News Review | ICANN65 June 24-27: EPDP, AMAZON & ICANN

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-23) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN65, Marrakech, Morocco, June 24-27: EPDP, .AMAZON & ICANN, 2) Other ICANN news: New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation Update, 3) a. Voice.com Record Sale Price, b. Website Security & Malware, 4) ICYMI: The Internet Is Changing Africa, 5) Most Read.
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1) ICANN65, Marrakech, Morocco, June 24-27

Date & Time (24-hour clock) in Marrakech:

The ICANN Policy Forum is the second meeting in ICANN's three-meeting annual cycle, duration is four (4) days, and format is focused on SO/AC/SG/C policy work and outreach, and therefore: • no welcome ceremony; • no public forum(s); • no public board meeting.

ICANN65 Schedule (all times local Marrakech), *Schedule Highlights below:

*GAC: New gTLDs Subsequent Procedures Discussion 15:15 - 16:15, Mon, Jun 24 [10:15am EDT in U.S.] "Assess progress of PDP WG deliberations on issues of importance to the GAC. Discuss formation and operation of the GAC Focal Group on Subsequent Rounds of gTLDs."

*GNSO-EPDP Phase 2 Meeting (1 of 2)  8:30 - 15:00, Tue, Jun 25 --Notes & Action Items

*GNSO-EPDP Phase 2 Meeting (2 of 2)  8:30 - 15:00, Thu, Jun 27 --Notes & Action Items

EPDP background: CPH comments on Purposes (pdf), SO/AC/SG/C early input, and last week's News Review 2)b. Links to the EPDP meetings' recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP Links: wiki, public mail list, legal memos & mail list, GNSO mail list, worksheets, definitions. Jun 20 meeting notes / action items.

*GAC: DNS Abuse Mitigation and dot Amazon Discussions 8:30 - 10:15, Tue, Jun 25

Editor's note: read Amazon wins ‘.amazon’ domain name, aggravating South American region and undermining digital commons | theconversation.com, excerpt:

"... At its inception, the internet was a great equaliser. It meant large and small businesses could compete with one another on a level playing field. ICANN has been entrusted with administering the internet and protecting it. That means protecting its broader purpose in society. ICANN appears to have forgotten that part of its role. It now charges costs USD$185,000 for a top-level domain name like “.amazon”. It’s not surprising that a company whose 2018 profits were reportedly USD$11.2 billion – for which it paid no federal taxes – was able to purchase the domain before an indigenous community in Brazil. The implications for the future of the internet are troubling. What was a global commons may become an exclusive field where those who have the most can acquire more. Those who have the least meanwhile lose even the right to use the name of their homeland." (emphasis added) [See also the author's letter to ICANN Board (pdf)]

The .AMAZON issues illustrate how ill-conceived and corrupt the entire .BRAND new gTLDs program is--a "brand" a/k/a "trademark" is neither a monopoly nor generic, and therefore all ".BRAND gTLDs" fail as "generic top-level domains" (gTLDs), see RFC 1591. The .BRAND new gTLDs program was a way for incompetent, corrupt, unfit ICANN, and some of its contracted parties, i.e., registry service providers, to make money by extorting trademark holders--"apply for a .BRAND new gTLD or ICANN may sell your .BRAND (trademark) gTLD to someone else"-- e.g., see .PING testimony. Most .BRAND gTLDs are primarily a costly expense in trademark defense (instead, ICANN should have given trademark holders a right to block any gTLD application that infringes a legitimate distinctive trademark, and governmental authorities the right to block any gTLD application that is for a recognized or protected geographic term under applicable law). Unsurprisingly, many .BRAND gTLDs have been abandoned and returned to ICANN, while .BRANDs like .GOOGLE (and .AMAZON), in effect, contribute to the splintering of the internet into a few monopolistic platforms, smothering all competitors, undermining the digital commons and the core internet principle that all TLDs are "global public resources"--see U.S. amicus brief in the Weinstein case.

"... ICANN is a corrupt racketeering organization. It's a crime syndicate that advances interests of a few insiders at the expense of the masses and the general good. They have abused their power and their role ..."

The GAC-ICANN Board discussion re: .AMAZON (1:07:50-1:55:00) Wednesday morning via Livestream below:

*Evolving the Effectiveness of ICANN's Multistakeholder Model  17:00 - 18:30, Tue, Jun 25  (Livestream video below)

*Impacts of EPDP Phase 1 Recommendations on Other ICANN Policies and Procedures 15:15 - 16:45, Thu, Jun 27, 2019 (10:15am EDT) slide deck, Livestrean video below:

ICANN Meeting & Media Resources:

• Remote Participation

• Remote Participation details for all the GNSO Open and Public Meetings at ICANN65

• ICANN pre- and post-meeting reports | ICANN.org

• GNSO Policy Briefing

• Nissaba.net ICANN65 Pre-meeting Report

• ICANN Org draft memo re: 'Assumptions' --Future Rounds of New gTLDs (pdf) /email.

