News Review | GDPR & WHOIS EPDP Initial Report Comments Due Dec 21

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-12-16 with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) GDPR & ICANN WHOIS Data: EPDP Initial Report Comments Due Dec 21, 2) Other ICANN news: ICANN's Lyin' CEO? and more,  3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Tesla.com Redux, 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 5) Most Read & Next Week.

1) GDPR & ICANN WHOIS Data: EPDP Initial Report Comments Due Dec 21

EPDP meetings Tuesday Dec 18 and Thursday Dec 20 starting 14:00 UTC (9am EST). Observers use Adobe Connect, or audio cast (browser or app).

Thursday Dec 20  EPDP meeting transcript (pdf), Adobe replay, Chat transcript (pdf), MP3 audio, notes and action items here.

Tuesday Dec 18 EPDP meeting transcript (pdf): Adobe Replay (video), MP3 (audio) Chat transcript (pdf), Notes and action items here.

See also GNSO Council EPDP page and updates. Links to all EPDP meetings' transcripts and recordings are on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP links: wiki, mail list, action items, Temp Spec, EPDP Charter (pdf), Data Elements Workbooks (pdf), EPDP Initial Report (pdf).

All comments to the EPDP Initial Report are due by Dec 21, 2018, 23:59. UTC:

"... If you want to see the privacy rights of domain name registrants respected, you need to weigh in. And if you don’t weigh in, you can be sure that Facebook, the MPAA, the trademark interests, cybersecurity firms who monetize Whois data, and other anti-privacy rights interests will be out in force ..."--InternetGovernance.org

Editor's note: I have finished my comment to the EPDP Initial Report (comment embed and link below). Here's the essence of my comment to simplify, clarify, minimize WHOIS Registrant's Data Fields (Data Elements) to be GDPR-compliant:

See the "old way" WHOIS raw data here: https://www.whois.com/whois/facebook.com. The "new way" minimizes over 30 data elements (data fields) to just 8 necessary data fields for a WHOIS in compliance with GDPR (the other WHOIS data elements automatically generated by Registry and Registrar processes, except Registry IDs, are not affected by GDPR). It would be hard for an honest registrant to fail to accurately fill in the registrant's data fields in this revised WHOIS "new way."

Another excerpt from my comment:

"What James Bladel (GoDaddy, RrSG) told the EPDP working group more than once, including Aug 7, 2018 (transcript), is VERY IMPORTANT: "We’re talking about collection of data for the purposes of publication in an RDS system or an online directory and that is, again, not something that we [registrars] need in order to serve our customer, our registrant customers ... we have our own internal communications with those customers" [e.g., additional contact information, banking and credit card info, etc.] This is the time to cleanup the WHOIS registrant data fields, simplify, clarify, and minimize, in compliance with GDPR and other data privacy laws." 

I also agree with the GNSO's Contracted Parties House (Registrars and gTLD Registry Operators):

"The initial report does not present for review any concrete policy. Instead it is a discordant document filled with tentative suggestions and polarised arguments."

The EPDP's Google Form for submitting comments was a poor method for commenting on this Initial Report, specifically limiting how much "comment" one could submit: "Your response is too large. Try shortening some answers" (see message in "red" below).

My comment is here (pdf) embed below beginning with page 4 of the Google form:

Aids to complete a Comment to the ICANN EPDP Initial Report:

• EPDP Initial Report (pdf)

• Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data

• Registrar Accreditation Agreement

• Input from ICANN Org to EPDP Team

• https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/jelinek-to-marby-05jul18-en.pdf

• Whois-Privacy Reform Hits its First Milestone | internetgovernance.org 

• Tucows Statement on ICANN Legal Action | epag.de

• Example of WHOIS data: facebook.com

• https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rdds-labeling-policy-2017-02-01-en
• Summary of ICANN Organization's Contractual Compliance Team Data Processing Activities 07 Dec 2018: summary-compliance-data-processing-activities-07dec18-en.pdf (pdf)

• Two Decades of WHOIS (a/k/a RDS) Reform Failure at ICANN: Letter dated 14 Nov 2018 (pdf) from GNSO Council Chair Keith Drazek and Vice Chairs Pam Little and Rafik Dammak, to ICANN Board of Directors, published by ICANN 26 Nov 2018, re: Termination of the Next-Generation Registration Directory Services (RDS) Policy Development Process Working Group. ICANN Board of Directors response (pdf).

• Summary of ICANN Organization’s Contractual Compliance Team Data Processing Activities (pdf)
• Guidelines 3/2018 on the territorial scope of the GDPR (Article 3) (pdf) - version for public consultation--edpb.europa.eu.

Note also:

11 Dec 2018 Letter from Göran Marby to Dave Jevans and Jerry Upton re: Joint APWG/M3AAWG GDPR and WHOIS User Survey Results marby-to-jevans-upton-11dec18-en.pdf [128 KB] excerpt:

"... at this time, the ICANN Board does not intend to issue another Temporary Specification or amend the current one absent a compelling legal reason, consistent with ICANN’s current contracts with registries and registrars, for it to do so; for example, to maintain the security or stability of registry services, registrar services, or the Domain Name System ..."

