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

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-01-20) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) EPDP Meetings After Toronto F2F, 2) .WEB IRP UPDATE, 3) ICANN & Its Failing New gTLDs, 4) Names, Domains & Trademarks: f. is for FUCT, and more, 5) ICYMI: Europe, China, India, Facebook et al, 6) Most Read.

1) EPDP Meetings After Toronto F2F

EPDP Meetings are scheduled on Tuesday, 22 Jan 2019, and Thursday, 24 Jan 2019, at 14:00 UTC (9am EST) for 3 hours each.

Observers may use Adobe Connect, or audiocast via browser / app. Links: EPDP Initial Report  (pdf); 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.

UPDATES: 
• 20 Jan 2019 email from ICANN Staff Support Team who prepared a first draft (pdf) of the Final Report for the EPDP working group to review.
• 21 Jan 2019 email from EPDP Chair: "Attached is a status of our work. The first is an overall status outline all issues [embed below]; the second is a tabular listing of the status of each Purpose and Recommendation [embed below]. Please read both docs to get a complete picture. We will follow up with guides for each of the upcoming meetings."

Overall status :

Tabular listing:

Highlights of the EPDP Toronto F2F:
1. First Day (Wednesday, 16 Jan 2019, transcript pp. 22-23)  What Are We Doing? (Stephanie Perrin is NCSG Chair):

2. First Day (Wednesday, 16 Jan 2019, transcript pp. 37-38) : Whose Purposes?

3. Second Day (Thursday, 17 Jan 2019, transcript (pdf) pp. 2-20): discussion late Thursday afternoon (starts at 1:48:00 on the Adobe recording) involving counsel for ICANN and EPDP members about ICANN's memo (pdf) re: independent controller versus joint controller. Related: Belgium's Data Protection Authority (DPA) published guidance on issues of "controller" and "processor"--Lexology.com: "despite the DPA’s guidelines, there is no simple answer as to who qualifies as controller or processor and in many instances it will be hard to make that call."

Editor's note: Why is this EPDP so dysfunctional? In part, the answer lies in the same seven factors that lead to stupidity: 

"People think stupidity is the opposite of intelligence. In fact, stupidity is the cost of intelligence operating in a complex environment. It’s almost inevitable ... seven factors that lead to stupidity ... being outside of your circle of competence, stress, rushing or urgency, fixation on an outcome, information overload, being in a group where social cohesion comes into play, and being in the presence of an 'authority.'"--Farnam Street | fs.blog.

Unfortunately, all seven factors were present in Toronto at the EPDP F2F.

More about the Toronto EPDP F2F on last week's News Review.

2) .WEB IRP UPDATE

Afilias Domains No. 3 Limited v. ICANN re: new gTLD .WEB (IRP proceeding)

Editor's note UPDATE 24 Jan 2019: ICANN appears to be in violation of the ICANN Bylaws by not publishing any of the documents filed by Afilias in the IRP:since 27 November 2018 without any notice of what documents are being wholly redacted:

(u) All IRP Panel proceedings shall be conducted on the record, and documents filed in connection with IRP Panel proceedings shall be posted on the Website, except for settlement negotiation or other proceedings that could materially and unduly harm participants if conducted publicly. The Rules of Procedure, and all Claims, petitions, and decisions shall promptly be posted on the Website when they become available. Each IRP Panel may, in its discretion, grant a party's request to keep certain information confidential, such as trade secrets, but only if such confidentiality does not materially interfere with the transparency of the IRP proceeding.--ICANN Bylaws Art. 4, Section 4.3(u).

• Procedures Officer's Memorandum of 4 January 2019 Conference Call No. 1 (pdf) 5 Jan 2019 embed above (reformatted from the original).
• ICANN's Submission Regarding the Requests by Verisign and Nu Dotco to Participate as Amicus Curiae (pdf) 16 Jan 2019, excerpt (p.1): "ICANN supports Verisign’s and NDC’s requests to participate as amicus curiae in this IRP." 
• Declaration of Samantha Eisner (pdf) 16 Jan 2019.

• Exhibits 1 to 7 (pdf) 16 Jan 2019.

• ICANN's Response to Procedures Officer's Questions Concerning Drafting History of the Supplementary Procedures (pdf) 16 Jan 2019.

For background and more info: News Review | Verisign $VRSN & New gTLD .WEB, Afilias vs ICANN.

3. ICANN & Its Failing New gTLDs:

ICANN Sends Notice of Breach to new gTLD .WHOSWHO Registry (pdf) 11 Jan 2019--excerpt below:

4) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Gibraltar issues .eu domain guidance--chronicle.gi: "In the scenario that we exit the EU without a deal, you should check whether you continue to meet the eligibility criteria set out in Article 4(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 733/2002 to hold a .eu Top Level Domain."

b. Domain names' prices beginning to be abusive?--lowendtalk.com.
See also productforums.google.com: "I want to stop paying for a custom domain name. What will happen to my blog if I do that?" Answer: go back to the free blogspot domain, also you can disconnect the custom domain at any time.

c.  How to Protect Yourself From Email Tracking--eff.org.

d. IP address location "we know it’s junk"--gizmodo.com: "the proper approach is to go to the internet service provider that operates the IP address and get it to tell you who was using it at the time it did the bad thing. This usually requires a subpoena or court order ..."

e. Delete All Your Apps: Los Angeles accuses Weather Channel app of deceptive data collection-- thehill.com  4 Jan 2019. [Editor's note: many mobile phone native apps have data and security issues. What we are seeing now is just the tip of the iceberg.] "Every moment of every day, mobile phone apps collect detailed location data. And it's for sale"--nytimes.com.

f. is for FUCT brand name trademark--U.S. Supreme Court to hear case on ban of profane trademarks.  See USPTO suspension letter and fuct.com.

5) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. Europe votes 2019: How to unmask and fight online manipulation--11 Feb 2019 (9:30-17:15) Résidence Palace, Rue de la Loi 175, Brussels, Belgium--edps.europa.eu.

b. China's internet censor approves new regulations for blockchain startups, requiring registration of users' real names, censoring posts, more, in effect Feb 15, 2019--coindesk.com.

c. India's top court seeks government response on plans to snoop on citizens' computers--reuters.com.

d. Why Facebook, Google, et al, Wanted To Kill Off RSS--corporate control and "ownership" of all "news" and "information"--own "everything"--

Google Reader is just the latest casualty of the war that Facebook started, seemingly accidentally: the battle to own everything. While Google did technically “own” Reader and could make some use of the huge amount of news and attention data flowing through it, it conflicted with their far more important Google+ strategy: they need everyone reading and sharing everything through Google+ so they can compete with Facebook for ad-targeting data, ad dollars, growth, and relevance.--Marco Ament, 2013 as quoted in  motherboard.vice.com.

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

#1 News Review | ICANN EPDP Face-to-Face Meeting Jan 16-18 Toronto

#2 Amazon $AMZN Playbook's Strategy for Alexa & Alexa Skills (video)

#3 The Declining Fortunes of China’s Tech Giants Tencent & Alibaba $BABA

#4 How Fintech Startup Robinhood Makes Money (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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DISCLAIMER

Security Firm Recommends Blocking ICANN's "Shadiest" New gTLDs

UPDATE: "We have nothing against Google, we don't mean to imply that they're running a shady operation. This is just all about the unintended consequences of having .zip as a TLD" - Hugh Thompson, Blue Coat's Chief Technology Officer, (source: Reuters).

Question: Would Google (or anyone) apply for .exe as a new gTLD in the next round?

UPDATE September 3, 2015: In a separate post yesterday, security firm Blue Coat explains Why You Should Block Domains on a TLD That Doesn't Have Any -- .ZIP URLs or why Google's new gTLD .ZIP is really bad news--

 "... What makes the .zip TLD interesting is that it really only has one live domain as of today: nic.zip, which is Google's pre-registration page. Actually, it's a bit of a stretch to even call it a domain -- it just relays to a page on google.com talking about their new TLDs. Regardless of this, .zip URLs are showing up in our traffic logs, among the billion or so anonymized Web requests that our customers send us every day to be categorized in our WebPulse system. Generally, if you look closer, most of these appear to be filenames, not URLs – but they somehow ended up in somebody's browser somewhere as a URL, and got treated accordingly. (For example, many of the requests are for [whatever].zip/favicon.ico URLs.) Now that .zip is no longer exclusively a file extension, but is also a TLD, browsers have to treat something that's now a legal URL as a URL, not as a filename, or a search term, or anything else ... We also have a number of large customers who have good -- no, make that really good -- in-house security teams. Those teams investigate threats, and they report associated indicators to us (IPs, domains, etc.). These reports include a variety of .zip URLs, flagged as being associated with malware ..." (emphasis added)

The above should come as no surprise for regular readers of Domain Mondo--this is a type of "collision" problem or just another known issue among the many problems impacting ALL of ICANN's new gTLDs (new generic top-level domains)--here are just two of the many Domain Mondo posts on these "problems" with new gTLD domain names:

• ICANN 52, Universal Acceptance, New gTLD Domain Names Feb 09, 2015: Slide from ICANN 52 session on Universal Acceptance - ICANN's new gTLDs "break stuff" ...
• New gTLD Domain Names, Defects, ICANN Liability, FTC Complaints: Jun 02, 2015: As Phil Corwin pointed out above, ICANN knew that new gTLD domain names would have universal acceptance "defects"--i.e., "failing to work as expected on the Internet" and/or "break stuff" or even compromise the stability and security of the Internet ...

Here are links to earlier posts in Blue Coat's "Shady TLD" series:

• .country
• .kim
• .science
• .gq
• .work
• .ninja
• .xyz -- "... .xyz isn't a ghetto, just a rougher section of town. However, if we focus on the much larger number of lower-traffic sites, the numbers look a lot worse, as mentioned above in the Overview. Accordingly, as with most of the other shady TLDs we've profiled in this series, we recommend that you stay away from .xyz sites." (emphasis added) see also: Phony Tech Support Scams Continue (with .xyz connection) | Blue Coat
• .date
• .faith

--end of Sept 3 update--

New @BlueCoat report shows more than 95% of websites in 10 Top Level Domains are suspicious http://t.co/brHNrYa9Ji pic.twitter.com/ifnl0cbAbR

— Blue Coat Systems (@BlueCoat) September 1, 2015

Press Release from enterprise security firm Blue Coat [domain name: bluecoat.com] (emphasis added):

Blue Coat Reveals the Web's Shadiest Neighborhoods
Report shows that more than 95 percent of websites in 10 new Top Level Domains (TLDs) are suspicious
Tuesday, September 01, 2015
SUNNYVALE, Calif., September 1, 2015 – Blue Coat Systems, Inc., a market leader in enterprise security, today revealed new research for consumers and businesses that shows the Top-Level Domains (TLDs), or “neighborhoods,” most associated with suspicious websites. Among the key findings in the report are that more than 95 percent of websites in 10 different TLDs are rated as suspicious, with that percentage increasing to 100 percent for the top two highest ranking TLDs, .zip and .review.

