News Review | Esther Dyson Interview, ICANN Founding Board Chair

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-10-01) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Esther Dyson Interview, ICANN Founding Board Chair,  2) Other ICANN news: a. Verisign Data Stopped ICANN From Breaking the Internet, b. New gTLDs FAIL at EMAIL, c. ICANN Community FAILING Registrants, & More, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: New gTLD Buyer's Remorse,  4) ICYMI Internet Domain News: Hurricane Irma vs. Internet, 5) Most Read Posts.

1. Esther Dyson Interview, ICANN Founding Board Chair (video):

Interview of Esther Dyson, ICANN Board Chair (1998-2000), by Brad White of ICANN. The video above was published Sep 29, 2017, by ICANN. Excerpts:

02:37 Q. It sounds like, Esther, you're challenging the very concept of an internet community? "Yes I am, I mean the community definitely exists but it's not actively engaged the way corporations or registries and registrars and lawyers [are]."

05:30  "... how many TLDs there were and that's where ultimately I changed my mind from yeah, you know, there should be a free market as many as you want, but the reality is that reduces, it just, it creates a mess, then you might as well not have the DNS and that's something of course we're facing right now ..." 

06:00  "the problem is not the shortage of domain names" 

06:17  "the reality is the more stuff [TLDs] there is the less useful the domain name system is"

08:36  "One of the biggest fights that was emblematic of a lot of other stuff and here I had fierce disagreements with Joe Sims, our Board meetings were closed. 08:49 Q. And you basically thought that the board meetings should not be closed? "Yeah I thought they should be open" ... 09:03  "the internet culture is based on transparency" ...  09:40 "you should have the the fundamental policy of we hold our discussions and we set policy within the board meeting and we do that in the open so that people can see the disagreements and can see how the decisions were arrived at so that was really unfortunate ..." 

14:30 "the the whole thing with the At-Large [ALAC] not really functioning very well was really disappointing because I really do feel that the users were kind of being ignored ... there was just a lot of people pretending to represent the at large"

17:26  "... it's [domain name industry] become a very lucrative business that at the same time is extremely competitive and there's lots of you know shady domain name practices ... I mean I would have liked to see ICANN regulating fraud and sleazy business more effectively. It's mostly, thank God, kept out of the censorship business."

Full transcript embed below:

See also:

• Esther Dyson on the Internet, ICANN and Doing Business Abroad | Knowledge@Wharton | knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu Apr 10, 2002: “'ICANN has become a real cesspool,' said Dyson."
• Esther Dyson Told ICANN new gTLDs were a mistake in 2011 (video) | DomainMondo.com--"The thing is, we are not running out of domains. This is a “way for registries and registrars to make money,” says Dyson. She also points out that “there are huge trademark issues. I just think it is offensive. If I own a trademark, now I have to go register it on 2,800 domains. It will create a lot of litigation.”
• Testimony of Esther Dyson (pdf)--Hearing on ICANN's Expansion of Top Level Domains, 8 December 2011, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation.
• ICANN's Boondoggle | MIT Technology Review, August 21, 2012: ".... a financial conflict of interest that continues to this day: ICANN subsists on the very industry it purports to govern. [Esther] Dyson says she “lost any faith, over time,” in ICANN’s ability to regulate the domain-name business."
• August 10, 2016, Letter (pdf) signed by Esther Dyson (and others) opposing the IANA transition.

2) Other ICANN news

a. Data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) Stops ICANN From Breaking the Internet--KSK Rollover Postponed | ICANN.org 27 Sep 2017: "... The changing or "rolling" of the KSK Key was originally scheduled to occur on 11 October, but it is being delayed because some recently obtained data [Verisign data via RFC 8145] shows that a significant number of resolvers used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Network Operators are not yet ready for the Key Rollover ... ICANN will provide additional information as it becomes available and the new Key Roll date will be announced as appropriate ..."--ICANN.org: "an estimated one-in-four global Internet users, or 750 million people, could be affected by the KSK rollover." (emphasis added). 

b. ICANN UASG report (pdf): new gTLDs FAIL at Email

ICANN proves once again that new gTLDs FAIL at email in 2017 just like in 2003. No wonder some have accused ICANN of consumer fraud and gross negligence in delegating over 1200 new gTLDs into the internet root--without any warnings to consumers--knowing registrants and end users would find the new gTLDs' domain names were "failing to work as expected on the Internet." 

