News Review | ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck 25 May 2018 & Beyond

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-05-20) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck 25 May 2018 & Beyond, 2)Other ICANN news: ICANN IRS Form 990 for FYE June 30, 2017, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read.

UPDATE: ICANN Webinar on Final Proposed FY19 Operating Plan and Budget | ICANN.org: webinar on 24 May at 14:00 UTC (10:00 am EDT in US)--learn more about the proposed ICANN budget changes and ask questions. Webinar link: https://participate.icann.org/finance/.  Budget Executive Summary in Document 1 [PDF, 305 KB]. A recording of the webinar will be posted at the community wiki.

Original Post:
1) ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck 25 May 2018 & Beyond

a. Apparently, it finally dawned on the ICANN Board of Directors, last weekend, how incompetent the ICANN management team has been for the last two years in preparing for the EU's GDPR which becomes enforceable May 25, 2018. In a flurry of activity beginning with the Board's workshop May 11-13, in Vancouver, Canada, through Thursday's (May 17, 2018) Special Board Meeting, the Board managed to adopt and publish (see embedded pdf here) a "Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data" good for 90 days, beginning May 25, 2018 (renewable by the Board every 90 days thereafter, for not more than a year).

https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2018-05-17-en

In a self-congratulatory blog post, the ICANN Board Chairman Cherine Chalaby tried  to put the best "spin" possible on the situation, while somewhat acknowledging how incomplete and deficient the Temporary Specification really is, "there are important elements remaining to be finalized." That may be the understatement of the year.

But even on the surface all may not be well at ICANN re: GDPR, no word yet on what the following Special Board Meeting 21 May 2018 agenda notice published Friday by ICANN.org pertains to:

What litigation? ICANN is not saying, at least not yet.

Who's definitely not happy? The U.S. government (Trump administration), trademark lawyers, corporate lobbyists, and a slew of others, including internet security professionals, as well as most domain name registrars and registry operators who will have to carefully implement new GDPR data requirements by May 25th in regard to domain name WHOIS data (see letters below) or face stiff penalties from the European Union's GDPR DPAs (data protection authorities).

Editor's note: I would be remiss if I did not note that one irony of this whole situation is that all of this could have been avoided had ICANN and the Obama administration (US gov) not been in such a hurry to finish the IANA transition by October 1, 2016 (implementing a US gov decision made in 2014 in response to the global reaction to the "Snowden revelations") or had allowed an intergovernmental successor to the U.S. government's stewardship of the internet and oversight of ICANN and the "IANA functions" via the IANA functions contract. The EU's GDPR was already known and published in May, 2016, and ICANN CEO Goran Marby said (in answer to my question at a Quarterly stakeholder call) that he became aware of the "ramifications of the GDPR for ICANN" shortly after he came aboard as ICANN President and CEO (in May 2016). But neither Larry Strickling, then NTIA administrator, nor ICANN, nor any of the "experts" retained then by the U.S. government or ICANN, raised the GDPR as a concern before the IANA transition was completed  October 1, 2016.  But for the IANA transition, the U.S. government could simply assert its sovereign authority, and immunity, to collect, process, and publish all of the gTLD domain names WHOIS data it wished, to whomever it thought was an appropriate recipient, at internic.net or elsewhere. Now we, the global internet community, are left watching a dysfunctional "ICANN community," dominated by special interests (it costs about $20,000-30,000 a year, per person, just in travel costs and related expenses, to fully participate in ICANN meetings), trying to hammer out a complete GDPR-compliant WHOIS policy over the next twelve months.

b. Redline of Changes - Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data | ICANN.org: 17 May 2018 redline-changes-gtld-registration-data-17may18-en.pdf [356 KB] embed below, differences between the published May 14 and finally adopted May 17 versions:

c. What Goes Around Comes Around--Domain Name Registrars Want Six-Month Moratorium (minimum) from ICANN's Temporary WHOIS-GDPR Specification: Letter 16 May 2018 (pdf), to Göran Marby, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN):

Dear Göran:
This letter follows ICANN’s intention to create a “Temporary Specification” for registry and registrar compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Contracted party registrars have been working on our own technical implementations for many months, as there was no guidance from ICANN regarding proposed or actual new policies. Any temporary specification adopted now that significantly deviates from previously held expectations and models will be far too late for us to accommodate for a May 25, 2018 implementation date.

For this reason, we ask that any temporary specification include a formal ICANN compliance moratorium, not shorter than six (6) months, providing us an opportunity to conform, to the extent possible, our GDPR implementation with the GDPR-compliant aspects of any ICANN temporary specification. We note that the six month timeline for implementation is a minimum and an estimate. Depending upon the scope and scale of changes, many registrars will need a longer period to implement any temporary specification imposed by the Board upon the community, and there should be an option for registrars to apply for an extension.
Very truly yours,
Graeme Bunton, on behalf of the following Registrars: Endurance, GoDaddy, Tucows, Blacknight, 1&1, United Domains, NetEarth One, Cloudflare

Cc: Cherine Chalaby, Chair, ICANN Board of Directors, and Jamie Hedlund, SVP, Contractual Compliance & Consumer Safeguard

d. Christian Dawson, i2Coalition & Thomas Rickert, eco - Association of the Internet Industry to ICANN Board of Directors, 17 May 2018--ICANN.org: gdpr-comments-i2coalition-eco-icann-proposed-temporary-specification-gtld-registration-data-17may18-en.pdf [87.5 KB] (reformatted and highlighting added):

e. Other Related:
• Deferral of transition to Thick WHOIS Policy Implementation for .COM and .NET--Approved Board Resolutions | Special Meeting of the ICANN Board 13 May 2018 | ICANN.org: "... Whereas, the deferred enforcement period will allow the ICANN organization to continue to engage with the relevant European authorities including the European Union Article 29 Working Party, data protection agencies, contracted parties, and other pertinent stakeholders to gain a better understanding of the relevant aspects of GDPR and how it relates to ICANN's work and the organization's policies and contracts with registries and registrars, including the Thick WHOIS Consensus Policy.  Resolved (2018.05.13.06), the President and CEO, or his designee(s), is authorized to defer compliance enforcement of the Thick WHOIS Consensus Policy for six months to 30 November 2018, 30 April 2019 and 31 January 2020, respectively, to allow additional time for the registrars and Verisign to reach agreement on amendments needed to applicable registry-registrar agreements to implement the Policy."