11 Dec 2018 Letter from ICANN GDD VP Cyrus Namazi to Intellectual Property Constituency re:  Privacy and Proxy Service Provider Accreditation Policy Implementation namazi-to-ipc-11dec18-en.pdf [128 KB].

11 Dec 2018 Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to Graeme Bunton and Donna Austin
re: 3rd Party Access to Data Models marby-to-bunton-austin-11dec18-en.pdf [127 KB]

SAC 101v2 | SSAC Advisory Regarding Access to Domain NameRegistration Data version 2
12 Dec 2018 sac-101-v2-en.pdf [324 KB] and SAC 101v2 | SSAC Advisory Regarding Access to Domain NameRegistration Data version 2 | Addendum 12 Dec 2018 sac-101-v2-addendum-en.pdf [66.9 KB]

ICANN org's Technical Study Group on Access to Non-Public Registration Data - background info - the TSG-Access-RD mail list. See also this on DomainIncite.com.

2) Other ICANN News

a. ICANN's Lyin' CEO?

7 December 2018 Letter from HE Jacqualine Mendoza to ICANN Board (pdf) excerpt above, full embed below, published by ICANN on 12 Dec 2018. Mendoza is Secretary General | Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). Letter is re: new gTLD .AMAZON:

b.  More ICANN news:

• UPDATE: Verisign and Nu Dotco, LLC request to intervene in Afilias vs ICANN IRP  re: new gTLD .WEB.

• ICANN Holiday Break: ICANN offices (and GNSO staff support services) will close at the end of business on Friday, 21 December 2018, and reopen Wednesday, 2 January 2019.

• Webinar on Draft ICANN FY20 Operating Plan and Budget, Tuesday, 18 December 2018, 17:00 UTC (12 noon EST). Join here: https://participate.icann.org/planning. A recording will be posted on the Community Wiki here.

• 12 Dec 2018 Letter from ALAC's Maureen Hilyard to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby re Enabling Inclusive, Informed and Meaningful Participation at ICANN--hilyard-to-chalaby-12dec18-en.pdf (pdf). 

• Improving Access to ICANN org Content

• GNSO PDP 3.0 Implementation Plan (version 10 December 2018): gnso.icann.org (pdf)

• ICANN SSAC Appointments to the ICANN Root ZoneEvolution Review Committee 11 Dec 2018: ssac2018-28-11dec18-en.pdf [58.8 KB]

• ICANN GNSO Project List (pdf) 10 Dec 2018.

• Another Example of the Unknown, Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest by members of the ICANN Board of Directors, in this case Ram Mohan (Afilias) who was on the ICANN Board for 10 years (as SSAC liaison):

Nothing in his SOIs from the 10 years he was on the #ICANN Board of Directors. Surely that relationship with the Indian Government should have been disclosed. https://t.co/FZizelgMjA https://t.co/ymHFRPhvDr

— Eye On ICANN (@EyeOnICANN) December 12, 2018

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

Tesla.com Redux:

Buying https://t.co/46TXqRrsdr took over a decade, $11M & amazing amount of effort. Didn’t like https://t.co/BsRfMrY9Gm even when we were only making 🚘.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2018

See also: Musk Gets Tesla.com Domain Name After Waiting a Decade | bloomberg.com 19 Feb 2016.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. Internet censorship in Turkey--journo.com.tr: Since 2014, many websites and social media platforms have been periodically censored by Turkish authorities. Wikipedia has been completely blocked by the Turkish government since April 2017. See also Things Were Supposed to Be Different in Hungary--slate.com.

b. Soros vs Facebook: George Soros, the hedge-fund billionaire, gave money to one of the ten organizations that support Freedom from Facebook (domain: freedomfromfb.com), an activist group that wants to see the company broken up by spinning off its various business units--foxnews.com.

c. Young Arabs now get their news first on social media, not television. A recent survey revealed almost two-thirds (63%) of young Arabs report looking first to Facebook and Twitter for news. Three years ago, that was just a quarter.--zdnet.com.

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

1. News Review | Verisign $VRSN & New gTLD .WEB, Afilias vs ICANN

2. Tech Review: 1) Huawei CFO Arrested (video), 2) U.S. Oilfield Technology

3. UK Brexit Agreement Vote Dead? Now A Hard Brexit or Capitulation to EU?

Next week on News Review: Greed is Good? ICANN's Big 'Money Grab' 

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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DISCLAIMER

News Review: New gTLDs Failing, ICANN58 Ends, ICANN in La La Land

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

Features •  1. New gTLDs Failing, 2. ICANN58 ends, 3. Important Skills for ICANN Board Members, 4. ICANN CEO Goran Marby re: ICANN data, 5. More ICANN Dysfunction & Incompetence,  6. New gTLDs .CORP, .HOME and .MAIL, 7. LAC DNS Marketplace Study, 8. Amazon.com in Spanish, 9. ICANN in La La Land, 10. Internet Domain News Quick Takes, 11. Three most popular posts, 12. One Last Thing.