Blue Coat analyzed hundreds of millions of Web requests from more than 15,000 businesses and 75 million users to create “The Web’s Shadiest Neighborhoods,” a new report that combines research with tips and tricks for Web users and enterprise security and IT departments looking to avoid viruses and other malicious activity. For this research, Blue Coat counted a domain as “shady” if it was rated in its database with a category such as:

Most Common Malicious Activity |Less Common Malicious Activity
Spam                                               |Malware
Scam                                               |Botnet
Suspicious                                       |Phishing
Potentially Unwanted Software (PUS) |

Domains in the database that were not classified in one of these ways were counted as “non-shady.”

Much has changed since the early days of the Internet when the Web had only six common top level domains (TLDs). Back then, what most consumers and businesses encountered were a small number of standard TLDs, such as .com, .net, .edu and .gov, as well as some “country code” domains like .fr (France), and .jp (Japan). However, since 2013, the number of new TLDs has skyrocketed. There has been an explosion of new neighborhoods on the Web, many of which may be considered for web security purposes as neither safe nor friendly. By June 2015, the count of validly issued TLDs stood at over one thousand. As the number of TLDs has increased, so have the opportunities for attackers. These TLDs, with high numbers of shady sites dubbed “Shady TLDs” can provide fertile ground for malicious activity including spam, phishing, and distribution of Potentially Unwanted Software (PUS).

The Web’s Top 10 "TLDs with Shady Sites*"
Rank | Top-Level Domain Name | Percentage of Shady Sites

#1 .zip 100.00%
#2 .review 100.00%
#3 .country 99.97%
#4 .kim 99.74%
#5 .cricket 99.57%
#6 .science 99.35%
#7 .work 98.20%
#8 .party 98.07%
#9 .gq (Equatorial Guinea) 97.68%  [note: .gq is a ccTLD]
#10 .link 96.98%

*As of August 15, 2015 – Percentages are based on categorizations of web sites actually visited by our 75 million users. A TLD having 100 percent shady sites correlates to sites categorized by Blue Coat.

Recent Risky Activity from the Web’s Shadiest Neighborhoods
The report also reveals examples of nefarious activity taking place on shady websites of some of the top ranked Shady TLDs, including the fourth most seemingly dangerous neighborhood, .kim. Blue Coat researchers recently discovered websites serving up pages which mimic popular video and image sites and prompt unprotected visitors to unwittingly download malware.

“Due to the explosion of TLDs in recent years, we have seen a staggering number of almost entirely shady Web neighborhoods crop up at an alarming rate,” said Dr. Hugh Thompson, CTO for Blue Coat Systems. “The increase in Shady TLDs as revealed by Blue Coat’s analysis is in turn providing increased opportunity for the bad guys to partake in malicious activity. In order to build a better security posture, knowledge about which sites are the most suspicious, and how to avoid them, is essential for consumers and businesses alike.”

Minimizing the Risk for Businesses and Consumers
As organizations and consumers look to safeguard themselves against these shady TLDs, they can draw key lessons from the report to inform and strengthen their security posture, including:

• Businesses should consider blocking traffic that leads to the riskiest TLDs. For example, Blue Coat has previously recommended that businesses consider blocking traffic to .work, .gq, .science, .kim and .country.
• Users should use caution to click on any links that contain these TLDs if they encounter them in search results, e-mail, or social network environments.
• If unsure of the source, hover the mouse over a link to help verify that it leads to the address displayed in the text of the link.
• “Press and Hold” links on a mobile device (not just click) to verify it leads where it says it does.

Full Report Available
Please click here [pdf] to view a full copy of “The Web’s Shadiest Neighborhoods.”

About Blue Coat Systems
Blue Coat is a leader in enterprise security, providing on-premise, hybrid and cloud-based solutions for protecting web connectivity, combating advanced threats and responding to security breaches. Blue Coat is the global market leader in securing connection to the web and counts nearly 80 percent of the Global Fortune 500 as its customers. Blue Coat was acquired by *Bain Capital in March 2015. For additional information, please visit www.bluecoat.com.

--end of press release--

*Bain Capital Completes Acquisition of Blue Coat Systems | Blue Coat (May 26, 2015): "Bain Capital acquired Blue Coat from Thoma Bravo, LLC, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.4 billion."

