Tech Review | US Imports From Vietnam Surge, While China Declines

Tech Review (TR 2019-06-29)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Trump Effect: US Imports From Vietnam Surge, While China Declines, 2)  Facebook's Libra Could Disrupt the Remittance Industry, 3) Investing YTD & Investor Notes: China, EU, US, & Zombies,  4) ICYMI Tech News: Apple, Flipkart, iQiyi, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and more.

1) Trump Effect: US Imports From Vietnam Surge, While China Declines
And it's not just Vietnam that is a winner from the US-China Trade War:

source: statista.com

Editor's note and caveat: "Exports from China are a murky thing. To dodge tariffs, some of it gets transshipped via other countries, such as Vietnam, before the products are shipped to their destinations, such as the US or the EU ..."--Wolfstreet.com.

Nevertheless, in a note this week, Anne Stevenson-Yang, co-founder of J. Capital Research  (domain: jcapitalresearch.com), wrote that China has already entered its “Japanese phase,” marshalling financial resources exclusively to avoid crisis. China's economy is overleveraged, as demonstrated clearly by the Baoshang situation, and China may now be prey to further problems, perhaps even a perfect storm event.

China is again resorting to such tactics as gross overproduction of steel in a desperate attenpt to keep its economy humming, but even that may fail. In order of tonnage of crude steel, ArcelorMittal is first with 96.4 Mt (in 2006, India’s giant Mittal Steel acquired French giant Arcelor; and is now registered in Luxembourg as a mailbox company run from India) and the EU has had tariffs on Chinese steel for years.

Also note:

• Vietnam economy (GDP April-June quarter) grows nearly 7% on trade war tailwinds--Manufacturing exodus from China propels one of fastest boosts in region--nikkei.com.
• India Plans to Offer Incentives to Companies Moving From China--"aim is to become a production base for firms fleeing tariffs."
• Vietnam's Vingroup in deal with Fujitsu unit, Qualcomm to make 5G phones to be manufactured in Hanoi and sold in the U.S. and Europe in 2020.
• A Dark Alley in China’s Credit Market Is Getting Rough--bloomberg.com June 24, 2019.
• As China's Banking System Freezes, SHIBOR Tumbles To Lowest In A Decade--zerohedge.com June 24, 2019.
• Trump Pressured by Congress to Stay Tough on Huawei--bloomberg.com June 24, 2019.
• The U.S. is now playing down expectations for progress from a Trump-Xi meeting during the G20 June 28-29, with the U.S. holding its hard line demands for meaningful Chinese economic reforms, according to Bloomberg.

2) Facebook's Libra Could Disrupt the Remittance Industry

source: statista.com

Money transfers a/ka "remittances" to low- and middle-income countries reached a record high of $529 billion in 2018, according to the World Bank and the world's total remittances in 2018 were $689 billion. “Success will mean that a person working abroad has a fast and simple way to send money to family back home,” says Libra’s white paper, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to reduce the transaction costs of migrant remittances to less than 3 percent and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 percent by 2030. Libra could lead the way. See also:  How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video).

3) Investing

YTD (Year-to-date): NASDAQ Composite +21% | S&P 500 Index +17%  | DJIA +14%

The DJIA closed at 26,599 on Friday, up 73 points, its best first half since 1999 and best June since 1938. It was also the best June for the S&P 500 since 1955.

US: Economy Breaks Record on Trump’s Watch--bloomberg.com: “If voters went to the ballot box today, it would be the strongest economy in U.S. election history,” said Justin Waring, an investment strategist at UBS in New York. Unemployment is close to a half-century low and inflation is so subdued that some have pronounced it dead. 

Editor's note: this is neither a Bull Market nor a Bear Market, this is Trump's Market.

Investor Notes: 

Public default at Chinese trust company highlights cracks in market https://t.co/0jqIRRpbZa

— ChinaEconomicReview (@chinaeconreview) June 26, 2019

China: signs of a slowdown in China’s property market continue --office vacancies in tech-centric Shenzhen rose to more than 23% for the first half of 2019, a decade high, reported Caixin (domain: caixinglobal.com).