1. New gTLDs Failing (new generic top-level domains)--nTLD extensions are already failing | reddit.com--one comment out of many: "nTLD extensions are already failing ... Everyone said the new TLDs were nothing but a money grabbing scheme by the ICANN ... It seems now, some nTLDs seem to be already failing with less than 5,000 active domains and dropping, barely to keep the costs active and they are increasing renewal prices to keep the boat afloat"--For background see last week's 4. Uniregistry plans to hike prices up to 3000% for some new gTLDs.

ICANN's "Grand" Millstone

Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth.--Mike Tyson

Follow-up:

• GoDaddy drops Uniregistry domain names due to price hike | DomainNameWire.com--excerpt from one comment--"They [new gTLDs] will now all join .mobi in the big TLD cesspool in the cloud ... The internet will be a better place without them." (emphasis added)
• GoDaddy New gTLD Registration Number is Telling | DomainInvesting.com "... the number of daily new gTLD registrations at GoDaddy [the world's largest domain name registrar] is not growing ..." 
• Hint: new gTLDs don't have a "lack of awareness" problem--if anything, registrants are increasingly only too aware of the rip-off that most new gTLDs are--from "universal acceptance" problems to unpredictable and predatory new gTLD domain names' pricing--giving new gTLD registry operators carte blanche authority to "rape and pillage" the global domain name marketplace and domain name registrants worldwide, may be ICANN's sicko idea of the way to operate in the global public interest and "to promote global innovation, competition and consumer choice," but ICANN is dead wrong.
• WIPO: Cybersquatting Cases Hit Record in 2016, Driven by New Top-Level Domain Names | wipo.int--ICANN must be so proud!
• As a domain name industry prophet once said, "Mistakes ALWAYS happen before you even set sail."  The mistakes ICANN made in its new gTLDS program, were fundamental and foundational, long before the first new gTLDs came into general availability in early 2014. Yes, Frank Schilling and many others, "drank the Kool-Aid" that ICANN was offering, but it is ICANN that is most responsible for this mess. ICANN was warned, repeatedly, by many, including Esther Dyson (ICANN's founding Board Chair), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (see this 2011 letter to ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker and ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom) (pdf), as well as FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, and this 2008 U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division letter attached to the Commerce Department Letter (pdf) to then ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate-Thrush, excerpt:

Excerpt from 2008 Letter from U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division
See also: News Review: ICANN Used 'Junk Science' Firm to Justify New gTLDs

One thing is now clear, all of the problems related to, or caused by new gTLDs, are increasingly consuming ICANN's time and resources--from policy-making and reviews, to disputes, IRPs, and litigation, to a myriad of other issues that ICANN failed to "think through" before rolling out its ill-conceived and misbegotten new gTLDs program--and most stakeholders who had objections or serious reservations about the new gTLDs program all along, have since left ICANN, including its "ICANN community," leaving mostly just a gaggle of special interest lawyers and lobbyists, domain name industry "professionals" and a cadre of professional "volunteers"--ICANN pays airfare, hotel, and per diem expenses for an unbelievable number of people to show up at ICANN junkets a/k/a "meetings" (example: ICANN57 (pdf) "travel support"=$918,292.60)  to fill seats, and make it look like ICANN multistakeholderism "works." From appearances at any ICANN gathering, one might think the domain name industry supports new gTLDs unreservedly, the reality is very, very different: There’s no way to sugar-coat it, today we are an industry divided | MorganLinton.com. It's just that ICANN has muffled and driven away the dissenting voices. That's the way "ICANN consensus" in reality works. For those of us "observing" ICANN, it's like watching a slow-motion train wreck. Tip to the wise: watch China's moves between now and the 2018 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference.

2. ICANN58--something is rotten in the state of Denmark--ended Thursday in Copenhagen:

ICANN58 highlights:

a. The failing new gTLD Registry Operators are now seeking financial support from ICANN in the form of reduced fees, and a marketing "awareness" program (which would likely violate ICANN's 501(c)(3) status and other legal prohibitions)--"only 63 new gTLDs have registered in excess of 50,000 names ... literally many hundreds with fewer than 10,000 registrations" (highlighting added):

b. ICANN Dysfunction is Alive and Well: ICANN CEO Goran Marby and ICANN GDD President Akram Atallah blow off ICANN stakeholder Denise Michel's comments and questions about dysfunctional processes of ICANN's Global Domains Division (GDD), ICANN staff ignoring and bypassing ICANN Community and others' objections to amendments to the new gTLD base Registry Agreement:

Source of above: ICANN Copenhagen GNSO Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG) Meeting Tuesday, 14 March 2017 at 9:00 CET transcript (pdf) pp,18-20.

c. New gTLD .WEB:

#ICANN58 GAC/Board, J Jeffrey: US DoJ sent civil investigation demand, re Verisign role in .web, to ICANN & other parties in community.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 15, 2017

d. GAC:  CENTR Report on ICANN58 (updated pdf download at link)(excerpt below):

CENTR Report on ICANN58 p. 4

#ICANN58 GAC: as temporary solution to independent secretariat funding gap, GAC members are agreeing to limit work that ACIG does this year

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 15, 2017

The ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) has 171 members, and 35 observers but only 59 GAC members (35% participation rate with half or more of those receiving ICANN "travel support" (airfare, hotel, per diem stipend) based on ICANN57 data) and only 9 observers (26% participation rate) attended ICANN58--source: GAC Communique (pdf). Accordingly, it appears most governments are not actively participating in the GAC, and, not surprisingly, the GAC secretariat lacks sufficient financial funding. Wither ICANN?

e. Best Quote of ICANN58: ICANN is a prison--

#ICANN58 Glen de Saint Géry: People say that #ICANN is like a life sentence. But I've never felt imprisoned at all.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 16, 2017

More ICANN58 info, including the GAC Communique, here.

3.  Important Skills for ICANN Board Members--guidance from the ICANN Board to the Nominating Committee (highlighting added)--apparently past and present ICANN Board members lack some or all of these skills. Surprised?

4. Letter from ICANN CEO Goran Marby re: ICANN data (highlighting added):

5.  More ICANN Dysfunction & Incompetence: 

• Letter from Patrick Baumann to Chris Disspain | ICANN.org New gTLD .SPORT--Issue: Final Declaration regarding dot Sport Limited v. ICANN Independent Review Process--baumann-to-disspain-01mar17-en.pdf[467 KB].
• Letter from Mario Paez to ICANN | ICANN.org: New gTLD Application for .GAY--paez-to-icann-08mar17-en.pdf [472 KB].

6.  New gTLDs .CORP, .HOME and .MAIL--comment excerpt on circleid.com: I don't see why marking those domains as "toxic, reserved forever" isn't a valid response. Dumping the contaminated material into a shipping container and tossing it down a black hole's an efficient way of cleaning up the [new gTLDs] mess (emphasis added).--Background: 6 March 2017 Letter to the New gTLD Applicants for .HOME, .CORP, and .MAIL  from Akram Atallah, President, Global Domains Division ICANN re: new gTLD applications for .HOME, .CORP, and .MAIL, in response to Letter from .HOME Registry Inc. et al. to the ICANN Board [Published 26 August 2016].

7.  Publication of the LAC (Latin America & Caribbean) DNS Marketplace Study | ICANN.org: A consortium led by Oxford Information Labs, LACTLD, EURid and InterConnect Communications conducted the final "LAC DNS Study" (pdf, 3.9 MB), study for ICANN. The report identifies seven key drivers of domain name growth for the region:

• Defining and refining the sales channel and reversing the trend of falling numbers of ICANN accredited registrars since 2013;
• Building user awareness of domain names;
• Making registration policies open and simple;
• Providing online payment facilities;
• Ensuring fast activation of new registrations;
• Reasonable and competitive fees; and
• Promotions, marketing, and campaigns.

Unfortunately, this "hit and miss" list just skims the surface, and is misleading because it fails to address some core problems in the region.

8. Amazon.com adding Spanish--the first new language on Amazon.com since the website's creation over 20 years ago--"Customers will be able to shop, browse and search for millions of products, view their shopping cart, and place orders in Spanish on Amazon.com and through the Amazon Mobile Shopping app," an Amazon.com Inc. spokeswoman told CNET.com. The U.S. now has more than 40 million native Spanish speakers and over 10 million bilingual Spanish speakers, making it the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Amazon, the world's largest e-retailer, is seeking to not only attract the growing Spanish-speaking population in the U.S., but also Mexico, where Amazon recently launched its Prime subscription service for about $46 a year.

9. If you're returning to, or visiting, ‘La La Land’ a/k/a ICANN headquarters anytime soon--

La La Land: gold marker pin shows ICANN headquarters location (click on map or link for larger map)

Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, Santa Monica, offers “Escape to La La Land” package thru March 31, which includes accommodations in a bungalow, a picnic lunch and a dinner for two, a map of Los Angeles marked with locations where the movie is set and two tickets to a show at the popular jazz club Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill & Jazz. From $1,900 a night.--NYTimes.com