According to namestat.org, Blue Coat's top 10 list of "shadiest" TLDs includes several of the largest new gTLDs delegated by ICANN, in total domain name registrations:
Rank |TLD  |Total registrations
3 .science  324,836
6 .party  206,925
8 .link 151,205

See also: Web address explosion is bonanza for cyber-criminals: study: (source: CNBC)

and Domain Mondo: Goldman Sachs Offices, Shenzhen, China: REAL and FAKE (video)


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DISCLAIMER

Goldman Sachs Offices, Shenzhen, China: REAL and FAKE (video)

The REAL Goldman Sachs Office Location in Shenzhen, CHINA: 
Beijing Gao Hua Securities Company Limited
1 Zhong Xin Si Road
Suites 1602-1603A, 16th floor Kerry Plaza, Tower One
Futian District
Shenzhen, Guangdong Province 518048
People's Republic of China

UPDATE: The REAL Goldman Sachs domain name: goldmansachs.com
Sorry ICANN, it's NOT dotGOLDMANSACHS OR a goldmansachs.xyz #FAKE 

.COM Domain Names - Verisign: "As the foremost established [TLD or top-level] domain, with a record of more than 15 years of reliability, .COM domain names invoke trust. It’s where customers want to do business online."

The "FAKE" Goldman Sachs in Shenzhen:

Video above: Shenzhen Firm Calls Itself 'Goldman Sachs' -- China may have a reputation for knock-offs, everything from bags and watches to smartphones, but what about cloning a famous global lender? Bloomberg's Shai Oster reports on "Trending Business" on August 27, 2015.

"Enforcement of intellectual property laws in China is lax and counterfeiting of brands and products is rife. Several foreign firms have been embroiled in court cases over imitators. Basketball star Michael Jordan in July lost a case against a Chinese sportswear company that used the Chinese version of his name." --The Guardian

This is why ICANN's new gTLDs (new generic top-level domain names) are a cybersquatter's and cybercriminal's dream come true--and who is profiting besides the cybersquatter or cybercriminal?--ICANN, the new gTLD registry operators, and the new gTLD registrars! Talk about e-friction--read this piece of ICANN hypocrisy--ICANN and its new gTLDs are a source of tremendous global e-friction or "impediments, costs and losses incurred by internet users and businesses" due to ICANN's expansion of gTLDs from just 22 to now more more than 700, including increased costs and losses incurred in "defensive domain name registrations" and trademark infringement.

Heard of China’s Fake Rolexes? Now There’s a Fake Goldman Sachs - Bloomberg Business: "The Shenzhen Goldman Sachs’s website was inaccessible as of Wednesday, though it could be viewed in screen grabs captured by the union.“There have been quite a few cases where Chinese individuals or organizations have registered in China the trademark of an existing and established overseas brand,” Paul Haswell, a Hong Kong-based partner at law firm Pinsent Masons, said in an e-mail.“It’s notoriously difficult for an overseas claimant to persuade the Chinese courts that there has been trademark infringement,” said Haswell. “There’s still a practice of whoever registers first wins.”"

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DISCLAIMER

ICANN, Public Interest, New gTLDs Registry Operator Code of Conduct

ICANN essentially "caved" to new gTLDs lobbyists (a/k/a "ICANN stakeholders") and failed to protect the public interest, including, but not limited to, domain name registrants, in its "New gTLD Registry Operator Code of Conduct" which is found in "Specification 9" of the Base Registry Agreement (Specification 9 is at pages 80-81)--relevant  portions below:

SPECIFICATION 9
REGISTRY OPERATOR CODE OF CONDUCT

1. In connection with the operation of the registry for the TLD, Registry Operator will not, and will not allow any parent, subsidiary, Affiliate, subcontractor or other related entity, to the extent such party is engaged in the provision of Registry Services with respect to the TLD (each, a “Registry Related Party”), to: 

a. directly or indirectly show any preference or provide any special consideration to any registrar with respect to operational access to registry systems and related registry services, unless comparable opportunities to qualify for such preferences or considerations are made available to all registrars on substantially similar terms and subject to substantially similar conditions;

b. register domain names in its own right, except for names registered through an ICANN accredited registrar; provided, however, that Registry Operator may (a) reserve names from registration pursuant to Section 2.6 of the Agreement and (b) may withhold from registration or allocate to Registry Operator up to one hundred (100) names pursuant to Section 3.2 of Specification 5;

c. register names in the TLD or sub-domains of the TLD based upon proprietary access to information about searches or resolution requests by consumers for domain names not yet registered (commonly known as, “front-running”); or

d. allow any Affiliated registrar to disclose Personal Data about registrants to Registry Operator or any Registry Related Party, except as reasonably necessary for the management and operations of the TLD, unless all unrelated third parties (including other registry operators) are given equivalent access to such user data on substantially similar terms and subject to substantially similar conditions.

2. If Registry Operator or a Registry Related Party also operates as a provider of registrar or registrar-reseller services, Registry Operator will, or will cause such Registry Related Party to, ensure that such services are offered through a legal entity separate from Registry Operator, and maintain separate books of accounts with respect to its registrar or registrar-reseller operations. 
(source: http://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/agreements/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.pdf: paragraphs 3-6, pp.80-81, contain nothing else of substance to registrants)

And what is the purported purpose of ICANN's Registry Operator Code of Conduct?

Code of Conduct FAQ [PDF, 456 KB]:
A3: The purpose of the Registry Operator Code of Conduct is to protect a TLD’s registrants.

