News Review | The State of the Domain Name Industry Q1 2018

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-06-17) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) The State of the Domain Name Industry Q1 2018,  2)Other ICANN news: a. ICANN vs. EPAG, b. ICANN Board Public Sessions June 22-23, c.ICANN WHOIS & GDPR: EPDP (Expedited Policy Development Process), d. NTIA & IANA, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: a. Worst TLDs, and more, 4) ICYMI: EU's Article 13 Nightmare, 5) Most Read.

1) The State of the Domain Name Industry Q1 2018

a. Rampant spam, falling registrations show new gTLDs have limited business value | TechRepublic.com June 15, 2018: "Studies indicate malicious actors are disproportionately using cheap new gTLDs ... [new gTLDs' domain name] registrations have fallen 20% over the last year ..."

b. Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) Q1 2018 | Verisign.com published June 14, 2018, key metrics:

• All TLDs (top-level domains): The first quarter of 2018 closed with approximately 333.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of approximately 1.4 million domain name registrations, or 0.4%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. Domain name registrations have grown by approximately 3.2 million, or 1%, year over year. 
• ccTLDs: Total country-code TLD (ccTLD) domain name registrations were approximately 146.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2018, with an increase of approximately 0.2 million domain name registrations, or 0.1%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. ccTLDs increased by approximately 3.2 million domain name registrations, or 2.2%, year over year.
• The ten largest TLDs in the world (Verisign graphic) as of March 31, 2018, (in millions of domain name registrations): .com 133.9; .cn 21.4: .tk 19.9; .de 16.3; .net 14.4; .uk 12.0; .org 10.3; .info 6.2; .ru 6.1; .nl 5.8.
• New gTLDs continue shrinking in total registrations and as a share (%) of all gTLDs: 6% of all gTLDs as of March 31, 2018 (20.2 million registrations), as compared to 6.2% as of Dec. 31, 2017 (20.6 million) and 7.7% as of March 31, 2017 (25.4 million). 

Editor's note: rather than acknowledge the new gTLDs disaster of its own making, ICANN is in an apparent 'state of denial and delusion' (la-la land). Also note new gTLDs have no price controls, a new gTLD domain name that costs you $20 to register today could cost you $20,000 next year to renew the registration for just one year (in the absolute sole discretion of the registry operator), ICANN couldn't care less about domain name registrants being "ripped off." In fact, that's the way ICANN intentionally designed and implemented the new gTLDs program against the advice of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and FTC (U.S. Federal Trade Commission):

US Dept of Justice Antitrust Division recommendations via NTIA to ICANN (Dec 3, 2008)

Legacy generic top-level domains (gTLDs) .COM and .NET as of Mar. 31, 2018:

(a) gTLD .com (price-controlled by U.S. gov NTIA) domain name base totaled approximately 133.9 million domain name registrations, an increase of 2 million, or 2%, from 131.9 as of Dec. 31, 2017), and an increase of 5.5 million registrations, or 4%, year over year (as of March 31, 2017, the .com domain name base totaled 128.4 million);

(b) gTLD .net (ineptly price-controlled by ICANN) domain name base totaled approximately 14.4 million domain name registrations, a decline of 100,000 registrations from 14.5 million as of Dec. 31, 2017 and a decline of 800,000 registrations year over year (as of March 31, 2017, the .net domain name base totaled 15.2 million).

2) ICANN news

a. ICANN vs. EPAG: more on ICANN's Appeal of the German Court Decision on GDPR / WHOIS rejecting ICANN's request for an injunction against German domain name registrar EPAG (which is part of Tucows):

"So what on earth is ICANN doing? And why is it spending millions of dollars pursuing flawed legal challenge after flawed legal challenge? The answer is simple: the organization has more money than sense."--Kieren McCarthy in TheRegister.co.uk

June 7, 2018, letter from Tucows CEO Elliot Noss to ICANN CEO Goran Marby:

b. ICANN.org: The ICANN Board of Directors will be holding four public sessions and a public Board meeting during its upcoming workshop in Panama City, Panama, which will be taking place  22-24 June 2018, ahead of ICANN62.

The agenda of the ICANN Board of Directors' public meeting & sessions, Friday and Saturday, June 22-23, is provided below (all times UTC):

• 22 June 18:15 (2:15pm EDT) – 19:15 IDN Variant TLD Implementation Recommendations

• 23 June 14:00 (10am EDT) – 15:00 Public Board Meeting

• 23 June 18:00 (2pm EDT) – 18:15 Board FY18 Priorities – Status of Deliverables

• 23 June 18:15 (2:15pm EDT) – 18:45 Long-Term and Short-Term Options for Streamlining the Reviews
• 23 June 22:00 (6pm EDT) – 23:00 Internet Governance Strategic Discussion Progress

The sessions will be in English only. The format for each will be a listen-only session via Adobe Connect: https://participate.icann.org/opencommunity/  Additional access numbers here.  Participant Code: 5542211258. More information about the Panama workshop and other upcoming ICANN Board meetings here. See also Chair's Blog: A Preview of the Panama Board Workshop | ICANN.org.

c. ICANN WHOIS & GDPR: EPDP (Expedited Policy Development Process)
UPDATE 20 June 2018: graphic below from the GNSO pre-ICANN62 webinar on June 18.