• URS & UDRP Provisions relating to WHOIS/Personal Data (pdf)

• GDPR Models/Analyses | Comments | RiskIQ | ICANN-Proposed Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data | ICANN.org: 17 May 2018 gdpr-comments-riskiq-icann-proposed-temporary-specification-gtld-registration-data-17may18-en.pdf [121 KB]

• Letter from Manal Ismail to Cherine Chalaby | ICANN.org: GAC response letter to the ICANN Board regarding the revised scorecard on the ICANN61 GAC GDPR Advice ismail-to-chalaby-17may18-en.pdf  [525 KB]

• Letter from Constantinos Georgiades to Göran Marby | ICANN.org
Issue: Request for Guidance: GDPR Impact on the Domain Name System and WHOIS
georgiades-to-marby-16may18-en.pdf [220 KB]

2) Other ICANN news

24 May 2018 UPDATE re ICANN IRS Form 990: Reporting Violations to IRS

IRS Complaint Process Tax Exempt Organizations | Internal Revenue Service | irs.gov: Members of the public may send information that raises questions about an exempt organization's compliance with the Internal Revenue Code to IRS - EO Referrals, 1100 Commerce Street, MC 4910 DAL, Dallas, TX 75242. They may use Form 13909 (excerpt shown above), Tax-Exempt Organization Complaint (Referral) Form, for this purpose. In addition to oversight by the IRS, tax-exempt organizations are subject to oversight by State charity regulators and State tax agencies. You may also want to send a copy of the referral you send to us to your state charity regulator and/or state tax agency [for ICANN that is the State of California]. Other Links:

• Exempt Organizations Annual Reporting Requirements Governance Form 990 Part VI | Internal Revenue Service

• Best Practices for Exempt Organizations and Form 990 | journalofaccountancy.com

• With the New Form 990, Directors and Trustees Must Complete a Complicated Disclosure Form | Not For Profit/Exempt Organizations Blog | proskauer.com

• Whistleblower Protections for Nonprofits | National Council of Nonprofits | councilofnonprofits.org

• Form 990 Policy Series - Useful Materials | PublicCounsel.org

• Nonprofit Governance | Venable.com (pdf)

Original section:
ICANN IRS Form 990 for FYE June 30, 2017 (period July 1, 2016-June 30, 2017) excerpt: 

[*Correction 23 May 2018] ICANN Gravy Train: Ex-CEO Fadi Chehade paid more than $500,000 in the Calendar Year 2016 in which he left ICANN  in March. (Chehade resigned effective March 12, 2016). *Xavier Calvez, ICANN CFO, provided the clarification in a response to the below email, stating: 1. all compensation information in the ICANN Form 990 is only for Calendar Year 2016 not FY17; 2. that ICANN Sr. VP Sally Costerton, is not an ICANN officer; and 3. that to his knowledge, none of ICANN's Forms 990 have ever been audited by the IRS or any governmental authority.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. ICYMI CENTRstats Global TLD Report end of Q1 2018 | centr.org excerpt:

b. Sales Pitch Press Release .SUCKS Launches http://www.trademarkinfringement.sucks With Intent of Providing Intellectual Property Protection Online: "not claiming [registering] a .SUCKS domain can negatively impact a brand or trademark." Editor's note: I am sure Vox Populi's (.SUCKS registry operator) intentions are as pure as the "driven snow."

c. UDRP complainants beware: careless attitude doesn't pay off  | WorldTrademarkReview.com

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a.  GDPR & Google Nightmare: Google’s Selfish Ledger is an unsettling vision of Silicon Valley social engineering | TheVerge.com: "... The video, shared internally within Google, imagines a future of total data collection, where Google helps nudge users into alignment with their goals, custom-prints personalized devices to collect more data, and even guides the behavior of entire populations ..."

b. Gambling operators scoff as Norway approves DNS-blocking | CalvinAyre.com: "blocking the domains of internationally licensed online gambling sites."

c. How reasonable are the EU’s digital taxation plans? | aei.org

d. Oracle to Launch Internet ‘Weather Map’ - CIO Journal. | WSJ.com: "Service combines data points on paths and routing with AI to gauge internet performance worldwide."

e. The Senate Voted to Stand Up for Net Neutrality, Now Tell the House to Do the Same | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org

5) Most read posts this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

1. News Review: As GDPR Deadline Looms, Is ICANN Lost in La-La Land?

2.  Tech Review | Tesla $TSLA May Need A Takeover, Will Apple $AAPL Bite?

3. European Union's GDPR: How Europe's Data Protection Law Works (video)

4. Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference May 15-17

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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News Review | ICANN60: ICANN Board Crashes The Party in Abu Dhabi

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-11-05) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN60: ICANN Board Crashes The Party in Abu Dhabi, 2) Other ICANN news, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: ICANN, Registrars, Registries--Don't Be Censors! 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read Posts.

1) ICANN60 Recap: ICANN Board Crashes The Party in Abu Dhabi

 a. ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Review Team Work on October 28:

ICANN Meeting 60 - GNSO Working Session: (10/29/2017 02:55): Keith Drazek (RySG): "The scope of the SSR2-RT is pretty clearly detailed in the new, post-transition ICANN bylaws."... GNSO Chair James Bladel: "it's an open question whether the ICANN Board can pause the work of the SSR2-RT" ... Wolf Ulrich: "nobody understands what the Board's problem with the SSR2-RT is" ... Michele Neylon: "it would be helpful to get clarity" ... Chat (10/29/2017 03:00) --Keith Drazek (RySG): For additional context, prior to the IANA Transition, the Review Team members were appointed by the ICANN CEO and GAC Chair. Post-transition, the SOs and ACs are responsible for the appointment of RT members. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the SSR2-RT recommendations are binding  and the Board is obligated to accept them.  It appears there's some discomfort with these parameters. Susan Kawaguchi: Can we deny the request?  and move on?