EU: "There is no common Fiscal Policy. Thus the Eurozone stagnates, withers and has utterly lost momentum …" The next ECB president? "Best candidate for the ECB job is going to be a secondary issue to how many other jobs France and Germany get."--Bill Blain. And Brexit? UK looks cheap ... but we still face a few more months of fraxious uncertainty.

US: "... investors, both foreign and domestic, continue to buy Treasuries, no matter the risks associated with them. And the longer they buy Treasuries, the bigger the US debt load becomes, and — ironically — the lower the risk of default."--cfainstitute.org.

Zombies: A report from the Bank for International Settlements found 12% of publicly listed companies around the world can be described as zombie firms:

"The rising number of so-called zombie firms, defined as firms that are unable to cover debt servicing costs from current profits over an extended period, has attracted increasing attention in both academic and policy circles. Using firm-level data on listed firms in 14 advanced economies, we document a ratcheting-up in the prevalence of zombies since the late 1980s. Our analysis suggests that this increase is linked to reduced financial pressure, which in turn seems to reflect in part the effects of lower interest rates. We further find that zombies weigh on economic performance because they are less productive and because their presence lowers investment in and employment at more productive firms."--BIS report, supra.

"Policies created to pull the world out of recession are still in place, but now they are strangling the global economy ... we are in a fat and slow world," wrote Ruchir Sharma in the New York Times, June 15, 2019. What exactly is the problem?

"The trademarks of the fat and slow world: larger corporations, declining competition and fewer start-ups (all of which contribute to wage inequality), ... together undermine and slow economies already hindered by falling growth in the working-age population."--Sharma, supra.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

Tech still drives US markets more than any other sector. If you don't like Tech stocks, it's hard to justify owning the S&P 500. We explain why here: https://t.co/W1RvpTkdHN $SPY $XLK $MSFT $FB $AMZN $AAPL $FB $GOOG $XLY $XLC pic.twitter.com/hUpUc0Qpib

— DataTrek Research (@DataTrekMB) June 28, 2019

Jony Ive Is Leaving Apple--but he's not being replaced, and the design team reporting to operations makes no sense--daringfireball.net.

Walmart Inc’s Indian unit Flipkart said late Thursday it plans to replace nearly 40% of its current fleet of delivery vans with electric vehicles (EVs) by March 2020.

iQiyi (domain: iqiyi.com) China’s version of Netflix, reportedly wants to enter overseas markets including North America and Japan after hitting a milestone of 100 million paying subscribers this month, even though the company has been in a cash-burning fight with Tencent’s video site and Alibaba-backed Youku Tudou in China. See also: China's Alibaba aims to double Tmall Global brands with English portal.

Toyota to invest $2 billion in developing electric vehicles in Indonesia.

Goodbye, Chrome? Google’s web browser has become spy software ... why Firefox is better says Washington Post (owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos).

Google Drive vs. Microsoft's OneDrive: choosing the right cloud storage and collaboration service.

Bezos Blowback? Will The AWS JEDI Scandal Upset Amazon's Omnipotence?--zerohedge.com.

The Empty Promise of Data Moats--a16z.com: data goes stale over time…

The European Digital Social Innovation Index by Nesta, published for the first time this year, found London came out on top in a ranking of 60 EU cities on indicators such as funding, skills, infrastructure and diversity. The European Digital Social Innovation Index (EDSII) is the first index ranking how different European cities support digital social innovation (DSI) and tech for good to grow and thrive. London had a significant lead over Amsterdam, which came in second place. Copenhagen, Stockholm and Paris rounded out the top five.

Personal Tech: going 'off the grid' this summer? Iridium GO!--turn any smartphone into a satellite phone--you can get access to phone calls, text, and more, 'off-grid' via the Iridium satellite network.

Parting Thoughts:

• Tulsi Gabbard is the winner--Drudge instant poll shows Gabbard won the first Democratic debate in landslide.