See also 19 June 2018 GNSO--EPDP Initiation Request and Charter Drafting Team 13:00 UTC Transcript, Mp3, and Adobe Connect Recording;

Reference to the "elephant in the room" (in transcript/recording above) is to the following published by ICANN org 19 June 2018:
Data Protection/Privacy Update: Seeking Community Feedback on Proposed Unified Access Model | ICANN.org:

• draft Framework Elements for a Unified Access Model for Continued Access to Full WHOIS Data [PDF, 93 KB] and comparison chart [PDF, 90 KB];

• draft Registration Directory Data System (RDDS) Access Agreement (pdf) draft 1.0 Jun18

• Data Protection/Privacy Issues | ICANN.org

• Draft WHOIS Accreditation and Access Model for Non-Public WHOIS Data (pdf) v1.6

• The Palage Differentiated Registrant Data Access Model (pdf) (aka Philly Special) v2.0

An extraordinary GNSO Council meeting on 12 June resulted in the GNSO Council agreeing to form a drafting team consisting of Council leadership and interested Council members to develop an Initiation Request for an Expedited Policy Development Process as well as a proposed Charter for this effort. Many sessions at the upcoming ICANN62 meeting, June 25-28, will deal with the GDPR and EPDP. Additional information below:

• 12 June 2018 Extraordinary GNSO Council Meeting 12:00 UTC Agenda; Transcript; Chat Transcript; Mp3; Adobe Connect Recording.

• Documents 12 June 2018 - GNSO Council Meeting and Council June 2018 Archive

• High-level notes taken at the meeting of the ICANN Board and GNSO Council on 5 June 2018 (pdf)

• Notes from GNSO Council - ICANN Board meeting to discuss next steps(pdf)

See also:

Let’s talk about WHOIS accreditation – Before it’s too late | internetgovernance.org--by Farzaneh Badii, Chair of ICANN's Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG). 

Have You Had Your GDPR Training Today? "... [it's] almost as if it's a badge of honor [in ICANN] to talk about complex legal matters not studied closely. We demand a high standard of knowledge from those who want to participate on the technical side of ICANN's work; we need an equally high standard on the GDPR side as well ... 'Recent research has established that it takes more than 20 hours of training just to acquire a workable understanding of the GDPR' … Let's require every member of the upcoming EPDP — members of the community, staff AND consultants — to complete neutral GDPR Training of the type IAPP identified above — 20 hours for "workable understanding" — before coming onto the EPDP ...." --Kathy Kleiman in circleid.com.

ICANN.org Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data, Webinar 6 June 2018: Adobe Connect and Presentation [PDF, 213 KB].
Audio recordings also available: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.

d. NTIA & IANA: Oversight of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration - Hearings - U.S. Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, & Transportation (video) 13 June 2018, witness: David J. Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator, NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce. Asked whether the IANA transition was "complete and irreversible," Redl answered, "Yes, that is my personal view," adding, "but we've put that question out there, if you do want to unwind it, how do we do so?" More at the link above and in last week's News Review.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Top Ten TLDs (top-level domains) with the worst reputations for spam operations as of 11 June 2018 include 5 new gTLDs : #1 .men; #2 .loan; #7 .top; #8 .click; #9 .work; and 5 ccTLDs--The Spamhaus Project | The Top 10 Most Abused TLDs | spamhaus.org.

b. Law Firm Squire Patton Boggs Resolves China Intellectual Property Disputes Over Its Name | law.com: June 12, 2018: "Four years after a company commandeered official use of the firm's name in China, the U.S. firm said it is now in full ownership of all trademarks and domain names in the country ..."

c. Why Web.com Group Inc. Stock Jumped Today | fool.com 11 Jun 2018: hedge fund Starboard Value disclosed a 9.4% ownership stake in Web.com and investors are "starved for good news." NASDAQ: WEB.

d. Nominet [Registry operator for .UK] throws out US corp's attempt to seize Brit domain names | TheRegister.co.uk: domain names forte.co.uk and forte.uk.

e. Want to secure your website? Here's where to start | TechRadar.com

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

EU's Article 13 Nightmare: 70+ Internet Luminaries Ring the Alarm on EU Copyright Filtering Proposal | Electronic Frontier Foundation | EFF.org: "As Europe's latest copyright proposal heads to a critical vote on June 20-21, more than 70 Internet and computing luminaries have spoken out against a dangerous provision, Article 13, that would require Internet platforms to automatically filter uploaded content ..."