New generic top-level domains (new gTLDs) FAIL to work as expected on the internet
graphic source: ICANN UASG report (pdf) p.5

"Those that cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

c. The ICANN community is failing its customers [Domain Name Registrants] | OpenSRS.com 26 September 2017: ".... This example doesn’t just illustrate how the ICANN organization is failing in its duty to reasonably enforce policy; it makes clear the fact that the entire ICANN community, as the body responsible for creating policy, is failing domain name registrants – the very group of people that ICANN, and all of us in this industry, are intended to serve. ICANN’s policy development process is obviously broken. It’s equally obvious that the ICANN community’s approach to fixing it must be grounded in a solid understanding of their customers’ needs and a commitment to better registrant-experience. We need to refocus our efforts on creating policy that protects registrants, without creating unintended loopholes and dead-ends. Until then, all we can do is wish best of luck to our customers in India and elsewhere in the world."

d. ICANN Webinar: Data Protection/Privacy Activities | ICANN.org: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) webinar to discuss data protection/privacy activities related to the European Union's (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):
Date & Time: 4 October 2017, 1400 – 1500 UTC (time convert) 10am EDT.
Join via Adobe Connect.
Send dial-in requests to gdpr-questions@ icann.org; Dial-in Information here.
Participant Codes: English – Participant Code: 9001; Français – Participant Code: 9002; Español – Participant Code: 9003; 中文 – Participant Code: 9004; Pусский – Participant Code: 9005; العربية – Participant Code: 9006; Português – Participant Code: 9007.

e. New gTLD .AMAZON battle rejoined--Adopted Board Resolutions | Regular Meeting of the ICANN Board | ICANN.org: "...Resolved (2017.09.23.17), further consideration is needed regarding the Panel's non-binding recommendation that the Board "promptly re-evaluate Amazon's applications" and "make an objective and independent judgment regarding whether there are, in fact, well-founded, merits-based public policy reasons for denying Amazon's applications. Resolved (2017.09.23.18), the Board asks the Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) to review and consider the Panel's recommendation that the Board "promptly re-evaluate Amazon's applications" and "make an objective and independent judgment regarding whether there are, in fact, well-founded, merits-based public policy reasons for denying Amazon's applications," and to provide options for the Board to consider in addressing the Panel's recommendation." (emphasis added)

f. Creating Content Governance and Rebuilding the Infrastructure of ICANN’s Public Sites | ICANN.org: "It probably comes as no surprise to many of you who use www.icann.org that our content can be difficult to find. It's an issue we have grappled with for a long time that needs a permanent fix. On 23 September 2017, at the ICANN Board meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Board approved the Information Transparency Initiative to address this and other problems ... One of the primary objectives of this initiative is to improve the findability of ICANN's public content in all six U.N. languages"--see also Adopted Board Resolutions | Regular Meeting of the ICANN Board | ICANN.org: "... Resolutions 2017.09.23.10 –2017.09.23.11 Valuable ICANN information has accumulated in thousands of pieces of unstructured public content spread across 38 different public ICANN and SO/AC sites. This content continues to grow at rates of 25-30% per year. The ICANN organization currently surfaces this content through multiple, unconnected platforms with differing foundational technologies that are non-scalable, may be vulnerable, and are no longer fit for purpose."