10.  Other Internet Domain News Quick Takes:

• If the U.S. Government Can't Get Domain Seizures Right, Why Would Big Pharma Do Better? | Electronic Frontier Foundation | EFF.org
• Puzzling Question of ICANN Formation Jurisdiction Persists | Lexology.com
• Trump's proposed budget (pdf) re: NTIA of the Commerce Dept: "Continues to support the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in representing the United States interest at multi-stakeholder forums on internet governance and digital commerce. The Budget supports the commercial sector’s development of next generation wireless services by funding NTIA’s mission of evaluating and ensuring the efficient use of spectrum by Government users." (p.14)
• India Not Eager to Hop On to China’s Cyber Sovereignty Bandwagon | sputniknews.com March 7, 2017: “As BRICS host this year, China stands ready to work together with Russia and other BRICS partners,” Long Zhou, Coordinator, Cyber Affairs Division of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing.
• Delhi-based Digital Empowerment Foundation has tied up with Google and the Tata Trust to teach e-trading and e-banking to women across select districts of 27 Indian states.--HindustanTimes.com.
• GoDaddy Launches Business Hosting for Fast-Growing Small Businesses | MarketWatch.com
• Dark Web Reported to Have Shrunk by 85% | mascherari.press
• What Is Ransomware? | ICANN.org
• CIA hacking upside? "It appears US spies are using targeted hacking tools in their investigations. The surprise: That could mean your data is safer."--CNET.com
• ITIF: 92% of Top Federal Websites Fail to Meet Security, Speed, Accessibility Standards | executivegov.com: "A new study from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation says 92 percent of the U.S. federal government’s most popular websites do not meet basic standards for security, speed, mobile friendliness or accessibility."
• FCC battle over online privacy: Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona has introduced a resolution that would kill rules the FCC passed in October to regulate consumer privacy for internet service providers.--CNET.com  
• The World Wide Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, warns it's in peril on 28th anniversary | usatoday.com
• Now That You Have Accessed Digital Assets, Don’t Forget to Value Them | The National Law Review | natlawreview.com: "an increasing number of digital assets have an economic value, for example logos, libraries of digital music, Internet domain names."

11.  Three most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:

1. News Review: 1. Trademark Squatters; 2. ICANN "Highly Political, Toxic"
2. TechReview | WikiLeaks Takes A Big Dump On The CIA (video)
3. LIVE Video Replay: March 15 Federal Reserve FOMC Press Conference

12. One last thing:

"The changing face of the Internet is no longer a matter of public communications, but a matter of public services. And with this observation, we are back to a more basic theme. The essential topic of the conversation is how to strike a sustainable balance between a rapacious private sector that has amassed overarching control of the digital service and content space, and the needs of the larger society in which we all would like some equity of opportunity to thrive and benefit from the outcomes of this new digital age."--Geoff Huston, Chief Scientist at APNIC (emphasis added)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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DISCLAIMER

ICANN President & CEO Busy Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic

ICANN President & CEO busy rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic:

I’ve made some small changes to the #ICANN org Executive Team, a promotion and a new role. Read more in my blog: https://t.co/Z0Q9Cj6gkr

— ICANN President (@icann_president) October 4, 2016

This is the problem when the ICANN Board of Directors replaced former ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade (who quit in March, 2016, 3½ years into a 5-year contract), with a complete stranger to ICANN, Goran Marby of Sweden, who had no prior experience in any aspect of ICANN, nor any of its three "communities"--domain names, numbers (RIRs), protocols (IETF).

Marby, who started as ICANN President & CEO in May of this year, was previously Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority. Shortly after his appointment was announced in February, 2016, the ICANN Board members, and other ICANN insiders, appeared unaware and surprised when Domain Mondo pointed to reports out of Sweden indicating Marby's temperament and leadership style might be incompatible with ICANN's collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance, resulting in a press conference--MP3 audio archived here and here--in which a Bloomberg BNA reporter asked Marby (@3:45 in the audio) about one of those reports, quoting a Swedish telecom operator that Marby's style was "lacking in transparency," and "threatening."

Perhaps that is why Marby has kept a low profile at ICANN but for his recent appearance before U.S. Senator Ted Cruz's (R-TX) recent Subcommittee Hearing in Washington, D.C., (video), where Marby, under grilling by Cruz, looked like a "deer caught in the headlights."

Clearly, it will take Marby at least a year, if not two, before he is no longer "wet behind the ears" when it comes to being President & CEO of ICANN. Unfortunately, that has given ICANN insiders, who are part of the organization's culture problem, ample time to indoctrinate Marby, who may be completely unaware of ICANN's systemic dysfunction and other problems, including the fact that it was the "ICANN community" alone (not NTIA, ICANN Board members, management or staff), who insisted on the accountability component of the IANA stewardship transition.

This may be evident in Marby's list of his ICANN Executive Team Members as of October 4, 2016, see list below with asterisks marking members who are a known *crony of former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé & ICANN GDD President Akram Atallah. Atallah reportedly got his "old friend" Chehadé the CEO job at ICANN, and in turn, was appointed by Chehadé to the second-highest paying position at ICANN which provides Atallah a total annual compensation + benefits package approaching $1,000,000 in value--who says you can't "profit" from a "non-profit" corporation--move over Bill and Hillary!

ICANN Executive Team Members (Oct 4, 2016):

Göran Marby; *Akram Atallah; *Allen Grogan; *Ashwin Rangan; David Conrad; Diane Schroeder; Duncan Burns; John Jeffrey; Sally Costerton; *Susanna Bennett; Tarek Kamel; Theresa Swinehart; Xavier Calvez.

