News Review | GDPR, EPDP, and ICANN WHOIS Data Liability

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-10-07 with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) GDPR, EPDP, and ICANN WHOIS Data Liability,  2)Other ICANN news: KSK Roll Oct 11, and more, 3) a. Malicious Domains, b..COM Domainers re: Verisign, NTIA & ICANN, c. WIPO Workshop, and more, 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 5) Most Read.

1) GDPR, EPDP, and ICANN WHOIS Data Liability

ICANN EPDP Meetings this coming week Tuesday Oct 9, and Wednesday Oct 10 (small group), and Thursday Oct 11: 2 meetings, see below. Non-members of the EPDP working group can follow these meetings via Adobe Connect, or audio cast via browser or application. Links to all EPDP meetings' transcripts and recordings are on the GNSO calendar. Other EPDP links: wiki, mail list, action items, Temp Spec, EPDP Charter (pdf), GNSO's EPDP page and updates.

Recording, Attendance & AC chat (Editor's note: the correct Adobe Connect replay link) for the EPDP call to discuss Independent legal counsel to assist the EPDP working group held on Wednesday, 10 October 2018 at 22:00 UTC. Chat transcript (pdf).

Thursday Oct 11 EPDP small group (agenda, links to chat transcript, Adobe Connect replay, MP3), 17:00 UTC (1pm EDT). Natural person vs legal entity 11 Oct 2018 (pdf).

Thursday Oct 11 EPDP Meeting (agenda, links to chat transcript, Adobe Connect replay, MP3), 13:00 UTC (9am EDT). Purpose B workbook (pdf); Meeting Transcript (pdf).

Wednesday Oct 10 small group (agenda, links to chat, Adobe replay, MP3), Small Team #3 relevant input (pdf), upd Background Info (pdf). This Small Group's working document:

Tuesday Oct 9 EPDP meeting wiki link (agenda), chat transcript (pdf), MP3, Adobe Connect replay,  Lawful Basis Memo (pdf); data elements workbook (including Purpose A), work products (pdfs) in relation to agenda item three: Data Elements Matrix, Purpose A,  Purpose M, Purpose N.  The meeting's focus was on Purpose A, leaving no time for Purposes M & N which also might involve transfer of Registrant data from Registrar to the Registry.

Editor's note: the ICANN EPDP working group grinds on under the inept 'leadership' of former ICANN 'Chief Strategy Officer' Kurt Pritz (appointed EPDP Chair by the GNSO Council), who has apparently been supplanted by CBI.org facilitators Gina Bartlett and David Plumb, when available, in leading EPDP meeting discussions:

Kurt Pritz, EPDP Chair: "I want to welcome David Plumb [CBI.org facilitator] who's on the call who will lead those discussion items. So I'm pretty darn pleased with that."  EPDP Oct 4 meeting, p.3.

Highlights from EPDP meetings last week (ending Oct 5):

Emily Taylor (RrSG): "Just to support Lindsay Hamilton-Reid’s remarks, in practice the technical contacts are often are all almost always duplicates of other contacts. If there’s a technical issue with a domain name there are two possible courses. One is contact the registrant and one is contract the registrar. Both of those details are in separate fields .... my own personal view is that these ancillary fields admin technical billing are all sort of relic from the old Whois format which is, you know, desired way back when in the 80s before there was really a hard concept of a domain name registrant having rights and responsibilities and before there was ever such a thing as a registrar. The market has moved on considerably and the Whois fields have not kept up to date. It’s way past the time where we have a good look at these fields and ... get rid of [some of] them entirely." [EPDP Oct 2 meeting, p. 38] 

Editor's note: My view is the same as Ms. Taylor's re: admin and technical contacts in the WHOIS directory. That kind of information, like billing contacts and credit card information, if needed at all, should only be held by and between the registrar and registrant. The WHOIS directory is like the Registrar's Office of real estate deeds showing who is the legal owner, or in the case of domain names, the domain name holder (registrant) of record. When you buy a car, the government agency that issues auto license plates, doesn't ask you who your mechanic (or 'technical contact') is, does it? My suggestion for revised WHOIS registrant data fields is here (pdf).

