News Review 1) Cyber Sovereignty Rising, 2) ICANN Fatally Flawed

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-16) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Cyber Sovereignty Rising, China's Vision of Internet Sovereignty Spreading, 2) ICANN Fatally Flawed? a.Afilias v. ICANN .WEB IRP Update, b. EPDP Meeting June 20 UPDATE,  3) a.Trademarkia v. LegalZoom, b. CJEU on Geograpnic Terms, c. Kaddish.com, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read.

1) Cyber Sovereignty Rising, China's Vision of Internet Sovereignty Spreading

China is offering a new version of the internet. This new vision combines sweeping content curbs with uncompromising data controls. It’s called Cyber Sovereignty and it’s already spreading to other countries around the world. Bloomberg.com video above published June 10, 2019.

Two Slides from Mary Meeker's 2019 Internet Trends Report:

Global Internet Users 3.8B (51% of world population), Growth Slowing: +6% vs. +7% Y/Y. Future growth in internet users will largely come from Asia Pacific, Africa & Middle East.

See also:

• Google’s Chrome Browser Becomes Web ‘Gatekeeper’--Google has far-reaching control over how the web works, and who gets to create new ways of accessing it--bloomberg.com.
• $20 Phones Could Bring a Billion People Online: about half of humanity doesn’t have internet access, and a lot of those people are in Africa. Enter a $20 device with smartphone brains and a five-day battery.
• Taiwan's digital minister on combating disinformation without censorship--cpj.org.
• Telegram says it faced a massive DDoS attack originating from China coinciding with protests in Hong Kong, where organizers used the app to evade surveillance.

2) ICANN News: ICANN Fatally Flawed?

ICANN Articles of Incorporation: "... The Corporation shall operate in a manner consistent with these Articles and its Bylaws for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole, carrying out its activities in conformity with relevant principles of international law and international conventions and applicable local law and through open and transparent processes that enable competition ..."

ICANN Bylaws: "ICANN shall not apply its standards, policies, procedures, or practices inequitably or single out any particular party for disparate treatment unless justified by substantial and reasonable cause, such as the promotion of effective competition."

"ICANN was created through an express transfer of powers and authority from the United States

government. While this express transfer included the powers and authority necessary to oversee

the secure and stable operation of the Internet’s DNS, the transfer did not include the power,

authority, or expertise to act as a competition regulator by challenging or policing transactions

and conduct that could be deemed anticompetitive."--ICANN Board Member and Neustar former employee, Becky Burr, infra, at p. 10, May 31, 2019, in Afilias v. ICANN IRP (emphasis added).

Editor's note: if Becky Burr (a/k/a J. Beckwith Burr) is right, the competition provisions in ICANN's articles and bylaws (see above) are essentially meaningless, and ICANN is fatally flawed and should therefore be replaced by the global internet community forthwith, remembering the competition advice that was given to ICANN (via NTIA) by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division in 2008, but which ICANN disregarded in favor of its own ill-conceived and corrupt new gTLDs program full of anti-competitive provisions.

"Let’s face it, the Internet is a utility and so are the corporations who control it ... Technology needs to be regulated."--Alan Patricof, longtime innovator and venture capitalist, April 30, 2019. 

a. .WEB IRP Update: Dueling ICANN Board Members & Dueling Expert Witnesses

Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited, Claimant, v. ICANN, Respondent, Independent Review Process  (IRP), 31 May 2019 filing by ICANN:

ICANN's Response to Claimant's Amended Request for IRP, excerpt, p.25:

 Exhibits to ICANN's Response below (basis for redactions):

• Exhibits R-1 to R-16; Claimant's Exhibits cited in ICANN's Response; Legal Authorities R-LA-1 to R-LA-3

• Witness Statement of Christine Willett (ICANN GDD VP, gTLD Operations)

• Exhibits A to H

• Witness Statement of J. Beckwith Burr (ICANN Board Member, formerly employed by Neustar) a/k/a Becky Burr [Burr basically counters the statement previously filed by Afilias of former ICANN Board Member George Sadowsky];

Burr statement excerpt (p. 12): "No policy, precedent, or authority permits ICANN, based on competition concerns, to block Verisign from acquiring the rights to operate .WEB or to second-guess the judgment of the DOJ – the ultimate competition regulator in the United States – in determining not to act following its own expert and thorough investigation."

