IANA Transition: What the U.S. Government Is Really 'Giving Up'

UPDATE Oct 14, 2016: Plaintiffs State of Arizona et al filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal (pdf) ending the litigation referenced below.

UPDATE Sep 30, 2016: U.S. District Court Judge George C. Hanks Jr. has denied (pdf) the plaintiffs' application for "Declaratory and Injunctive Relief." The IANA stewardship transition will become effective October 1, 2016, EDT.

original post:
As of tomorrow, October 1, 2016, the IANA Stewardship Transition will be complete unless a federal judge in Texas intervenes today:

DomainMondo.com [News Review]: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, and Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt, have filed a lawsuit (pdf) in a last minute attempt to stop the IANA stewardship transition, in the U.S. District Court, Galveston, Texas, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, including a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction ... U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. (who was appointed by President Obama in 2015) has set a hearing for 1:30 pm CDT Friday in Galveston, Texas.

What the U.S. government is "giving up"--at least one legal scholar finds the Plaintiffs' (Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada) arguments unpersuasive: Why the Attempt to Enjoin the IANA Transfer is Baseless | Discourse.net--

The US is letting go of a contractual right to veto alterations to the data in a computer file (the root zone file) held on a privately owned machine.  There is no intellectual property right because the contents of the file are in the public domain, and US law would not recognize this as a compilation copyright.  What’s at issue in the IANA transfer is the loss of the US government’s right to veto authoritative changes to the file, not to own the contents.

However, just as important as "letting go" of the "right to veto alterations" in the root zone file, and completely overlooked by Professor Froomkin and others, the U.S. government is also "giving up" or abandoning its right to select the IANA functions operator, at least for the Top-Level Domains (TLDs). ICANN has no right to create or recognize any new TLDs, whether generic (gTLD) or country code (ccTLD), and delegate them into the internet root, except by virtue of being the IANA functions operator pursuant to the contract with NTIA. In 2012, NTIA, the U.S. government sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce which is the counter-party to ICANN in the IANA functions contract, almost pulled the contract away from ICANN:

Ethics Fight Over Domain Names Intensifies | NYTimes.com March 18, 2012: "The Commerce Department said this month that while it was temporarily extending a contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to manage the allocation of computers’ Internet protocol addresses — and the .com and .net names of Web sites associated with them — it warned the organization that it needed to tighten its rules against conflicts of interest or risk losing a central role. ICANN, as the company is known, has filled that role since 1998. The Commerce Department said it had received no suitable bids for the contract, and was temporarily extending ICANN’s services for six months." (emphasis added)

As of tomorrow, October 1, 2016, the U.S. government will have relinquished its right to select the IANA functions operator for the TLDs in the internet root zone as configured by the 13 authoritative name servers operated by 12 different managers (Verisign operates 2). Who will have that right as of tomorrow? Technically, the "names community" which is a fictional title given to those ICANN stakeholders (dominated by Registry operators and registrars, but also including other recognized special interest groups within the "ICANN community" who are not  representative of the "global internet community" a/k/a "global multistakeholder community"--e.g. most domain name registrants are excluded from effective representation within ICANN) but excluding the numbers and protocols communities which select their own "IANA functions operator" (currently ICANN). As of tomorrow, ICANN will contractually be the IANA functions operator for the numbers and protocols communities, and PTI (the old IANA department within ICANN but now a separate affiliated entity of ICANN) will be the IANA functions operator for the "names community."

Does the above constitute a "federal property right" or otherwise give credence to any other claim in the Plaintiffs' complaint and motion for TRO? We may find out today what a federal judge in Texas thinks.

Addendum:
State of Arizona; State of Texas; State of Oklahoma; and State of Nevada v. National Telecommunications and Information Administration; United States of America Department of Commerce; Penny Pritzker; and Lawrence E. Strickling

Court Order Denying Plaintiffs' Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction [PDF, 298 KB]
Motion of Internet Association, Internet Infrastructure Coalition, Internet Society, Computer & Communications Industry Association, NetChoice, Mozilla, Packet Clearing House, ACT|The App Association, American Registry for Internet Numbers, Information Technology Industry Council, Access Now, Andrew Sullivan, Ted Hardie, Jari Arkko, and Alissa Cooper for Leave to File Brief of Amici Curiae in Opposition to Application for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction [PDF, 33 KB] 30 September 2016

Exhibit A – Brief of Amici Curiae Internet Association, Internet Infrastructure Coalition, Internet Society, Computer & Communications Industry Association, NetChoice, Mozilla, Packet Clearing House, ACT|The App Association, American Registry for Internet Numbers, Information Technology Industry Council, Access Now, Andrew Sullivan, Ted Hardie, Jari Arkko, and Alissa Cooper Supporting Defendants and in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order [PDF, 95 KB] 30 September 2016

Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order or Preliminary Injunction [PDF, 177 KB] 30 September 2016

Declaration of John O. Jeffrey [PDF, 357 KB] 30 September 2016

Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief and Application for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction [PDF, 363 KB] 28 September 2016

Exhibits A to F [PDF, 4.1 MB] 28 September 2016


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DISCLAIMER

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz vs ICANN and IANA Transition: Veni, Vidi, Vici?

Sen. Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing, Sept 14:

Video above: US Senator Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016 (transcript further below). See also on Domain Mondo: IANA Transition Hearing: Implications of Ending US Oversight of the Internet for the witnesses' (prepared) testimony, and the full hearing video replay link.

Say what you will, it was Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz's hearing from beginning to end. He came prepared with charts, even warning NTIA employees, including NTIA's Larry Strickling, that violating the Federal Antideficiency Act could end their careers and incur prison sentences of up to 2 years. At times, it even seemed as if ICANN's former President and CEO Fadi Chehade was on trial in absentia (see photos below).

While it may have been entertaining D.C. drama for some, what effect, if any, it will have on the IANA stewardship transition (scheduled to be complete October 1), is yet to be seen. TheHill.com reports it is not clear just how much support there is for Cruz’s position among Republicans though Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) was quoted as saying:

"We’re working trying to coordinate with Cruz and others who have concerns about the [IANA] transition ... I think that right now we all want that on September 30 that transition does not occur because we don’t think it’s ready yet. He may have a different endgame than we do, but right now our objective is the same."