  Conflict of interest when your employee is in charge getting the next round of #newgtlds launched ASAP? Most would think so. But not in #ICANN world https://t.co/Sh2RPYUrfx

  — thereforeICANN (@thereforeICANN) June 21, 2019

• ICANN65 Prep Week Materials

• Twitter:  @sgdickinson  #ICANN65  @ICANN

• ICANN Meeting Sessions on Livestream.com

• ICANNnews | YouTube.com

• "A simple way to focus your attention is to listen with the intention of summarizing the other person’s point of view. This stops you from using your mental energy to work out your reply, and helps store the other’s words in your memory as well as identify any gaps in your understanding so you can ask questions to clarify."--fs.blog.

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2) Other ICANN News

New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation Update: 

DotConnectAfrica Trust, a Mauritius Charitable Trust, Plaintiff, v. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California Corporation; ZA Central Registry, a South African non-profit company; and DOES 1-50, inclusive; Defendants:

May 21, 2019: "On the Court's own motion, the Trial Setting Conference scheduled for 05/21/2019, and NonJury Trial On Phase I (Estoppel) scheduled for 05/21/2019 are continued to 07/11/19  [July 11, 2019] at 10:00 AM in Department 53 at Stanley Mosk Courthouse ..."
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3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Website Security & Malware

a. Largest publicly reported all cash domain name sale in history revealed June 18, 2019, the $30 million sale of Voice.com, more than double the previous record of $13 million paid for Sex.com in 2010.

b. Website Security & Malware: More Than 150,000 Small-Business Websites in the U.S. could be infected with malware at any given moment--in one case, security firm SiteLock (sitelock.com) discovered the hackers had exploited a security hole in a Wordpress plugin--see A Cybersecurity Checklist for the Modern Small Business.  Also: FBI warns users to be wary of phishing sites abusing HTTPS.
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4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

The Internet Is Changing Africa: cheap smartphones are flooding Africa, bringing internet access to many for the very first time, but there are problems: gambling, particularly sports betting in Africa's more developed nations, with about 60 million Nigerians aged between 18 and 40 betting daily.  China is investing in infrastructure, but with that comes Huawei equipment, e.g., China built the African Union building in Ethiopia, including installation of tapped networking equipment [the building was built in 2012 by the Chinese, the African Union's IT staff later discovered that the entire content of its servers was being transferred to China.]

WeChat Is Watching: WeChat's data centralization has inextricably linked it to all aspects of daily life in China and made it a cornerstone of the government's social-credit system.
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5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

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

#2 Greycroft's Alan Patricof on Big Tech & Antitrust Concerns (video)

#3 How Libra Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Network Will Work (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

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News Review | Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet?

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-09) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet? 2) ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Meetings, 3) a. IDN Homographs, b. Michael Gleissner, c. Dark Web Domains, 4) ICYMI: a. Data Privacy & Healthcare, b. U.S. v. Assange, c. Internet Freedom? and more, 5) Most Read.

1) Corruption at ICANN Metastasizing the Internet?

a. ".... We are witnessing corruption metastasizing at the root of the Internet at a breakneck pace. ICANN's precocity and opacity with alternative revenue sources is nothing short of remarkable. The spirit of cooperation that exists between ICANN and its largest ratepayer [Verisign] is unseemly, to say the very least. The stakeholder community that was supposed to serve as the check and balance on the ICANN organization has gone AWOL — bought off by the promise of a pittance and sung to sleep by fanciful lullabies of castles in the sky."--Greg Thomas, Managing Director of The Viking Group LLC (vikinginsight.com) (emphasis added) in ICANN and Voodoo Economics in Wonderland | circleid.com.

"... ICANN itself is probably Verisign's biggest "risk factor" -- see Weinstein case ... ICANN insists it is not a "regulator" and it could [and probably will] be replaced by the "global internet community" fed up with ICANN's incompetence [corruption] and shortcomings ("ICANN multistakeholderism does not work" has already become a common refrain in some sectors). ICANN has not had any governmental mandate since the IANA transition in 2016, and Verisign's .COM Registry Agreement with ICANN may not be worth the paper it is printed on, if ICANN is replaced, or a new internet root is adopted by most of the world. That is why the U.S. government refused to sign registry agreements with ICANN for the .MIL and .GOV [g]TLDs after [during] the IANA transition in 2016 (the U.S. maintains it has governmental "sovereignty" over the .GOV and .MIL [g]TLDs due to the anomaly of its historical "stewardship" over the internet.)"--comment on SeekingAlpha.com | VeriSign For A Defensive Strategy (emphasis, link, and [notes] added).