• Always "ask if the algorithm, which is a model of the world, is working the way it was designed to work. Models represent the market, and models are not reality. As Alfred Korzybski said, “The map is not the territory.”

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report & Highlights

Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report (pdf) embed below:

Internet Trends archive: https://www.bondcap.com/#archive

Highlights:

Global Internet Users 3.8B (51% of world population), Growth Slowing: +6% vs. +7% Y/Y

Top 30 Global Internet Market Capitalization Leaders: USA 18 of 30, China 7 of 30

Top 30 Global Market Capitalization Leaders: USA 23 of 30, technology 9 of 30

USA E-Commerce Growth +12.4% vs. +12.1% (Y/Y – Q1 vs. Q4)

USA E-Commerce as % of All Retail Sales: 15% vs. 14% Y/Y

Media Time vs. Advertising Spending: Mobile @ Equilibrium (2018), Desktop (2015)

Internet Ad Revenue Growth Decelerating: +20% vs. +29% at Leading USA Platforms (Y/Y  Q1 vs. Q4). Internet Ad Buying: Programmatic Gains vs. Direct, Negatively Impacting Pricing.

Effective + Efficient Marketing = One’s Own Product + Happy Customers + Recommendations

USA Digital Media Usage Growth Accelerating: +7% vs. +5% Y/Y;  More time spent on Mobile devices than TV.

Usage: Images Increasingly Relevant Way to Communicate, e.g., Twitter: >50% of Tweet Impressions include Images / Video / Other Media.

Interactive Gaming Players Accelerating: 2.4B +6% vs. +5% Y/Y. Interactive Gaming =
Real-Time Play + Talk / Text + Watch… Social in Nearly All Ways.

Freemium Business Evolution Started in Gaming, Evolving / Emerging in Enterprise + Consumer…All In… Just Getting Started.

Cloud Deployment Revenue +58% Y/Y

Digital Payments >50% of Day-to-Day Transactions

Data Collection + Analysis + Utilization Evolving From Humans to Humans / Computers: Data is now fundamental to how people work & the most successful companies have intelligently integrated it into everyone's daily workflow… Data is the new application--Frank Bien, CEO & President, Looker, June, 2019. Consumers + Businesses + Regulators Increasingly Drinking from Data Firehose.

"Problematic" Internet Content: Media Maxim "People Prefer Negative News."

World Wide Web  v.  Webs of Worlds Driven by Local Regulation.

Cyber Attacks Sophistication + Scope Continue to Rise, Particularly State Sponsored 

Global Relative GDP (Current $): China + USA + India Rising, ... Europe Falling

Cross-Border Trade is 29% of Global GDP.

USA Consumer Confidence Index High & Rising @ 97 vs. 88 Sixty-Five Year Average 
Economy / Employment (USA): Unemployment @ 19 Year Low… Job Openings @ All-Time High and Wages Rising.

ONLINE EDUCATION = BIG NUMBERS + BIG GROWTH

Areas prime for innovation in USA: 1. Healthcare; 2. Government.

See also tweets at @bondcap.

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Tech Review | Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service (video)

Tech Review (TR 2019-06-01)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service, 2) The World's Largest Car Manufacturers, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes, 4)ICYMI Tech News: Facebook, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Huawei, and more.

1) Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service

Drivers are already ditching their cars because of apps like Uber. Imagine what happens when driverless cars hit the roads. Bloomberg QuickTake explains the idea known as “mobility as a service.” Bloomberg.com video above published May 28, 2019. Note also: a generational wave, "millennials show little interest in car ownership."

2) The World's Largest Car Manufacturers May 27, 2019:

source: statista.com

Editor's note: How Many Will Still Exist in 2030? 

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has made an offer (pdf) for a merger with the Renault Group that would create the third largest automobile manufacturer in the world. According to the proposal, the newly formed group would be co-owned by FCA and Renault shareholders at a 50-50 split with a balanced number of seats on the Board of Directors.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite -3% | S&P 500 Index -3% | DJIA -3%

Stocks Close Lower as Trump’s Mexico Tariff Threat Rattles Markets

Dow falls more than 300 points; Yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys hits a fresh 20-month low

Investor Notes:

US: the earnings yield on US stocks as an asset class has further widened its gap to bond yields. If today's low inflation is not transitory, the U.S. stock market multiples may be way too low. "What can drive [bond] yields higher? Inflation, which nobody in the investing universe believes is an actual ‘thing’ anymore," Nomura’s Charlie McElligott wrote last week.