U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016

Transcript of US Senator Cruz's Opening Statement at Protecting Internet Freedom Subcommittee Hearing September 14, 2016 via YouTube.com:

0:00  the internet is one of the most revolutionary forces ever unleashed on
0:05  the world this transformational technology has changed how we learn how
0:10  we communicate how we do commerce how we live our lives people even meet and get
0:17  married through the internet and of course the internet didn't invent itself
0:23  it wasn't invented by any politicians it was invented by the incredible ingenuity
0:30  of the American people with the financial support of american taxpayers
0:35  in the spirit of freedom and generosity that is the essence of our great nation
0:41  the American people didn't try to keep the internet just for themselves but
0:45  made it available for the benefit of all humanity since the internets inception
0:51  the United States government has stood guard over critical internet functions
0:56  in almost any other country that power could have been used to deny internet
1:01  access to websites that were deemed politically undesirable or unpopular on
1:07  or threatening or simply disfavored by the powers that be but not here not in
1:15  the United States because of the first amendment to our Constitution which
1:19  affords more protection for speech than anywhere else in the world the United
1:24  States government as long as it has authority to oversee the infrastructure
1:30  of the internet has a duty to ensure that no website is denied internet
1:35  access on account of the ideas that espouses under the guardianship of the
1:41  United States and the First Amendment the Internet has become truly an oasis
1:45  of freedom but that could soon change in 16 days without seeking the consent of
1:53  the American people without seeking the consent of Congress the Obama
1:58  administration is stated that it intends to relinquish the government its
2:01  historic guardianship and give it instead to an international body known
2:07  as ICANN
2:07  now what is ICANN
2:10  it is not a democratic body it is a corporation with Byzantine governing
2:16  structure designed to blur the lines of accountability that is run by global
2:21  bureaucrats who are supposedly accountable to the technocrats to
2:26  multinational corporations to governments including some of the most
2:30  oppressive regimes in the world like China Iran and Russia sadly ICANN
2:38  officials have already begun showing extraordinary affinity for China the
2:42  world's worst abusers of Internet freedom
2:45  according to Freedom House and 2015 numerous I can gathering to feature
2:50  Chinese officials responsible for Chinese government censorship and
2:54  propaganda ICANN's recently departed president/ceo Fadi Chehade who shepherded
3:04  the transition plan through the Obama administration made China a central focus
3:10  within ICANN and the future of that organization Mr. Chehade is on record
3:16  saying that quote  ...  "engagement with China is not an option
3:21  if we do not engage with China at every level of our community we frankly lose a
3:27  part of our global legitimacy." It is striking that an organization we are
3:34  being told we should trust with control of the internet believes that legitimacy
3:39  depends upon engaging in a regime that is the world's leading censor on the
3:44  internet silencing speech on the internet and that imprisons democracy
3:50  and human rights advocate and nobel laureate ... not surprisingly Mr.
3:59  Chehade left ICANN after the transition plan was approved to lead a high-level
4:03  working group for wait for it
4:07  China's World Internet Conference
4:11  a conference that was rightly criticized for refusing to let New York Times and
4:16  Washington Post reporters cover it as a result Reporters Without Borders
4:22  demanded a boycott calling China an enemy of the internet and yet we are
4:28  being asked to trust an organization without having our government have the
4:34  authority to protect free speech to trust an organization whose former
4:38  leader who shepherded this plan has gone to associate himself with and stand with
4:44  those who are in the words of reporters without borders the enemy of the
4:49  internet once the government's out of the picture
4:56  First Amendment protections go away the first amendment by its term binds the
5:02  government doesn't bind private individuals that means when I can
5:06  escapes from government authority ICANN can escape from having to worry about
5:11  the First Amendment having to worry about protecting your rights or my
5:14  rights
5:15  imagine an Internet run like one of our large private universities today with
5:25  speech codes and safe zones an internet that determine some terms are too scary
5:33  microaggressions are two troubling we will not allow them to be spoken on the
5:37  Internet
5:37  imagine an Internet run like far too many European countries that punish
5:45  so-called hate speech a notoriously malleable concept that has often
5:52  been used to suppress views disfavored by those in power are imagine an
5:58  Internet run by like many Middle Eastern countries that punish what they deem to
6:05  be blasphemy
6:07  imagine an Internet run like China or Russia that punish and incarcerate those
6:15  who engage in political dissent. Now some will say none of that parade of horrible
6:22  will happen there's nothing to fear here in handing control of the internet to
6:27  this international group of stakeholders this mini-UN well that's what this
6:34  hearing is here to determine--is there something to fear--and i will point out a
6:45  question I think a lot of Americans are asking is: why risk it?
6:50  the internet right now works it's not broken
6:54  what is the problem that is trying to be solved here that's what this hearing is
7:02  about ...

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DISCLAIMER

IANA Transition Hearing: Implications of Ending US Oversight of the Internet

L to R: Senator Ted Cruz; ICANN CEO Göran Marby

"... a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, chaired by Senator Cruz (a skeptic of the transition), will have a hearing on Wednesday at which both the [Obama] Administration and the new CEO of ICANN will appear. (I will be testifying as well, but on the second panel—the fireworks will be on the first panel, I'm sure.) What will come of this?  Only time will tell."--Paul Rosenzweig, The ICANN and IANA Transition End Game | LawfareBlog.com (emphasis added)

The IANA Stewardship Transition will be complete on October 1, 2016, unless House and Senate Republicans are successful in their effort to delay the transition and extend the IANA functions contract which will otherwise expire September 30, 2016. The Wednesday hearing was called by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the Subcommittee Chair, who opposes the IANA Stewardship Transition.