Stephanie Perrin (NCSG): "... The current educational resources/registrants rights and responsibilities package has been neglected for years ... Registrars should have procedures in place to inform registrants of their constitutional and charter rights, as well as their rights under GDPR ... note that the registrars will be held accountable for how well informed the individual [registrant] is. If they give away their rights because they were not well informed, it will be the registrars fault ... Caution is required here ... if civil society were to sue under the GDPR, in my view (remember, I am not even a lawyer let alone a litigator) the strategy would be to go for ICANN as data controller  responsible for the policy, and the registrar as data controller for the client relationship data." [EPDP Oct 3 chat, p.3]

Thomas Rickert (ISPCP): "Regarding a direct contract between ICANN and registrants: We are to review to the TS [temporary specification] and not to recreate a completely new gTLD world." Emily Taylor (RrSG): "Well said @Thomas." [EPDP Oct 4 chat, p. 3]

Stephanie Perrin (NCSG): "It is very very clear that the purpose of the GDPR is to address the imbalance of power in the data relationships of the Information Society." [EPDP Oct 4 chat, p.7]

 Questions for ICANN Org from EPDP meeting Oct 4, 2018:

1. ICANN org should have a general retention policy. As part of its GDPR-compliant data processing regime. If so, can this be provided to the EPDP Team?
2. We have spent most of this meeting exploring the role of compliance at ICANN, in order to support a proposal that ICANN has an implicit contract with the registrant and that therefore 6 1 b applies as a grounds for processing.  This would also facilitate ICANN operating a UAM on behalf of those who want the data.  It might also explain Goran’s [Marby, ICANN CEO] initiative in seeking some kind of recognition by EU authorities that ICANN has a kind of quasi-regulator status, as the authority vested with the responsibility to manage the DNS.  Given that all of this is outside the current configuration of ICANN as data controller, which would be more clear had we done a DPIA and had we adequate data maps to work with….can we either get back to our Charter questions that we were mandated to address by the GNSO, or get a full explanation of what is going on and why we continue to be focused on the access question? [emphasis and links added]
3. Is there a date limit for ICANN accepting a complaint or request to audit regarding a registration that has been deleted? If not, what is the case of the longest period of a deleted registration that was accepted and acted upon?

Request for independent legal counsel to assist the EPDP from  RySG (Registries Stakeholder Group), RrSG (Registrar Stakeholder Group), and NCSG (Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group)--Letter October 5, 2018 (pdf).

26 Sep 2018 Letter from Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG) to ICANN CEO Göran Marby, ICANN Board Chairman Cherine Chalaby, and ICANN DPO Daniel Halloran (pdf) published by ICANN 4 Oct 2018, embed below (Editor's note: read this carefully):

More info on Oct 2-5 EPDP meetings on last week's News Review.

Definition of "train wreck" -- a chaotic or disastrous situation that holds a peculiar fascination for observers.

Note also:

• ICANN Webinar (one hour) data protection/privacy (GDPR) update now scheduled for Oct 8, 2018, 15:00 UTC (11am EDT) via Adobe Connect. Dial-in info, questions, etc., here. 

UPDATE: Question asked: :Why hasn’t a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out to clarify data flows and ICANN’s relationship with the data subject in light of its acknowledged role as a joint controller and Article 35 of the GDPR?
RESPONSE: This question was also asked during the Data Protection/Privacy Update Webinar hosted by ICANN org on 8 October 2018. John Jeffrey, ICANN’s General Counsel and Secretary provided the following response:

“This is something that has been considered since the very beginning. One of the issues is when to do that in a way that is most timely and useful and how to do that. We continue to evolve the thinking of how the interpretation of GDPR applies to WHOIS. We have a number of questions which have been addressed directly to the DPAs and the EDPB and we’ve have an ongoing discussion with the EC about how to interpret the GDPR. We believe that those are a better format at this point than doing the assessment, but we continue to evaluate whether that assessment would be the right thing to do and when.”