Editor's note: excerpt from transcript of US Senate Hearing Sept 14, 2016, Larry Strickling, NTIA Administrator, testifying:

"So ... the United States does not wish to cede any sovereignty that we may have over .mil and .gov. And that is why we have done this as an exchange of letters. The United States prior to the creation of ICANN, had the complete authority and control over .mil and .gov; that condition exists today and will continue on in the future." 

Later in the same hearing, Paul Rosenzweig testifying:

"But, I am puzzled by the argument that entering into a [registry] contract [with ICANN] about these [.MIL and .GOV gTLDs] is somehow a derogation of sovereignty. I had not heard that until Assistant Secretary Strickling said that earlier today or -- and so, I haven't had the chance to think about that."

Note also this video clip about Verisign's "hostile letter threatening witnesses" delivered just prior to that same hearing. Full video of that US Senate subcommittee hearing here.

b. ICANN and PTI U.S. Tax Returns for Fiscal Year Ending 30 June 2018, excerpts:

ICANN Form 990 (pp. 53-54 of 83) 2017 Calendar Year compensation:

Who's missing? Correct answer here.

PTI FORM 990:  "PTI's vendors are paid by PTI's sole member, ICANN ... during the reportable time period of calendar year 2017, PTI had no employees. ICANN employees performing PTI activities were paid by ICANN, its sole member, and ICANN issued their form W-2. Compensation was reported under PTI as paid by a related organization (ICANN). PTI reimburses ICANN for all employee compensation related to PTI activities." [PTI Form 990 pp.29-30 of 40.]

Editor's note: ICANN spent $15 million in legal fees in connection with the IANA transition, in part to set up PTI as a separate entity apart from ICANN for the "IANA functions." To what end?

PTI FORM 990, PART III, LINE 4A (p.29 of 40):
"PTI is an affiliate of the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"). PTI was established in August 2016 under the laws of the State of California as a non-profit public benefit corporation and ICANN is its sole member. ICANN is responsible for the performance of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ("IANA") functions. the IANA functions include the maintenance of the registry of technical internet protocol parameters, the administration of certain responsibilities associated with internet DNS root zone and the allocation of internet numbering resources. Through contracts and subcontracts, ICANN has delegated the performance of the IANA functions to PTI effective October 1, 2016. PTI's sole purpose is the performance of the IANA functions as delegated by ICANN under a direct contract with PTI as well as three subcontracts. through this series of agreements, ICANN is obligated to provide PTI with all funding necessary for PTI to perform the agreements. PTI has no other funding source."

c. Andean Presidential Council's Special Declaration on the use of .AMAZON (pdf):

Editor's note: the above letter should never have had to be written had ICANN acted in the global public interest and done its job properly from the beginning, but as most of us know, ICANN is incompetent, corrupt and unfit. "Sovereignty" is not just a prerogative reserved for the U.S. and China. The .BRAND (i.e., trademark) new gTLDs were an ICANN corruption of the concept of "generic top-level domains" (see RFC1591). A "brand" a/k/a "trademark" is neither a monopoly nor generic. The entire ICANN new gTLDs program was, from the beginning, and still is, ill-conceived and corrupt. It is no surprise that new gTLDs are failing. A report published by afnic.fr this week indicates the future belongs to ccTLDs and .COM [at least as long as .COM is regulated by the U.S. government]:

"... main market trends in 2018: with 142 million names, the .COM remains the market heavyweight. Its market share increased by 0.5 points in 2018, rising from 42.6% to 43.1%, as a result of a growth rate that increased sharply in 2018 (5.2% vs. 2.8% in 2017) ..." --afnic.fr

ICANN has yet to be held accountable for the billions of dollars (US) in capital destruction and malinvestment it has caused through its ill-conceived and corrupt new gTLDs program. Another sad tale (among many) came to light this week: DigitalTown “clean up efforts” to avoid bankruptcy--DomainNameWire.com.

2) ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 | Next EPDP Meeting June 13

Next EPDP Meeting Thursday, June 13, at 14:00 UTC (10am EDT), agenda, etc., here; observers' audiocast / phone (if needed). June 6 meeting notes and action items. Links to the EPDP meetings' recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP Links: wiki, public mail list, GNSO mail list, worksheets, purposes template (pdf, updated Jun10).

Steve Crocker presentation background document (pdf). Note also: Working Definitions draft June 5, 2019 (pdf)--'access' vs 'disclosure' for third parties-- the EPDP Team failed to come to a "consensual compromise" but the new [updated] revised "working definitions" are here.

EPDP subgroup meetings:

• Monday, 03 June - 14:00-15:30 UTC: Display of information of affiliated vs. accredited privacy / proxy providers; Legal vs natural persons.
• Wednesday, 12 June - 20:00 – 21.30 UTC: City field redaction; Data Retention.

• Monday 17 June – 13:00 – 14:30 UTC: Potential OCTO Purpose; Feasibility of unique contacts to have a uniform anonymized email address.
• TBC (post ICANN65): Accuracy and WHOIS ARS.