A15: If a Registry Operator receives an exemption to the Code of Conduct, it is not contractually obligated to comply with the covenants in Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Specification 9 of the Registry Agreement. 

This must be some kind of "joke" if ICANN thinks new gTLD domain name registrants are "protected" by this "Code of Conduct"--no wonder ICANN's Global Domains Division, its President Akram Atallah, its General Counsel John Jeffrey, and its Contract Compliance Officer Allen Grogan, were all stumped and befuddled when confronted with claims of the IPC and ICANN's Business Constituency about abusive practices by an ICANN new gTLD Registry operator-- or what Akram Atallah refers to as an "ICANN customer." ICANN wrote to the FTC (US) and OCA (Canada) asking for help because ICANN forgot to put any teeth into its Code of Conduct! To date nothing has been done--so much for registrant protection!

The ICANN Global Domains Division must be the most inept, incompetent and/or dysfunctional part of ICANN. Akram Atallah is a crony of outgoing ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade and had no experience in the domain name industry before he was appointed ICANN's "President" (yes, ICANN decided to have 2 Presidents!) coincident with the creation of the "Global Domains Division" by empire builder Fadi Chehade--i.e., Akram got Fadi hired as ICANN CEO and President, and in turn, Fadi appointed his lifelong friend and crony Akram to the newly created "President" Global Domains Division which pays a total comp package (including benefits) approaching one million dollars (USD) per year.

The rampant conflicts of interest at play in the new gTLDs program within ICANN are well known, all of which are symptomatic of ICANN's problematic organizational culture. Fixing "organizational culture" is really hard, and impossible when the two top officers are part of the problem. As Peter Thiel once said, "You'd have to fire everybody and start over."

For Domain Name Registrants, ICANN is useless--better to just file a complaint directly with the Federal Trade Comission (FTC).

See also on Domain Mondo: ICANN, Domain Registry Operators, Monopoly, Antitrust, FTC Statement

ref: https://www.icann.org/news/blog/new-gtld-registry-operator-code-of-conduct


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ICANN 52 Singapore Recap from Mark Monitor (video)

MarkMonitor® domain management and gTLD (generic top-level domains) experts, Matt Serlin and Elisa Cooper, review highlights from ICANN 52 Singapore and discuss:

- New gTLD Program Status, Review and Next Round
- Enhancing ICANN Accountability and the IANA Transition
- Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Communique

PDF of the Presentation(.pdf)

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ICANN, New gTLDs, Neil Young, PonoPlayer - Who Else Wears No Clothes?

Neil Young's PonoPlayer: The Emperor Has No Clothes: "... You’ve got to admit it: The argument for the Pono Player sure is appealing — that we don’t know what we’ve been missing in our music. Unfortunately, it isn’t true..." -- David Pogue  (complete review and video at link above)

Domain name: ponomusic.force.com (yes, a subdomain of force.com which is owned by a completely separate entity: Salesforce.com, Inc. Apparently Mr. Young is also clueless about domain names and how to build a sustainable online business?)

David Pogue's review of Neil Young's Pono is devastating. But even more illuminating was the insight gleaned by one of my favorite bloggers (excerpt below):

Re-Pono - Lefsetz Letter: "Why does Neil Young get a pass?... But that’s the news industry today. Few stand alone. They want to sidle up to the rich and famous who believe they’re so much better than us. Kind of like the rich westsiders who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Of course they’re right, they went to Ivy League schools, they’re rich! And they’re perpetuating their breed, if they don’t get felled by disease, using their money, power and influence to get ahead while the poor line up for shots and take whatever is given to them... So I’m waiting for the big boys to say Pono sucks. David Pogue just did, and his opinion went viral, if you didn’t get it you need new friends, he declared that “The Emperor Has No Clothes.”... anybody with a brain knew this project was doomed from the start.I said so. But I was inundated by e-mail from his fans calling me a hater. That’s how far we’ve come, you can’t say a negative thing about anybody with a profile because you’re gonna offend their tribe... What did Jack Nicholson say in that movie, YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH? No one can handle the truth anymore... So football is safe, global warming doesn’t exist and Neil Young can’t be wrong. But he is... " (emphasis added, read full article at link above).

OK, I'll add the obvious analogy for those who "don't get it:"

So football is safe, global warming doesn't exist and ICANN and the new gTLD hucksters can't be wrong... but they are.

Caveat Emptor!

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Important ICANN 52 Session on New gTLDs, Universal Acceptance Fail

Better Late Than Never? @AkramAtallah ICANN should have solved this BEFORE launching #newgTLD #domains. #ICANN @ICANN_GNSO
— Domain Mondo (@DomainMondo) February 5, 2015

Universal Acceptance
Date: Mon, 9 February 2015 - 17:00 to 18:15 SGT (4am - 5:15am EST in the US)

Session link:
http://singapore52.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-universal-acceptance

Session description (provided by ICANN) -- "Overview: Many of the services and applications Internet users rely on do not accept new top-level domains, Internationalized Domain Names or Internationalized email addresses. The issue poses a risk to the public perception of ICANN's New gTLD and IDN Programs. This session is intended to solicit community interest in participating in ICANN's Universal Acceptance Initiative, discuss ICANN's outreach plans and gather new ideas for tackling the issue." (emphasis added)