• Exhibits A to B

• Expert Report of Dennis W. Carlton (ICANN's Expert Witness) who counters the Expert Report previously filed by Afilias of Jonathan Zittrain;

Carlton report excerpts (pp.9-12): "Applicants have collectively spent several hundred million dollars to become the operators of these new gTLDs. From 2013 to 2017, applicants spent a total of $294.6 million in new gTLD application fees, paid another $240.6 million for winning public auctions (including the .WEB auction), and expended many millions more in privately resolved contention sets. While I understand that ICANN does not have precise information about the sums spent in private resolutions, existing information suggests that the number is substantial. For example, one publicly-traded registry operator has disclosed that it has received over $50 million from losing private auctions."(pp.9-10) .... there exists evidence suggesting that an Afilias-operated .WEB is not likely to cause Verisign to reduce its already relatively-low .COM price below the regulated level." (p.12)

• Appendices A to B

See also on DomainMondo.com

• News Review | Afilias vs ICANN, IRP UPDATE re: new gTLD .WEB (May 19, 2019)

• UPDATE Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited v. ICANN re: new gTLD .WEB (Feb 28, 2019)

• News Review | Verisign $VRSN & New gTLD .WEB, Afilias vs ICANN (Dec 9, 2018)

b. ICANN EPDP Phase 2

Next EPDP Meeting June 20 (agenda / docs), 14:00 UTC (10am EDT), June 13th notes and action items. June 20th meeting observers' info re: audiocast / phone. Links to the EPDP meetings' recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar.  Other EPDP Links: wiki, mail list, GNSO mail list, worksheets, definitions. CPH comments on Purposes here (pdf).

UPDATE EPDP Meeting #7 20 June 2019: Chat transcript; Audio Recording; Zoom Recording. Does EPDP Phase 2 need a course correction? See excerpt below from Zoom June 20 transcript:

See also ICANN CEO June 18, 2019, Letter (pdf) re: "Planned ICANN org Communications to European Data Protection Board Regarding the Expedited Policy Development Process."

June 13th EPDP chat transcript (pdf) also gives the gist of what's going on:

From the EPDP public mail list:
"... I wanted to offer a thought that I hope will not be received as negative. A lot of the work that our group is doing cannot only be characterized as the community’s policy work, but it is in fact ICANN’s (org) compliance. Looking at the cost of becoming compliant, the easiest way to save money is to use synergies. We have asked in the past whether ICANN has written a record of processing activities, carried out DPIAs, asked for legal advice on related aspects etc. To my knowledge, we have not been provided with any such documentation. To be clear, it would be extremely helpful for our group to be able to review existing documents. Even though if our group might hold different views on certain questions, any existing work products would expedite our work. Maybe there are documents in the making, in which case we could build our workplan around potential delivery dates to be able to benefit from such work products. If there is actually no documentation already, it would be good to get clarity around that, too, and we could try to work so that duplicate efforts of the org and our group can be avoided, i.e. so that the org can benefit best from the legal advice we are seeking. Either way, when looking at where the money shall come from, I think it would be fair not to consider expenditures as the community’s policy making only, but as part of ICANN’s overall compliance activities. I hope this helps."--Thomas Rickert (ISPCP) (emphasis added).

UPDATE: Response from ICANN Org.

What's ahead? EPDP meetings will be at ICANN65 in Marrakech, Morocco, June 25 and June 27.

Also note:

• EPDP subgroup meeting on potential OCTO [ICANN Office of Chief Technology Officer] Purpose Feasibility of unique contacts to have a uniform anonymized email address, is scheduled on Monday, 17 June at 13:00 UTC for 90 minutes. 
• EPDP Team input in response to GNSO Council's request re ICANN Board not approving two Phase 1 recommendations.  
• 12 June 2019 Letter from GNSO Chair Keith Drazek to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby  re:  Resource Support for Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Phase 2.