Viet Nam: Proposed cybersecurity law threatens to stamp out online freedom | Amnesty International. See also "Vietnam said the groups behind Sunday’s protests against proposed laws demonstrators view as curbing Internet freedom and favoring Chinese investors were trying to damage the country’s image, after the rare display of public activism reportedly turned violent"--Bloomberg.com.

Cybercrime: Feds arrest dozens in alleged wire transfer scam | TheHill.com 11 Jun 2018

DNS Data Attacks: European Firms Most Vulnerable To DNS Data Attacks: Study | MediaPost.com

Net Neutrality: Four ways to survive the end of net neutrality today | fastcompany.com 11 Jun 2018

Net Neutrality (counter view): Celebrating internet freedom: What the Restoring Internet Freedom Order means for consumers | aei.org.

Russia: TASS.com: Business & Economy - Putin calls for finding modern ways to ensure security without banning Internet.

DNS Blocking: Swiss have voted in favor of authorities having the right to order internet service providers to block access to unlicensed online gambling sites for residents of the country--On Sunday, voters in Switzerland backed a new law | casino.org.

Oracle Internet Intelligence Map | Oracle.com--Oracle Internet Intelligence | Oracle.com.

5) Five most read posts this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

1. News Review | Should the IANA Stewardship Transition Be Unwound?
includes UPDATE: ICANN Appeals German Court Decision on GDPR / WHOIS

2. Tesla CEO Elon Musk & $TSLA Shareholders' Wild Ride (video)

3. Tech Review | Netflix $NFLX Shaking Up Disney & Other Media Companies

4. Tech Review | Elon Musk Sticking To His Guns On Tesla Targets (video)

5. How Uber Disrupted the New York City Taxi Medallion Market (video)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

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News Review | Should the IANA Stewardship Transition Be Unwound?

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-06-10) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Should the IANA Stewardship Transition Be Unwound? 2) ICANN news: a. Reason #1 Why ICANN's new gTLDs are failing,  b. GDPR Effects at ICANN, c. Pre-ICANN62 Webinars & Reports and more, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read Posts.

UPDATE: Should the IANA Stewardship Transition Be Unwound?

Deadline to respond to the NTIA notice of inquiry (pdf) has been extended to July 17, 2018, 5:00 pm EDT (more information in the original post further below).

UPDATE June 14, 2018: ICANN Appeals German Court Decision on GDPR / WHOIS: ICANN statement published on its website June 14, 2018 UTC:

"LOS ANGELES – 13 June 2018 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today appealed a decision by the Regional Court in Bonn, Germany not to issue an injunction in proceedings that ICANN initiated against EPAG, a Germany-based, ICANN-accredited registrar that is part of the Tucows Group. The appeal was filed to the Higher Regional Court of Cologne, Germany. ICANN is asking the Higher Regional Court to issue an injunction that would require EPAG to reinstate the collection of all WHOIS data required under EPAG’s Registrar Accreditation Agreement with ICANN. The Regional Court in Bonn rejected ICANN’s initial application for an injunction, in which ICANN sought to require EPAG to collect administrative contact and technical contact data for new domain name registrations. If the Higher Regional Court does not agree with ICANN or is not clear about the scope of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ICANN is also asking the Higher Regional Court to refer the issues in ICANN’s appeal to the European Court of Justice. ICANN is appealing the 30 May 2018 decision by the Regional Court in Bonn as part of ICANN’s public interest role in coordinating a decentralized global WHOIS for the generic top-level domain system. “We are continuing to seek clarity of how to maintain a global WHOIS system and still remain consistent with legal requirements under the GDPR,” said John Jeffrey, ICANN’s General Counsel and Secretary. “We hope that the Court will issue the injunction or the matter will be considered by the European Court of Justice.”..."

Background of previous proceedings and the Court ruling appealed from in this case--News Review | GDPR Effect: ICANN Sues German Domain Name Registrar.

Appeal documents filed by ICANN--ICANN v. EPAG Domainservices, GmbH  [Editor's note: Personal identifiable information has been redacted by ICANN]:
English Translation of Immediate Appeal [PDF, 844 KB] (Unofficial; provided for information purposes only) embed in full below:

Other documents filed by ICANN in the appeal:

• Immediate Appeal [PDF, 5.75 MB]
• Appendix AS-9: GDPR Domain Industry Playbook [PDF, 3.7 MB]
• Appendix AS-10: Excerpts from www.bestregistrar.com; vcgcorporate.zendesk.com; and directnic.com [PDF, 266 KB]
• Appendix AS-11: Tucows Domains, Inc.'s Master Domain Registration Agreement [PDF, 599 KB]
• Appendix AS-12 (1 of 3): Endorsement by The European Data Protection Board [PDF, 198 KB]
• Appendix AS-12 (2 of 3): Opinion on the Principle of "purpose limitation" by Article 29 Data Protection Working Party [PDF, 772 KB]
• Appendix AS-12 (3 of 3): Guidelines on the Application and Setting of Administrative Fines for the Purposes of Regulation 2016/679 by Article 29 Data Protection Working Party [PDF, 616 KB]

Original Post:
1) Should the IANA Stewardship Transition Be Unwound?