See also: 

• EDPS flags data protection issues on EU institutions’ websites--edps.europa.eu.

• Looker & GDPR: Google Cloud To Buy Data Analytics Startup Looker for $2.6B.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. 10 important academic findings about trademarks from the past 12 months--#8. IDN homograph domain names are a major threat to online brands.

b.  WTR infographic about the trademark activity of Michael Gleissner: 4400 trademark applications and 5300 domain names are linked to Gleissner, who was born in Germany but reportedly now lives in the Philippines.

c. The Dark Web is tiny and unreliable: analysis of 55K onion domains on the Tor network finds only 8,400 had a live site, with many having poor uptimes--recordedfuture.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. Data Privacy & Healthcare: a primer on complying with U.S. healthcare regulations on data privacy--9 Indispensable Steps to Becoming a HIPAA Hipster | PsychologyToday.com. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was enacted in 1996 and is applicable to the entire healthcare industry in the U.S.  The most common HIPAA violations are impermissible disclosures of protected health information.

b. U.S. v. Assange: The U.S. Government’s Indictment of Julian Assange Poses a Clear and Present Danger to Journalism, the Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Speech | eff.org.

c. Internet Freedom?

One of the greatest & most exciting promises of the early internet was its unparalleled freedom of expression, action & exploration unconstrained by Govt & corporate control. Just 2 decades later, it's about begging a handful of tech giants about who should & shouldn't be heard.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 1, 2019

d. Hong Kong's Tiananmen vigil attracts record turnout--nikkei.com: "The annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park drew over 180,000 people this year, according to the organizer, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. This number ties with the peak year of 2014."

e. Russia: the Russian plan for a “sovereign internet” will use deep packet inspection for censorship and a backup domain name system--FT.com.
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5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

#1 News Review | ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions

#2 Looker & GDPR | Google Cloud To Buy Data Analytics Startup for $2.6B

#3 Amazon re:MARS Global AI Event, Las Vegas, June 4-7, 2019

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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News Review | ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-06-02) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions,  Next EPDP Meeting June 6, 2) a. .AMAZON Update, b. ICANN65 Prep Webinars,  c.ICANN & PTI Tax Returns, d. Public Comments, 3) 351.8 Million Domain Name Registrations?  4) ICYMI: Law Firms' Online Fake Reviews, and more, 5) Most Read.

1) ICANN GNSO EPDP Phase 2 Battle Over Definitions

Next EPDP Meeting Thursday, June 6, at 14:00 UTC (10am EDT), agenda, etc., here; audiocast / phone (if needed) for observers. May 30th meeting notes and action items. Links to the EPDP meetings' recordings and transcripts (when available) are posted on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP Links: wiki, public mail list, GNSO mail list, and worksheets.

EPDP Team members to provide any additional comments on the working definitions draft by COB (close of business) Tuesday, June 4, 2019 (excerpt from the draft):

Some EPDP members have suggested deleting highlighted section above of "request of third parties for access" as inconsistent with GDPR, and in reference to Disclosure, insert "registration" -- "Disclosure refers to provision of non-public registration data to third parties."

Sarah Wyld (RrSG): "Right of Access under GDPR is the data subject's right, not a third party's right .... let's call access what the data subject does when they get their own data, and disclosure is when it's given to a third party" (May 30 meeting chat transcript, emphasis added).

From the EPDP public mail list:

Milton Mueller (NCSG): "I am still having trouble with this:

"The request of third parties for access to full set or subset of non-public gTLD domain name registration data through disclosure policy that is fully compliant with GDPR and developed as a result of the EPDP."

"This definition seems to be straining to get the word "access" into the definition even though the substance of the definition renders the word meaningless. Please do the following experiment. Delete the words "access to full set or subset of" from this definition. This is what you get:

"The request of third parties for non-public gTLD domain name registration data through disclosure policy that is fully compliant with GDPR and developed as a result of the EPDP."

"In other words, the definition works fine without the word access.

"So let's be frank and realistic. We have a solid legal basis for talking about access for data subjects and none for access for third parties. Ergo, there is no reason to include third party requests in the definition of "access" unless we are trying to leverage the definition to lead to a particular policy outcome.

"I respectfully suggest, again, that we stop wasting time trying to impose idiosyncratic and politically motivated definitions on the process, and move straight on to having the policy debate about what kind of disclosure processes and rights third parties are going to get. That, ultimately, is all that matters. The definitional stuff is just spinning our wheels with political spin and positioning." (emphasis added)

Reply from EPDP Chair Janis Karklins: "... we don't need to waste too much time on working
definitions. If after further reflections [EPDP] members will not be able to come to a consensual compromise, I will park the document in the folder - Chair's proposals ..."