ICANN 8 Oct 2018 Webinar replay (Adobe Connect & audio) and presentation (slides) here.

• Pre-ICANN63 Policy Open House webcast: Thursday, 11 October 2018, 10:00 UTC and 19:00 UTC. The open house will run in English with simultaneous Spanish interpretation. The presentation materials will be translated into Spanish, and posted following the open house with the recordings of the sessions here. Register via this form by 8 Oct 2018. More info here. ICANN63 Full Schedule.

2) Other ICANN News

a. KSK Roll October 11--the change or "roll" of the cryptographic key for the internet DNS root on 11 October 2018. "It will mark the first time the key has been changed since it was first put in use in 2010"--ICANN.org. More information here and here (pdf).

b. ICANN Board Report September 2018 (pdf)

"... we held an Executive Team retreat in Visby, Sweden from 23-26 July."--Goran Marby, ICANN President & CEO (p. 3). Editor's note: No disclosure of the itemized and total costs paid by ICANN org for this annual extravagance.

c. If you think ICANN, notwithstanding its incompetence, conflicts of interest, and/or corruption, has a viable future, you may be interested in the ICANN Board and organization webinar on 9 October 2018 at 14:00 UTC (10am EDT) on ICANN strategic planning. More info here.

d. End of the Line: "Resolved (2018.10.03.02), the Board directs the President and CEO, or his designee(s), that the pending application for .HALAL and the pending application for .ISLAM not proceed ... Resolved (2018.10.03.01), the Board adopts the portion of the IRP Panel's recommendation that the application for .PERSIANGULF submitted in the current new gTLD round not proceed and directs the President and CEO, or his designee(s), to take all steps necessary to implement this decision."--Approved Board Resolutions | Special Meeting of the ICANN Board 03 Oct 2018.

e.  ICANN's new gTLD .BRAND Extortion Racket losing more: .epost and .bond. terminating.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Malicious Domains: "using a cooling-off period for domain names can help catch those registered by known bad actors"--DarkReading.com.

b. .COM Domainers re: Verisign, NTIA & ICANN--StopThePriceIncreaseOf.com.

c. WIPO Advanced Workshop on Domain Name Dispute Resolution: Update on Precedent and Practice, Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday and Wednesday, October 9 and 10, 2018.

d. Domainers Lament "Too many domains, no buyers"--Everyone Trying to Sell Their Portfolios but NOBODY is Buying Them. Now What? | ricksblog.com.

e. Alphabet’s new domain name tool could limit malware, censorship, and spying--internet domain lookups are typically unencrypted, meaning hackers and governments can manipulate them to block certain sites or serve up malware--FastCompany.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

UPDATE on the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation @UNSGdigicoop:

• Censorship could be just as common in an open internet as a closed one--qz.com.
• China: Why Would Google’s Ex-CEO Predict a Separate Chinese Internet?--nymag.com
• Zambia’s social media tax isn’t really about social media or freedom of speech--qz.com
• India: Reactions to the Aadhaar Judgement--internetfreedom.in; See also indianexpress.com: Surveillance after the Aadhaar judgment: What Internet freedom?
• Internet: Inside the Harvard research hub chronicling our relationship with the internet--siliconrepublic.com.

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

1. News Review 1) ICANN Org vs EPDP Access? 2) New gTLDs Next Round?

2. Tech Review: Digital Outdoor Advertising Growth Due To GDPR? (video)

3. Iridium $IRDM + Amazon $AMZN AWS for IoT Internet SAT Network

4. Tech Review 1) Crypto & Crime, Innovation, Regulation, 2) $Esports (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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The Global Splinternet: Digital Borders, TLD Filters & Tolls? | NR 2017-04-23

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-04-23):

Features •  1) The Global Splinternet, 2) ICANN news: .NET Registry Agreement and Domain Transfers & Changes, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: WIPO IP Day, 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 5) Q1 2017 Earnings This Coming Week: TWTR, GOOG, AMZN, VRSN, 6) Most Popular.