China: US-Traded Chinese Stocks & ADRs Totally Crushed--many by 50% or 60% or more. See also Which Chinese Banks Will Fail Next?

Eurozone: haggling over who will succeed Mario Draghi begins--the process to replace ECB president comes under scrutiny as region faces economic and political turmoil. German Unemployment Explodes Most Since Financial Crisis, Sending Bund Yields Near Record Lows.

Gundlach: Deutsche Bank "price action looking pretty scary"and Soc Gen "heading straight south yet again"--

DB price action looking pretty scary. And Soc Gen, still run by the indefatigably incompetent Oudea, is heading straight south yet again.

— Jeffrey Gundlach (@TruthGundlach) May 30, 2019

UK: May Ends In June--UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been a dismal failure--"She's no Lady Thatcher." Boris Johnson, Conservative Party MP, former UK Secretary of State, and former Mayor of London (2008-2016), likely to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister.

The Brexit Party's rising star is Annunziata Rees-Mogg, newly elected MEP:

'In all my years door-knocking, I’ve never seen anything like it,' writes @zatzi https://t.co/ZSYeNZvUWW

— Telegraph Politics (@TelePolitics) May 28, 2019

4) ICYMI Tech News:

Facebook expects to launch cryptocurrency ‘GlobalCoin’ in Q1 2020, as a stablecoin pegged to a basket of fiat currencies, and is spending significant time with officials from both the US Treasury and the Bank of England. Facebook is also talking with money transfer firms including Western Union, clearly intending to compete with Paypal’s Venmo and Square’s CashApp, and become one of the world’s leading digital wallets.--Ark-Invest.com.

Quantum computing could help companies address problems as huge as supply chains and climate change. IBM, Google, Microsoft, and others are racing to bring the tech from theory to practice.

Nvidia bringing pro-level Quadro RTX GPUs to laptops--the Quadro RTX 5000 series is now available in mobile form. See also: Nvidia unveils its first AI platform for edge devices--Nvidia EGX, compatible with AWS and Azure IoT offerings; launch partners include Cisco, HPE, and Lenovo.

For Uber, autonomous vehicles can't come soon enough--Uber loses $1 billion in quarter as costs grow for drivers, food delivery.

Huawei: court documents, government and industry sources detail decades of Huawei's alleged IP theft, from the science behind 5G to phone accessory designs--channelnews.com.au. The fallout of the US Commerce Department adding Huawei to its “Entity List,” could be profound. President Trump's offhand remarks that Huawei was banned because it is a security threat yet the ban could be lifted as part of a trade deal, makes no sense except as a taunting negotiating ploy. Huawei smartphones rely on ARM-based CPUs and Google’s Android operating system. An export ban on these technologies effectively freezes Huawei’s product roadmap. Huawei will have to find alternatives to ARM-based mobile chips and a non-Google version of Android, a nearly impossible task. Likewise, Huawei’s 5G equipment requires components and intellectual property (IP) from US companies such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and others. Building a full 5G product stack, without access to US tech, is likely impossible.

Rare Earths: China supplies around 80% of world's rare earths, crucial for electronics, but not  effective for retaliation over the Huawei ban--despite the name, rare earths just aren't that rare.

Malinvestment: Tech Unicorns Are Just Like China's "Ghost Cities."

Congratulations to companies in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Southeast Asia countries--"You did nothing, but you are all winners. Don't forget to send a thank you note to Mr. Trump, for all the new jobs he's about to create in your countries."--Likely Winners In The U.S.-China Trade War.

Google to invest 600 million euros in Finland data center. Note also: concerns rise about Google's ~121K temporary and contract workers globally, compared with just ~102K full-time staff.