Hearing | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts: Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications of Ending U.S. Oversight of the Internet 

Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Time: 10:00 AM EDT | LIVE video replay
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building 226, Washington, D.C.
Presiding: Chairman Cruz

Witnesses:
Panel I
The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary For Communications And Information And Administrator
National Telecommunications And Information Administration (NTIA)
United States Department Of Commerce
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Göran Marby
CEO And President
Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers (ICANN)
Los Angeles, CA
Download Testimony (pdf)

Panel II
Mr. Berin Szoka
President
TechFreedom
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Jonathan Zuck
President
ACT The App Association
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Ms. Dawn GroveCorporate Counsel
Karsten Manufacturing
Phoenix, AZ
Download Testimony (pdf)

Ms. J. Beckwith ("Becky") Burr
Deputy General Counsel And Chief Privacy Officer
Neustar
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. John Horton
President And CEO
LegitScript
Portland, Oregon
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Steve DelBianco
Executive Director
NetChoice
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Paul Rosenzweig
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary For Policy
U.S. Department Of Homeland Security
Washington, DC
Download Testimony (pdf)

Subcommittee members
Republicans:
Senator Cruz, Chair
Senator Grassley
Senator Hatch
Senator Sessions
Senator Flake
Senator Graham
Senator Lee
Senator Vitter
Democrats:
Senator Coons, Ranking Member
Senator Feinstein
Senator Durbin
Senator Schumer
Senator Whitehouse
Senator Klobuchar
Senator Blumenthal

Member Statements: Senator Chuck Grassley R (IA) Download Statement (pdf)

See on Domain Mondo:

• IANA Transition's Unanswered Questions Require An Extension?
• News Review [11Sep]: IANA Transition Drama in D.C. ... 
• Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec.
• US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)
• ICANN Answers Questions About The IANA Stewardship Transition

See also:  U.S. GAO - Department of Commerce--Property Implications of Proposed Transition of U.S. Government Oversight of Key Internet Technical Functions | gao.gov Sep 12, 2016: "... we find it is unlikely that either the authoritative root zone file or the Internet domain name system is U.S. Government property under Article IV.  We also find that the possible U.S. property interests that we have identified either would not be disposed of in connection with the proposed transition or would be disposed of in compliance with Article IV."

and U.S. GAO - National Telecommunications and Information Administration--Effect of Section 539 of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 on Amounts Appropriated Under a Continuing Resolution | gao.gov Sep 12, 2016: "... Section 539(b) provides that “Notwithstanding any other law, subsection (a) of this section shall not apply in fiscal year 2017.” However, section 539(b) would have no effect on the applicability of the prohibition contained in section 539(a) to funds appropriated by a typical continuing resolution. Therefore, NTIA could not use amounts appropriated under a continuing resolution to relinquish its responsibilities with respect to the Internet domain name system. However, during fiscal year 2017, section 539(b) extinguishes the prohibition of section 539(a) for any balances of the two-year appropriations (for fiscal years 2016 and 2017) enacted under the 2016 Appropriation that remain available for obligation in fiscal year 2017. Thus in fiscal year 2017 [beginning October 1, 2016] NTIA could use unobligated balances appropriated by the 2016 Appropriation to relinquish these responsibilities." (emphasis added)

and Comments on ICANN reform and the Stewardship Transition submitted by Milton Mueller, Internet Governance Project to the Senate Judiciary Committee, subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, September 14, 2016 (pdf).


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DISCLAIMER

IANA Transition's Unanswered Questions Require An Extension?

Do the IANA Transition's Unanswered Questions Require An Extension of the IANA functions contract? "Yes" say Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom (TechFeedom.org), Paul Rosenzweig, Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org) and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Department of Homeland Security, and Brett Schaefer, Jay Kingham Senior Research Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs at The Heritage Foundation, in a September 8, 2016, white paper entitled ICANN Transition is Premature - Unanswered Questions Require an Extension (link is below), (note: the views expressed in the white paper reflect those of TechFreedom and the individual authors, but not necessarily those of The Heritage Foundation), excerpts:

Introduction:

Is the Internet ready for the U.S. government to give up its historic role as the ultimate guarantor of
Internet governance? Yes, insists the Obama Administration. Global stakeholders — users,
businesses, technical experts and civil society groups — will remain firmly in control, they assure us.

We’re skeptical. But before we tell you why, let’s make a few things clear. We support the multistakeholder model. We do not believe any government should control or own the Internet. We do not oppose the “Transition” — wherein multi-stakeholders would assume the current U.S. oversight responsibilities over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). But we do oppose rushing the Transition before critical questions are resolved. We recommend extending the contract for a year or two to vet the proposal and complete all of the reforms sought by the community.

Administration officials have stated repeatedly that “it is more important to get this issue right than it is to simply get it done.”5 However, as we near the end of President Obama’s second term, it is hard not to conclude that the Administration has become more concerned with getting this done right now than in getting it right. We wonder because of the many serious concerns surrounding the Transition that remain unresolved even as the Administration appears dead-set on moving forward regardless of the potential consequences.

We worry that approving the Transition prematurely will set the multi-stakeholder model up to fail. We fear that governments will gain new influence over the Internet, that Internet freedom will suffer, and that the ICANN leadership (CEO and staff) will continue its troubling pattern of
cavalierly ignoring its bylaws and procedures while the ICANN Community proves too fractious to
hold the leadership accountable.

What’s needed now is a “test drive” — a trial period of a year or two in which the U.S. withdraws
and allows the new ICANN to operate autonomously, but with the possibility of reasserting its traditional role if unforeseen problems arise, if ICANN resists additional reforms, or if the multistakeholder community determines that the new bylaws or governance structure are insufficient to hold ICANN accountable.
. . . .
Here are just the most prominent of our remaining concerns — and why they matter. We start with practical concerns and conclude with legal ones. Here’s a high-level list:

1. Whatever happens with the Transition, there’s no reason whatsoever to think authoritarian countries like Russia and China won’t try to exert greater control over the Internet and the long-term impact of the Transition on positions of other governments vis-à-vis U.N. governance of the Internet are unknown. 
2. It is unclear at best whether the multi-stakeholder community has the cohesion and resolve necessary to serve as an effective check on the ICANN Board post-Transition. 
3. Governments will have more power post-Transition than they do currently, and it is unclear how this will affect ICANN. 
4. Recent events revealed that ICANN has serious transparency and governance problems, which could make it vulnerable to corruption and abuse. 
5. The U.S. government’s role is a major reason why the ICANN Board has been willing to accept accountability measures, because the Transition is dependent on their adoption. But a number of important additional reforms will not be completed until after the Transition, and. failing to extend the contract may jeopardize their implementation. 
6. Substantial questions on ICANN’s jurisdiction, including where ICANN will be headquartered and incorporated and to which laws ICANN will be subject, remain unanswered. 
7. The U.S. failed to secure legal ownership and control of the .MIL and .GOV domains, which could create national security concerns in the future. 
8. The new ICANN bylaws may not be in line with California law, which could lead to legal and political challenges. 
9. If the Transition involves a transfer of property, ending the contract without congressional authorization would violate the Constitution. 
10. NTIA may have violated a funding prohibition if it fails to extend the contract. 
11. It is unclear that U.S. antitrust law will actually be an effective remedy (or deterrent) against anti-competitive behavior by ICANN, even the Transition doesn’t change its legal status. Yet foreign antitrust laws could be used strategically to portray ICANN as a cartel, and thus make the case for a shift to U.N. control. 
12. NTIA may have violated administrative law by failing to adequately consider public comments on the Transition directly, and instead relying on ICANN to do so on its behalf.

The complete white paper--ICANN Transition is Premature | Unanswered Questions Require an Extension (pdf).

UPDATE: Verisign White Paper Response Letter


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DISCLAIMER

ICANN Answers Questions About The IANA Stewardship Transition

Timely and informative, ICANN has posted a Q&A about the IANA Stewardship Transition, full version at the ICANN.org link further below, excerpts follow after the following DomainMondo.com introductory note:

[Note--In answering Question 7 below, ICANN failed to pose and answer the real underlying Question: Under what circumstances, and how, could ICANN decide to relocate outside the United States and/or change its principal legal jurisdiction or place of incorporation in the future? In 2014, ICANN's then President and CEO Fadi Chehadé told a panel of the French Senate that the ICANN Board of Directors had given a "green light" to possibly creating a "parallel ICANN international structure, likely based in Geneva ..." See Will ICANN Board Disclose New Swiss Legal Structure at ICANN 50? | DomainMondo.com citing Will ICANN Be The Next International Organisation In Geneva? | ip-watch.org and the actual video (in French)--note Chehade's reference to "green light" @2:35 and what he says at that point (English translation here). See also: Why ICANN CEO Chehade quit early | IoN magazine: "... he [Chehade] told a panel in the French Senate that ICANN’s new European office could lead to moving ICANN’s headquarters outside the United States; only to say the exact opposite when in Washington DC just a few weeks later." 

Chehadé, who for unknown reasons resigned effective March 12, 2016, after serving only 3½ years as ICANN President & CEO (14 Sep 2012-12 Mar 2016), announced at ICANN's NCPH Intersessional session, January 29, 2013:

",,, welcome to LA, welcome to ICANN. This is the last time you'll come to the ICANN headquarters because soon we will no longer have one headquarters, we'll have three headquarters around the world ..."

--end of Note.]

Answering some of your questions on the stewardship transition  ICANN.org: "... Some questions remain about the nature of the IANA functions, ICANN, and the likely impacts of the transition and we [ICANN] wanted to answer them for you in one place.

1. Does the transition threaten Internet freedom?

No. The United States Government's contract with ICANN does not give the U.S. any power to regulate or protect speech on the Internet. The IANA functions are technical – not content – based ... 

2. Will countries be able to censor speech on the Internet after the transition?

No more so than they can today. Right now, there is nothing about ICANN or its contract with the U.S. Government that prevents a country from censoring or blocking content within its own borders. ICANN is a technical organization and does not have the remit or ability to regulate content on the Internet ... 

3. Will ICANN be more susceptible to capture by a single entity after the transition?

No. ICANN's multistakeholder model is designed to ensure that no single entity, whether country, business or interest group, can capture ICANN or exclude other parties from decision-making processes. Features of this model include open processes where anyone can participate, decisions made by consensus, established appeals mechanisms, and transparent and public meetings. These elements are all reinforced in the community transition proposal and have been building blocks for the free and open Internet we see today ... 

4. Will ICANN seek oversight by the U.N. to maintain its antitrust exemption after the transition?

No. ICANN is not, and never has been exempted from antitrust laws. ICANN has not been granted an antitrust exemption through any of its contracts with NTIA or the U.S. Department of Commerce. No court ruling in favor of ICANN has ever cited an antitrust exemption to support its ruling. This past July,NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling addressed the concerns about the possible antitrust liability of a post-transition ICANN and reaffirmed that "ICANN always has and will continue to be subject to antitrust laws." After the transition, ICANN will have no mandate, need or reason to seek to be overseen by another governmental or inter-governmental group for protection ... 

5. Will governments have more control over the Internet after the transition?

No. The transition proposal does not increase the role of governments over the Internet or ICANN as an organization. The multistakeholder model appropriately limits the influence of governments and intergovernmental organizations to an advisory role in policy development. More than 160 governments actively participate as a single committee and must come to a consensus before policy advice can be issued. After the transition, there will be times where the ICANN Board must give special consideration to the public policy advice of governments. However, this will only happen when there is no objection from any government in the committee – which includes the United States. This is a stricter requirement than is currently in place for government advice.

6. Does delaying the transition by one or two years have any negative consequences?

Yes, any delay of the transition could have significant global consequences. The Internet is a voluntary, trust-based system. A delay would introduce uncertainty, for businesses and other stakeholders, which could have long-term business, social, cultural, political and economic impacts. This past March, U.S. Ambassador David Gross testified that, "the clearest impact [of a delay] is on the broader, global community. It will signal that the U.S. has changed its position and no longer believes in a private-sector led internet and that governments will play a primary role in making the final decision. Russia, China, and others will welcome such a decision."...

7. Will ICANN relocate its headquarters outside of the United States after the transition?

No. ICANN will not relocate its corporate headquarters location after the transition. The transition proposal clearly states [PDF, 2.32 MB] that "the legal jurisdiction in which ICANN resides is to remain unchanged." California law is the basis for the new mechanisms created to empower the ICANN community and hold ICANN the organization, Board and community, accountable. In addition, ICANN's Articles of Incorporation are filed under California law, and its Bylaws state that ICANN's headquarters are in California.

8. Is it illegal to allow the transition to move forward without congressional approval because it is a transfer of U.S. property?