Editor's note: Less than 2 years after the IANA transition was completed on October 1, 2016, the U.S. government's NTIA is asking stakeholders a number questions, including, "Should the IANA Stewardship Transition be unwound? If yes, why and how? If not, why not?" This is in stark contrast to the NTIA under Larry Strickling (Obama administration) which never solicited stakeholders' opinions before abruptly announcing its IANA transition intentions in March, 2014.

A few days before NTIA published its "notice of inquiry" above, former ICANN staff member Kieren McCarthy wrote about ICANN, the IANA transition and its aftermath (edits and emphasis added):

"... the global internet [ICANN] community did a lousy job, giving ICANN a new-found autonomy in return for a series of worthless accountability measures. Since that handover [IANA transition] on September 30, 2016, two things have become clear:

• ICANN continues to make terrible decisions, and

• European governments have decided that they will use their collective power as the EU [European Union] to force changes on how the internet functions.

"The [ICANN] organization has repeatedly been taken to task for its actions through the mechanism that was designed to keep it accountable: an "independent review panel" or IRP. Yet despite several striking decisions made against ICANN by that panel little or nothing has changed. Among the things that have come out in recent years are: that its own staff repeatedly interfered in independent processes; that it broke its own rules and bylaws to reach a pre-decided conclusion; that it secretly rewrote reports and then lied about it; that staff misled its own board and then claimed otherwise; that its board members lied about looking into allegations; that it hid millions of dollars of payment to Washington lobbyists; and many, many more. For those that have heard of it, the [ICANN] organization has become a shorthand for dysfunction and unaccountable power. It is the internet's FIFA scandal ... what will become of Whois, ICANN and the US-led internet? We should know in the next year ..." 

NTIA Looks to Stakeholders to Help Shape its International Agenda | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | ntia.doc.gov: June 04, 2018 by David J. Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator--"... In a notice of inquiry, we are asking all interested stakeholders – businesses, civil society groups, the technical community, academics, and the general public to provide us with comments and recommendations. The input we receive will inform NTIA's international Internet policy priorities going forward ..."

Notice of inquiry, excerpts:
II. Multistakeholder Approach to Internet Governance
A. Does the multistakeholder approach continue to support an environment for the internet to grow and thrive? If so, why? If not, why not?
B. Are there public policy areas in which the multistakeholder approach works best? If yes, what are those areas and why? Are there areas in which the multistakeholder approach does not work effectively? If there are, what are those areas and why?
C. Are the existing accountability structures within multistakeholder internet governance sufficient? If not, why not? What improvements can be made?
D. Should the IANA Stewardship Transition be unwound? If yes, why and how? If not, why not?
E. What should be NTIA’s priorities within ICANN and the GAC?
F. Are there any other DNS related activities NTIA should pursue? If yes, please describe ...."

"Recognizing the vital importance of the Internet and digital communications to U.S. innovation, prosperity, education, and civic and cultural life, NTIA has made it a top priority to encourage growth and innovation for the Internet and Internet-enabled economy. Towards that end, NTIA is seeking comments and recommendations from all interested stakeholders on its international Internet policy priorities for 2018 and beyond. These comments will help inform NTIA to identify priority issues and help NTIA effectively leverage its resources and expertise to address those issues. Comments are due on or before 5 p.m. Eastern Time on July 2, 2018.

"Written comments may be submitted by email to iipp2018@ntia.doc.gov. Comments submitted by email should be machine-readable and should not be copy-protected. Written comments also may be submitted by mail to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Room 4725, Attn: Fiona Alexander, Washington, DC 20230." More information here (pdf) embed below:

Former NTIA administrator Larry Strickling, who pushed through the IANA stewardship transition from 2014-2016, over objections and concerns voiced by members of the global internet community, as well as members of the U.S. Congress, maintained that the transition cannot be unwound, in his response to a question asked by ICANN insider (and former ICANN Board Member) Rinalia Abdul Rahim at a sparsely attended "keynote" he gave on June 6, 2018, at EuroDIG 2018, video below:

2) ICANN news

a. Reason #1 why ICANN's new gTLDs are failing, badly:

Source: ntldstats.com

“Any endeavor has unintended consequences. Any ill-conceived endeavor has more”--The Law of Unintended Consequences | fs.blog (emphasis and link added).