Related:

• Privacy Fix: Search and Destroy Old Email Accounts--an unused email address can be a backdoor to your entire digital life--consumerreports.org.
• Afnic enhances and simplifies the handling of identity theft complaints--since 2017, Afnic has registered 102 complaints for identity theft by individuals when registering a domain name under the .fr ccTLD.--afnic.fr.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Trademarkia's trademark infringement complaint against LegalZoom: LegalForce Inc., d/b/a Trademarkia.com, alleges LegalZoom bought the domain name LegalZoomTrademarkia.com in 2012 and from 2014 to 2018 used it to direct people to LegalZoom.com.

b. Use of figurative signs and words that evoke a geographical area which is associated with a protected designation of origin may constitute an unlawful evocation of the latter. This was the CJEU’s conclusion in its judgment of 2 May 2019 concerning a legal dispute about the protected designation of origin for Manchego cheese (C-614/17)--limegreenipnews.com.

c. Kaddish.com: not long after Nathan Englander’s latest novel "kaddish.com" was published in March, someone actually developed the domain name kaddish.com offering mourners the same services as described in Englander’s book, and the author, reportedly thrilled, said, "The concrete joy of dreaming something up and as soon as it goes into the world, seeing someone actualize it, was purely joyous to me.” Turns out that the person behind the website kaddish.com, is a 65-year-old Orthodox lawyer from New Jersey, who said he registered the domain name 22 years ago after his father passed away, but it wasn’t until he read Englander’s “terrific” book, that he decided to develop and launch the website. Read more here.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Cisco Live 2019: Cyberattacks Emerge Against the Internet Itself--threat intel group Talos discovered a Domain Name System attack ("Sea Turtle") that its director calls ‘incredibly concerning.’

"Mark Zuckerberg is a sociopath, and Facebook has institutionalized sociopathy" says NYU's Scott Galloway. See also Facebook is the 'biggest fraud in history' says Aaron Greenspan who studied at Harvard University with Mark Zuckerberg, in an interview with UK MPs over spread of fake news, basing his claims on his theory that Facebook has billions of fake accounts. See also:  Facebook Settles Class Action re: Inflated Video Viewership Metrics--ad agencies'  lawsuit claimed Facebook misstated video metrics by 150-900%.

The Clock runs down for passage of any (U.S.) federal privacy legislation this year--axios.com.

What Is a DNS Leak? A DNS Leak can compromise your online privacy and security. How to Check, Test & Fix? See this comprehensive guide which explains what DNS leaks are, what causes them, and how to prevent or fix them. Also: ipleak.net.
•
5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

#1 News Review | Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet?

#2 Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report & Highlights

#3 CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz on the $CRWD IPO 12 Jun 2019

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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UPDATE Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited v. ICANN re: new gTLD .WEB

Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited v. ICANN re: new gTLD .WEB

Editor's note: the latest "document dump" posted by ICANN in the pending Independent Review Process (IRP), although with redactions. The IRP was commenced on 26 November 2018; two panelists have been appointed; awaiting appointment of remaining panelist. No hearings are currently scheduled (as of Feb 25, 2019).

Claimant's Sur-Reply to Verisign, Inc. and Nu Dotco, LLC's Requests to Participate as Amicus Curiae in Independent Review Process (embed above)

• Basis for Redactions 12 February 2019

ICANN's Reply to Claimant's Response to Verisign, Inc. and Nu Dotco, LLC's Requests to Participate as Amicus Curiae in Independent Review Process (embed above)

• Exhibits 8 to 20

• Basis for Redactions 5 February 2019

Nu Dotco, LLC's Reply in Support of Its Request to Participate as Amicus Curiae in Independent Review Process

• Annex A

• Basis for Redactions 5 February 2019

Verisign, Inc.'s Reply in Support of Its Request to Participate as Amicus Curiae in Independent Review Process

• Declaration of David McAuley

• Exhibits A to N

• Basis for Redactions 5 February 2019

Claimant's Responses to Procedures Officer's Questions Concerning the Drafting History of the Supplementary Procedures 28 January 2019

Claimant's Response to Verisign, Inc. and Nu Dotco, LLC's Requests to Participate as Amicus Curiae in Independent Review Process

• Exhibits 201 to 301

• Annexes A to B

• Basis for Redactions 28 January 2019

See also: News Review | Verisign $VRSN & New gTLD .WEB, Afilias vs ICANN

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News Review | IGF2019 Open Consultations & MAG Meeting Jan 28-30

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-01-27 with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) IGF2019 Open Consultations & MAG Meeting Jan 28-30,  2) ICANN news: EPDP Meetings Jan 29 & 31, EPDP Recap, TSG and more, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Expired Domains, and more, 4) ICYMI: China Blocks Bing, Google Struggles in Russia, 5) Most Read.