 1)  The Global Splinternet: Digital Borders, TLD Filters & Tolls?

"China’s internet policy may be a forerunner of a federated, loosely connected set of national internets called “the splinternet.” This future potential state of affairs would be characterized by digital borders that are meant to protect both real and cognitive sovereignty while keeping out unwanted foreign competition or influence. In this way, rather than the global village envisaged by the 20th-century counterculture, the mid-21st century internet might actually turn out to be a federation of loosely connected national platforms closely aligned with state power. On its surface, the splinternet may resemble today’s open internet, and would probably run on the same technologies and protocols. But the access and trade policies of individual states will combine to create wildly different experiences for users across different countries, with less exchange between regional internets."--"former open web booster" Ben Moskowitz, in Quartz (qz.com), infra (emphasis and first link added)

[Domain Mondo Editor's note (hereinafter Editor's note): We live in strange times. Unlike most in the U.S. financial and technology sectors who have largely adjusted and adapted to the Trump Presidency, many Hillary Clinton supporters in the media and political spheres are still in a funk over last year's Presidential election results, perhaps consumed by their Trump Derangement Syndrome fed by "false news" spread by mainstream media, and are now attacking the free and open internet like Mr. Moskowitz--The reasons why a free and open internet could spell the web’s downfall | Internet freedom may not be the safest future: Instead, nations could consider "the splinternet" to protect their digital borders | Quartz | qz.com--apparently, the price of an open, free-flow-of-information internet now strikes certain American political and media elites on the left as "too high." Facebook, Twitter, and Google appear willing to "fall in line." Should anyone be surprised if ICANN follows behind? If so, pity the multitudes of struggling new gTLD registry operators who all thought they were going to get filthy rich off ICANN's new gTLDs program--optimism bias knows no bounds--and all those suckers who bought new gTLD domain names, or even worse, bought and are using their own .BRAND new gTLDs, when they get hit by the "Chinese internet governance model" in multiple countries, each with their own laws, rules, TLD filtering, taxes, fees, and tolls. Only the strong will survive.]

See also:  

• G7 Declaration on Responsible States Behavior In Cyberspace (pdf)
• Now it's the Left that's descending into fascism | charleshughsmith.blogspot.com: "... the Left must mask its own corruption and role in the Corporatocracy structure. The Left accomplishes this by imposing a virtue-signaling conformity on corporate media, social media, and the state institutions under its control-- higher education, government agencies, etc. Dissent is by definition fake news or hate speech--Orwell would be so proud of the Left's deft doublespeak. The suppression of skeptical inquiry and alternative narratives is fascism. There is no way to sugar-coat this ..."
• Camille Paglia: Trump Already Headed Towards Reelection, Democrats Have Overplayed Their Hand | Video | RealClearPolitics.com

2) ICANN news

• Public Comment Period Now Open on Proposed Renewal of .NET Registry Agreement | ICANN.org: Close Date 30 May 2017 23:59 UTC. [Editor's note: The disclosures provided by ICANN in its Public Comment posting (link above) are grossly inadequate and I will attempt to address this with ICANN staff and management and provide a later posting of what I find out.]

In the meantime, one comment has already been received from George Kirikos and published by ICANN, which provides detailed pricing information undisclosed by ICANN--excerpt:

[Comments-net-renewal-20apr17] Prices could be $14.52/yr in 2023! Opposed to .NET renewal with 10% annual price increases. Contract should be tendered, to foster competition | mm.icann.org:

".... After 6 more years of 10% annual price increases, [.NET]consumers could be facing registry fees of:
2018: $9.02/yr
2019: $9.92/yr
2020: $10.91/yr
2021: $12.00/yr
2022: $13.20/yr
2023: $14.52/yr  (of course, those are the fees to registrars, who would then pass them along to consumers with an additional margin; registrars face competition amongst other registrars). Compared to $2/yr, a $14.52/yr fee on 15 million domains represents a loss to consumers of $187.8 million PER YEAR ($12.52/yr x 15 million).Obviously these allowed price increases are untenable. Compared to the $4.95/yr starting point 6 years ago, in 6 years consumers could be facing prices that are 193% higher (i.e. comparing $14.52/yr to $4.95/yr), when all other technology costs (hosting, bandwidth, storage costs, computing) have been decreasing. All other technology costs face competition, whereas ICANN protects Verisign from competition, harming consumers in the process. As ICANN appears incapable of negotiating in the public interest, it is time for this anti-competitive and anti-consumer contract to be set aside on anti-trust grounds by the relevant national authorities." (emphasis added)