No. ICANN is not aware of any U.S. Government property that would be transferred as a result of the transition. In a letter to Chairman Grassley and Chairman Goodlatte [PDF, 1.25 MB] last month, NTIA stated that the Department of Commerce Office of General Counsel conducted a legal review of this issue and advised NTIA that transition would not result in the transfer of U.S. Government property, and that, in the view of the Department, the authoritative root zone file is not U.S. Government property.

9. Will the U.S. lose exclusive rights to the .mil and .gov top-level domains as a result of the transition?

The operation of and responsibility for .mil and .gov are not impacted by this transition. .mil and .gov cannot be reassigned without express approval from the U.S. Government. To formally reaffirm this,NTIA and ICANN exchanged a series of letters in June 2016, which establish the U.S. Government as the administrative authority over the .mil, .gov, .us, and .edu top-level domains. This means that any changes made to these top-level domains can only be made with the express written approval of the U.S. Government.

10. Will Verisign have the ability to raise prices of .com domain names on 1 October 2016 as a result of the transition?

No. The cost of .com domains is capped at $7.85 until 30 November 2018. The current pricing of the .com registry is defined by two separate contracts (1) the .com Registry Agreement between Verisign and ICANN; and (2) the Cooperative Agreement between Verisign and the Department of Commerce. After 2018, Verisign and NTIA will have to negotiate to change the terms for the Cooperative Agreement or agree to end the Cooperative Agreement before discussing new pricing of the .com domain with ICANN. In letters [PDF, 851 KB] to Chairman Cruz, Chairman Lee, and Chairman Duffy last week, the Assistant Attorney General stated that, consistent with past practices, it is expected that NTIA will seek the advice of the U.S. Department of Justice on any competition issues implicated by the extension of these two contracts.

11. Do the recent independent review process (IRP) decisions regarding applications for new generic top level domains prove that ICANN is not sufficiently transparent or accountable enough for the transition?

No. An IRP is an accountability mechanism used to review and resolve a concern raised by the community over a policy decision made by ICANN. Any result from an IRP, whether positive or negative, demonstrates that the system of checks and balances built into the ICANN multistakeholder model works. The IRP has been enhanced to strengthen ICANN's commitment to employ open, transparent, bottom-up, multistakeholder processes after the transition.

12. Does ICANN have an operational relationship with the Chinese government?

No. ICANN does not have any operational relationship with the Chinese Government. ICANN's engagement center in China is one of seven around the world. The presence of an ICANN engagement center or operational hub within a country does not imply any level of support for the nation's government or its policies.

See also on Domain Mondo:

• Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec.
• US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)
• Fadi Chehadé, Will ICANN Move to Switzerland? (2014 video)

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US Senator Cruz Attacks ICANN, Fadi Chehadé, IANA Transition (video)

US Senator Ted Cruz Urges Colleagues to "Stop Obama's Internet Giveaway"

Video above: U.S. Senator Cruz (R-Texas) took to the U.S. Senate floor Thursday, September 8, 2016, to give a speech against the Obama Administration's plan (and by implication, NTIA), to give away control of the Internet to an international body [ICANN] akin to the United Nations, singling out specifically, for criticism, ICANN's former President and CEO Fadi Chehadé:

“You look at the influence of foreign governments within ICANN, it should give us greater and greater concern.

“For example, ICANN’s former CEO Fadi Chehadé left ICANN to lead a high-level working group for China’s World Internet Conference. Mr. Chehadé’s decision to use his insider knowledge of how ICANN operates to help the Chinese government and their conference is more than a little concerning.

“This is the person who was leading ICANN, the body that we are being told to trust with our freedoms. Yet this man has since gone to work for the Chinese Internet Conference, which has rightly been criticized for banning members of the press such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

“But you know what, even reporters you may fundamentally disagree with have a right to report and say what they believe. And yet, the World Internet Conference banned them – said ‘we do not want these reporters here, presumably, because we don’t like what they’re saying.’ – which led Reporters Without Borders to demand an international boycott of the conference, calling China the ‘enemy of the Internet.’ Mr. President, if China is the enemy of the Internet, do we want the enemy of the Internet having power over what you’re allowed to say, what you’re allowed to search for, what you’re allowed to read online? Do we want China, and Russia, and Iran having the power to determine if a website is unacceptable, it’s taken down?

“I would note that once this transition happens, there are serious indications that ICANN intends to seek to flee U.S. jurisdiction and flee U.S. laws. Indeed, earlier this summer, ICANN held a global conference in Finland in which jurisdiction shopping was part of their agenda, trying to figure out what jurisdiction should we base control of the Internet out of across the globe.

“A representative of Iran is already on record stating, ‘[w]e should not take it [for] granted that jurisdiction is already agreed to be totally based on U.S. law.’ Our enemies are not hiding what they intend to do.

“Not only is there a concern of censorship and foreign jurisdictions stripping U.S. law from authority over the Internet, there are also real national security concerns. Congress has received no assurances from the Obama administration that the U.S. Government will continue to have exclusive ownership and control of the .gov and .mil top-level domains in perpetuity, which are vital to our national security. The Department of Defense, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines all use the .mil top-level domain. The White House, the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security all use .gov.

“The only assurance ICANN has provided the federal government regarding .gov and .mil is that ICANN will notify the government in the future if it decides to give .gov and .mil to another entity. So if someone is going to the IRS, or what you think is the IRS, and you’re comforted that it’s on a .gov website so that you know it must be safe, you may instead find yourself victims of a foreign scam, a phishing scam, some other means of fraud with no basic protections.

“Congress should not sit by and let this happen. Congress must not sit by and let censorship happen ..." (emphasis added, full speech embedded below)

For more on former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé's shenanigans in China at the World Internet Conference, see on Domain Mondo: After Wuzhen, Should ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Be Fired?:

"... Beyond the embarrassment and distracting spectacle that Fadi Chehade has brought upon ICANN at a critical juncture in its IANA transition planning, there are 2 aspects of Chehade's Wuzhen fiasco at play here which should be of concern to the ICANN Board and the "ICANN community"--1. That Fadi Chehade continuing as ICANN CEO, even for a few weeks until March 12, 2016, puts at risk the entire IANA transition process, from ... alarmed Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. ..."