Japan to limit foreign ownership of firms in its IT, telecom sectors,

Alibaba plans second listing in Hong Kong to raise $20 billion. China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), delists from the NYSE.

IKEA to revamp app--the world’s biggest furniture retailer is shifting its business model away from brick-and-mortar suburban stores towards making shopping easier online.

Disruptive Innovation (smartphones): Digital Camera Sales Dropped 84% Since 2010.

Crypto: up to 86% of total reported cryptocurrency trading volume is likely fake, according to analysis of exchange website visits--theblockcrypto.com,

Amazon interested in buying Boost from T-Mobile, Sprint.

AT&T: CEO Randall Stephenson is "taking on Netflix and Comcast simultaneously. It won't be easy."--a look at AT&T's "grand vision" of transforming into a “modern media” company spanning multiple content networks, distribution channels, and customer data streams--fortune.com. Editor's note: my gut feel is that "it will all end badly." AT&T can't compete with Netflix, Amazon, Disney, et al. Who are they ($T management) kidding?

$T

Apparently, Wall Street is not impressed! The only thing AT&T has is a sweet dividend (for now).

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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News Review | Law Firm Conflicts of Interest in ICANN GNSO EPDP

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-05-26) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Law Firm Conflicts of Interest in ICANN GNSO EPDP, EPDP Meeting May 30, 2) a. ICANN Board Report, b. .AMAZON Call to Action, c. Root Server System,  3) a. The Power of .COM, b. Verisign $VRSN, c. Tucows $TCX, 4)ICYMI: DNS Hijacking, and more, 5) Most Read.

1) Law Firm Conflicts of Interest in ICANN GNSO EPDP

May 2, 2019, EPDP Meeting (chat transcript excerpt below) re: Bird & Bird legal memos:

EPDP Meeting May 2, 2019, Notes and Action Items: Questions for ICANN Org: "Is there an attorney-client relationship between ICANN Org and Bird & Bird?
"

Answer May 23, 2019 from ICANN Org: "In light of your recent question, “Is there an attorney-client relationship between ICANN Org and Bird & Bird,” and related communications on the EPDP Team list, we wanted to provide this background. ICANN org retained the law firm of Bird & Bird as an additional expert to help advise on GDPR matters, including advising the EPDP Team. There is an attorney-client relationship between ICANN org and Bird & Bird. In connection with this engagement, Bird & Bird is providing analysis on issues related to the EPDP’s work that is being shared with the EPDP Team. In announcing this engagement to the EPDP [Legal] Team, ICANN org noted that ICANN has used the services of Bird & Bird in the past in a similar engagement, in providing public advice to the community Thick WHOIS Implementation Review Team. Given the positive experience with working with Bird & Bird on that public advice, Bird & Bird’s understanding of ICANN and its ecosystem, as well as its deep expertise in international privacy and data protection matters, ICANN org determined that the Bird & Bird team could help provide additional expertise to advance the efforts of ICANN org and the GNSO Expedited PDP Team. Members of the EPDP Team’s legal committee proposed using the same independent outside counsel for both the EPDP Team and ICANN Org. To that end, in the “Considerations for Procurement of Legal Services” document compiled by Kurt Pritz, the Phase 1 Chair [Editor's note: Kurt Pritz is ICANN's 'King' of secret undisclosed conflicts of interest], which incorporated the Statement of Work [pdf, highlighting and bold added] written by Stephanie Perrin and Diane Plaut, as well as a note on Conflict (by Margie Milam), and on possible efficiencies by Thomas Rickert, it was noted that the same outside counsel could be used for both the EPDP Team and ICANN org. The notes to ICANN included in the “Considerations” document stated that it was the EPDP Team’s belief that both ICANN org and the EPDP Team would require answers to the same or similar questions and that, therefore, reaching out to one firm might avoid duplicate costs and also potentially conflicting advice. I hope that this background is helpful. Please let us know if you have further questions or wish to discuss this topic further."--ICANN Org liaisons Trang Nguyen and Dan Halloran. (emphasis. link, and [notes], added)

Excerpt from that Kurt Pritz email of Jan 7, 2019 to Dan Halloran (ICANN legal) referenced above:

"... To the Legal Team, I apologize that this document does not encompass all the thought that has gone into this effort or did not consult with you on this document but I wanted to get something to ICANN to expedite the procurement."