[Editor's note: also note that ICANN receives a $0.75 fee which must be added to the pricing of each .NET domain name provided above. Compared solely to the unfettered pricing, "rape and pillaging" of domain name registrants and the global domain name marketplace that ICANN enables and permits of its new gTLDs' registry operators, the proposed .NET contract is an improvement when it comes to consumer (registrant) protection. Just think if ICANN had extended the new gTLDs' pricing policies to .NET? Of course most of us know ICANN is incompetent (at best), as ICANN has never instituted competitive bidding with maximum fee schedules for renewal of any gTLD registry agreement even though that is exactly what the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division recommended in 2008 (and ICANN rejected) for ICANN's new gTLDs program. As I have noted before, ICANN is a global public interest #FAIL, and does not operate gTLDs in the interests of registrants (consumers) even though the US DOJ told ICANN it was ICANN's obligation to do so. Domain name registrants (consumers) would be better served if ICANN were abolished and all gTLDs transitioned to ccTLDs with each government providing consumer protections pursuant to a new international treaty on TLDs.  The uncomfortable truth is that we're all screwed if the Cooperative Agreement between the U.S. government and Verisign on .COM pricing is not extended beyond November 30, 2018. .COM is the global gold standard among all TLDs (top-level domains), in part because it is the world's only open* gTLD that comes with a pricing guarantee backed by the U.S. government. Verisign would be stupid to let go of that "competitive advantage." *Anyone, anywhere in the world, can register a .COM domain name, and is protected by the .COM pricing guarantee in Amendment 32 and Amendment 34. As noted by George Kirikos in his .NET comment above, ICANN management and staff are"incapable of negotiating in the public interest" which means ICANN should never be allowed to replace the U.S. government role in .COM pricing. Final caveat: this proposed .NET Registry Agreement demands close scrutiny by not only .NET registrants, but also .COM registrants. As I already noted above, I will have more to say in a future posting.]

•  Elise Gerich to Leave ICANN After Seven Years of Service | ICANN.org: "Elise Gerich has decided to step down from her role at ICANN as Vice President, IANA Services and President, Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) in October 2017." [Editor's note: good move Elise, get off that sinking ship while you still can!  And since ICANN got rid of Fadi last year, I guess the "ICANN community" won't have to worry about the current ICANN CEO appointing one of his neighbors or friends, or an inept former co-worker (or spouse), as Gerich's replacement.]

• Contractual Compliance Update (Jan-Mar 2017)(pdf) excerpt below re: Domain Name Transfers and Change of Registrant Information:

For more background on the above: GNSO Admits Domain Name Transfer Policy Flawed, Blames ICANN Staff | DomainMondo.com.

• GNSO Webinar on the Geographic Names at the Top-Level on Tuesday, 25 April | ICANN.org
• GDD Industry Summit, Madrid, May 8-11 | Preliminary Agenda | ICANN.org (pdf)
• Revised ICANN Procedure For Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law | ICANN.org: Effective Date 18 April 2017 - View the Redline Version of the Revised Whois Procedure (pdf).
• Q&A: What the Retirement of Google Site Search Means for ICANN | ICANN.org
• GNSO Projects List - 17 April 2017 | gnso.icann.org (pdf)
• ICANN gTLD contractual compliance guidelines (pdf)