This list contains many of the same ICANN team members in charge when the ICANN community expressed such dissatisfaction with ICANN leadership and insisted on the ICANN accountability components now known as Work Stream 1 (WS1) and Work Stream 2 (WS2). Compounding the problem, the ICANN Board of Directors has been dysfunctional and failed to properly oversee ICANN management and staff, leading to such embarrassments as the IRP Declarations in the DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust) and Dot Registry cases.

Maybe ICANN wasn't really ready for the IANA transition.

See also ICANN Management Organization Chart 01Oct2016: management-org-01oct16-en.pdf (pdf) embed below:


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DISCLAIMER

Interview: New ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby (video)

ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby interview:

ICANN's Brad White interviews ICANN's new President and CEO Göran Marby. Published May 15, 2016. You almost have to feel sorry for this guy--he obviously has no idea what he is getting into--and he already has been "fed" a lot of misinformation and false narratives about ICANN.

See also on Domain Mondo:

DomainMondo.com 06Feb2016: New ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby of Sweden, Starts May 2016: "But troubling reports indicate his temperament and leadership style are incompatible with ICANN's collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance ..."

DomainMondo.com: News Review: ICANN, China, IANA: ex-CEO Fadi Chehadé's Sad Legacy: Fadi Chehade: "I’ve learned in these four years that unless he [new ICANN CEO] is listening and deriving his priorities from you, he’s going to have a miserable time. It’s that simple ... See the biggest difficulty for an incoming presidency to ICANN is two parts. The first is his title. The title is a problem because [when] you come in, you think you’re a CEO. You’re not a CEO. This is not a typical CEO job. And so you get into your head all kinds of things about being a CEO that just don’t apply here. And so the title is problematic. And I’ll tell him [new ICANN CEO] this after he signs his offer." (emphasis added)

DomainMondo.com: News Review ... ICANN Chairman's Op-ed Flops: "... [ICANN Chairman Steve] Crocker followed the script he had been given, false narratives and institutional secrets are inculcated in ICANN's sick organizational culture ..."

"The curse was laid upon him in Marrakech" 

Thank you for the journey #ICANN, now passing the baton to Marby. May the force of this community be with you Göran pic.twitter.com/0zLgSXUUpf

— ICANN President (@icann_president) March 10, 2016

Marby is a former technology CEO and start-up founder as well as most recently serving as Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority.

History of ICANN President-CEOs (former positions in parenthesis):

• Göran Marby (Director-General, Swedish Post and Telecom Authority): May 2016- ?
• *Interim: Akram Atallah (ICANN GDD President), March-May, 2016 
• Fadi Chehadé (CEO of Vocado LLC), September 2012-March 2016
• *Interim: Akram Atallah (ICANN COO), July-September, 2012 
• Rod Beckstrom (U.S. Cybersecurity Chief), July 2009-July 2012
• Paul Twomey (Founder, Argo Pacific consulting firm), March 2003-June 2009
• Stuart Lynn (Assoc. V.P., University of California), March 2001-March 2003
• Michael Roberts (V.P. of Educom consortium), October 1998-March 2001

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News Review: ICANN55, IANA Transition, New gTLDs, dot AFRICA

The Domain Mondo news review of the past week--and a look at the week ahead:

ICANN55 started officially on Saturday, March 5th, and runs through Thursday, March 10, 2016. Expect lots of faux applause and cheering when the long-overdue CCWG-Accountability Final Report on WS1 Recommendations is finally approved and the IANA transition plan can finally be sent by the ICANN Board at its Public Meeting on Thursday, to NTIA. Expect an appearance by ICANN's new CEO Göran Marby (though he doesn't start until May, 2016). Also expect a faux farewell to ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade. The Economist, which is paid a lot of money by ICANN as a new gTLD evaluator (The Economist Intelligence Unit), ran a soft story about ICANN55 and Fadi which concludes:

"Perhaps Fadi Chehadé, ICANN's president [& CEO] and one of the instigators of NETmundial, will be more successful getting such efforts off the ground in his new job. He will step down after the meeting in Marrakech, to be succeeded by Göran Marby, a Swedish telecoms regulator, and join the World Economic Forum to create all sorts of multi-stakeholder groups. "We need many little ICANNs," he says." --The Economist

The reality of  ICANN, the IANA transition, NETmundial, ICANN's new gTLDs, and Fadi Chehade, is very different from what will be portrayed at ICANN55 in Marrakech. Here's what one leading participant in the IANA transition process (both CWG and CCWG) wrote:

"There are parts of this final Proposal I am not happy with. There are battles that were fought and lost, and consensus-building compromises that make me queasy; I believe other members of my stakeholder structure (IPC) would tend to agree. If I were so inclined (and if I were a Member or my structure had a Member able to speak for my structure alone) I could stand our ground (or lick our wounds) in a Minority Statement." --source: CCWG public mail list (emphasis added)

The only really interesting thing at ICANN55 will be to observe the GAC (Governmental Advisory Committee) deliberations, particularly the sessions concerning the CCWG WS1 recommendations (1,2,11). But, remember, GAC's approval is not needed if a sufficient number of other Chartering Organizations approve, which is likely.

