Perspectives.” Bruce Sewell, general counsel of Apple, and Amy Hess, the FBI's executive assistant director for Science and Technology, will be among those testifying.

• On Friday, April 15, Neustar, Inc. (NYSE: NSR), a Top-Level Domain Name (.co, .us, .biz, etc.) Registry Operator and Registry Services provider, and technology company, announced that J. Beckwith (“Becky”) Burr, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, has been elected by domain name industry registries and registrars, to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors, replacing Melbourne IT's Bruce Tonkin whose term expires November, 2016. Burr has been an effective advocate for the interests of Neustar, and the domain name industry generally, within ICANN, most recently as the Registry Stakeholder Group appointed member of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability). Like many lawyers-lobbyists-stakeholders active in ICANN, Burr not only has domain name industry ties, but is also a product of Washington, D.C.'s revolving door culture, having once served as Associate Administrator of NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce, at the time of ICANN's formation in 1998, about which Domain Mondo may have an upcoming post.

• ICANN ex-CEO Fadi Chehade's partner in his NETmundial schemes, Brazil's Presidenta Dilma Rousseff, faces an impeachment vote on Sunday, April 17, based on allegations of misappropriated funds from public banks to shore up the government’s finances as she faced a tough re-election in 2014, the same year as the NETmundial Conference in São Paulo, Brazil. Maybe she should have followed Fadi's example and just left voluntarily. Who knows, she might have gotten a big bonus and a grand $100,000+ "Tribute Party" in Marrakech, complete with camel selfies, like Fadi did!

Finally, check out the Domain Mondo posts (including videos) this past Friday and Saturday on the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. Note the IMF legal structure and compare it to ICANN's.

Have a great week!

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo



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2016-03-16

ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade's Last Letter to Dilma Rousseff

UPDATE: Flashback--
"... And then there is dysfunctional ICANN mission drift--one would think with the on-going roll-out (and concurrent problems) of the largest expansion of the domain name system in history, as well as the multiple on-going processes concerning ICANN accountability and the IANA transition, that the ICANN CEO would have more than enough on his plate, but no, he has been spending his time (and hundreds of thousands of dollars from ICANN's budget) trying to "force" or "beg" the global internet community to join his ill-conceived, top-down, unwanted, unneeded idea for another global internet organization--the so-called NETmundial Initiative, not to be confused with the original NETmundial Conference held in Brazil--The Register: "ICANN has been criticized for its efforts to control conversations over internet governance while at the same time claiming to be open. The creation of the NetMundial conference earlier this year and its sister astroturf * organization, 1Net, was bankrolled by ICANN. It then used its clout to controversially change a key recommendation of the conference at the last minute. Some months after that conference, ICANN was again criticized when it announced out of the blue that it was partnering with the World Economic Forum to create the namesake "NetMundial Initiative"."). *“Astroturfing” is the practice of hiring a third­ party group to advocate for an issue, falsely giving the impression that the effort is a “grassroots,” bottom­up initiative ..." --17 December 2014 ICANN, Dysfunctional, Sick Organizational Culture, Warped Values | DomainMondo.com

No wonder ICANN refuses to disclose its spending outside the United States to influence governments, governmental officials, or others--corrupt or otherwise--see How ICANN and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé Evade Accountability | DomainMondo.com.
[--end of UPDATE--]

Two Days ago, Domain Mondo published Brazil Insulted by ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Farewell Letter, which incuded an excerpt from Fadi's Farewell Letter to the ICANN Board of Directors and the March 9th retort by the Brazilian Ambassador at ICANN55, in Marrakech, Morocco, together with Fadi's reply. Below is a March 12th letter from the (now) former ICANN President and CEO to the President of Brazil, subsequently published on the ICANN website (pdf), embedded below:



Unfortunately the "partnership" which Fadi says in his letter started on October 10, 2013--"a key turning point in digital geopolitics"--has taken a turn for the worse, see first link above, and NETmundial Initiative, WEF and ICANN Withdrawal, Consequences | DomainMondo.com.

And unfortunately for Presidenta Dilma Rousseff, apart from any issue involving ICANN or internet governance, things have deteriorated dramatically, see:



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