The IANA stewardship transition is scheduled to become effective October 1, 2016, upon expiration of the IANA functions contract which ends September 30, 2016, as previously indicated by NTIA--see  NTIA Tells ICANN: IANA Functions Contract Will Expire October 1, 2016. In Washington, D.C., TheHill.com has reported that next Wednesday, Cruz plans to hold a hearing on "Protecting Internet Freedom" and that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said Republicans in both chambers [U.S. House and U.S. Senate] were "discussing options" to "stop the transition from moving forward as part of a broader legislative package this month." See also: GOP chairmen ask administration to reconsider ICANN transition | TheHill.com Sept 8, 2016: "Signing on to the letter were Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)." --UPDATE: See Senate & House Chairmen's Letter to Attorney General & Commerce Sec. and ICANN Answers Questions About The IANA Stewardship Transition.

Transcript (pdf) of Senator Cruz's full speech embedded below:



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News Review: IANA Stewardship Transition, Vint Cerf Retrospective (video)

"The U.S. government was the origin of this project [the internet], it started in the Defense Department, and I am very proud, not only of the Defense Department but other parts of the U.S. government including the National Science Foundation, and now NTIA, for persistently stepping away from control over this system and turning it over to a multistakeholder operation … this [the IANA transition] is the last step--Vint Cerf, August 17, 2016, see this week's FEATURE below.

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

•  Soros Doubles Down on Bet Against the S&P 500: According to WSJ.com, famed billionaire investor George Soros is shifting his fund’s focus back to the "big-picture economic global view that earned him recognition as he steadfastly continues to warn of a coming financial crisis, much as he did leading to the 2007 crash."  He continues to unwind his exposure to China "which he’s placed at the center of the next financial storm" along with commodities. He has a large derivative position on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, the most widely traded fund that tracks the broad S&P 500 stock index. See also "Legendary Trader" Paul Tudor Jones Emerges As Latest Mega Bear With Record Surge In S&P Puts | ZeroHedge.com (Aug 19, 2016). NYSEARCA: SPY chart below:

NYSEARCA: SPY

•  Tencent (tencent.com) is now China's most valuable tech company, passing Alibaba (alibabagroup.com). Tencent's total revenue for Q2 2016, including its apps QQ (QQ.com) and WeChat (WeChat.com), came in at $5.38 billion. Read more: Tencent Surges; Becomes China's Most Valuable Tech Company | TheStreet.com. and Tencent Performance Highlights in Q2 2016 | ChinaInternetWatch.com: "WeChat monthly active users reached 806 million in Q2 2016." Note:

"China’s internet is fundamentally different from the one used in much of the rest of the world ...'It’s a closed environment, and you have to be quite different to compete in that market.' Two decades after Beijing began walling off its homegrown internet from the rest of the planet, the digital world has split between China and everybody else."--NYTimes.com (emphasis added)

•  2016 Olympics end August 21 but Brazil already knows Hosting The Olympics Is A Terrible Investment | FiveThirtyEight.com: "Research has repeatedly shown that in most cases the Olympics are a money loser for cities, particularly those in developing nations where the cost-benefit proposition tends to skew even worse."

•  U.S. Market:

• Tom Barrack Says U.S. Real Estate Market Is Getting ‘Bubblicious’ | Bloomberg.com: “It looks a little bubblicious,” Barrack said of the real estate market. “We’re printing money. More debt is available. But amateurs are playing in it.”
• Business Loan Delinquencies Rock Past Lehman Moment Level | WolfStreet.com: "Leading Indicator of big trouble, now fermenting in the banks."
• Obamacare’s in Trouble as Insurers Tire of Losing Money | Bloomberg.com: "With almost $2 billion in losses this year, big insurance companies are pulling out of the health-care program."
• Sources: Massive Layoffs Coming At Cisco | CRN.com: "Cisco Systems is laying off upward of 14,000 employees, representing nearly 20 percent of the networking giant’s global workforce, according to multiple sources close to the company."

•  Election 2016 Update: As usual in U.S. politics, things don't get serious until after Labor Day (September 5). Best to avoid the media "noise" until then. Jeffrey Gundlach predicted in January that Trump would win the Presidency, and hasn't backed off that prediction despite recent polling numbers and a pro-Clinton, anti-Trump, establishment media onslaught for weeks now. In fact, Gundlach now says:

"The centerpiece of my thesis on Trump remains that Hillary Clinton is an incredibly bad candidate. She will have plenty of stumbles in the stretch run and, at the end of the day, WikiLeaks is going to take her down. Julian Assange wants to time the releases of these horrific emails to coincide with maximum damage and I think there is plenty more to come. Say what you want about Trump, about his volatility and his inconsistency, Hillary will be deemed to be the unacceptable candidate. All Trump has to do is be as steady as possible and she will fall by the wayside."

Trump's biggest challenge? "Convince the country, as he had almost done by Cleveland, that he is an acceptable, indeed, a preferable alternative"--Don't Count Yer Clintons Yet - It Ain't Over Till It's Over | ZeroHedge.com. Trump doesn't have to match Clinton in fundraising, he has enough funding (Mercer, Adelson et al) to be competitive. He doesn't have to match the Clinton political operation, he has enough political operatives via the RNC, and Kellyanne Conway et al, to be competitive. Trump's biggest challenge (other than biased media* coverage) may be Trump. Read more here. [UPDATE August 21, 2016: Trump (45%) now leads Clinton (43%) in the Presidential Race according to the USC Dornsife / Los Angeles Times poll | latimes.com.]

*Media bias update August 21, 2016: American journalism is collapsing before our eyes | NYPost.com: "The largest broadcast networks — CBS, NBC and ABC — and major newspapers like The New York Times and Washington Post have jettisoned all pretense of fair play. Their fierce determination to keep Trump out of the Oval Office has no precedent."  See also Glenn Greenwald on Donald Trump, the DNC hack, and a new McCarthyism | slate.com:"The U.S. media is essentially 100 percent united, vehemently, against Trump, and preventing him from being elected president."

• FEATURE: IANA Stewardship Transition - Full Speed Ahead!