There will be two Public Forums at ICANN55, but Public Forums are just another opportunity for the ICANN Board, officers, and staff to evade accountability, and avoid answering the hard questions that so desperately need to be answered and dealt with. Read more at How ICANN and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé Evade Accountability.

While ICANN55 attendees are partying and enjoying the luxury resort which is the venue, the reality in Morocco is very different: Morocco’s ANRT Uses Skype, FaceTime in ICANN Conference, Bans Them for Moroccans: "The Moroccan National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT) has announced that it will hold a conference [ICANN55] in Marrakech next month will utilize Skype services, despite Skype being banned for the Moroccan public. The move is the latest in a long saga after Moroccan Telecom Companies fully blocked the usage of VoIP services last week..." 

Finally, on Friday, March 11th, U.S. Senators Cruz, Lankford, and Lee, are expecting answers to their questions raised in a letter to Chairman Steve Crocker which follows an earlier letter to Fadi Chehade, who avoided answering all of the Senators' questions.

More information about ICANN55 on Domain Mondo: ICANN 55, Marrakech, Morocco, March 5-10, Info, Links, Twitter Feeds

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

1. US vs Apple, House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Encryption, Video 
2. News Review: ICANN Accountability, NETmundial Initiative, G20 & China 
3. NETmundial Initiative, WEF and ICANN Withdrawal, Consequences
4. One 'Must Read' For Those Attending ICANN55, Marrakech, March 5-10 
5. US Senators Cruz, Lankford, Lee's New Letter to ICANN Chairman re: China

Final Note: On Friday, ICANN was enjoined by a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles from delegating new gTLD .AFRICA--read more at: US Federal Court Enjoins ICANN From Delegating New gTLD dot AFRICA.

Have a great week!

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo


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How ICANN and ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé Evade Accountability

Something is rotten in ICANN and the old saying is the rot starts at the top. Embedded below, and here (pdf), is the Editor of Domain Mondo's interchange with ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé in October, 2015, at the ICANN54 Public Forum, and follow-up by ICANN staff in January, 2016, in advance of the ICANN Quarterly Stakeholder call. A copy of the interchange below has been sent to Penny Pritzker, U.S. Commerce Secretary, Larry Strickling (NTIA), and a few others. One can only conclude and surmise from all of this:

1) ICANN intentionally nurtures conflicts of interest as its normal way of doing business (question 1 below);
2) In regard to 21st Century Fox's Rick Lane's questions at ICANN54 Public Forum and ICANN's non-responses below, it is possible ICANN has been paying $$ to influence foreign governments and others outside the U.S. [the two links provided by James Cole of ICANN below are not responsive. The inquiry is not directed to ICANN's U.S. government lobbying, but instead, ICANN's activities outside the U.S., the specifics of which ICANN refuses to disclose]. 

Final note: on January 28, 2016, Mike Silber, ICANN Board Member responded by email:

"Hi John
On 27/01/2016 20:12, John Poole wrote: [DomainMondo.com Editor’s Note: Question was submitted via email, October 21, 2015 (US time), approximately 12 hours before the Public Forum commenced.] Thank you for the clarification. Let me see if those type of questions (dense, but well thought out) can be easily accessed prior to the start of the public forum, so we don't deflect."

Now that ICANN and ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehade have been called to account by U.S.Senators Cruz, Lankford, and Lee, it will be interesting to see how ICANN and its CEO try to avoid the truth and evade accountability, once again. To get full answers to the questions raised above will, apparently, require a U.S. Senate or House investigation, and a Federal Government Audit--Federal Government Contractors are subject to audits performed by a U.S.Government agency such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO)--as well as an IRS (Internal Revenue Service) audit of ICANN's finances for the entire time (2012-2016) Fadi Chehade has been President and CEO of ICANN.

Frankly, none of this bodes well for the IANA stewardship transition. The "accountability mechanisms" proposed by the hardworking sub-group of the ICANN community (CCWG-Accountability) though well-intentioned, are immensely inferior to the accountability mechanisms of the U.S. government as indicated above. Add to that the inept or mostly passive ICANN Board of Directors who allow ICANN staff to run unchecked under the leadership of a CEO unqualified for the position--who himself carved out most of the core functions of ICANN (including the critical IANA functions--see below) into a new "Global Domains Division" (GDD) and put his crony who got him the job at ICANN in charge--allowing the CEO to spend most of his time globetrotting, dabbling in geo-politics, and self-promotion--setting himself up for his post-ICANN career "portfolio".