Editor's note: as I have noted before: "This is what happens when you design and implement a new gTLDs program founded upon consumer fraud, a .BRAND extortion racket, exploitative pricing power and greed, and ICANN incompetence." Don't whine and complain about "internet fragmentation" if you are (or have been) in a leadership position at ICANN. The worst fragmenting of the internet in its entire history, began with ICANN's irresponsible expansion of TLDs (top-level domains)--more than 1,250 TLDs beginning in 2014, on top of the then existing 22 gTLDs and less than 300 ccTLDs (one 2-character country code for each "country" as primarily determined by ISO 3166--see RFC 1591).  Going forward, there is no way ICANN can responsibly police, by contract or otherwise, the more than 1250+ TLDs it has inflicted upon the global internet community. For a moment, forget about the EU & GDPR, NTIA, INTA and the trademark lawyers that ICANN org is in bed with, do you really think law enforcement agencies throughout the world (almost 200 nations) are going to willingly pay and pick up the costs of policing ICANN's malfeasance, without asserting their sovereign authority and imposing their own controls, jointly, or individually as China is already doing? Ask India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping of China what they think. If you think it doesn't matter what India and China (and all the other non-Western nations) think, you may be as clueless as ICANN.

b. GDPR Effects at ICANN:

GNSO "mind map" Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data - Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP)

• EPDP--Transcript (pdf) & Chat Transcript (pdf) of GNSO Council meeting June 5 with the ICANN Board to discuss next steps following the ICANN's Board adoption of the temporary specification. 

Editor's note: dysfunction. This EPDP process is "top-down," designed and engineered by ICANN org and Board members who are advancing their favored "positions" with the consent of the GNSO leadership--

Stephanie Perrin: the temp spec is an attempt to comply with law. There has been no admission that existing instruments have not complied with law for quite a few years now. I am not optimistic about our chances for clarity in scope if we cannot get a clear picture of which practices enmeshed in contract and policy are not in compliance with law.

Heather Forrest (member of the Intellectual Property Constituency and GNSO Council Chair): @Stephanie - I'm still trying to get my head around how a regional law that does not apply to all the world has this extrajudicial effect of requiring global changes. (source Chat transcript June 5, 2018)

• New gTLD Program Personal Data Privacy Statement | ICANN New gTLDs | ICANN.org

• Redline from the previous version of the New gTLD Program Personal Data Privacy Statement [PDF, 58 KB]
• 6 June 2018 Letter from Akram Atallah [ICANN] to Graeme Bunton (pdf) re ICANN Across Field Address Validation and Privacy & Proxy Services Accreditation Implementation pause.
• Data Protection/Privacy Update: ICANN’s GDPR Efforts with Temporary Specification Now in Effect | ICANN.org 05 Jun 2018.

Editor's note: if you think there was a "lack of clarity" in the German Court ruling rejecting ICANN's request for an injunction against German domain name registrar EPAG, then read what knowledgeable, competent lawyers in the subject matter are saying, see e.g., ICANN loses data-gathering court battle | out-law.com including remarks by Ann Henry, an expert in data protection and intellectual property law at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. See also 'Data controller' concept expanded by EU court ruling | out-law.com 5 June 2018.

The best #GDPR joke we've heard so far:
He's making a list
He's checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
Santa Claus is in contravention of article 4 of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU)2016/679

Santa- visit our #GDPR special: https://t.co/xL5tp9JtI7

— Pinsent Masons (@Pinsent_Masons) May 22, 2018

c. Pre-ICANN62 Webinars and Policy Reports

 ICANN62 Panama City, Panama, is June 25-28, 2018.

Pre-ICANN62 90 minute Policy Webinar 12 June 2018 | ICANN.org: Pre-ICANN62 Policy Webinar Tuesday, 12 June 2018 at 10:00 UTC and at 19:00 UTC. The webinar will run in English with simultaneous Spanish interpretation. The presentation materials will be translated into Spanish, and posted following the Webinar with the recordings of the sessions here. Register via this form by 11 June 2018.

Register for the Pre-ICANN62 GNSO Policy Webinar | Generic Names Supporting Organization: Monday, 18 June 2018, 21:00 UTC – 22:30 UTC. Pre-register here. "Remote participation details will be sent the week of 11 June 2018 upon RSVP." More info at link above.

d. ICANN Reserve Fund Replenishment Strategy Response [pdf 33.9 KB] embed below:

e. 2017 & 2018 Reconsideration Requests Status Update 6 June 2018, ICANN.org:

• reconsideration-requests-status-2017-06jun18-en.pdf [107 KB]

• reconsideration-requests-status-2018-06jun18-en.pdf [82 KB]

f.  Second Security, Stability, and Resiliency of the DNS Review (SSR2)--Official restart of the SSR2 5 June 2018--for background see News Review Dec 17, 2017: US Gov NTIA Rebukes ICANN Board of Directors over its interference with SSR2 (re: the ICANN Board's unprecedented and unilateral action of suspending the work of SSR2 Review Team on October 28, 2017).

g. More ICANN New gTLDs' Dysfunction:

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. 5 Ways to Track Down a Domain Owner After GDPR--NamePros.com. [Editor's note: there are even more ways, but this is a good start.]

b. FYI: TucowsDomains.com | Tiered Access (Gated Whois): see also tieredaccess.com.