The Obama administration (NTIA) made it crystal clear this week that the IANA functions contract will expire effective October 1, 2016, notwithstanding dissenting voices in Congress and elsewhere (see below). Read more at NTIA Tells ICANN: IANA Functions Contract Will Expire October 1, 2016. Vint Cerf gave a retrospective on ICANN and the IANA transition in a Bloomberg West interview this week:

Video above starting at 12:10: Vint Cerf Talks the Future of the Internet on 'Bloomberg West'--Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, often referred to as the "father of the Internet," on Bloomberg West, August 17, 2016, to discuss ICANN and the IANA Stewardship Transition, including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) decision to allow the IANA functions contract expire October 1, 2016. 

•  Last Call for the Open Internet | WSJ.com by L. Gordon Crovitz: "... The administration naively thought crafting an alternative to U.S. oversight, which it dismissed as “largely clerical,” would be easy. By now it’s clear Mr. Obama’s solution to the nonproblem of U.S. protection is too half-baked for anyone who cares about the free and open internet." See also NTIA Violates Federal Law with IANA Transition | TechPolicyCorner.org.

•  ICANN the Machine… | CircleID.com by Shaul Jolles, Dot Registry CEO: "ICANN's new gTLD expansion is really quite an ingenious ploy to grow the once small California non-profit into an unstoppable machine, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, which soon plans to finally be free from any external oversight. I have no doubt that ICANN pats itself on the back for pulling the wool over so many eyes, including stakeholders, new gTLD applicants, politicians, and the global general public ..." (emphasis added)

•  Dot Registry IRP Declaration: Of the 18 Independent Review Process (IRP) proceedings brought to date to hold ICANN accountable for its actions, only three claimants have succeeded: ICM Registry (.XXX), DCA Trust (.AFRICA), and Dot Registry (.LLC, .INC and .LLP). All three were represented by Dechert LLP (dechert.com) lawyers, who recently wrote: Accountability and Transition in ICANN’s New gTLD Program | Lexology.com: "... the importance of the Dot Registry Panel's decision lies in its recognition that ICANN, as the regulator of the Internet, a global resource, must be held accountable for its actions. Today, ICANN is pressing for the privilege to oversee Internet governance without oversight by the U.S. or any government. This privilege comes with immense responsibility and requires accountability. As ICANN enters into the next phase of its transition away from U.S. government oversight, the global internet community will be watching to see whether ICANN undertakes much needed reforms." (emphasis added)

•  A Lasting Legacy of Fadi's Follies: 1) Why does ICANN need 3 Hubs? L.A. is a large multi-ethnic 24x7 world-class metro, more than capable of staffing (even remotely) a 24-hour support center for the global internet community; 2) Why is one of those "hubs" located in Istanbul, Turkey, of all places?

Turkey to Release Tens of Thousands of Prisoners to Make Room for Coup Suspects | NYTimes.com: "Turkey said on Wednesday that it would empty its prisons of tens of thousands of criminals to make room for the wave of journalists, teachers, lawyers and judges rounded up in connection with last month’s failed coup."  Economist.com reports Turkey’s drift away from the West is accelerating as the government and most Turks believe Europe and the U.S. had something to do with the Turkish coup attempt. See also: A Parallel State | n+1 | nplusonemag.com: "Over the past ten years, the prospect of a coup has been the [Turkish] government’s pretext for suppressing every conceivable opposition."

Brick-and-mortar "hubs" for organizations like ICANN are inefficient relics of the twentieth century, indicative of a hierarchical organization or the narcissistic empire-builder mentality of its leadership, rather than the needs of a streamlined, flat organization, connected globally through the cloud, empowering its stakeholders and workers to engage and work remotely throughout the world, without need for edifices or facades.

•  Cannell Capital Sells 19,881 Shares in new gTLD registry operator Rightside Group Ltd.  An amended 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated August 12, 2016, shows J. Carlo Cannell‘s Cannell Capital has lowered its stake in Rightside Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: NAME) to 1.21 million shares which account for 6.29% of the company’s outstanding stock. The fund previously held 1.23 million common shares, according to its latest 13F filing for the reporting period of June 30. Cannell Capital stated in the 13D filing:

"Mr. Cannell reserves the right to discuss various views and opinions with respect to the Company [Rightside] and its business plans with the Company or the members of its senior management. The discussion of such views and opinions may extend from ordinary day-to-day business operations to matters such as nominees for representation on the Company’s board of directors, senior management decisions and extraordinary business transactions. Mr. Cannell reserves the right to take such action as he may deem necessary from time to time to seek to maximize the value of the Shares. Such actions may include, but may not necessarily be limited to, pursuit of strategic initiatives to enhance shareholder value."

Remember Carlo Cannell's letter to Rightside ($NAME) earlier this year? It's a classic:

"While I am a believer in new gTLDs, it is going to be many years before their revenue in any way materially approaches the revenue potential of our registrar operations. In my view, NAME’s registrar has become like a crazy aunt kept in the basement, one that you refuse to adequately clothe or feed, but who steadfastly spins straw into gold used to subsidize a stable of largely substandard new gTLDs such as .democrat, .dance, .army, .navy, and .airforce. Most of these new gTLDs are irrelevant and will never be sold in material volumes. NAME is holding back the growth potential of your registrar by pushing garbage extensions to a user base that quietly knows better."--J. Carlo Cannell, Cannell Capital LLC, February 19, 2016 (emphasis and link added)

Rightside (NASDAQ: NAME) shares are down -9.66% since August 11, closing Friday at $10.85.

•  ICANN's Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice Review Team (CCT-RT) will be meeting in Vienna, Austria, on 29-30 August 2016. The CCT-RT face-to-face meeting agenda includes an Analysis Group economic study that is examining pricing trends and competition indicators in the Global Domain Name market, the Nielsen registrant survey that is studying consumers' perceived trust and choice in the Domain Name System, and AM Global's interviews conducted with applicants. Join in-person to observe the meeting or online via Adobe Connect. More info here and on the wiki.

•  No comments close this coming week at ICANN.