Remote Participation:

Virtual Meeting Room Stream Live English

High Bandwidth
Service TypeLanguage
Audio Stream Live English
Audio Stream Live Español
Audio Stream Live Français
Audio Stream Live 简体中文

Low Bandwidth
Service Type  Language
Audio Stream Live English
Audio Stream Live Español
Audio Stream Live Français
Audio Stream Live 简体中文

For more info on this issue see: Why New gTLD Domain Names Fail To Work Across the Internet

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Barry Ritholtz: Apple Proves You Should Not Trust Analysts (video)

Barry Ritholtz: Apple Proves You Should Not Trust Pundits a/k/a Analysts (video above)

domain name: apple.com

see for cross-reference:
Domain Mondo | New gTLD Domains, Market Forecasts, Analysts, Monkeys: "One of the collective fallacies our culture operates under is the delusion that the market is some kind of astute forecasting machine. It is not — it represents the collective wisdom of 10 million panicked monkeys. That millions of slightly clever, pants wearing primates can combine their collective ignorance, their intellectual foibles, biases and false beliefs somehow into something resembling intelligence was one of the false beliefs of the era. Unfortunately, this is a condition the monkeys are prone towards....”--Barry Ritholtz (emphasis added)

and for further reference re: new gTLD domain names--

"... Second most surprising [in 2014] was the slower uptake of new gTLD SLD's [new generic top-level domain names]... we were surprised that the consuming public and other registrars were not standing there eagerly to take the baton and run forward with the same zeal that it took us to get that baton to them... " -- Frank Schilling (emphasis added; source: dnjournal.com)

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Forbes Examines Why New gTLD Domain Names Are A Big Flop

Roger Kay has written an insightful article on the failing new gTLDs (ICANN's new generic Top-Level Domains) in Forbes, entitled: Why, Even After A Year, There's Still No Land Grab For New Internet Domains which is worth taking the time to read for anyone in  the domain name industry, active in ICANN, or a domain name registrant--excerpt--

".... Since a year ago, more than 400 new gTLDs have been introduced, nearly doubling the number of extensions available to companies and individuals looking to stand out on the Internet. However, the reception to these new domains has been muted, and 2015 is kicking off with a notable lack of enthusiasm for their adoption, despite some registrars’ best efforts... And if consumers aren’t flocking to the new domains, commercial entities have their own reasons to be wary of them. A greatly expanded domain universe opens up a multitude of opportunities for cybersquatters... And as if that weren’t enough, the new domains can breed confusion through something as simple as the distinction between singular and plural names.... To make matters worse, Web surfers may not even be able to see some new domains, since they may be blocked for security reasons.... In contrast to the slippery territory of the new domains, the existing names are solidly established. The .com extension has been around for almost 30 years, and every Fortune 500 company has a .com registration. The top 50 global brands direct customers to a .com homepage... Not a single leading brand has switched its online identity to one of the new domains, despite all the hype surrounding their introduction a year ago... even supporters of the new names are not as sure as they once were about their prospects. Since February 2014, companies and individuals have registered approximately 3.3 million names in the more than 400 new domains. While that number may sound fairly large, to put it in perspective, .com had more than 8 million gross registrations in a single quarter last year... Buyers would do better not to bother and instead go after real estate on the more established, busier thoroughfares of the Internet — like .com, .net, and .org — where the traffic is." (emphasis added, read more here)

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New gTLDs, ICANN Boondoggle, MIT Technology Review

Now that we know ICANN knowingly compromised Internet stability and security just to make money off its new gTLDs--time for a look to the recent past and some of the warnings ICANN had before it made the worst decision in its 16+ year history--

ICANN's Boondoggle | MIT Technology Review: (August 21, 2012) "... It’s [new gTLDs expansion] happening because the body in charge of these things—the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN—thought it would be fun and profitable. That may sound flip, but it’s the simplest explanation for the coming chaos... ICANN is itself a monopoly... There is no general shortage of Web addresses. If there were, we might have seen businesses flocking to other new domains ICANN has already introduced over the past decade [.INFO, .BIZ, .MOBI, etc.]. ICANN says it’s opening up these domains to promote competition and choice in the domain-name industry. But confusion and profiteering are the more likely results... there’s a lot of money to be made now, starting with the fees that marketers, lawyers, and consultants familiar with the domain-name business have already begun to extract from big brands... Through all this, ICANN could also cash in... $357 million in application fees that the Los Angeles–based organization has already collected... What amazing new benefits will all this spending bring to consumers? None whatsoever, at least in the eyes of venture investor Esther Dyson, who served as chair of ICANN from its inception in 1998 until 2000. Dyson once supported the idea of allowing companies to create arbitrary top-level domains, but she says she came to believe that the change would be unnecessary and confusing for the public. “I don’t think it’s illegal, but it’s wasteful,” she says. “One version of the future is: a lot of people spend a lot of money marketing [new gTLD domain names], and a lot of new consultancies are created, and a lot of lawyers are very busy protecting and enforcing property rights, and there is no net benefit to anybody.”... Who gave ICANN the power to make this mess? The U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the ultimate keeper of the root zone file... Thus was born a financial conflict of interest that continues to this day: ICANN subsists on the very industry it purports to govern. Dyson says she “lost any faith, over time,” in ICANN’s ability to regulate the domain-name business..." (emphasis added, read more here)

Welcome to ICANN's Depraved.New.World --



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New gTLDs, Winners, Losers, Rod Beckstrom, Kurt Pritz, ICANN (video)

Rod Beckstrom: Consumers will choose the "winners" and the "losers"

Blast from the past (published on Aug 18, 2012): Rod Beckstrom, CEO and President of ICANN, and Kurt Pritz, Senior Vice President of ICANN, discuss establishing a broad array of new generic top-level domains.