Editor's note: this is another example of the dysfunctional EPDP Phase 1 chaired by Kurt Pritz, as enabled by GNSO Council and ICANN Org, now bogging down Phase 2, as indicated herein, and here and here.

Excerpt from the aforesaid Statement of Work:

Follow-up on the EPDP public mail list from Stephanie Perrin (NCSG), May 24, 2019:

"Thanks for this explanation Marika [email above from ICANN Org liaisons Trang Nguyen and Dan Halloran]. What is the precise date of the previous engagement with Bird and Bird re Thick transition?  I would point out that while you put my name first, I was not the principal penholder on that document [Statement of Work (SOW)], Diane [Plaut] did all the heavy lifting. I think a few learnings discussed prior to jumping into phase 2 might be helpful here.  Some have been addressed already no doubt, but forgive me for repeating them in this roundup:

1.  We have asked some remarkably basic questions in the past. (e.g. to Chris Kuner in the RDS group days).  This is a waste of money in my view.  We need to focus on good questions.  The legal subcommittee is helpful in weeding these unfortunate questions out, but the committee as a whole need to also vet the questions.

2.  We need to watch very carefully for hidden policy decisions/assumptions, both in the legal questions we ask, and in the technical approaches we assume we are taking, that are in fact resting on policy decisions/assumptions that have not been approved by the GNSO Council.  In my opinion, a test should be applied as we go through our work to help discern these buried assumptions. Should not be hard to develop this, and would prevent us having to constantly rehash things.

Update: and this from Ayden Férdeline (NCSG) on May 25, 2019:

"I have been reviewing the legal subcommittee's mailing list in order to better understand how this situation has arisen, and I came across [this email](https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/gnso-epdp-legal/2019-January/000012.html) from the previous Chair (emphasis added): "To keep the ball rolling on the procurement of legal services, I am attaching a document to aid in the effort. ... To the Legal Team, I apologize that this document does not encompass all the thought that has gone into this effort or did not consult with you on this document but I wanted to get something to ICANN to expedite the procurement."

"Given the situation we find ourselves in now, I am hoping someone may be able to clarify what input from the legal subcommittee on the matter of legal services procurement was not taken forward. I am quite out of the loop as to how the legal subcommittee interacts with outside counsel, and so I am hoping someone can also clarify for me what interactions the subcommittee has (if any) with Bird and Bird directly? I imagine it would be helpful and most efficient for there to be a continuous, factual dialogue between the subcommittee (as client) and Bird and Bird (as attorneys). I'm not sure that's happening, or can happen, if the client is instead ICANN org. We might want to consider what a better mechanism may be to facilitate factual dialogue between the subcommittee and Bird and Bird moving forward. And I really want to emphasize that this should be factual dialogue so that all the facts are on the table, and not an opportunity for any stakeholders to attempt to persuade external counsel to take a particular position." (emphasis added)

See Domain Mondo's News Review ... 2) EPDP Needs Independent Legal Counsel (March 31, 2019):

"... Editor's note: the most recent Bird & Bird memo dated 8 Mar 2019 "Advice on the legal basis for transferring Thick WHOIS" is indicative of the problems in having the EPDP team use ICANN Org's counsel (Bird & Bird) for legal advice. This March 8th memo is troublesome, in part, because it appears to approach its analysis cognizant of ICANN Org's known preference for a thick Whois model, and states one or more substantive factual errors ...."

EPDP Meeting May 30, at 14:00 UTC (agenda, etc., here), audiocast (in browser). Notes and action items from May 23, 2019, meeting. EPDP meeting recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar. EPDP Links: wiki, public mail list, GNSO mail list, and worksheets. Editor's note: the audiocast was not working after approximately the first hour of the meeting. Observers can review the transcript next week and view the Zoom video (when available links will be on GNSO calendar). May 30 meeting notes and action items will be posted at some point after the meeting.