1) IGF2019 Open Consultations & MAG Meeting Jan 28-30

In preparation for the fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which will be hosted by the Government of Germany in Berlin from 25 to 29 Nov 2019, the first face-to-face 2019 Open Consultations and MAG meeting will take place on 28-30 January 2019 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. A Call for Issues has been published and all submissions were due by Thursday 24 January 2019--among the proposed issues submitted in the Category: "Evolution of Internet Governance"--#37 "A middle ground between the vested-interest capture of multi-stakeholderism and government capture of multi-lateralism is badly needed. How can IGF stimulate such innovation?" with the following comment:

Agenda of the IGF 2019 First Open Consultations and MAG Meeting​--Register (open thru Jan 30) for online participation.

Geneva date and time: 

Additional issues may also include:

• How could the IGF respond to the recommendations made by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres during his speech at the IGF 2018 Opening Ceremony? 
• How could the IGF respond to French President Macron’s “call for action” made during his speech at the IGF 2018 Opening Ceremony?

2) ICANN News

a. EPDP Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, 29 Jan 2019, and Thursday, 31 Jan 2019, at 14:00 UTC (9am EST) for 3 hours each. The EPDP Final Report (Phase 1) is due Feb 1, 2019, but EPDP Chair Kurt Pritz indicated on Jan 24, 2019 (transcript pp. 51-52), that the final report may actually be submitted sometime after February 1:

"... the [ICANN EPDP] support team is figuring out sort of a drop dead date for putting a version – or the final report version in front of the GNSO Council ..." 

UPDATE: Jan 29 chat transcript (pdf) and Jan 31 chat transcript (pdf).

Observers may use Adobe Connect, or audiocast via browser / app. Links: Draft Final Report info,  EPDP Initial Report (pdf) and public comments to the Initial Report; PCRT Public Comment Review Tool; GNSO Council EPDP page and updates; links to EPDP meeting 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), packet (pdf) of small team agreements. ICANN Controllership Memo (pdf).

b. EPDP recap for week ending Jan 26 [Editor's note: the dysfunctional EPDP rolls on]:

Jan 22 EPDP meeting wiki page and Jan 24 EPDP meeting wiki page (with action items); Legal committee Jan 23, and Data Elements Jan 22 and Jan 24.

Jan 22 chat (pdf): Milton Mueller (NCSG): (08:16) Will [Attorney] Ruth [Boardman] (Bird & Bird) be on these calls? Kurt Pritz: (08:17) @Milton - generally no but can be called in as required ... and we will refer questions that come out of each meeting to her.

Jan 22 transcript (pdf) p.35: Diane Plaut (IPC): "... I think that it really – a starting point that’s an absolute necessity is to get ICANN to define its role. We all have been presented with the ICANN Legal memo [pdf] with regard to the roles (unintelligible) or position on joint controllership relationship or a sole controllership ..." [link added]

Email to EPDP Mail List Jan 23, 2019: "I am really mystified, having taken the time to examine the records and mailing list of the TSG-Access-RD which Benedict mentioned, that we were not briefed on the meetings, the group, and the questions they are settling, many of which depend on policy decisions. I am also mystified as to why this appointed group of technical experts has funding to their Washington meetings and to Kobe [ICANN64}, and our group does not have funding for Kobe. Further, it looks as if they need some legal advice. I recommend they consider adding Ruth [Boardman, Bird & Bird] as an independent outside counsel, and add a policy person to think up the questions to ask her."--Stephanie Perrin, EPDP member & NCSG Chair (links and emphasis added).

Revised draft charter (pdf) of ICANN's TSG-Access-RD (Technical Study Group on Access to Non-Public Registration Data).