•  Tech News:

1. The Twilight of China’s Online Consumer Paradise | Bloomberg.com: "... Consumer loyalty means nothing in China ... volume of private equity and venture capital flowing into China’s tech sector, as well as investments in the country as a whole, peaked last fall ... “The slowdown is a global phenomenon, and it’s still ongoing: we’re in the middle of the winter,” says Kai-fu Lee, founder of prominent VC firm Sinovation Ventures in Beijing. “The Chinese market has a tendency to accelerate uptrends as well as downtrends: When things are trendy, they will double or triple quickly – and then when they’re out of favor, they will drop like a brick.”"
2. Google’s High-Speed Web Plans Hit Snags | WSJ.com: "After initial rollouts prove costly, Google Fiber rethinks how to deliver connections in metro areas ... Now the company is hoping to use wireless technology to connect homes, rather than cables, in about a dozen new metro areas, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. As a result Alphabet has suspended projects in San Jose, Calif., and Portland, Ore."
3. Uber and Lyft Replace Public Transportation in Florida and Colorado: "... the Uber partnership and partial ride subsidization proved significantly cheaper than maintaining a bus system. In its pilot program, the town pays for 50 percent of the cost of a ride (up to $3 per rider) and estimates the program will cost $40,000 a year--a quarter of what it cost to run two bus lines that were replaced by the arrangement. Lyft is set to launch a similar partnership in Centennial, Colorado, later this month."--POLITICO.com
4. Chrome starts retiring Flash in favor of HTML5 | ArsTechnica.com: "Non-visible Flash content blocked in September; Flash fully deprecated by December."
5. Back to the Future: Nokia Android phones are coming: see BusinessInsider.com and Meet the man charged with reviving Nokia's phone brand | CNET.com.

• Five most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this week on DomainMondo.com:

1. News Review: ICANN Says It Is Ready for the IANA Transition, Is It Really?
2. NTIA Tells ICANN: IANA Functions Contract Will Expire October 1, 2016
3. Afilias Challenges New gTLD WEB Auction Results in Letter to ICANN
4. Jet.com Deal: A $3 Billion Acquihire Botox Shot For Walmart? (videos)
5. Facebook At War With Ad Blockers, But Ad Blocking Trend Increasing

• 10 Other Reading Recommendations:

1. Market Manipulation? A $35 Billion Stock, an SEC Halt and Suspicions of Manipulation | Bloomberg.com: "Neuromama ... began to draw more scrutiny this year after its paper value more than quadrupled to $35 billion on scant volume. Before its suspension, the market cap of Neuromama, which was based in southwest Siberia before moving to a beach community near Tijuana, Mexico, was greater than even Tesla Motors Inc."
2. Growth Hacking? How Lending Club’s Biggest Fanboy Uncovered Shady Loans | Bloomberg.com: "... Silicon Valley tends to venerate mildly deceptive tactics when they’re used in service of a scrappy upstart—it’s known as “growth hacking” ...  loans containing seemingly misleading information, tied to SEC-registered securities. Maybe it wasn’t fraud, but it wasn’t exactly transparent ..."
3. I Hire Engineers At Google--Here's What I Look For (And Why) | FastCompany.com: "... Yes, engineers need to be able to code ... on your resume, instead of listing your GPA (which we no longer use to determine candidacy), give us details about your experience at hackathons, coding competitions, or programming assignments at work. Just because it isn't an academic credential doesn't make it any less relevant. Not only does this create a more textured portrait of your abilities, it’s a great way to prove your engineering chops if you majored in sociology, for instance ..."
4. Obama Administration Wants to Give You Money to Learn to Code. Here's Why That's a Problem | Bloomberg.com: "Let me get this straight: They're going to partner untested for-profit entities with institutions with a proven track record of doing poorly by their students, and the Department of Education is expecting excellent outcomes?" said Alexander Holt, policy analyst at Washington-based think tank New America."
5. Dinosaur Watch: Broadcast & Cable TV - TV Ratings: Rio [Olympics] Hits Competition Low on Friday | HollywoodReporter.com: "... numbers are still down from London four years ago, but NBC Sports continues to see record returns from [online] streaming ..."
6. 'Walmart destroyed retail' | BusinessInsider.com: "The root of the problem, according to Kniffen, is that there are simply too many physical retail stores in the US. Kniffen isn't alone. Last week, Macy's CFO, Karen Hoguet, said in an earnings call that 'this country is over-stored, given evolving customer shopping habits.'" See also Walmart’s Out-of-Control Crime Problem Is Driving Police Crazy | Bloomberg.com.
7. Bill Gross Warns "Central Bankers Are Destroying The Engine Of The Real Economy" | ZeroHedge.com
8. Dollar Vans: The Economist.com: "In parts of New York City, if you know what to look for, you will find a vast and quasi-legal transport network operating in plain sight. It is made up of “dollar vans”, private 15-passenger vehicles that serve neighbourhoods lacking robust public transport ..."
9. UK’s Nuclear Future Threatened by Chinese Espionage, Brexit | WolfStreet.com: "The cancellation of Hinkley Point could crush EDF and the French nuclear industry – or is Britain’s move a Brexit negotiating ploy?"
10. Virtu Never Loses (Well, Almost Never) in Quest to Upend Markets | Bloomberg.com: "Virtu and other relative newcomers, including Jump Trading, DRW Holdings, and Citadel Securities, as well as smaller, nimbler enterprises, are filling voids created by new regulations and technologies."

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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ICANN Quarterly Stakeholder Call, Q4 FY2016, Presentation Slides

ICANN held its FY16 Q4 (ending June 30, 2016), Quarterly Stakeholder Call, on August 18, 2016. There were no surprises in the reports presented, which covered the IANA stewardship transition, global engagement activities, policy updates, and financial reports:

• President & CEO Overview- Göran Marby, President & CEO (10 min)
• Board Update - Steve Crocker, Chair, ICANN Board of Directors (5 min)
• Policy Update - Bart Boswinkel for David Olive, Sr. VP Policy Development Support; Adiel Akplogan, VP Technical Engagement (10 min)
• Management Update - David Conrad, Chief Technology Officer (15 min)
• Financial Update - Xavier Calvez, Chief Financial Officer (10 min)

The recording of the call, the presentation (embed below), and transcripts, are (or will be) posted on the ICANN website.

Highlights from the presentation slides:

ICANN Q4 FY2016 Stakeholder Call Presentation (pdf)(slides), 18 August 2016 (embed below):


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