c. Google Taking action against scammers | blog.google: "... We’ve created a new tool that lets business owners report scammy practices and policy violations, and provide the specific information needed for us to take action against these third parties ... a few things you can do immediately to protect yourself: Verify whether someone is actually reaching out from Google. Often these fraudulent callers will use language like, “Google specialist” or “calling about or on behalf of Google.” To verify whether a caller is actually calling from Google, you can ask that they send you an email from a Google email account to further verify their identity. Anyone who works for Google should be able to send you an email from an @google.com email account. The Google Safety Center outlines additional tips ... There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. Any company that claims to be able to do so may be running a scam. If you get an unwanted robocall, hang up the phone. Do not press any key, even if the voice recording prompts you to in order to speak with a live person or to be taken off the call list. Report unwanted callers to Google, and also the FTC or the FCC.  Register your personal number with the [in the U.S.] National Do Not Call Registry (1-888-382-1222) ..."

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. Google is a GDPR Winner!--Google is emerging as an early winner from Europe’s new data privacy law reports WSJ.com. Early data shows the digital ad giant is gathering individuals’ consent for targeted ads at far higher rates than other competing online-ad services.

b. EU: Article 13 could "destroy the internet as we know it": What is it, why is it controversial and what will it mean for memes? | Alphr.com: "Critics of the proposed EU directive on copyright warn that it could censor internet users."

c. Iran: Telegram App on Frontline of Iran's Assault on Online Freedom | BloombergQuint.com

d. Best cheap VPNs: Nord, PIA, IPVanish, and more | mashable.com and Best VPN for India | AndroidAuthority.com.

e. IGF 2018 Call for Open Forums | Internet Governance Forum | intgovforum.org: "The IGF Secretariat is now accepting requests to hold Open Forums at the 13th IGF, until a deadline of Friday 29 June 2018, 23:59 UTC. All Governments, treaty-based international organizations, and global organizations with international scope and presence, with operations across regions, dealing with Internet governance-related issues, are invited to submit requests for an Open Forum slot through this e-form. The inclusion of a background paper with the request is strongly encouraged. Open Forums should focus on a Government or organization’s IG-pertinent activities during the past year and allow sufficient time for questions and discussions. The standard duration for the session is 60 minutes. Governments and treaty-based international organizations will be given slots on a priority basis."

5) Most read posts this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

1. News Review | Europe Tells ICANN Again, No GDPR Moratorium

2. Tech Review | Internet Trends 2018, What Mary Meeker Missed

3. Tech Review | Elon Musk Sticking To His Guns On Tesla Targets (video)

4. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google - Fifth Horseman Spotify $SPOT?

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

News Review | What Is ICANN? | New ICANN Domain Name Transfer Policy

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news [pdf]:

1. Feature: What is ICANN?
2. Feature: New ICANN Domain Name Transfer Policy
3. A new domain name for Alphabet's (Google) investment fund
4. Who controls the internet?
5. Google Power
6. An idealist's dreams crushed by new gTLD's greed?
7. ICANN57 meeting in Hyderabad, India
8. India registering domain names at a leading rate
9. Avoiding branding nightmares
10. CCWG-Accountability Meeting in Hyderabad
11. New gTLD .CHARITY
12. Verisign's IANA Lobbyist
13. Q3 2016 earnings season
14. Governments and the internet: China, Turkey, U.A.E., and other despots
15. ISPs and Terrorism (France)
16. ISPs and Personal Data (U.S.)
17. Internet Shutdown Prevention
18. ITU CWG-Internet: Online Open Consultation
19. Most popular posts this past week

1. Feature •  What is ICANN? 

"Indeed, the [ICANN] Bylaws could not comprise an enforceable contract between ICANN and Plaintiff, because Plaintiff lacks standing to claim that ICANN has breached the Bylaws. ICANN is a not-for-profit public benefit corporation, and only officers, directors, the corporation or a member [ICANN has no members] thereof, the [California] attorney general or a person with an interest in an asset the corporation holds in charitable trust have standing to sue for breach of the corporation’s foundational documents. Cal. Corp. Code § 5142; Hardman v. Feinstein, 195 Cal. App. 3d 157, 161–62 (1987)."--ICANN's Motion to Dismiss Memorandum (pdf) at p.17 of 33, Ruby Glen LLC vs ICANN, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Case 2:16-cv-05505-PA-AS., filed Oct. 26, 2016 (emphasis added).

2. Feature •  New ICANN Domain Name Transfer Policy Effective December 1, 2016 summarized as follows:

• Effective December 1, 2016, it will no longer be possible to change the registrant of a domain name with a simple domain modification request.

• Any changes to first name, last name, organization or email address fields for the registration, current or new, of any gTLD [.COM, .NET, .ORG, new gTLDs, etc.] domain name will now start a process mandated by the new ICANN policy.

• The process involves obtaining explicit confirmation from current and "new" registrants before a change can be completed.

• After a change of registration has been completed, previous and new registrant will receive a confirmation notice informing them that the change has completed.