Note also: 

• May 28, 21:00 UTC GNSO Council extraordinary meeting (agenda pdf) on ICANN Board resolutions re: EPDP Phase 1 (the ICANN Board of Directors rejected two recommendations); documents; Audiocast http://stream.icann.org:8000/stream02. UPDATE: general discussion and review with planned follow-up dialogue with ICANN Board--Possible Next Steps (pdf). Recordings and transcript (when available) on GNSO calendar.

• Call for Volunteers: Implementation Review Team for Registration Data Policy Implementation | ICANN.org re: the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Team's Phase 1 policy recommendations.

• 23 May 2019 Letter from RrSG Chair Graeme Bunton to ICANN GDD Sr VP Cyrus Namazi: "I'm pleased to inform you that the Registrar Stakeholder Group has again decided to voluntarily extend the specification for Privacy and Proxy services contained within the 2013 RAA for 19 months, with a new expiry date of Jan 31, 2021. The RrSG recognizes that considerable work has gone into both the policy development process and the implementation process for a new Privacy and Proxy service regime. We also appreciate the community's patience as Registrars, ICANN org, and the rest of the community work to resolve tensions between the PPSAI disclosure framework, GDPR, and the work of the EPDP phase 2. It is in acknowledgement of this continued work that we have decided to continue to extend the specification."

• GDPR’s first anniversary: A year of progress in privacy protection | microsoft.com May 20, 2019, by Julie Brill, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft: 

".... In the year since it went into effect, GDPR has been an important catalyst for progress in privacy protection. Countries around the world have implemented new laws that reflect the new understanding people have for privacy in our digital era. Some companies are doing a better job of handling sensitive personal data and they have delivered new tools that make it easier for people to manage and control their personal information. Now it is time for Congress to take inspiration from the rest of the world and enact federal legislation that extends the privacy protections in GDPR to citizens in the United States."

• New cyber insurance platform offers quotes using single piece of data--the domain name--canadianunderwriter.ca: "... one question – which is their domain name, their web address, their URL – and we are using that information to instantly digitally footprint the organization,” Graeme Newman, CFC’s chief innovation officer, told Canadian Underwriter.“We can get this huge volume of data, all within a short space of time based on just one piece of information.” 

• GDPR fines levied so far: The lessons businesses can learn--techrepublic.com: "... storing over nine million records of personal contact information on its information technology systems that it no longer needed. The data should have been deleted after it was no longer needed for regular business purposes, as described by the GDPR, but the company failed to comply ..."

2) Other ICANN News

a. ICANN Executive Team Report to the ICANN Board April 2019 (pdf) 75 pp.

As of 31 December 2018, ICANN org had 390 active staff, 74% in North America, 10% in Europe, 7% in the Middle East & Africa, 7% in Asia Pacific, 3% in Latin America & Caribbean (p.4).

"TOP ISSUES & MITIGATION: Following Akram Attalah’s departure, I appointed Cyrus Namazi to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of the Global Domains Division (GDD). I’ve also tasked David Conrad, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), with permanently overseeing the IANA services."--Goran Marby, ICANN President & CEO (p. 3).

Funds under management (p.72 of 75) in millions USD, unaudited:

b. .AMAZON Call to Action: 

ICANN’s final decision is a disappointment for ACTO, the coalition of South American countries which had rejected what it called “the monopoly of one company” and the “appropriation” of the “geographical names of the states, without their due consent,” arguing the nations had a right to participate in the domain’s governance. The Ecuadorean ambassador to the US wrote to ICANN's GAC Chair in March (pdf), saying the coalition was “not looking for financial compensation,” but that the matter was one of “sovereignty.” See also Amazon wins domain name dispute with Latin American governments--ft.com, and Retailer Amazon nears victory in rainforest battle over domain name--reuters.com: "Amazon basin countries Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname have argued that it ["Amazon"] refers to their geographic region and should not be the monopoly of one company" (emphasis added).