ICANN GNSO Council Meeting, 1 Nov 2017(pdf): "Okay. Then let's move on to Agenda Item Number 5 ... Agenda Item Number 5 is a discussion on the SSR2 review team, which if you had told me a week ago that I would have been speaking more about SSR2 than GDPR, I would have probably laughed at you. But that's exactly how it went down this week."--GNSO Council Chair James Bladel.

Editor's note: Out of the gate, ICANN's Board of Directors, on the first day of ICANN60, Oct 28, took the unprecedented and questionable action of suspending the work of the Security, Stability, and Resiliency Review Team appointed by ICANN AC/SOs' Chairs as mandated by ICANN's bylaws Article 4. Section 4.6, and it became the lingering lead issue of ICANN60 throughout the entire meeting, including the last day, notwithstanding pending pressing issues of complying with EU's GDPR by next May, next steps in dealing with the contentious issue of new gTLD .AMAZON, ICANN's U.S. jurisdiction and the implications of OFAC brought up in the course of Accountability WS-2's work, and a myriad of other issues expected by stakeholders to be the focus of their work this past week at ICANN60.

On the last day, Friday, Nov 3, 2017, the beleaguered SSR2 Review Team, still in Abu Dhabi after almost everyone else had flown the coop, held its previously scheduled all-day face-to-face meeting with little more to do than "review feedback" from ICANN60 sessions, and then begin putting back the pieces the ICANN Board had left strewn about Abu Dhabi. For more read ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work and Statement from SO/AC Chairs, Nov 2, 2017, on the suspension of the Security and Stability Review.

#ICANN60 GAC/Board, UK: what steps will b taken 2 ensure Board never needs 2 take unprecedented step of pausing an independent review again?

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) October 31, 2017

Where in the bylaws does #ICANN Board have the power to suspend the Security and Stability Review Team? https://t.co/ouvK228h6n

— Eye On ICANN (@EyeOnICANN) October 29, 2017

b. Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) Communique (pdf): The GAC elected Manal Ismail (Egypt) as Chair to complete the two-year term of Thomas Schneider. The GAC elected as Vice Chairs: Guo Feng (China); Ghislain de Salins (France); Milagros Castañon (Peru); Chérif Diallo (Senegal); Pär Brumark (Niue). The GAC discussed follow-up on previous advice re: 1. Application for .amazon and related strings; 2. 2-Character Country Codes at the 2nd Level;  3. Red Cross and Red Crescent Protections. Several GAC members "expressed major concerns regarding the draft report from the sub-group on jurisdiction. These members consider that it falls short of the objectives envisaged for Work Stream 2, and that its recommendations only partly mitigate the risks associated with ICANN’s subjection to US jurisdiction, which makes the adoption of the report unacceptable" (emphasis added). GAC Consensus Advice to the Board: 1. Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Protections; 2. Enabling inclusive, informed and meaningful participation in ICANN; 3. GDPR / WHOIS; 4. Applications for .amazon and related strings--a. The GAC advises the ICANN Board to: i. continue facilitating negotiations between the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization’s (ACTO) member states and the Amazon corporation with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable solution to allow for the use of .amazon as a top level domain name.

I understand why governments are upset because I was there when the ICANN bd said yes to the GAC, when it meant no. #ICANN60

— Jeff Neuman (@jintlaw) October 31, 2017

c. GDPR & WHOIS: Data Protection/Privacy Issues | ICANN.org.

#ICANN60 GAC/Board mtg, @icann_president: we are in discovery phase when it comes to understanding the law re GDPR & its impact on Whois/RDS

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) October 31, 2017

d. WS2-Accountability: see Co-Chairs Statement from CCWG-Accountability Meeting in Abu Dhabi | ICANN.org and ICANN Jurisdiction: CCWG-Accountability WS2, Friday Oct 27, Abu Dhabi.

e. Public Forum #2--Domain name registrant's complaint about new TLDs that "don't work" on the internet--Public Forum excerpts (as transcribed unedited, emphasis added)(pdf):

f. Public ICANN Board Meeting (Editor's note: see tweet below on why all ICANN Board Meetings should be public and accessible online):

#ICANN director leading discussion on name collisions has a major conflict of interest as service provider to corp, mail and home applicants

— thereforeICANN (@thereforeICANN) November 2, 2017

g. Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review (CCT)

ICANN60 Interview With Jonathan Zuck and Drew Bagley: progress and next steps of the Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice Review from CCT Chair Jonathan Zuck and CCT Independent Expert Drew Bagley of securedomain.org. In this interview produced by ICANN, Zuck and Bagley share information about the CCT Review, including next steps. More information at ICANN.org.

h. Next up: ICANN61 | Community Forum 10-15 Mar 2018 San Juan, Puerto Rico.

2) Other ICANN news

.AMAZON: Approved Board Resolutions | Request for New or Additional Information from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) re: Advice on Amazon Applications | ICANN.org 29 Oct 2017: Whereas, the BAMC has recommended ... Resolved (2017.10.29.02), the Board asks the GAC if it has: (i) any information to provide to the Board as it relates to the "merits-based public policy reasons," regarding the GAC's advice that the Amazon applications should not proceed; or (ii) any other new or additional information to provide to the Board regarding the GAC's advice that the Amazon applications should not proceed. Resolved (2017.10.29.03), the Board asks the GAC that if it has any new or additional information (as requested above) to provide to the Board, it does so by the conclusion of the ICANN61 meeting scheduled to take place from 10-15 March 2018, in order to assist the Board's appropriate and prompt consideration.