GNSO Council Chat Transcript Jan 24, 2019  Rubens Kuhl (RySG): "TSG will be yet another dead body in the decades of failed WHOIS-related projects, like EWG." 

25 January 2019 Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to Willem Debeuckelaere, President, Belgium DPA, re: ICANN Contractual Compliance Data Processing Activities and the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). See 15 Jan. 2019 Letter from Willem Debeuckelaere to Göran Marby (pdf) excerpt: "In your letter of 9 August 2018, you indicate that ICANN has only a single regional office on EU territory, namely in Brussels."

Excerpt from EU GDPR January 2019 Fact sheet (pdf)

"The [ICANN Technical Study] group will base its work on the following assumptions ... 3. ICANN is the sole party that authorizes access to non-public registration data in the gTLD space."--TSG revised draft charter, supra. 

TSG mail list: "... As noted on Tuesday's call, I think it's important to remember that ICANN org's understanding is that whatever solution ICANN proposes for third-party access to redacted registration data is unlikely to eliminate liability for the contracted parties. ICANN org's goal is to explore ways to diminish that liability to the extent possible. To that end, the TSG is tasked with developing a technical solution that ICANN org may test against the law to determine if a unified access model is possible. The memo on independent controllership was drafted by ICANN org as part of the EPDP's discussion on processing activities. The EPDP has not yet tackled third-party access to gTLD registration data. They anticipate discussing that during Phase II ..."--Eleeza Agopian, ICANN Strategic Planning and Initiatives Sr. Manager. [link added]

Editor's note: it appears ICANN org has a competing ongoing top-down policy-making and implementation process (TSG-Unified Access model) moving simultaneously in parallel to the GNSO's EPDP process.

More info on Jan 22-24 EPDP meetings on last week's News Review.

GDPR Related:

• More than 95,000 complaints have been filed with EU Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect May 25, 2018, the European Commission said Friday.

• Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube, are among eight tech firms (pdf) named in a complaint filed in Austria by non-profit organization noyb (noyb.eu), based upon failure to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

• Google to appeal €50 million GDPR fine imposed by France's Data Protection Authority (DPA) CNIL (cnil.fr),  which "observed two types of breaches of the GDPR"--violation of the obligations of transparency and information and violation of the obligation to have a legal basis for ads personalization processing.

• Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is "currently investigating Twitter’s compliance with its obligations under the GDPR to implement technical and organisational measures to ensure the safety and safeguarding of the personal data it processes. This investigation commenced in November 2018 following receipt of a number of breach notifications from the company since the introduction of the GDPR. The DPC has this week opened a new statutory inquiry into the latest data breach it received from Twitter on 8 January, 2019. This inquiry will examine a discreet issue relating to Twitter’s compliance with Article 33 of the GDPR"--dataprotection.ie.

• Businesses that invest in data privacy see benefits when they do experience a breach--a new Cisco study (pdf) of 3,200 security professionals in 18 countries found that preparing for the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) lessened the impact of data breaches.

c. ICANN New gTLDs .GCC, .PERSIANGULF, .MUSIC, .GAY, .HOTEL, .HALAL, .ISLAM,  and .WEB

ICANN CEP and IRP Status Update – 11 January 2019 (pdf) excerpts:

One Active Independent Review Process (IRP) Proceeding: .WEB

• Date ICANN Received Notice of IRP: 14-Nov-2018
• Date IRP Commenced by ICDR: 26-Nov-2018
• Requestor: Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited
• Status: Panel Selection: IRP commenced on 26 November 2018; one panelist has been appointed; awaiting appointment of remaining two panelists.
• Materials: Written submissions, Declaration(s), and Scheduling Order(s) are here.
• Hearing(s): No hearings are currently scheduled.

d. ICANN Open Public Comment periods closing in February, 2019

at 23:59 UTC on the days indicated below (subject to change by ICANN org):

• Work Track 5 on Geographic Names at the Top Level - Supplemental Initial Report of the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process 1 Feb 2019

• Proposed Changes to The Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG) Charter 5 Feb 2019 

• ICANN Draft FY20 Operating Plan and Budget and 5-Year Op. Plan Update 8 Feb 2019

• Updated Operating Standards for Specific Reviews 11 Feb 2019 

• ICANN Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021 – 2025 11 Feb 2019 