g. This Is No Joke: Request for Proposal: gTLD Marketplace Health Index Assessment | ICANN.org: "Indications of interest are to be received by emailing gTLDMktHealthIndexAssessment-rfp @ icann.org. Proposals should be electronically submitted by 23:59 UTC on 30 October 2017 using ICANN's sourcing tool, access to which may be requested via the same email address above." More information at the link above.

h. Internet Service Provider and Connectivity Providers Constituency (ISPCP) Comments on the ICANN Statistical Analysis of DNS Abuse in gTLDs (SADAG) Report (pdf): "... While the SADAG report is a robust and ambitious analysis of abuse within the DNS, and the constituents of the ISPCP appreciate the time and effort put into the study, it is evident that the study requires either a second phase, additional source material, or a revised analysis, specifically: • It is mentioned only in passing that abuse and price are correlated, for example. Prices from 50 cents to 1 dollar (U.S.) are tied to abusive registrations. However, this ignores mentioning that the .top [new] gTLD is offered at 10 cents per domain for multiple registrars. Given the evidence that price and abuse are tied together, this would require further exploration. • As speculation and defensive registrations dominate the growth of registrations in the DNS and there are new gTLDs and registrars where there are greater than 50% abusive registrations, including one registrar where 90% of the domains are reported as abusive, then an analysis of this registrar’s attraction is required ... is this a deliberate business strategy? ..."(emphasis added)--read the other comments here.

i. Cherine Chalaby will be the next Chair of the ICANN Board and Chris Disspain the next Vice-Chair--Chairman’s Blog: The Montevideo Workshop Wrap-Up | ICANN.org 26 Sep 2017.

j. Registry Resources | ICANN.org--Naming Services portal--"The Naming Services portal replaces the Global Domain [sic] Division (GDD) and New gTLD Applicant portals. This portal will streamline the way registry operators conduct business with the ICANN organization." [Editor's note: anything that "replaces the Global Domain [sic] Division (GDD)" has to be an improvement.]

k. ICANN Public Comment Periods Closing in October | ICANN.org:

• Proposed Dates for ICANN Public Meetings 2021–2023 closes 2 Oct 2017 23:59 UTC

• Proposed Renewal of .MUSEUM Sponsored Registry Agreement closes 3 Oct 2017 23:59 UTC

• Proposed Changes to the NCUC Charter closes 3 Oct 2017 23:59 UTC

l. CEP and IRP Status Update | 22 Sep 2017 | ICANN.org--irp-cep-status-22sep17-en.pdf (pdf)

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

• Was the $41.5 million price tag for .Shop domains worth it? | OnlineDomain.com--New gTLD Buyer's Remorse.
• US Court Orders Dozens of "Pirate" Site Domain Seizures | TorrentFreak.com: "The order was signed exactly one day after the complaint was filed, in what appears to be a streamlined process."
• US DOJ Antitrust Division: U.S. Senate confirmed Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, who previously worked in Trump’s White House counsel’s office, by a wide margin, 73-21 vote on Wednesday, September 27, 2017.--TheHill.com
• China’s New Domain Name Rules: The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT“) issued the final version of the Rules on the Administration of Internet Domain Names on 24 Aug 2017. The new Rules become effective 1 Nov 2017. The final rules delete the controversial Article 37 which required any domain name whose website is hosted in China must be registered with a Chinese domain name registrar.--Lexology.com
• New .ie domain liberalisation proposal | IrishTechNews.ie: The proposal would "drop the need to prove a valid claim to the name. If the policy change is approved, any individual or business with a provable connection to Ireland will be able to register a .ie domain name on a first-come, first-served basis."

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

•  How the Internet Kept Running During Hurricane Irma: "At one node of the industrial backbone that keeps the internet running, employees sheltered from the worst of Hurricane Irma in a stairwell of a seven-story building in downtown Miami. When the power had gone out, diesel generators instantly kicked in ... the heavy digital machinery at the heart of the internet and the cloud held firm."--NYTimes.com.