UPDATE: Working Definitions draft June 5, 2019 (pdf) The EPDP Team was unable to come to a "consensual compromise" but one of the "action items" from June 6th meeting is "Support Staff to update the working definitions based on input received from the EPDP Team."

2) Other ICANN News

a. .AMAZON: The Presidents of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia have denounced the ICANN Board decision on .AMAZON, a .BRAND new generic top-level domain (.BRAND new gTLD) applied for by Amazon EU S.à.r.l., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., formed primarily to dodge taxes.  Peru’s Martin Vizcarra, Colombia’s Ivan Duque, Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno and Bolivia’s Evo Morales vowed to join forces to protect their countries from what they described as inadequate governance of the internet.

Editor's note: as a follow-up to last week's News Review 2)b. .AMAZON Call To Action, I was advised by ICANN staff on Friday, May 31, 2019, that ICANN is receiving inquiries from several parties regarding the proposed .AMAZON PICs [pdf] (Public Interest Commitments). The .AMAZON PICs have not yet been posted for comment. ICANN is currently working with Amazon.com, Inc., to receive, review and prepare the PICs for publication, which will likely take at least a few more weeks, according to one ICANN staff member, and ICANN expects the PICs to affect all three .AMAZON applications (includes 2 IDNs). Once the PICs are ready for publication, they will be available within each Application's webpage for a 30-day comment period on the new gTLD microsite here:

• Application 1-1315-58086 | AMAZON Application Detail

• Application 1-1318-5591 | xn--jlq480n2rg Application Detail

• Application 1-1318-83995 | xn--cckwcxetd Application Detail

Meanwhile negative comments on the .AMAZON applications continue pouring in at ICANN here.

b. ICANN65 Prep Week Webinars June 11-17

ICANN65 Prep Week webinars June 11-17-- register by June 7, 2019 (more info at the link).
Note: the webinars will run in English; however the Policy Team's Policy Update webinar will run in both English and French. Recordings and materials will be posted here. Materials from Policy Team's Policy Update will also be available in French.

c. ICANN and PTI publish U.S. Tax Returns for Fiscal Year ending 30 June 2018.

d. Open Public Comment Periods Closing in June

 Open Comment Periods closing in June, 2019, at 23:59 UTC on the respective dates below:

• Evolving ICANN’s Multistakeholder Model 4 Jun 2019  extended to 13 June 2019;

• Label Generation Rules for the Root Zone Version 3 (RZ-LGR-3) 4 Jun 2019; 

• Study on Technical Use of Root Zone Label Generation Rules 30 Jun 2019.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: .COM & ccTLDs Grow in Q1, gTLDs 'Dying on the Vine'

351.8 Million Domain Name Registrations?  VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), announced (pdf), that the first quarter of 2019 closed with 351.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 3.1 million domain name registrations, or +0.9%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 [see footnotes 1, 2, 3], and total domain name registrations have grown by 18.0 million, or +5.4%, year over year.

Editor's note: the biggest problem with Verisign's report is that it includes domain names in the .TK ccTLD. .TK is a free ccTLD that provides free domain names to individuals and businesses. Revenue is generated by monetizing expired domain names. Domain names no longer in use by the registrant or expired are taken back by the registry and the residual traffic is sold to advertising networks. As such, there are no deleted .TK domain names. At the end of the first quarter of 2019, there were 22.5 million .TK domain names counted in the total numbers published by Verisign, skewing the total for ccTLDs and overall total for all TLDs (top-level domains). The real number of total registrations is therefore likely not more than 330 million, 135 million ccTLDs, and 195 million gTLDs of which 141 million are .COM registrations. Therefore .COM has 72% gTLD marketshare and 43% marketshare among all TLDs (ccTLDs + gTLDs).

• Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names Q1 2019 (graphic opens in new window).
• Excluding .TK, ccTLD domain name registrations increased 1.4 million in the first quarter of 2019, or +1.1%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. ccTLDs, excluding .tk, increased by 7.8 million domain name registrations, or +6.2%, year over year.
• Total domain name registrations in new gTLDs were 23.0 million at the end of the first quarter of 2019, a decrease of 0.8 million domain name registrations, or -3.4%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Year over year, registrations in new gTLDs increased by 2.8 million, or +13.8% (March 2018 - March 2019).
• .COM: as of March 31, 2019, the .COM domain name base totaled 141.0 million domain name registrations, an increase of 2.0 million, or +1.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Year over year, .COM increased registrations by 7.1 million or +5.3%. 
• .NET: as of March 31, 2019, the .NET domain name base totaled 13.8 million domain name registrations, a decrease of  0.2 million, or -1.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Year over year, .NET decreased registrations by 0.6 million or -4.2%. .NET registrations have been declining continuously since 2016.