• Amendment to the IANA Naming Functions Contract, Annex A 18 Feb 2019

• First Consultation on a 2-Year Planning Process 20 Feb 2019 

• Initial Report on CSC Effectiveness 25 Feb 2019 

e. Implementation of the Procedure for Release of Two-Character Labels | icann.org. Documents also available on the Two-Character ASCII Labels information page. See also the 22 January 2019 Letter (pdf) from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to GAC Chair Manal Ismail.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Expired domains do not help for rankings: "Google understands when domains change ownership so it won't necessarily rank for the queries it used to rank pre change of ownership. So if the sole purpose of buying a domain is to get search traffic from the old domain, I would suggest against doing so since there's no benefit."--Aaseesh from the Google Webmaster Trends Analysts team.

b. EFF Client Responds to Ludicrous “Collusion” Trademark Threat--eff.org.

c. Yes, domain names are covered by the USMCA (successor to NAFTA)--Lexology.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

China blocks Microsoft's search engine Bing (domain: cn.bing.com):

"The situation appears to be a DNS (domain name system) corruption, one method for China to block websites through its intricate censoring system called the Great Firewall. When a user enters a domain name associated with a banned IP address, the Firewall will corrupt the connection to stop the page from loading."--techcrunch.com.

UPDATE: according to a report in reuters.com, the Bing outage in China was due to a technical error, not censors' block.

As of December, 2019, Bing only had a 2% share of China’s search market compared with 70% share for Baidu. The Chinese version of Bing had been the only major foreign search engine accessible from within China, and Microsoft had censored its search results in accordance with Chinese government policy.

Google is blocked in China, but nevertheless still has about 90% global market share for internet search. Google lags behind in Russia, where homegrown competitor Yandex has 55% of the market due to superior Russian language search capabilities and willingness to comply with Russia's restrictive laws. See Why Is Google Struggling In Russia? Yandex | YouTube.com.

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

1. News Review 1) EPDP Meetings After Toronto F2F, 2) .WEB UPDATE

2. Tech Review:1) Breakup Amazon? Google? 2) China's Growth Rate Slows

3. Tech Review | Why Communist China Has So Many Tech Billionaires

4. IBM $IBM Q4 2018 Earnings LIVE Webcast Jan 22, 5pm EST

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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News Review | ICANN63, Barcelona: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-10-28 with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) ICANN63, Barcelona: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 2) Other ICANN News: a. GDPR & WHOIS, UAM ... d. EPDP Meetings Oct 30 & Nov 1 and more, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Fair Use vs. EU Copyright Directive, 4) ICYMI: Getting the World Online, 5) Most Read.

1) ICANN63, Barcelona: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

THE GOOD, THE BAD

a. EPDP Working Group meetings at ICANN63 Highlights: 

at #ICANN63, we are debating what Whois data needs to be collected to establish the rights of a registrant in a domain name. The Policy chief of @GoDaddy says he doesn't believe registrants have any rights.

Who's your registrar?

— Milton Mueller (@miltonmueller) October 20, 2018

How ironic You did not write this alone, and you were responsible for replacing the word "rights" with "benefits" in the title (but not the rest of the document, probably an oversight)

— Milton Mueller (@miltonmueller) October 20, 2018

In fact, they use automated string searches that produce tons of false positives and spam registrars with requests for private data #Whois https://t.co/bv319tBTy6

— Milton Mueller (@miltonmueller) October 21, 2018

We emphasize the GAC consensus advice from ICANN62 that urged ICANN to take all steps necessary to ensure the development and implementation of a unified access model that addresses accreditation, authentication, access and accountability, and applies to all contracted parties. We welcome ICANN’s efforts to facilitate the necessary community discussion through the Unified Access Model papers and emphasize the need to drive these discussions towards concrete and timely results.--ICANN63 GAC Communique (pdf)

NCSG reps tell #ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee: Don't get your heart set on a Unified Access Model - it may not be compatible with #GDPR pic.twitter.com/RpliRMHKbF

— IGP Alert (@IGPAlert) October 21, 2018

For more on EPDP & GDPR at ICANN63 see last week's News Review: ICANN63 Meeting Oct 20-25, ICANN's Tipping Point?, but if you want ICANN's 'sanitized' version, here it is:

THE UGLY
b. ICANN Dysfunction

Review of all Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) in all gTLDs PDP Working Group a/k/a RPM-WG:

• Exhibit 1: 23 Oct 2018 email to RPM-WG Public Mail List from WG Co-Chair Phil Corwin (RySG - Verisign) "Note to Mr. Kirikos Regarding His Characterization of URS Sub-team Recommendations as 'Wishlists'";

• Exhibit 2: 23 Oct 2018 reply email from Mr. Kirikos;

• Exhibit 3: 21 Oct 2018 GNSO Council meeting transcript (pdf) pp. 23-36;

• Exhibit 4: 23 Oct 2018 Letter from Kirikos's Attorney (pdf);

• Exhibit 5: 25 Oct 2018 RPM PDP Complaint referral.

c. Slides (pdf) from ICANN63 Session 24 Oct 2018: What Issues and Challenges are Registrants Having Managing Domain Names?

d. GAC Communique (pdf):

"The GAC is not in a position to approve or reject the [CCWG WS2 on ICANN Accountability] recommendations on jurisdiction. Some GAC members support the recommendations. Other GAC members consider that they fall short of the objectives envisaged for Work Stream 2 and only partly mitigate the risks associated with ICANN’s subjection to US jurisdiction. The reasons why these members object to approving the recommendations are documented in the dissenting statement [pdf] submitted to the CCWG by Brazil." (emphasis and links added)

The GAC will next meet at ICANN64, Kobe, Japan, 9-14 Mar 2019.

e. ICANN63 pre- and post-meeting reports | ICANN.org.

f.  That sad Public Forum 2 at ICANN63--note particularly Amadeu Abril I Abril and Marilyn Cade's comments about ICANN's 'revolving door' and public perceptions of an unethical ICANN and its leadership--transcript (pdf) pp. 20-22, 29-31, 47-49.

Editor's final ICANN63 note: kudos to 

• The Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group, Stephanie Perrin, Milton Mueller, and the entire NCSG's EPDP delegation, for standing up for registrants and registrants' rights;
• Paul Foody for exposing the dysfunctional and corrupt foundation of ICANN's new gTLDs program at ICANN63's Public Forum 1, see transcript (pdf), pp.50-54.

Lastly, holding ICANN accountable: my comment (pdf) embed below, submitted Oct 21, 2018 (during ICANN63) re: Draft Final Report of The Second Security and Stability Advisory Committee Review (SSAC2). The public comment period closes 3 Dec 2018 23:59 UTC (subject to change by ICANN org).

2) Other ICANN News

a. ICANN Board of Directors Report (pdf):

ICANN CEO Goran Marby: "... We continue to make significant progress in identifying a permanent solution for bringing ICANN and its contracted parties into compliance with the GDPR. With the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data now in full effect, the org has shifted its focus towards developing a proposed unified access model. Please follow updates [here] ...." [p.3 of 87](emphasis added)
....
"DNS Engineering: As a security measure to mitigate Spectre/Meltdown vulnerabilities, all IMRS (ICANN Managed Root Servers) have a newly patched kernel and have been rebooted. Several new IMRS hosts were brought online. We completed testing of IANA domain moves from GoDaddy to CSC (IETF Trust). We implemented templates for better management of ICANN domains with ICANN domain registrars."[p.29 of 87](emphasis added).

b. FY18 Annual Report (pdf) of Expense Reimbursement and Other Payments to ICANN Directors for the Period 1 July 2017 Through 30 June 2018.

c. Summary of RDS PDP Organizational Lessons Learned  (pdf). Editor's Note: Another Story of ICANN Dysfunction--the RDS PDP. Stephanie Perrin's recent (Oct 22, 2018 pdf) take at ICANN63:

d. EPDP Meetings this coming week:

EPDP Meetings' start time this week: 13:00 UTC (9am EDT). Observers: Adobe Connect, or audio cast (browser or app). 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).