ICANN organizational chart, p. 5 (pdf) 06/01/2015: The IANA department is part of the Global Domains Division (GDD)
Elise Gerich, VP of IANA, reports to Akram Atallah, GDD President, who reports to ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade

Next post on Domain Mondo: Is ICANN Too Broken To Be Reformed? A Question from CCWG Mail List

See also on Domain Mondo:

• New ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby of Sweden, Starts May 2016: "But troubling reports indicate his temperament and leadership style are incompatible with ICANN's collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance."
• ICANN 54 Public Forum Video, Q&A, ICANN, INTA, IANA, Lobbyists
• ICANN Lobbying, Conflicts, Ethics, Transparency, Accountability, Disclosure
• Why Did ICANN Become a Member of Trademark Lobbyist Group INTA?

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New ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby of Sweden, Starts May 2016

But troubling reports indicate his temperament and leadership style are incompatible with ICANN's collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance--

Göran Marby, new ICANN CEO (ICANN photo)

UPDATE: According to Wikipedia (English translation): Göran Marby - Wikipedia: "In June 2015 representatives of several telecom operators addressed extensive criticism of the way Göran Marby leads PTS, which meant that he drives authority in an unprofessional manner and autocratically. He reportedly has also acted inappropriately and threatening towards both employees and the representatives of the telecommunications industry and journalists." Reference: June 10, 2015: Sharp criticism of the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency's Director General - News (echo) | Sweden's Radio: " The Swedish telecommunications industry expressed a huge dissatisfaction with the Director General of Post and Telecom Agency, Goran Marby. Many believe that he runs authority in an unprofessional manner. The sources also say that Marby even acted menacingly in different situations... One case involves journalist Mats Sjödin , which monitors the telecommunications industry ...  'He came up to me and grabbed my shoulder, and said that "you can not ask me about my staff, because then I can be very aggressive. I can be really aggressive," and so he pushed me on the shoulder.'- I took great offense ... It was a direct threat, and that was additionally physical, says Mats Sjödin. The echo has for several weeks been trying to get an interview with Göran Marby, but he declined to respond to criticism and accusations. Yesterday, outside the Ministry of Industry, we met him briefly. But he answered with silence. After several minutes to respond to questions with silence he disappears behind the guard at the ministry... Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung requires that the PTS Director General resigns and says that he has created a climate in which no one in the industry dares to criticize ..." (English translation)
--end of UPDATE--

ICANN  announced February 8, 2016, its new President and CEO to replace Fadi Chehade: "Göran Marby an experienced business executive and government leader has been named the next President and Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

""I'm delighted to announce Göran as the new head of ICANN," said Dr. Stephen Crocker, Chair of the ICANN Board of Directors. "His leadership experience as a technology CEO and start up founder as well as his current experience as Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority will be invaluable as ICANN moves towards the next chapter in its history. We conducted an extensive, global search and Göran impressed us all throughout with his shared values, operational experience and understanding of the Internet ecosystem. I'm looking forward to working with him and what I know will be his substantial contribution to ICANN and to helping ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet."

"Marby is a Swedish citizen, currently living in Stockholm. He and his family will be relocating to Los Angeles, California the location of one of ICANN's three global hubs.

""I am very excited to be joining ICANN and joining at the start of a new era for the organization and the community," said Marby. "While I know there is much for me to learn, I am eager to work with ICANN's multistakeholder community to continue all the good work that ICANN has been doing and am very committed to implementing the community's decisions – both with respect to the IANA Stewardship Transition, but also in the myriad important areas of ICANN policy development as it fulfills its mission."

"Marby will succeed current President and CEO Fadi Chehadé whose term finishes on March 15, 2016. Marby will join ICANN in May 2016. During this time, Akram Atallah, President of ICANN's Global Domains Division will serve as acting CEO. "I am very grateful to Akram for agreeing to step into this role and providing the continuity and leadership ICANN needs at such an important time," said Dr Crocker.

"Göran Marby has more than 20 years of experience in the Internet and technology sectors. Prior to joining PTS he co-founded AppGate Network Security AB a security software company where he served as CEO between 2002 and 2009 with a focus on international customers and operations. He has held several other leadership roles in the Internet and technology sectors including as CEO of Cygate a network services company, Country Manager for Cisco in Sweden and as CEO of Unisource Business Networks in Sweden. Marby holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Gothenburg School Economics." source: ICANN press release (emphasis added)

According to his biography posted on ICANN.org:

Göran Marby brings over 20 years experience as a senior executive in the Internet and technology sector, as well as his leadership as Director General at the independent regulatory body Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PST), where he worked closely with international organizations and standards bodies.

Prior to this, he served as CEO and founder of Appgate, a Swedish security software company (now Cryptzone in the U.S), where he grew the organization to a global company with customers in 35 countries and operations in the U.S.

Before his seven years at Appgate, he was CEO for the advanced networks company Cygate Group (now owned by TeliaSonera) where he spearheaded operations in five countries with revenues in the range of 120 million euros. And as Country Manager for Cisco in Sweden, Marby led sales of all products and services.

He currently serves on several Boards including: The Swedish Broadband Forum, The Swedish E-identification Board and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

Marby, age 53, holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law, and is married with three kids. He is fluent in English and Swedish and is a Swedish national.


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