ICANN Floods the Market -- That's a competitive marketplace! And of course, we now know ICANN compromised Internet stability and security with the new gTLDs.

Hell of a way to run the global Internet DNS!

But remember, for ICANN, the new gTLDs (new generic Top-Level Domains) were never about what is in the public interest, instead, it's all about the money!

And the sad thing is, it didn't have to be this way--

"INTA favors the alternative single, shared registry model, propounded under the gTLD Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the registry operating on a cost-recovery basis and with competition between registrars. Under this model, the new corporation [ICANN] would be empowered to manage the gTLD name-space as a public resource, would be able to take its decisions in the wider public interest and would not be involved in the dubious practice of granting proprietary monopolies to commercial enterprises to control individual gTLDs. The single registry model is also much preferred for dealing with disputes. Instead of having to deal with different dispute policies in different jurisdictions, businesses and challenged domain name holders would have a single consistent policy and jurisdiction would be clearly determined." (emphasis added) Source: INTA Response to the U.S. Government Paper ["Green Paper"] on the Improvement of Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses (pdf) (1998)

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ICANN Admits New gTLDs Compromise Internet Stability and Security

ICANN has admitted it compromised the security and stability of the internet in its expansion of new gTLDs--ICANN CTO David Conrad told The Register that ICANN "struck a balance between fostering innovation and competition [by introducing over 1000 new gTLDs into the DNS] and maintaining the stability and security of the network... the approach we agreed upon was a reasonable compromise."

Apparently Verisign, the Internet Root Zone Maintainer, disagrees with ICANN's characterization of the compromise of the Internet's stability and security as "reasonable," and has warned of DNS security risks in a new 33-page report titled "SSR3: Security, Stability, Resiliency Update: Operational Foreshocks" that has not yet been publicly published by VeriSign. Danny McPherson, chief security officer of VeriSign, told eWEEK:

"There have been domain name collisions that have resulted in network interruptions for enterprises... There have also been cases where confusion and usability with the new top-level domains [new gTLDs] have led to phishing attacks... if the root DNS server systems become unstable in some manner, it could lead to the fragmentation of the Internet"... new gTLDs may not necessarily work deterministically across the Internet, as some carriers or organizations may choose to only support their own view of the Internet domain name space... "Unless you do a qualitative analysis and give people fair warning, some [new] gTLDs will be locked," he said... (source eWEEK, supra, emphasis added).

Domain Mondo previously reported on these failures of new gTLDs (which ICANN euphemistically refers to as a Universal Acceptance problem): see ICANN, New gTLD Domain Names, Universal Acceptance Another #FAIL (14 October 2014). Of course, when it comes to new gTLDs, it seems ICANN doesn't really care about the public interest nor, apparently, internet stability and security-- it's all about the money!

Based on the above, domain name registrants need to be aware that some new gTLD domain names may not "necessarily work... across the Internet"--caveat emptor!

Read more at:
ICANN's technical competence queried by Verisign report • The Register "Verisign has called into question the technical competence of domain name overseer ICANN."
and
VeriSign Warns of DNS Security Risks (eWEEK)

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Markets Hit New Highs While New gTLD Registry Stocks Crash in 2014

With 2014 coming to an end, the new gTLD hucksters can't spin this one--though they try--the new gTLD registry stocks crashed in 2014 while stock markets reached all time highs:

More records for U.S. stocks as Dow tops 18,000 for first time -- The Dow industrials closed above 18,000 for the first time ever and the S&P 500 notched up its 51st record close of the year, underscoring confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy. (source below: Google.com 12/23):

Meanwhile new gTLD registry stocks have been BIG LOSERS in 2014 (see below). Apparently, just as new gTLD domain name registrations have been disappointing, and falling, investors on Wall Street and in London aren't buying the ICANN new gTLDs' hokum either!