• After a change of registrant has been completed, the domain is by default locked for transfers to a new registrar for the following 60 days.

New transfer policy QA | OpenSRS.com: "At OpenSRS, we believe that the ICANN community who came up with this new policy did a disservice to [domain name] registrants. The policy requirements do not add any positive element to the experience of managing a domain name, and there has been no consideration how this policy would align with the number of other ICANN mandated policies which are already in place. Nonetheless, OpenSRS is, like all other ICANN accredited registrars, bound by the terms of the Transfer Policy .."

Once this new ICANN policy is in effect on December 1, 2016, the impact on domain name registrants, including domain name resellers and their end users, will be considerable. Other registrars, including an industry leader, Namecheap.com, are re-working the terms of their service agreements in order to comply with ICANN's onerous policy while attempting to ease the burdens it unnecessarily imposes on domain name registrants:

New ICANN Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy | Namecheap.com: "According to the regulations introduced by Internet Corporation of Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) starting from December 1, 2016, a new Transfer Policy will be in effect with all registrars. To better serve our customers and ensure ICANN regulations are followed, we are updating our Universal Terms of Service Agreement as described below ...." (read more at link above).

Other internet domain news:

3.  A new domain name for Alphabet's (a/k/a Google) investment fund, Google Capital, which rebranded as CapitalG on Friday with a new domain name: capitalG.com. CapitalG investments include Snap Inc. (snap.com), parent company of Snapchat (snapchat.com). The domain name googlecapital.com redirects to capitalg.com.

4. Who controls the internet? A cheat sheet guide to who controls the internet| Slate.com: "... Concentration of corporate power: While the internet itself is decentralized, a disproportionate amount of traffic passes through a small handful of privately owned sites and services such as Google and Facebook. Will these companies become the de facto stewards of the internet? Public participation: In theory, internet governance institutions such as ICANN are open to all stakeholders, including ordinary citizens. But how open are they? Can we develop systems that ensure everyone has a voice—and knows how to contribute?"  See also What exactly is internet governance? | Slate.com.

5. Google Power: A Gmail Rival Sent to Siberia by a Mysterious Google Glitch | NYtimes.com: “Google directly caused ProtonMail’s growth rate worldwide to be reduced by 25 percent for over 10 months,” the company wrote in its blog post. The company went from covering its monthly expenses to drawing on its emergency reserve fund ... this episode is a reminder of a conflict of interest at Google’s core. It is like a football team that gets to write the rules, own all the equipment and control the referees. No opposing franchise in its right mind would compete on those terms, but Google’s popularity and its singular role in online commerce mean that rivals don’t have a choice. See also:

• Google Rebuts Antitrust Claims in Europe | NYTimes.com
• Google’s Remarkably Close Relationship With the Obama White House, in Two Charts | TheIntercept.com
• Wikileaks Reveals Google's "Strategic Plan" To Help Democrats Win The Election, Track Voters | Zero Hedge.com

6. An idealist's dreams crushed by new gTLD's greed? Read Abandoning Intuition & Digital Equity | connectingnyc.org and #StopTheAuctions: High-Bid Auctions Deflate the .nyc TLD | circleid.com.

7.  ICANN57 meeting in Hyderabad, India, began Thursday, November 3, and runs through Wednesday, November 9. More info with links here: ICANN57 and Links | DomainMondo.com. See also FY16 Annual Report of Expense Reimbursement and Other Payments to ICANN Directors for the Period 1 July 2015 Through 30 June 2016 | ICANN.org. For ICANN57 daily updates, follow on Twitter @sgdickinson:

#ICANN57 Public Forum: J Robinson, @Afilias, protests auction process for dotWEB. Was violation of letter & spirit of #newgTLD guidebook.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) November 5, 2016

8. India registering domain names at a leading rate:

"New research from consulting firm Zinnov found that the number of web domains owned by Indian entities grew by 11.9% between June 2013 and June 2016, substantially outpacing the global average of 8.7%. Of these, 56% are registrations in the ‘.com’ TLD, with a further 28% in the country-specific ‘.in’. The next most popular TLDs among Indian entities are ‘.net’ (4%); ‘.org’ (4%); ‘.info’ (1%); ‘.mobi’ (1%); ‘.biz’ (1%); and ‘.asia’ (0.4%). Registrations in new gTLDs accounted for 2% of Indian domains, with other TLDs making up the remaining 3%. To better understand which TLDs were the focus of the intensive growth in new domain registrations, the researchers analysed the preferences of Indian SME registrants at the time of purchasing their domains. They found that legacy TLDs were by far the most popular, with 79% of SMEs aiming to purchase a ‘.com’ domain over options available in other TLDs. Close to 95% of the surveyed SMEs ended up purchasing a domain name the same as, or similar to, their brand name."--WorldTrademarkReview.com