Thursday Nov 1 (wiki page, documents) agenda, meeting transcript (pdf), Adobe recording, MP3, Nov 1, 2018, EPDP draft Initial Report (pdf) prepared by ICANN staff. Notes and action items are here,  chat transcript (pdf) embed below: 

Tuesday Oct 30 (agenda, documents, recordings); Editor's note: see this, this, this, and this on the mail list. High-level Notes/Actions here. Meeting transcript (pdf)l chat transcript (pdf) embed below:

e. More ICANN Dysfunction: Interim Supplementary Rules for the Independent Review Process (IRP):

• 23 October 2018 Letter from Chairs of Non-Contracted Parties to ICANN Board;

• Letter from McAuley to Chalaby and Letter from Chalaby to McAuley. 

f. is for FAILING new gTLDs: Minutes of ICANN Board Finance Committee (BFC) Meeting 3 Oct 2018: "The BFC further noted that the operations funding for FY18 was US$600,000 lower than the FY17 actuals and US$8.8 million lower than the FY18 adopted budget. During the course of FY18, there was a significant drop in the funding forecast against the adopted budget mainly due to the slower-than-anticipated growth of new gTLD registrations.

g. ICANN Board of Directors: Approved Board Resolutions 25 Oct 2018 | Organizational Meeting of the ICANN Board: no major organizaitonal changes. ICANN Annual Report for period July 1, 2017 - June 30 2018 (pdf). The ICANN Board adopted the Independent Review Process Interim Supplementary Procedures and other Board Resolutions at a Regular Meeting of the ICANN Board 25 Oct 2018, including Deferral of Transition to Thick WHOIS Consensus Policy Implementation for .COM, .NET, and .JOBS, and Replenishment of the Reserve Fund:

Resolved (2018.10.25.22), the Board directs the President and CEO, or his designee(s), to take all actions necessary to increase the Reserve Fund through annual excesses from the operating fund of ICANN organization by a total amount of US$32 million over a period of seven to eight years, starting with FY19.

Resolved (2018.10.25.23), the Board directs the President and CEO, or his designee(s), to take all actions necessary to allocate US$36 million of [new gTLD] auction proceeds to the Reserve Fund, as soon as technically feasible.

h. ICANN Public Comment Periods closing in November here.

i. GNSO Council Leadership: Keith Drazek (RySG - Verisign), Pam Little (RrSG - Alibaba Group), Rafik Dammak (NCSG - NTT Communications):

Editor's note: Pam Little is "first class" and a great choice! Someone at Alibaba Group also made a brilliant move in hiring her!

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Fair Use vs. EU Copyright Directive: 

“This [EU] Legislation Poses A Threat To Both Your Livelihood And Your Ability To Share Your Voice With The World.”

YouTube CEO says EU regulation will be bad for creators--‘Article 13 threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs’--theverge.com. Editor's note: many "creators" are domain name registrants.

b. ICYMI: Verisign $VRSN Q3 2018 Earnings, LIVE Webcast Oct 25: Verisign has "entered into an agreement with NeuStar, Inc. (“Neustar”) to sell the rights, economic benefits, and obligations, in all customer contracts related to its Security Services business."  Verisign's Chairman, President & CEO James Bidzos also said:

"To update you on our discussion about the Cooperative Agreement, we are mindful of the upcoming expiration and are progressing with the NTIA to amend the Cooperative Agreement by mutual agreement. When we are able to provide more information, we will do so. I will tell you that we are confident that an amended agreement can be executed before the expiration of the current term which is the end of November. However, until that process is complete, there is nothing more that we can disclose at this time."--transcript via SeekingAlpha.com (emphasis added).

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Almost 50% of the world is online, but getting the rest of the world online will be far more difficult--theguardian.com.

source: statista.com

Growth in global internet access dropped from 19% in 2007 to less than 6% last year--new data suggests the digital revolution will remain out of reach for billions--theweek.co.uk.

EU, US, China: There May Soon Be Three Internets. America’s Won’t Necessarily Be the Best. A breakup of the web grants privacy, security and freedom to some, and not so much to others.--Editorial, NYTimes.com.

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

1. News Review: ICANN63 Meeting Oct 20-25, ICANN's Tipping Point?

2. 2018 Q3 Replay $AMZN $GOOGL $VRSN $TWTR $TSLA

3. Tech Review | Future Finance: Smart Contracts on the Blockchain (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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