Below: Rightside (stock symbol: NAME) Yesterday close: $7.15; 52 Week High /Low: $17 / $7.085 UPDATE: Rightside [NAME] opened December 24 at low price of $7.05
and: Mind + Machines (stock symbol: MMX) Yesterday close: GBX 8.07; 52 Week High /Low GBX 17.75 / 6.75 (data source: Marketwatch.com)

Rightside (stock symbol: NAME)

Mind + Machines (stock symbol: MMX)

ALAC Call for Freeze on New gTLDs, Safeguards, Public Interest, All Disregarded by ICANN

More chaos, confusion and dysfunction at ICANN over new gTLDs (new generic top-level domains) and ICANN's disregard of the public interest and the public safety of the global internet community--

Letter dated December 9, 2014, from the ICANN Business Constituency to Fadi Chehadé, CEO, ICANN, Dr. Stephen Crocker, Chair, ICANN Board of Directors (pdf):

"The Business Constituency (BC) supports the ALAC’s call for a freeze on contracting and
delegation of any new gTLD in highly-regulated sectors that have failed to implement GAC safeguards... The strings at issue here include:

Health and Fitness: .pharmacy .surgery .dentist .dds .hospital .medical .doctor
Financial: .bank .banque .creditunion .creditcard .insurance .ira .lifeinsurance .mutualfunds .mutuelle .vermogensberater .vesicherung .autoinsurance .carinsurance
Gambling: .bet .bingo .lotto .poker .spreadbetting .casino
Charity: .charity (and IDN Chinese equivalent)
Education: university 
....
In May-2014, the BC expressed concern that the safeguards adopted to date for strings associated with regulated industries and professions was falling short, and that such strings remain susceptible to fraud and abuse by potential registrants who wish enrich themselves at the expense of the general public. GAC and NTIA had raised concerns regarding NGPC’s proposed implementation of Category 1 safeguards. It was therefore unclear how PICs could provide effective safeguards, given a registry’s ability to amend or revoke its PICs [Public Interest Commitments] and the lengthy, expensive, and adversarial process required to enforce PICs by the limited class of parties able to bring enforcement actions.

Nevertheless, during 2014 ICANN has continued to sign registry contracts with applicants for 

Category 1 strings, without requiring safeguards in registry PICs. That led the ALAC to request a freeze at the ICANN51 Public Forum. The ALAC resolution calls for freezing the 28 highly-sensitive, regulated Category 1 strings until a joint ALAC-GAC working group can determine that appropriate safeguards are indeed in place to protect the public interest. In response, the ICANN Board New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) voted on 7-Nov-2014 to disregard the ALAC Statement on Public Interest Commitments, including the ALAC request for a freeze....

The BC remains concerned that safeguards adopted for strings associated with regulated
industries and professions may fall short and that such strings remain susceptible to fraud and
abuse by potential registrants who wish enrich themselves at the expense of the general public.

Unless ICANN’s board and management respond appropriately, the continued delegation of new
gTLDs serving highly-regulated sectors will demonstrate ICANN’s lack of accountability to
consumers and to consumer protection authorities around the globe. Lack of action by ICANN’s board on this matter will likely be cited as evidence to justify new independent review mechanisms to allow the Internet community to challenge decisions of ICANN board and management. The BC would be among those citing this case as justification for stronger accountability mechanisms for ICANN...." (emphasis added, read full letter at link above)

Also see: Letter dated December 9, 2014, from Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) to Dr. Stephen Crocker, Chair, ICANN Board Of Directors (pdf)--excerpt:

".... We also remain concerned with the NGPC’s elimination of the requirement to consult with
relevant authorities (regulatory and quasi-regulatory bodies where applicable) in case of doubt
about the authenticity of credentials, and the requirement to conduct periodic post-registration
checks to ensure that Registrants’ continue to possess valid credentials and generally conduct
their activities in the interests of the consumers they serve. The GAC advised these procedures
to protect the public from falling prey to scammers and other criminals...." (emphasis added)

And the Obama Administration wants to surrender the US Department of Commerce (NTIA) contract and all oversight of ICANN--the scammers and other cybercriminals must be smiling! Of course when it comes to the new gTLDs program, ICANN was never interested in the public interest--it's all about the money--that's why we now have over 1000 new gTLDs being irresponsibly flooded into the domain name system (DNS).

see also: ICANN Seeking Panel Members for New gTLD Public Interest Commitment Dispute Resolution

UPDATE: Preliminary Report | Meeting of the New gTLD Program Committee 11 Dec 2014: "... After discussion, the sense of the Committee was that it was not supportive of halting the contracting and delegating process for the strings identified in the ALAC Statement, but the Committee decided to engage as soon as possible with the ALAC to better understand their concerns about the PICs, and to discuss a path forward. The Committee decided to prepare a response to the ALAC to provide the rationale for its decision, and to take steps to begin a dialogue with the ALAC. Also, the Committee agreed to take steps to initiate a dialogue with the GAC to discuss its concerns with the PICs...."

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Avoid New gTLDs, Use Only .COM Domain Names says Marketing Expert

Avoid Any gTLD extension other than .COM Domain Name says Online Marketing Expert http://t.co/NcM0QngnTt #newgTLD #domains
— Domain Mondo (@DomainMondo) November 20, 2014

see also: Domain Pro Spills Secrets for Getting a URL | Inc.com: "... What advice would you give to a startup founder trying to acquire a domain name that a professional domain-owner has in his or her portfolio? ... the No. 1 rule in domaining is open communications, because if you can't even communicate with the domain owner, you can't negotiate. Second: Have a list of names, branding and how you name your company. Having some options and doing a little variation can get you a far better value. Get prices on several options--and then you really have options. Another thing: If you're going to buy a [domain name ending in] .co [or ANY domain name extension other than .com] make sure you know who owns the .com. Know your competition before you step in. Are there trends to be aware of, price-wise? Premium names are going up. Middle-markets are going up, and lower-value names are going down...."


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