• Background Data: As of Dec. 31, 2018, the .COM domain name base totaled approximately 139.0 million domain name registrations, while the .NET domain name base totaled approximately 14.0 million domain name registrations. As of Mar. 31, 2018, the .COM domain name base totaled approximately 133.9 million domain name registrations, while the .NET domain name base totaled approximately 14.4 million domain name registrations.

Verisign's first quarter 2019 Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained at Verisign.com/DNIB. Editor's note: compare this Verisign Q1 2019 report with Q1/2019  CENTRstats Global TLD Report (download here; interactive version here), discussed at News Review 2) a. Dying Domains - CENTRstats.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Law Firms' Online Fake Reviews: online reviews have become a critical marketing tool for law firms.  An ABA article advised law firms to be on the lookout for the “serious problem” of fake reviews, noting the New York State Attorney General has gone after companies that provided businesses with fake reviews. The Federal Trade Commission also frowns on deceptive online reviews. Law firms likewise could be liable for fake reviews.

A Tale of Two Internets--Today, there are two predominant flavors of internet on the menu–the U.S. offering dominated by its major tech companies, and the top-down, state-controlled version being spread in earnest by China. In many countries in Africa, communications infrastructure is still being built out, so assistance from Chinese companies is accepted with open arms.

China: President Xi Invites World To Join China In Building New Internet--zerohedge.com.

How the FTC Can Make Facebook Better--Fines Aren’t Enough--eff.org.

EU: Poland has challenged the EU's copyright directive in the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) on grounds it threatens freedom of speech on the internet.

The world will be freer, safer by smashing firewalls of closed societies (opinion)--thehill.com.

Internet Freedom in Central Asia beset by ‘technical’ difficulties. governments in the region routinely censor online speech for short-term political goals. Could Uzbekistan reverse the trend?--tol.org.

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

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

#2 European Election Results LIVE

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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News Review | ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Chair Janis Karklins

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-04-21) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Chair Janis Karklins,  2) EPDP Phase 2 Budget & EPDP notes, Domain Hijacking, 3) Other ICANN news: a. Domain Metrics, b. Name Collisions, c. DNS Hijacking, d. .AMAZON Update,  4) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Declining TLDs: .EU & New gTLDs, 5) ICYMI: Chinese-style Internet and more, 6) Most Read.

1) ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Chair Janis Karklins

Ambassador Janis Karklins

"... the extended call for EOIs closed on Monday, 8 April. We received a total of two EOIs, one from Chris LaHatte, former ICANN Ombudsman, and another from Janis Karklins, former GAC Chair and current Latvian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. The GNSO Council Leadership Team and the Standing Selection Committee (SSC) Leadership Team met on Tuesday after conducting individual scoring assessments for each candidate. After approximately one hour of discussion and deliberation, we agreed to unanimously recommend that the Council appoint Janis Karklins as EPDP Phase 2 Chair. We are confident in Janis' ability and commitment to perform the EPDP Phase 2 Chair duties in a neutral manner and consistent with the GNSO PDP Operating Procedures. We are also confident Janis will ensure the work is performed efficiently, effectively, and in a timely manner. Therefore, we will now update the 18 April 2019 GNSO Council agenda to reflect this recommendation and to add Janis Karklins' name to the Consent Agenda item on this topic. If anyone has questions, please raise them prior to the GNSO Council meeting. We thank both candidates for their willingness to serve."--Keith Drazek, GNSO Chair, Apr 10, 2019 (emphasis and link added). Editor's note: the appointment of Janis Karklins was unanimously approved by the GNSO Council on April 18, 2019, after discussion of possible conflict of interest (Karklins is past chair of the WIPO General Assembly) [see also CV].

2) EPDP Phase 2 Budget: 12 April 2019 Letter (pdf) from GNSO Chair Keith Drazek to ICANN Chairman Cherine Chalaby re:Resource Support for Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Phase 2, excerpt:

"Pending the appointment of the Phase 2 Chair and the subsequent finalization of a detailed workplan with milestones, the EPDP Team has identified a preliminary list of the following four key resources needed to support the timely delivery of Phase 2 policy recommendations:
1. Continued availability of legal counsel, following the same process and approach in phase 1 (any questions are vetted through the legal committee);
2. Continued support for telecom services and transcriptions, but to reduce costs, transcriptions would have a 72-hour turnaround time (instead of 24-hour);
3. Mediation support for the EPDP Team meetings at ICANN65 in Marrakesh;
4. Travel support to be made available for ICANN65 for EPDP Team members who would otherwise not be able to attend and where no alternate is able to step in.
We look forward to receiving your feedback."

Additional EPDP related notes:

From the EPDP mail list:16 April 2019:"... Members from the CPH [Contracted Parties House, i.e., Registrars and Registry Operators] ... want to express our concern with discussing proposed working methods / prioritization without a Chair. We believe it is counterproductive to have these discussions without the new Chair in place, and that discussions and feedback should be placed on hold pending the new Chair. We are all anxious to get Phase 2 work underway, but trying to make decisions now increases the likelihood that we will need to revisit all decisions regarding work plans once the new Chair is in place. Accordingly, we respectfully request that all comprehensive discussions be paused until the new Chair is seated ..."--James Bladel (RrSG EPDP member) (emphasis added). April 16, 2019: "I support the CPH position"--Alan Greenberg (ALAC EPDP member).