Data Protection/Privacy Statement--Statement from ICANN Contractual Compliance | ICANN.org: "As discussed at ICANN60, the extent of the impact of the GDPR on WHOIS and other contractual requirements related to domain name registration data is uncertain. The ICANN Board, org and community are engaged in multiple efforts to assess the impact of the GDPR on registry and registrar obligations in ICANN agreements and policies, and we continue to work with the Hamilton law firm to understand this impact. At this point, we know that the GDPR will have an impact on open, publicly available WHOIS ... During this period of uncertainty, and under the conditions noted below, ICANN Contractual Compliance will defer taking action against any registry or registrar for noncompliance with contractual obligations related to the handling of registration data. To be eligible, a contracted party that intends to deviate from its existing obligations must share its model with ICANN Contractual Compliance and the Global Domains Division." (emphasis added)

Approved Board Resolutions | Refinement of string similarity review in IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process | ICANN.org: Resolved (2017.10.29.05), the Board thanks the ccNSO, GAC and SSAC for collaborating to address the issue related to string similarity review and for developing the "Joint ccNSO SSAC Response to ICANN Board on EPSRP". Resolved (2017.10.29.06), the [ICANN] Board approves amending the Final Implementation Plan for IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process as suggested in the Joint ccNSO SSAC Response. The President and CEO, or his Designee(s), is directed to incorporate the amendment into the Implementation Plan previously adopted by the Board on 30 October 2009 (and amended on 5 November 2013) and implement the amendment as soon as practicable.

Approved Board Resolutions | Defer Compliance Enforcement of Thick WHOIS Consensus Policy for 180 Days | ICANN.org: "Resolved (2017.10.29.04), the President and CEO, or his designee(s), is authorized to defer compliance enforcement of the Thick Whois Consensus Policy for 180 days to allow additional time for the registrars and Verisign to reach agreement on amendments needed to applicable registry-registrar agreements to implement the Policy and for Registrars to undertake system modifications required to enable the thin to thick migration and additional modifications, if any, required for GDPR compliance."

Minutes – Board Risk Committee (BRC) Meeting | ICANN.org 2 Nov 2017: "... ICANN organization will consider moving to a different auditor next year when it moves to NIST framework. One significant change ICANN organization has made internally this year was to reorganize within the engineering and IT function and integrated cybersecurity (which used to be a stand-alone function) with DNS engineering and networking teams. It was noted that cloud based security testing is becoming a part of ICANN organization's normal rhythm as 40 percent of the services utilized at ICANN leverages some aspect of cloud."

Letter from ICANN General Counsel & Secretary John O. Jeffrey to Jetse Sprey | ICANN.org:
01 Nov 2017 Issue: Gemeente Amsterdam FRL Registry B.V. (new gTLDs .FRL, .AMSTERDAM) jeffrey-to-sprey-01nov17-en.pdf [604 KB] "... your clients appear to have violated its obligations under the Registry Agreement ..."

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

EFF to ICANN: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen | Electronic Frontier Foundation | EFF.org: "... And ICANN largely has itself to blame, by including in its 2013 revision to its agreement with registrars a provision requiring registrars to "receive reports of abuse involving Registered Names" and to "take reasonable and prompt steps to investigate and respond appropriately." This leaves ICANN open to an argument that goes, "No of course we are not asking you to become the content police, we are simply asking you to enforce your own contracts with registrars, when they refuse to carry out their obligations to be content police." ICANN appears to have voluntarily taken on further responsibility for addressing "abuse involving" domain names through its appointment this year of a Consumer Safeguards Director with a background in law enforcement. EFF attended and reported on the first webinar held by the new Director, in which he downplayed the significance of his role, stating that it does not carry any enforcement powers. Yet a draft report [PDF] of ICANN's Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team recommends that strict new enforcement and reporting obligations should be made compulsory for any new top-level domains that ICANN adopts in the future. ICANN's Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) has explained [PDF] why many of these recommendations would be unnecessary and harmful ..."

See also: EFF to ICANN's Registrars: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen | EFF.org and 

EFF to ICANN's Registries: Don't Pick Up the Censor's Pen | EFF.org: "... Our whitepaper broke down these choices in detail, explaining how some of the weakest protection for free speech comes from those domain registries whose policies offer additional privileges to trademark or copyright holders, or to overseas speech regulators. Amongst the worst examples that we called out were Donuts and Radix, who have a side-deal with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), bestowing it with a "Trusted Notifier" status that allows it to recommend domains for the registrars to suspend, without review by a court. We also called out the Domain Name Association (DNA) for a Shadow Regulation-style proposal to construct a private copyright arbitration system for its member registries, which include the Public Interest Registry (PIR) responsible for .org domains, and to promote that system of private law as an industry standard. This proposal was developed behind closed doors, fueling our concerns about its capture by copyright holders. Although the DNA and PIR shelved these plans after EFF brought them to light, the DNA is still pushing a similar pharmaceutical industry-penned policy that would allow for the rapid suspension of domains used for online medicine sales, bypassing any legal process. To give a final example, the new gTLDs contain an excessive level of protection for trademark holders when compared with most of the original gTLDs and ccTLDs. ICANN has imposed the requirement that all new gTLD registries utilize a secret Trademark Clearinghouse database to give priority access to brand owners when first offering their new domains for sale ("Sunrise Protection"), and to warn off registrants who register domains that might give rise to a trademark claim. Some registries have gone even further to offer brand owners additional protections that the ICANN community had rejected as requirements for the new gTLD program. An example is Donuts' DPML-Plus program that prevents the public from registering new domains that are merely typographically similar to a trademarked brand ..."

Google no longer lets you change domains to search different countries | TheVerge.com: "Google said that it’ll now deliver search results relevant to your current location no matter which domain you visit. So if you’re in New York and visit google.ru, you’ll still get results relevant to New York City. Fortunately, it’ll still be possible to escape your country’s results. You’ll be able to change locations, you’ll just have to do it through the settings menu at the bottom of google.com ... The policy of always serving local results will now apply to desktop and mobile searches, as well as Google Maps and the iOS Google app."