•  China Blocks WhatsApp, Broadening Online Censorship | NYTimes.com (this follows China's mid-July crackdown on WhatsApp video chats, multimedia messages).

•  Wireless phone market in U.S. competitive with just 3 or 4 providers--The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a report on Tuesday that says there is effective competition in the mobile wireless industry, though the number of major service providers may drop from four to three (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile-Sprint)--TheHill.com.

•  EU wants tech firms to police the Internet | euobserver.com: "the move - a non-binding recommendation issued on Thursday (28 September) - has attracted criticism from pro-free speech defenders, who question the role of companies in policing online content given the diverging laws throughout member states ... [but] the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights clarifies free speech to include the right to offend, to shock, to disturb the state or any part of the population."

•  Turkey Opens a New Page for Monitoring E-Commerce Activities by Introducing the Electronic Commerce Information System | Lexology.com

•  Tech giants Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce pledged $50 million each to U.S. President Trump's STEM education initiative--TheHill.com

5) Top 3 Most Read posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

1. News Review: ICANN Interactive Webinar, Editor's Comment on DNS Abuse

2. Europol Report: 2017 Top Threat In Cybercrime Epidemic Is Ransomware

3. Tez, Google's New Digital Payment App for India (video)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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GNSO Admits Domain Name Transfer Policy Flawed, Blames ICANN Staff

UPDATE December 2, 2016: The letter from James Bladel on behalf of the GNSO Council has now been published on the ICANN correspondence webpage (pdf), embed below:

UPDATE November 30, 2016: Philip Corwin has today advised Domain Mondo that the letter by James Bladel on behalf of the GNSO Council, embedded below, "is still under development and has not yet been sent."  Domain Mondo obtained the letter from ICANN via one of its public daily briefing emails with the text "GNSO Council to ICANN Board Thursday, November 24 2016 05:20 PM" and a direct link to the letter (pdf) with no other reference either on the ICANN website or GNSO website.

*Original posting:
In the world of ICANN, incompetence begets incompetence and compounds itself in perpetuity:

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

The new ICANN Domain Name Transfer Policy effective December 1, 2016 has been sharply criticized as indicated in the quote above, and now it has come to light that the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) which developed this flawed policy (one of many flawed policies that the GNSO is renown for propagating without proper forethought or competence), has now had second thoughts about the way the policy was implemented by ICANN staff, and in a letter (embed further below) states:

"the GNSO Council respectfully requests the ICANN Board of Directors to instruct ICANN staff to (a) remove any privacy/proxy service compliance from the Transfer Policy and to transfer the issue to the PPSAI Implementation Review Team for evaluation and recommendation, and (b) to withhold any compliance enforcement of the Transfer Policy relating to the enabling or disabling of privacy/proxy services pending the outcome of the PPSAI IRT."

Truth is the whole Domain Name Transfer Policy is flawed as OpenSRS noted above. But the GNSO Council, as is typical, takes no responsibility for its incompetent policy-making, and instead blames ICANN staff for misinterpreting the policy in the implementation phase:

"Although the the IRTP Part C policy recommendations are silent on the issue, ICANN staff, based on initial guidance from the IRTP Part C Implementation Review Team, interprets the Transfer Policy to require registrars to implement the CoR when any change is made to the public WHOIS data, even when that change does not result in a change to the underlying customer data. The RrSG has pointed out, however, that this approach is untenable as it guts the intent of the Transfer Policy (as the actual registrant may change without the process being triggered) and creates significant operational complications for routine changes carried out by P/P providers.1 While ICANN staff is sympathetic to these challenges, they are obliged to represent what they see as the direction provided by the IRTP Part C Implementation Review Team (IRTP-C IRT)."