9.  Avoiding branding nightmares: "An area which is often overlooked is domain names; however in the digital age they can be vital assets to your business and brand. Obtaining a domain name for your brand will help with marketing your products and/or services, as well as preventing any third parties from cyber-squatting by purchasing a domain name for the sole purpose of selling it to the brand owner. If you are committed to the brand, purchasing a domain name will not only enhance your brand portfolio, but help you promote your business."--Lexology.com

10. Co-Chairs Statement from CCWG-Accountability Meeting in Hyderabad | ICANN.org: During the meeting, the CCWG-Accountability received updates from its nine subgroups and produced a dashboard to update the ICANN Community about the status of its work ..." (more info at link above). See also IANA Transition Costs | Statement of Activity September 2016 YTD | ICANN.org and IANA Transition Costs | Periodic Cost Summary FY15, FY16 and FY17Q1 | ICANN.org.

11.  New gTLD .CHARITY: Applicant's Correspondence (pdf) to ICANN re: Independent Review Process (IRP) Final Declaration (pdf), Corn Lake, LLC (Donuts) v. ICANN, ICDR Case No. 01-15-0002-9938: "Corn Lake thus urges the Board to reinstate its .CHARITY application without additional review."

12.  Verisign's IANA Lobbyist: POLITICO.com reports the internet domain name registry operator, Verisign (.COM and .NET), brought on lobbyists at Arnold & Porter LLP in September to "handle any fallout in D.C. from the transition away from U.S. government oversight of domain names, according to a newly filed disclosure." Verisign, the internet Root Zone Maintainer under a new agreement with ICANN, also previously spent $80,000 on lobbying in the third quarter and has worked with K&L Gates LLP on policy around internet governance, cybersecurity and privacy.

13.  Q3 2016 Earnings season coverage on Domain Mondo concludes this coming week with domain name registry and registrar services provider Rightside (NASDAQ: NAME), LIVE webcast Nov. 8, at 4:30pm ET.  The world's largest domain name registrar, GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) reported Q3 results this past week: total revenue of $472.1 million, up 14.8% year over year including domains revenue of $236.6 million, up 10.0% year over year. More here: Facebook $FB, GoDaddy $GDDY, Q3 2016 Webcasts, Nov 2, 5pm ET.

14. Governments and the internet: China, Turkey, Despots, U.A.E.

•  China internet authority formalizes regulations for live-streaming industry | Reuters.com: "a move that strips out smaller competitors and places hard-line surveillance measures on leading firms."
• Turkey blocks access to Twitter, Whatsapp by throttling | Reuters.com
• Spies for Hire | theIntercept.com: How the UAE Is Recruiting Hackers to Create the Perfect Surveillance State. 
• How Despots Use Twitter to Hunt Dissidents: "Twitter’s 'firehose' of a half billion tweets a day is incredibly valuable—and just as dangerous."--Bloomberg.com

15.  ISPs and Terrorism: DigitalWatch.giplatform.org (pdf) reports Google.fr, Wikipedia and webhoster OVH.com were inaccessible in France after being wrongly added to ISP Orange’s terrorism blocking list.

16. ISPs and Personal Data: Internet Service Providers [ISPs] now need permission to share or sell your web browsing data in the U.S.--"U.S. Federal Communications Commission has finalized groundbreaking new rules that force all internet providers [ISPs], like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, to obtain explicit consent from subscribers before selling data about online behavior to third-party marketers."--Recode.net

17. Internet Shutdown Prevention:  Can Anything Prevent Another Internet Shutdown in the U.S.? | smallbiztrends.com: “There’s no silver bullet that will provide an easy remedy to this problem  ... As such, it is incumbent on users to educate themselves in online security best practices and for industry to take more proactive steps to optimize the security of their devices.”--Ryan Hagemann, technology and civil liberties policy analyst at the Niskanen Center

18.  ITU CWG-Internet: Online Open Consultation (Oct 2016- Jan 2017) | ITU.int Developmental Aspects of the Internet:

"Considering the importance of Internet to the global digital economy, all stakeholders are invited to submit their comments [by 4 January 2017] on the following key aspects: 1. What are the developmental aspects of the Internet (for example, economic, social, regulatory and technical aspects), especially for developing countries? 2. How can governments and other stakeholders promote the developmental aspects of the Internet? 3. What are the challenges and opportunities?" [More info at the link above.]

19.  Most popular posts this past week (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) on DomainMondo.com:

1. News Review [30Oct]: Post-transition ICANN Yells For Help From U.S. Government
2. Alibaba Group $BABA Q3 2016 Results, LIVE Webcast Nov 2 Replay
3. Facebook $FB, GoDaddy $GDDY, Q3 2016 Webcasts, Nov 2, 5pm ET
4. Stanford GSB Professor David Brady: A Look at the 2016 Elections (video)
5. MacroView: World Markets, Global Economy, Central Banks, Trick or Treat?
6. Entrepreneur and VC Peter Thiel speaks at The National Press Club (video)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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