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

US Federal Court Rejects Global Search Order | EFF.org: "... a federal court in the US has weighed in on a thorny question: Does Google US have to obey a Canadian court order requiring Google to take down information around the world, ignoring contrary rules in other jurisdictions? According to the [U.S. District Court for the] Northern District of California, the answer is no. The case is Google v. Equustek ..."

Data Breaches: U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a hearing titled “Protecting Consumers in the Era of Major Data Breaches,” at approximately 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 8, 2017, to examine data breaches. The hearing will feature testimony from current CEO of Equifax and past Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer.--U.S. Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, & Transportation | commerce.senate.gov.

The DDoS Attack Against Dyn One Year Later | forbes.com: "... we now find news of a botnet which is reportedly spreading on IoT devices again ..."

Nov 4-5, celebrate the life and work of Aaron Swartz at the Fifth Annual Aaron Swartz Day and Hackathon | blog.archive.org.  Aaron would have turned 31 on November 8.--eff.org

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

1. Securing Consumer Credit Data in the Age of Digital Commerce (video)

2. News Review | ICANN60, Abu Dhabi, ICANN Board Suspends SSR2 Work

3. Ad Agencies & Brands Vs Google $GOOG, Facebook $FB, Amazon $AMZN

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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News Review | Global Public Interest: Why ICANN Will Always Be A #FAIL

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

Features • 1) Global Public Interest: Why ICANN Will Always Be A #FAIL, 2) ICANN news, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 5) Q1 2017 Earnings Season, 6) Most Popular.

1) Global Public Interest: Why ICANN Will Always Be A #FAIL

“ICANN is obligated to manage gTLDs in the interests of registrants and to protect the public interest in competition. ICANN appears to have assumed that the introduction of new gTLDs necessarily will enhance competition and promote choice and innovation, without offering any evidence to support that assumption.”—U.S.Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, December 3, 2008 (pdf). (Read the entire letter!)

Most people will agree, or acknowledge, that ICANN does not manage gTLDs 'in the interests of domain name registrants'--

"We are not running out of domains. This [new gTLDs] is a “way for registries and registrars to make money.”--Esther Dyson, founding Chair of ICANN, July 21, 2011

"... At least the USG (US government) offers some accountability. ICANN's primary active stakeholders are businesses making money off the DNS; most users are too busy elsewhere to pay much attention..."--Esther Dyson, ICANN's founding Chair, Sept 22, 2015. 

Dyson also says she “lost any faith, over time,” in ICANN’s ability to regulate the domain-name business."--ICANN's Boondoggle | MIT Technology Review, August 21, 2012. And Dyson is not alone:

"The public at large, consumers and businesses, would be better served by no expansion or less expansion' of domains"--Jon Leibowitz, former FTC Chair, New York Times, August 17, 2013.

Tim Berners-Lee: "....when a decision is taken about a possible new top-level domain, ICANN's job is to work out, in a transparent and accountable manner, whether it is really in the best interest of the world as a whole, not just of those launching the new domain. It also means that ICANN's use of the funds should be spent in a beneficent way...."

"I really can’t see a legitimate upside where new benefits [of the new gTLDS] outweigh costs, and everyone I mention this to feels the same way. People just shake their heads. It’s all about the money. They [ICANN] are creating these extensions because they can."--University of Pennsylvania Wharton School marketing professor Peter Fader, in Knowledge@Wharton, May 21, 2014 (emphasis added).

After reading the above, anyone should be able to understand why ICANN actually operates counter to the global public interest in managing gTLDs (generic top-level domains) and why the global internet community (including most domain name registrants worldwide), would be better served if ICANN was replaced, or the management of gTLDs was assigned to a new or existing global agency not dominated and controlled by registry operators, registrars, and a "gaggle of special interest lawyers and lobbyists," as ICANN is now, and under its current structure, always will be.

Examples abound of the bad consequences of allowing ICANN to have global authority and so disregard the global public interest:

"In most industries, businesses that blatantly act against the interests of their customers to favor their own internal profit centers would either not be allowed or else subject to controls and oversight by the government. It is universally regarded as an unfair and deceptive business practice. In the domain name registrar business, however, the normal practices of legitimate business dealings and customer protection seem woefully wanting ... Kelly's Case described here illustrates the point ... the FTC itself — concerned about the potential increase in registrar deceptive practices and fraud — has repeatedly asked ICANN "to take additional steps to protect consumers"..."--Anthony Rutkowski, Mar 26, 2017, circleid.com.

But asking ICANN to act in the global public interest and protect consumers is akin to asking the impossible. By its very nature and structure, ICANN is complicit in the fraud, deception, and unfair business practices rampant in the global domain names marketplace, and now exacerbated by ICANN's new gTLDs. ICANN manages gTLDs in the interests of gTLD registry operators and gTLD registrars who control ICANN's policy-making GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organization). Most domain name registrants are excluded from having ANY representation within the GNSO. Governments, which traditionally have protected the public interest and the interests of consumers, i.e., domain name registrants, are largely ignored and shackled within ICANN's structure in the GAC (governmental advisory committee), allowing the "privatized" ICANN to grant registrars and registry operators carte blanche authority to "rape and pillage" the global domain names marketplace and domain name registrants worldwide.

Where are the warnings to domain name registrants about the pricing unpredictability a/k/a "predatory pricing," and the  "universal acceptance" problems of ICANN's new gTLDs? You won't find any conspicuous warnings to registrants on ICANN's website or any new gTLD registry operator or registrar website either.

"ICANN is just a scam and the entire industry is based on monopolistic fraud with DC payoffs."--Mike Mann, domain name registrant, March 30, 2017.