The ICANN community members who developed this flawed policy are listed here and include some current members of the GNSO Council, including Chair James Bladel (GoDaddy) and Philip Corwin (Internet Commerce Association). Who were the members of the IRTP Part C Implementation Review Team (IRTP-C IRT)? Unknown, that information is either hidden or buried on the ICANN and GNSO websites (ICANN likes to hide information and keep things "secret" from public view), though the mailing list includes GNSO Chair James Bladel, author of the GNSO Council letter embedded below:

GNSO Council letter (highlighting added) embed below (pdf):

*posting revised in accordance with Update(s)

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News Review: ICANN Bylaws, Comments, ICANN Chairman's Op-ed Flops

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

The implentation phase of the IANA Stewardship Transition Plan (including WS1 of Enhancing ICANN Accountability) is proceeding in accord with the tentative timeline:

IANA Stewardship Transition Tentative Timeline

• ICANN's new proposed bylaws in connection with the IANA transition and ICANN accountability proposal, have been posted for public comment through May 21, 2016. Read more at: ICANN Posts Draft of New Bylaws For Public Comment Until May 21 | DomainMondo.com.

•  On April 19, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker, warning of terrible consequences if the U.S. government (NTIA) does not end its oversight of the IANA functions:

Broadening the Oversight of a Free and Open Internet - WSJ: "... If the U.S. does not transition its stewardship role to the global Internet community, then other governments may try to move control to organizations like the United Nations. There is also a risk that some governments may form their own national or regional networks. This disruptive splintering would damage the economy and weaken personal Internet use ..." (emphasis added)

Crocker, like others involved in the IANA transition process from the beginning, including NTIA's Larry Strickling on March 14, 2014, is being disingenuous by using the phrase "global internet community" when he really means ICANN, the California corporation. The IANA stewardship transition is only about transitioning, or privatizing, the U.S. government's stewardship role from the U.S. to ICANN, not the global Internet community. The global Internet community is hardly the same as ICANN or even ICANN's "community," a fact acknowledged by ICANN and the "ICANN community" in setting up the ground rules for participation in the CCWG-Accountability (Cross Community Working Group to Enhance ICANN Accountability):

Members & Participants - Enhancing ICANN Accountability: "Anyone interested can volunteer to join the CCWG as a "participant," regardless of whether they are members of the ICANN community." (emphasis added)

Unlike the global Internet community, ICANN has largely been captured by domain name industry and other special interests. As far as Crocker's comment about "splintering" [or fragmentation] of the internet is concerned, that is already happening, due, in large part, to distrust of ICANN, its programs, policies, processes, structures, and leadership, by the global Internet community.

Crocker apparently forgot he was addressing readers of the Wall Street Journal, not a gathering of the UN's Internet Governance Forum or WSIS. His message would have been much better received had he simply been honest about the IANA transition, rather than using the false narrative of a transition to the "global Internet community." In fact, the Wall Street crowd would have probably warmly embraced the idea of a transition from 'U.S. government control' to 'control by ICANN,' a California corporation, which functions largely as a captured agency controlled by lobbyists and lawyers representing special interests, known as 'stakeholders' in the institutional jargon of ICANN, with the U.S. government retaining veto power over interference by foreign governments.

But Crocker followed the script he had been given, false narratives and institutional secrets are inculcated in ICANN's sick organizational culture. Besides being a misleading reference, the phrase "global Internet community" sounds to denizens of Wall Street like a rallying cry of the Trotskyite wing of #FeelTheBern. The Wall Street Journal readers' comments to Crocker's op-ed (more than 70 at last count), confirm this. While interesting and entertaining to read, particularly if one wants to know what that part of the global Internet community--the part that comprises the affluent demographic that subscribes to the Wall Street Journal--thinks about the IANA stewardship transition, there is a jarring brutal honesty in the comments for those accustomed to the rarefied air of the "ICANN bubble"--here are a few excerpts--

This is a typical political sales pitch; it tells us nothing about the features that supposedly will produce the claimed benefits, ignores legitimate concerns and glosses over all problem areas. Mr. Crocker missed his calling as a telemarketer ...