Editor's note: In addition, the .AMAZON applications now violate Specification 13 and ICANN is in violation of its Articles and Bylaws by failing to properly publish for public comment the recent PICs proposed by applicant Amazon EU S.à r.l:

FastCompany.com: "Now’s your chance to tell ICANN how you feel about Amazon’s domain battle with the rain forest"--excerpt below from comments being filed at ICANN:

Editor's note: and then we have this written by a former ICANN Board member who doesn't even know what the acronym 'ICANN' stands for.  As I've said before [2) .AMAZON], the .BRAND new gTLD program was a MISTAKE from the beginning, a CORRUPTION of "the concept of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) as set forth in RFC 1591 written by Jon Postel, which predates the formation of ICANN and its "Californication" of the internet and global DNS. I'm with the South American countries. ICANN should do the "right thing" for once and end the .BRAND gTLD program, refund the application fees, and "undelegate" all .BRAND gTLDs from the internet "root," while allowing every owner of a distinctive trademark to block use of that mark as a gTLD in the future. End the ICANN extortion racket -- see .PING testimony."

"A "brand" or "trademark" is neither a "monopoly" nor "generic." ICANN's .BRAND new gTLDs program is both ill-conceived and corrupt."

See also Amazon Is Flooding D.C. With Money and Muscle: The Influence Game--bloomberg.com. Amazon.com, Inc., lobbied “more government entities than any other tech company in 2018 ... Over the last six years, Amazon has increased lobbying spending by about 460%."

c. Evolving the Governance of the Root Server System--ICANN.org. Public Comment closes 9 Aug 2019.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a.  The Power of .COM--".COM has 39% market share [of all TLDs globally], is used by 69% of startups, and gets 82% of the funding!"-- see more here, here, and here.

b. Verisign $VRSN Registry Operator of .COM

$VRSN

Tracking Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio's $VRSN Holdings Q1 2019 Update--Berkshire's $VRSN shares were first purchased in Q4 2012 at prices between $34 and $49.50. The position was more than doubled in Q1 2013 at prices between $38 and $48. The buying continued till Q2 2014 at prices up to $63. The stock currently trades at ~$198, and the Berkshire position comprises 1.18%  of the Berkshire portfolio and about 10% of all Verisign shares.

c. Tucows $TCX Q1 2019: Management posted responses to follow-up questions on the Tucows  investor relations website, on Tuesday, May 21, 2019. The Q&A is available as an audio file or transcript. Excerpt re: acquisition of registrar ascio.com -- "Ascio contributes a little under $4 million in cash EBITDA on a run rate basis, and in addition, will provide synergies of a little over $1 million, through the next 12 to 18 months, from replacing overhead costs of the previous owners on a more cost effective basis, and being able to apply some of the talent in the Copenhagen office more broadly over the entire wholesale business." Editor's note: $TCX was recently upgraded to Buy from Hold at Echelon.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

DNS Hijacking: What Is It and How Does It Work Anyway?--securityboulevard.com.

How (and Why) to Change Your DNS Server--the Domain Name System (DNS) is an essential part of internet communications. Upgrading to a better DNS server can make your surfing both faster and more secure.--pcmag.com.

U.S. declines to back Christchurch call to stamp out online extremism amid free speech concerns. See also Don't Let Zuckerberg Kill Free Speech--realclearpolitics.com.

China: Google’s Censored Search Engine Would Have Helped China “Be More Open,” said ex-CEO Eric Schmidt--theintercept.com. See also Great Firewall scorches China’s ‘open society’--asiatimes.com.

The Impermanent Internet--thesis: the permanent social internet is dying, the impermanent social internet will need to replace it, and it will be even more difficult to make money on such an internet than it was before--mikeisaac.substack.com.

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

#1 News Review | Afilias vs ICANN, IRP UPDATE re: new gTLD .WEB

#2 Tech Review | What the Uber IPO Says About Investors State of Mind

#3 Interview | Ruth Porat, CFO at Alphabet and Google $GOOG $GOOGL

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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