2) ICANN news: 

UPDATE April 3, 2017: ICANN CCT-RT Webinar 19:00 UTC SESSION: Adobe Connect Replay

ICANN CCT-RT Webinar on Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Draft Report | ICANN.org: "On 3 April 2017, the CCT-RT will host two separate sessions at 10:00 - 11:30 UTC (time zone support here) and 19:00 - 20:30 UTC (time zone support here)." More information at the link above. How to join: 1) Adobe Connect: https://participate.icann.org/reviews-webinar; 2) Dial in numbers: http://adigo.com/icann/  Language services provided: English: 9001; French: 9002; Spanish: 9003; Chinese: 9004; Russian: 9005.  (Editor's note: the above is ICANN's attempt at coming up with "something" that supports ICANN's assumption that "the introduction of new gTLDs necessarily will enhance competition and promote choice and innovation, without offering any evidence to support that assumption.” See quotation from US DOJ first above.)

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks:

• 3 Tips You Need to Consider When You Buy a Domain Name | spark.adobe.com: "1. Always choose .com. Let’s be real. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Research shows that over 75% of websites have the “.com” domain. Over the years that the Internet has existed, it has been proven that it is the most preferred extension and has highest brand recall ..."
• With Almost 10% Of New gTLD Registrations In Upcoming Delete Status; The Peak Of 28.8M May Stand Until .Web | TheDomains.com
• Trademark Owners Beware of Chinese Domain Name Marketing Ploy | Jaburg Wilk | JDSupra.com: "... There is no need to do business with a foreign company and certainly no need to fall victim to clever, but deceptive e-marketing tactics."

4)  ICYMI Internet Domain News: 

• Future of the internet: "... Google’s geopolitical aspirations are firmly enmeshed within the foreign-policy agenda of the world’s largest superpower ... If the future of the internet is to be Google, that should be of serious concern to people all over the world—in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, the former Soviet Union, and even in Europe—for whom the internet embodies the promise of an alternative to US cultural, economic, and strategic hegemony ..."--Julian Assange, Google Is Not What It Seems | wikileaks.org
• Russian hacking: The Sleazy Origins of Russia-gate | washingtonsblog.com: "An irony of the escalating hysteria about the Trump camp’s contacts with Russians is that one presidential campaign in 2016 did exploit political dirt that supposedly came from the Kremlin and other Russian sources. Friends of that political campaign paid for this anonymous hearsay material, shared it with American journalists and urged them to publish it to gain an electoral advantage. But this campaign was not Donald Trump’s; it was Hillary Clinton’s ..."

5) Q1 2017 Earnings Season:

Q1 2017 Financial Results--Q1 2017 earnings coverage in the coming weeks on Domain Mondo (alphabetical order): Alibaba BABA; Alphabet GOOG / GOOGL; Amazon AMZN; Apple AAPL; Facebook FB; GoDaddy GDDY; Rightside NAME; Tucows (TO:TC) (NASDAQ:TCX); Twitter TWTR; Verisign VRSN.

6) Most popular post (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: News Review: 1) .AFRICA Case Update; 2) ICANN Dysfunction Alive & Well.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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News Review: IANA Transition Has Already Cost ICANN Over $28 Million

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

• While the BIG news this week may have been the 'baked-in-the-cake' report from NTIA, and Capitol Hill's reaction, you may have missed two revealing comments made by a former ICANN staff member and a former ICANN Chairman:

"The endemic problems at ICANN, which are most strongly reflected in its staff and board's intransigence, have also started spreading to the broader ICANN community – a community that is increasingly reliant on the organization's financial support. Over the course of the IANA transition plan's development, that community settled for untested convoluted decision-making processes over solid reform."--Kieren McCarthy, former ICANN staff member, writing in TheRegister.co.uk (emphasis added)

 "If I have any trepidation about the proposal it is associated with its general complexity. As the former chairman of ICANN, I am no stranger to the evolution of ICANN's structure and processes and their relative intricacy. The new proposal adds its own unique aspects to this tendency and it remains to be seen how well the system will work."--Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, and former ICANN Board Chairman (2000-2007), ACM.org (emphasis added)

• ICANN released (pdf) this week to the Cross-Community Working Groups, the IANA Stewardship Transition costs incurred at ICANN (including CCWG-Accountability and CWG-Stewardship) from inception on 1 July 2014 to 31 March 2016. Amounts in chart below are in USD thousands (000's):

IANA transition costs July 2014 - March 2016
Totals are shown on the last line in the chart above

Staff: $3,834,000
Travel & Meetings: $2,129,000
Telecom & Language Services: $2,983,000
Legal Services $10,793,000
Lobbying the U.S. Government: $1,096,000
Other Professional Services: $2,478,000
Total: $23,312,000 

As expected, law firms took almost half of all the spending. While ICANN is required by U.S. law to disclose what it spends lobbying the U.S. government, it is not required to disclose (and doesn't) what it spends "lobbying" foreign governments, and other "influential" persons and entities. Note however, ICANN has spent heavily in support of 'initiatives' outside its scope and mission, not included in the above amounts.

In addition, from 1 April to 30 June 2016, an additional $5,000,000 (ICANN estimate) has, or will be incurred, bringing the total to more than $28 million ($US) through the end of June.

With CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 2 just now getting underway, and not expected to finish until a year from now, final costs will not be known until sometime next year. If it turns out that the untested, unproven proposals to make ICANN accountable fail, and the world gives up on ICANN, it will have all been in vain.

• Also worth noting: as a follow-up to the foreign "lobbying" reference above, ICANN, its directors, officers, and employees, are all subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1, et seq.), penalties of which include prison terms of up to 5 years. Since ICANN refuses to disclose foreign lobbying expenses and other influence-peddling expenses outside the U.S., anyone (inside or outside of ICANN), with knowledge of possible violations (past, present, or future) of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, should contact the U.S. Department of Justice directly: Report a FCPA Violation via email to FCPA.Fraud@usdoj.gov or via fax 202-514-7021.