EPDP Links: EPDP wiki & mail list, Phase 1 Final Report (pdf), GNSO mail list & calendar. Link to legal questions and memos.

IRT Wiki: gTLD Registration Data Policy Implementation | Pre-IRT  ("IRT" Implementation Review Team)--"the pre-IRT is going to be a short-lived team to be replaced with the IRT, and all the members will be transitioned to the IRT ... we are putting this team together to get a fast start on the real IRT"--Dennis Chang, ICANN Org, 10 Apr 2019, transcript.). Pre-IRT mail list.

Public Comments closed April 17, 2019, on EPDP Phase 1 Final Report Policy Recommendations.

"... the European Commission considers that the purposes for processing WHOIS personal data by ICANN and/or the contracted parties should not include enabling access by third parties. This is also at the core of the concerns expressed for some time by the DPAs and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which have clarified that the purposes of ICANN and contracted parties must not be conflated with the interests of third parties in accessing registration data ..."--European Commission comment, infra.

All comments may be found here, including the comment (pdf) by DomainMondo's editor, embed below, and the comment (pdf) by the European Commission, embed further below:

European Commission comment:

See also:

• Failure to Redact Personal WHOIS Data Led to Domain Hijacking: Jury Convicts Social Media Entrepreneur in Plot to Hijack Internet Domain | justice.gov Friday, April 19, 2019--"... On June 21, 2017, Adams drove Hopkins to the domain owner’s house and provided Hopkins with a demand note, which contained instructions for transferring the domain [doitforstate.com] to Adams’ GoDaddy account ... Hopkins pulled out Adams’ demand note, which contained a series of directions on how to change an Internet domain name from the domain owner’s GoDaddy account to one of Adams’ GoDaddy accounts. Hopkins put the firearm against the victim’s head and ordered him to follow the directions on the demand note.  Hopkins then pistol whipped the victim several times in the head.  Fearing for his life, the victim quickly turned to move the gun away from his head.  The victim then managed to gain control of the gun, but during the struggle, he was shot in the leg.  The victim shot Hopkins multiple times in the chest.  He then contacted law enforcement ..."  

• TorrentFreak.com: Copyright holders and the US Government (NTIA) want ICANN to make domain WHOIS data more accessible again.

• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg under close scrutiny--FTC probe into Facebook's privacy practices is also looking at past statements by Zuckerberg and weighing whether to seek oversight of his leadership--washingtonpost.com.

3) Other ICANN News

a) ICANN Publishes Updated Domain Name Marketplace Indicators--ICANN.org see also Global Domains Division (GDD) Metrics. [Editor's note: these metrics or "indicators" are mostly worthless, but as often is the case with "ICANN metrics" it is a situation where instead of counting what is really important and relevant, someone has decided to make what they have selectively chosen to count, "important."]

b) Name Collisions Analysis Project (NCAP) Discussion Group--ICANN.org. [Editor's note: better late than never ICANN, after dumping 1200+ new gTLDs into the global DNS, knowing (since 2003) new gTLDs "fail to work as expected on the internet" and "break stuff."] See also the ICANN NCAP-Discuss mail list.

c) DNS Hijacking: a nation-state backed group of attackers identified as 'Sea Turtle' by Cisco Talos, have been actively exploiting domain name information, by going after domain registries for entire countries.

"The actors behind this campaign have focused on using DNS hijacking as a mechanism for achieving their ultimate objectives. DNS hijacking occurs when the actor can illicitly modify DNS name records to point users to actor-controlled servers. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an alert about this activity on Jan. 24 2019, warning that an attacker could redirect user traffic and obtain valid encryption certificates for an organization's domain names ... Talos was able to identify two distinct groups of victims. The first group, we identify as primary victims, includes national security organizations, ministries of foreign affairs, and prominent energy organizations. The threat actor targeted third-party entities that provide services to these primary entities to obtain access. Targets that fall into the secondary victim category include numerous DNS registrars, telecommunication companies, and internet service providers. One of the most notable aspects of this campaign was how they were able to perform DNS hijacking of their primary victims by first targeting these third-party entities ..."--talosintelligence.com.

d) 17 Apr 2019 Letter from Amazon VP Brian Huseman to ICANN Board Chair Chalaby (pdf)

Re: new gTLD applications for .AMAZON:

"... Unfortunately, despite best efforts, Amazon and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (“ACTO”) member states have not reached a mutually acceptable solution regarding Amazon’s applications, but we have listened intently and heard their concerns. Thus, in accordance with the Resolutions and in support of the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance, we submit the following modified proposal for how we will address the concerns of the ACTO member states regarding our applications .... our modified proposal consists of a Public Interest Commitment (“PIC”) and joint Steering Committee that reflects our commitment to operate the TLDs in a way that respects the culture and heritage of the people in the Amazonia region. We commit to: (1) not use as domain names in each .AMAZON TLD those terms that have a primary and well-recognized significance to the culture and heritage of the Amazonia region; (2) provide nine domain names in each .AMAZON TLD to be used for non-commercial purposes by ACTO and its member states to enhance the visibility of the region; and (3) block from all use up to 1500 domain names in each .AMAZON TLD that have a primary and well recognized significance to the culture and heritage of the Amazonia region ..."

Editor's note: I have little to add to what I already said last week (News Review 3)c. .AMAZON Redux), but see the New York Times:

Battle for .amazon Domain Pits Retailer Against South American Nations: "Amazon is the world’s biggest online retailer. It is also the world’s largest rain forest. The question is who owns the name. This is the core of an epic battle between the tech behemoth Amazon.com and eight South American countries that contain parts of the rain forest. At stake is the [new gTLD] domain ... .amazon, and who should control it on the internet ..."

But ICANN neither listens nor learns, just continues its mindless and relentless Californication of the internet and global DNS:

“… we have learned that there is tremendous concern about the specifics of the [new gTLDs] program that may lead to a number of unintended and unforeseen consequences and could jeopardize its success …”--Larry Strickling, NTIA, Jan 3, 2012, letter to ICANN (pdf).

4) Names, Domains & Trademarks

ccTLD .EU: EURid Annual Report (2018) (pdf): Compared to 2017, total net registrations decreased by 130,305 (from 3,815,055 to 3,684,750)--"The decline in the overall number of registrations can be attributed both to a reduction in the number of new registrations in the UK (mainly due to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, which resulted in the UK falling from being the No. 4 market for .eu to No. 6 in one year), and to the increased efforts of EURid to build a trustworthy and secure .eu namespace which resulted in over 35 000 domain names being suspended in H2 2018."

Editor's note: .EU is not the only declining TLD, look at new gTLDs since the first of the year:

New gTLDs total net (adds minus drops) registrations decline Jan-Apr15, 2019: 

Source: ntldstats.com - new gTLDs total net registrations Jan-Apr15, 2019

Total net registrations in new gTLDs declined -669,064 from Jan 1 thru Apr 15, 2019. At that rate of loss in registrations, total net registrations in new gTLDs will decline in 2019 by over 2.3 million registrations. You won't hear ICANN or its Global Domains Division (GDD) talking about this (at least publicly), even though it is incontrovertible proof that ICANN's new gTLDs program was, and is, ill-conceived, and this has nothing to do with "lack of public awareness" of new gTLDs. Go to your registrar of choice, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Hover, et al, and look around, you can't avoid seeing all the crappy new gTLDs. Too bad ICANN didn't listen to the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (via NTIA) nor FTC, nor many others including Esther Dyson.

5) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Governments across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Thailand, are adopting Chinese-style internet and data controls, raising alarms in the U.S.--bloomberg.com.

Scribd taking down the Mueller Report is the future the EU has voted for--Scribd took down multiple copies of the Mueller Report, which is in the public domain, claiming that its algorithms identified it as a copyrighted work--qz.com.

Singapore's fake news bill poses 'risks to freedom of speech'--require social media sites to carry warnings on posts the government deems false and remove certain comments--aljazeera.com.  

Russia: Kremlin Moves Toward Control of Internet, Raising Censorship Fears--NYTimes.com.

German Data Privacy Commissioner Says Article 13 Inevitably Leads to Filters, Which Inevitably Lead to Internet "Oligopoly"--eff.org.

EU gives final approval to the new Copyright Directive, with its controversial Article 11 and 13 provisions, after 19 of the 28 member countries voted in favor --europa.eu.

Era of internet freedom is over.--spiked-online.com. 404 The Internet--forbes.com.

The prosecution of Julian Assange is about much more than attempting to hack a password--eff.org.

EFF’s Tweet About an Overzealous DMCA Takedown Is Now Subject to an Overzealous Takedown--eff.org.

Websites like Reddit and Telegram are being blocked in India by internet service providers.

Turkey: Turkish Economist Arrested After Insulting Erdogan On Twitter--zerohedge.com.

Will a Free Press Cheer on Government Censorship of the Internet? Will a thirst to punish Silicon Valley destroy our liberty?--reason.com.

How digital technology is destroying our freedom--“We’re being steamrolled by our devices” says Douglas Rushkoff--vox.com.

Notice: Vacancy of the European Data Protection Supervisor.

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

#1 News Review | GDPR & ICANN EPDP Phase 2, The Facebook Effect?

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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