This is a totally misguided transformation. Mr. Crocker's last sentence to "assure that the Internet of tomorrow is as free, open and resilient as the Internet of today" should give us all pause about even contemplating the changes he and others propose. His proposal reminds me of a mentally ill patient, who, after using medication to restore his mental health, goes off his meds because "he is cured". As soon as the Commerce Department steps away, it will be open season on that openness and freedom by some of the darkest elements around the world, both corporate and governmental. The only reason the internet is free, open and resilient is that the US Government stands behind it. 

This article does not include a single supported assertion. Speaking on behalf of "the Internet community—along with businesses, civil society and other interest groups," I voice my dissent.

Mr. Crocker's column is a nice example of a buffoon using all the right words (diverse, accountable, community) to blow smoke up our 4th point of contact. When you want a technical activity managed properly, you don't care about diversity - that is for non-technical people looking to grab control of something. Then there are the questions Mr. Crocker doesn't answer: Example: accountable to whom? He never says specifically, just yada yada yada about an international community. Been there; done that. It's called the UN. Letting Russia, China or the UN anywhere near controlling anything about the internet guarantees only censorship. Even the Europe Union, with its silly "right to be forgotten" can't be trusted ... 

... I have to ask who elects people to the Board of ICANN? This guy [Crocker] is really an embarrassment, and should be removed forthwith ...

Not exactly the reaction and response Crocker was looking for, I'm sure. I'll leave the rest of the comments for your reading enjoyment. [Note: if you're like one member of the ICANN Board of Directors and don't know how to access WSJ articles without a subscription, just click the WSJ  story link on this Google search results page.]

• Draft ICANN FY17 Operating Plan & Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan Update: Open for Public Comments--Close Date 30 Apr 2016 23:59 UTC.

•  ICANN FY16 Q3 (Quarter ending 31 March 2016) Stakeholder Call - 27 April 1500 UTC:  Pre-register online here to join the Quarterly Stakeholder Call online. The call will take place 27 April at 1500 UTC time converter. Joining instructions will be sent to those who register in advance of the call. A recording will be made available after the call here: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/quarterly-reports-2014-11-13-en.

• New gTLD? Use It OR Lose It: New gTLD Program Delegation Deadlines - ICANN: "... To date, registry agreements are in place for more than 1,230 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), and more than 950 of these new gTLDs have been delegated into the root zone ...  The New gTLD Registry Agreement defines a 12-month period after contract execution during which the registry operator must delegate its TLD. ICANN expects registry operators to honor this commitment, and most do. However, we've recently seen an uptick in registry operators who either haven't met their deadline or aren't on track to do so. There are about 200 TLDs with approaching delegation deadlines between now and the end of August 2016 ... If a registry operator does not meet its delegation deadline, ICANN has the option to terminate the registry agreement, as per Section 4.3(b) of the agreement ..."

• DotConnectAfrica Trust vs ICANN and ZACR: ICANN's motion to dismiss scheduled for hearing April 25, in Los Angeles.

• Earnings Season schedule this week on Domain Mondo's Earnings Calendar:

• Twitter TWTR April 26
• Apple AAPL April 26
• Facebook FB April 27
• Verisign VRSN April 28, 4:30 p.m. ET
• Neustar NSR April 28
• Amazon AMZN April 28 5pm ET

• This past week's five most popular posts on Domain Mondo (# of pageviews Sun-Sat):

1. News Review [April 17, 2016]: dotAFRICA, Public Interest, Judge Holds ICANN Accountable
2. Alphabet $GOOG Q1 2016 Earnings, April 21 Webcast REPLAY
3. Yahoo $YHOO Q1 2016 Earnings Webcast, April 19, 5 pm ET (video)
4. ICANN, Esther Dyson, Becky Burr: The Historical Perspective
5. ICANN and the Global Public Interest, A Contradiction in Terms

Honorable mention: Jack Bogle, Founder of Vanguard Group, Creator of Index Funds, Interview | DomainMondo.com