Likewise, the corruption can also go "the other way," as noted in the NTIA report (p. 170 of 172):

"“Capture” Through Corruption. Recent events have shown that international organizations ... can be “captured” through corruption. Leading officials of such organizations have pleaded guilty to (or have been indicted for) accepting bribes ... Correspondingly, it is at least imaginable that a government or a private actor could bribe the board of ICANN to vote the way it wishes on some hypothetical critical decision." 

Or even bribe an ICANN employee for 'insider information' or for 'favorable treatment' on a pending issue. We already know about the revolving door at ICANN and how it corrupts ICANN decision-making. We also already know of at least one high-ranking ICANN officer, who after resigning due to an undisclosed "conflict of interest," went on to serve as Executive Director of the leading new gTLDs domain name industry association, of which former ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehade admitted: "... this idea of the DNA Association started in some small meetings we were having at the ICANN office where I was a huge early supporter ..."  Wouldn't you like to know of all the 'small meetings' at ICANN offices where things are discussed and decided in secret? Among the many things missed by the ICANN Cross-Community Working Groups involved with the IANA transition and ICANN accountability, is the failure of the ICANN Board and ICANN management to have, and enforce, a corporate-wide conflicts of interest and code of ethics or code of conduct policy, applicable to every ICANN employee, not just Board members, officers and a few "key employees."

• Question of the Week:

NTIA announcement is an important milestone - but the ICANN-Verisign contract for Root Zone Management is still missing! What's up #ICANN?

— Milton Mueller (@miltonmueller) June 9, 2016

As noted by @MiltonMueller there is a glaring delay on the IANA transition tentative timeline:

The above chart was derived from Congressional testimony on March 17, and the last we heard from ICANN was May 10th: "Root Zone Maintainer Agreement (RZMA) Status update: Discussions between ICANN and Verisign to finalize details of the RZMA are continuing. The two parties have coalesced around many key elements of the agreement and hope to have a final draft by the end of the month. Once the draft RZMA is finalized it will be made publicly available on icann.org."  

The "end of the month" has "come and gone" and now more than a month has passed since the last update, and nothing but silence from ICANN to the global multistakeholder community. Verisign was requesting a 10 year extension of its dot COM registry agreement to run coincident with its new 10-year Root Zone Maintainer Agreement. On April 28, 2016, Verisign's Chairman reported "ICANN and VeriSign are in the final stages of preparing the Root Zone Maintainer Agreement and the .COM Registry Agreement extension documents. We continue to make progress and we'll provide periodic updates as appropriate on our progress towards these objectives."  If there has been a breakdown in negotiations, no one is talking.

• Last week it was noted how ICANN and its "partners" a/k/a new gTLD registry operators exploit domain name registrants (see George Kirikos comments), but that's just the tip of the iceberg, here's another way ICANN and its "partners" exploit domain name registrants:

"... we are starting to see more frequent changes to registry pricing and premium name policies, which could possibly affect renewal pricing in the future. One particular situation that created a bit of commotion in the RrSG [Registrar Stakeholder Group] this year was the prospective RRA [Registry-Registrar Agreement] changes brought forth by Vox Populi, the Registry Operator behind .SUCKS. The two problematic changes suggested were to allow the registry the right to amend any and all terms of the RRA with only a 15 day notice to registrars and added language that possibly would haveprevented registrars from voicing their opinion about the .SUCKS extension to potential registrants. The RrSG responded to these alterations by officially objecting to ICANN; an action that eventually resulted in the registry modifying the changes to incorporate more favorable language for registrars. Undoubtedly, we will continue to see many more Registry Operators come forth with changes to policies and agreements over the rest of this year ..."--Mark Monitor New gTLD Quarterly Report Q2 2016 (emphasis added)

• Innovation? That same Mark Monitor report cited above, also discloses "the most frequently registered label [second level] in the [new gTLD] .Brand space is HOME; e.g. HOME.BARCLAYS" but 55% of "home.brand" domain names resolve to a .COM domain name, while 18% are an "inactive page," and only 23% resolve to home.brand content page.

Inescapable conclusion: .BRAND new gTLDs are mostly defensive for trademark and branding purposes, but ICANN (at $185,000 + $25,000 annually for each .BRAND new gTLD) is making out like a bandit (while also giving a boost to the registry services industry, the back end operators of each top-level domain or TLD.) It's the kind of shakedown Michael Corleone would have loved.

• Finally, the Mark Monitor report notes:

The general trend of redirecting .Brand domains to existing content on legacy gTLDs (.COM) or ccTLDs continues. We’re also seeing more .Brand domains resolving to content by framing, or displaying, content from other sites. While the user experience with framing may be better than a redirect because the .Brand domain remains visible in the address bar, the practice [framing] doesn’t score well with search engines. Search engines view duplicate content as lower quality and therefore the domain won’t rank as well as the domain with the original unframed content.

•  If you're 'selling' dot COM domains to Chinese buyers, read this post by someone who really knows and understands the Chinese market: Finding Chinese companies for your .com name | coreile.com: "... We know .com is king in China and therefore is frequently the target of domain upgrade by Chinese companies ..."

•  ICANN has announced "the implementation of amendments to the [Domain Name] Transfer Policy and the Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy (TDRP). The amended Transfer Policy is applicable to all gTLD names and ICANN-accredited registrars. The amended TDRP is applicable to all gTLD names, ICANN-accredited registrars, and registries. These new requirements will take effect and will be enforced by ICANN beginning on 1 December 2016."

•  What would an ICANN meeting look like if no one was getting their expenses paid by ICANN to be there? Report on Public Comments on Draft FY17 Operating Plan and Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan Update Now Available - ICANN: "The budget is scheduled for adoption when the ICANN Board meets during ICANN56 in Helsinki." Read how ICANN responded to a comment requesting "more travel support" (ICANN's junkets and codependent stakeholders' culture is fed by ICANN paying for an increasing number of stakeholders' travel, accommodations, and per diem expenses, to each ICANN meeting):

"Since the ICANN 33 meeting in Cairo, supported travelers per ICANN meeting have increased over 325% and out of pocket travel costs have increased 250% ... during that time the organization has not examined those increases in a structured way. In view of the expansion of travel support for the last several years and expected changes prompted by the potential IANA Stewardship Transition implementation, the organization intends - in partnership with the community - to conduct a thorough examination of community supported travel in FY17 so that more strategic consideration can be given to levels of travel support among all community activities and groups across the organization."

•  No issues open for comments close this coming week at ICANN.

•  Internet Governance Forum (IGF) news: IGF Retreat 2016 Call for Written Inputs: "All stakeholders are invited to send written inputs commenting on issues that will be discussed" at the IGF Retreat (July 14-16, 2016). The guiding questions (based on the the draft agenda) may be reviewed, and responded to, here. The deadline for responding is July 1.

•  This week in tech:

• WWDC2016 June 13-17; Monday: Keynote 10am PT; State of the Union 2:30pm PT
• Yahoo bidders can’t even agree on what they’re buying | Recode.net: "A clearly failing business" says one bidder. It's a mess--someone please help Marissa Mayer liquidate $YHOO assets--the longer this drags on, the worse it gets.

•  Five most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this week on DomainMondo.com:

1. News Review [Jun5]: Internet Boom Is Over, New gTLD XYZ Domains $0.01 Each
2. NTIA's IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Assessment Report
3. US Senator Ted Cruz: Delay IANA Transition, Save Internet Freedom
4. Reaction to NTIA by Commerce Secretary, Senators & Congressmen
5. The Global Shift To Cashless Payment Transactions

• Other Reading Recommendations:

1. 'It's Over'--first the internet, now apps--The app boom is over | Recode.net: "... If you are an independent app developer or publisher, you have probably known this for a while, because you have found it very difficult to get people to download your app — the average American smartphone user downloads zero apps per month ... Last month, the top 15 app publishers saw downloads drop an average of 20 percent in the U.S., according to research from Nomura, which relies on data from app tracker SensorTower ... Outside the U.S., the top 15 apps grew by [only] 3 percent last month..."
2. Ex-iPhone Users in China | ChinaInternetWatch.com: Penguin Intelligence, part of Tencent, recently conducted a survey on iPhone losing users in China. Over one-third of China smartphone users would replace smartphones for new ones at least once a year and over three-quarters of Chinese would do so every two years according to the survey. Among iPhone users surveyed, almost half gave up using an iPhone and Huawei is their top replacement choice.
3. Rethinking a business model: New York Times 'Exploring' Ad-Free Digital Subscription | AdAge.com: "CEO Mark Thompson, at IAB Conference, Criticizes Eyeo and Adblock Plus"
4. The Distraction of Investment Noise | Bloomberg.com: "Deciding what to focus on -- and how much attention or weight to give to these issues and events -- is a challenge for traders and investors alike."
5. Free speech isn't free: Dozens in Russia imprisoned for social media likes, reposts | AP.org and ICYMI: http://safeinternetforum.ru/en/  Russia discussed with China internet management issues, including China’s Internet sovereignty model and content control of the internet during the 7th International Safer Internet Forum, April 27, 2016, in Moscow. An opening address was given by Lu Wei, "Head of General Office of the CPC Central Committee’s Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization." See also The Best and Worst Internet Experience in the World | technologyreview.com: "The system today [in China] has largely shifted from censoring individual news stories to shutting out entire services or platforms." and China's government must pre-approve every single mobile game starting July 1 | techinasia.com.
6. 1984 commercialized? How Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant Will Make Money Off You | technologyreview.com
7. If you've got it, flaunt it, don't hide it: Panama Papers Show How Rich United States Clients Hid Millions Abroad | NYTimes.com
8. Is the Market Rational After All? | charleshughsmith.blogspot.com: "This is the market we have now: dominated by delusional, irrational central planners with unlimited powers to create money out of thin air to fund their manipulations. The only rational response is to trade accordingly: anticipate constant manipulation, anticipate constant bombastic propaganda of the "whatever it takes" variety, and anticipate massive selling of volatility to maintain the ever-so-important illusion that global risks have been disappeared by central banks and central planners."
9. What if the U.S. Dismantled China’s Internet Firewall? | FPIF.org: "The U.S. could retaliate against a massive Chinese cyberattack by blowing up its web censorship ..." But read: The Pentagon's Cybersecurity Priorities Have Not Changed in a Decade | Motherboard.vice.com: "At present, Cybercom is a component of Strategic Command, but its top official is the head of the National Security Agency—arguably a needlessly complicated arrangement. The nebulous command structure also means that Cyber Command never really has to own up to its own failings."
10. Brexit may be just the beginning: “The Specter of a Break-up Is Haunting Europe” | WolfStreet.com: "... it’s perhaps no surprise that senior eurocrats are falling into despondency, despair, and internal bickering ..." Note: Brexit vote is June 23.
11. Politically correct: The Liberal Blind Spot | NYTimes.com: "... As I see it, we are hypocritical: We welcome people who don’t look like us, as long as they think like us ... On campuses at this point, illiberalism is led by liberals. The knee-jerk impulse to protest campus speakers from the right has grown so much that even Democrats like Madeleine Albright, the first female secretary of state, have been targeted ..."--Nicholas Kristof
12. Read We Were Wrong About Gravity… What Do We Have Wrong Today? | LitHub.com. I suggest turning off the noise and distractions of U.S. Presidential politics. I've told @UnderMyPalm to be prepared to wrap it up (the Election2016 page), if, and when, Bernie drops out, leaving only 2 candidates, each with very high unfavorables, vying for the nation's top elected office. And frankly, the mainstream media have become the worst enablers and PR flacks this year. It's all become such a circus, I don't want to watch, and I have better things to do. I hope you do too.

Have a great week!

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo

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