New This Week: Other Reading Recommendations (with a little taste of the article or a little of my own commentary):

• Google’s Remarkably Close Relationship With the Obama White House, in Two Charts | The Intercept: "Google doesn't just lobby the White House for favors, but collaborates with officials, effectively serving as a sort of corporate extension of government operations in the digital era."
• Google site's traffic-acquisition costs (TAC) | Business Insider - Here's Google a/k/a Alphabet's real problem--mobile traffic is increasing, desktop traffic is in decline, Google is having to pay more to companies like Apple to position Google search as the default search application, meaning Google has to pay more and more to maintain its market position. It is having to pay more to buy traffic, and analysts fear this is a "race to the bottom." Meanwhile, Alphabet's own "alpha bets" are all losers, losing $$billions, and for how much longer, analysts and investors are beginning to wonder. See also: Google’s Skunkworks Loses Its Leader to Facebook—and Has Yet to Produce Any Hits | MIT Technology Review and At Google, pressure mounts to find something beyond search | CNET
• How Facebook plans to take over the world | Technology | The Guardian - Personally, I'm with India, 'no, thank you.'
• Why HTC may be the next Motorola of Android | Computerworld: "More than any other [Android smartphone] manufacturer, though, it's [HTC.com] doing a lot of things right -- and it's rapidly becoming the company to watch for anyone who cares about an exceptional Android experience."
• Apple Services Shut Down in China in Startling About-Face | The New York Times - a stark warning to any foreign entity doing business in China--here today, gone tomorrow.
• Buying an Android phone in India is a pain in the ass | Quartz: "... Er, iPhone? 'I hate Apple and their closed ecosystem. I’ll never buy Apple.'... Micromax, the maker of popular [Android] smartphones ... launched 15 phones on one day ... "
• Microsoft, Google agree to stop complaining to regulators about each other | Re/code - Proof of both Microsoft's and Google's mutual 'concerns' about other 'threats' 
• Financial Times: ‘We are facing daunting conditions’ | POLITICO: “... Despite its high-value readership, the financial newspaper has not been immune to the painful trends afflicting its general-interest rivals: Print advertising has had another bad start to the year, while the digital news business is also proving to be precarious ..."  - Are they just beginning to realize this?
• Why Intel’s Job Cuts May Be Just the Beginning | MIT Technology Review - Even a mighty disruptor is subject to disruption.
• Seeking Alpha: "... Intel, for instance, just announced that it would layoff 12,000 workers, 11% of its entire workforce. It is not the global economy that is blamed but rather the shift to mobile computing. At IBM, there is undeniable truth in the charge, but then how do we explain Apple, who should be the main beneficiary of Intel’s stumble (and IBM’s to some degree), suddenly and sharply cutting back its own production in January?... last week it was reported that Apple intended to maintain its reduced production schedule for the April to June period, as well, citing “sluggish sales”..."
• Now some good news: Acer Press Release | April 21: "Acer today debuts its new Chromebook 14 for Work, the industry’s first Chromebook with 6th Generation Intel® Core™ processors, available with a durable design designed to meet the demanding needs of enterprise, government, small business and institutional users. The Acer Chromebook 14 for Work is powered by a 6th Generation Intel Core processor to provide exceptional performance and long battery life of up to 12 hours ..." [Editor's Note: I have, and use daily, an Acer Chromebook and it is "fantastic" (however, I recommend only models with 4GB or 8GB RAM, 32GB SSD) --I will never go back to Windows (Windows 8, 10, Whatever)--according to data from Gartner, Acer Group (acer.com) is the world’s leading Chromebook brand with over 33 percent market share in Q4 2015. Here's a short YouTube video about the Acer Chromebook 14 for Work which goes on sale in the U.S. and EMEA through authorized Acer resellers in May, 2016.] Compare to Dell's Chromebook for Work.

Have a great week!

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo

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