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

• World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2017 | wipo.int: Every April 26, we celebrate World Intellectual Property Day to learn about the role that intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright) play in encouraging innovation and creativity ...
• What's in a Name? For a Business . . . Oh, Everything | entrepreneur.com: "Be careful with geographic names"
• How to share access to your organization's domain, email, and passwords | TechRepublic.com
• Domain redirects: 1,000 ways to redirect | searchengineland.com
• Court Dismisses Suit Against Coach and Its Counsel for Wrongful Seizure of Website Due to Lack of Personal Jurisdiction | BakerHostetler | JDSupra.com
• Policing the Trademark Playground and Calling Out Bullies | Harness, Dickey & Pierce, PLC | JDSupra.com

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News Quick Takes 

• President Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
• China says Cyberspace governance leads to more freedom | China.org.cn: "... Most countries applauded President Xi's proposal for building a community of shared future in cyberspace. "The proposal features the greatest common divisor. It is inclusive enough so that no one stands out to oppose it," said Prof. Shen Yi, director of the Research Center of Cyberspace Governance at Fudan University in Shanghai, adding that many countries hoped that "community of shared future" be more tangible and practical ..."  See also CAICT Holds ICANN 58 China Internet Community Readout Session | circleid.com.
• Homograph Attacks: Google Fixes Unicode Phishing Vulnerability in Chrome 58, Firefox Stands Pat | Threatpost.com
• Mossberg: A plan to preserve the internet | TheVerge.com: "It should be protected for all, not sold off in pieces."
• Scams & Malware: A study (pdf) conducted by PhD candidates at Stony Brook University identifies malvertising as a major culprit for exposing users to technical support scams.
• Ransomware: Banks’ Boards of Directors Face New Cybersecurity Challenges | BakerHostetler | JDSupra.com: "ransomware attacks against businesses in the U.S. quadrupled in 2016 ... intensity of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks has also increased"
• Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices [domain: berkshirehathawayhs.com] announced a marketing agreement with Juwai.com to syndicate all of its franchisees’ residential listings to the China-based international property portal that attracts roughly two million visitors monthly.--BusinessWire.com

5) Q1 2017 Earnings Season

This coming week on Domain Mondo:

• Twitter TWTR April 26 at 7:00 am EDT
• Verisign VRSN Apr 27 at 4:30 pm EDT
• Alphabet GOOG / GOOGL Apr 27 4:30 pm EDT
• Amazon AMZN Apr 27 at 5:30pm EDT

6) Most popular post (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: News Review | Caveat Emptor: ICANN & New gTLD Domain Names

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo (note our new digital ISO 8601 compliant format)

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News Review: ICANN Used 'Junk Science' Firm to Justify New gTLDs

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news [pdf]:

Feature • Incompetent ICANN used a reportedly "junk science" firm for its new gTLDs economic studies:

Compass Lexecon, firm used by #ICANN for #newgTLDs economic studies, criticized for "junk science" https://t.co/RSv2NDr8uE

— George Kirikos (@GeorgeKirikos) November 17, 2016

“The answer is known in advance, either because you created what the client wanted or the client selected you as the most favorable..."

— George Kirikos (@GeorgeKirikos) November 17, 2016

"Compass economists can reach very different answers to the same question, depending on who is paying them."

— George Kirikos (@GeorgeKirikos) November 17, 2016

Accountability and Transparency at ICANN - An Independent Review Appendix C (pdf): The Introduction of New gTLDs, October 20, 2010 | The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University pp 9-10 (highlighting added):

For more see: These Professors Make More Than a Thousand Bucks an Hour Peddling Mega-Mergers | ProPublica.org: "Earlier this year, a top Justice Department official criticized Compass Lexecon for using “junk science.” ProPublica sent a detailed series of questions to Compass Lexecon for this story. The firm declined to comment on the record .... Carlton’s predictions did not pan out ..." Also see:

• Dennis Carlton, “Comments on Michael Kende’s Assessment of Preliminary Reports on Competition and Pricing,” Compass Lexecon (June 5, 2009).
• Dennis Carlton, “ICANN’s Proposed Mechanism for Introducing New gTLDs,” Compass Lexecon (June 5, 2009).  
• Dennis Carlton, “Preliminary Report – Impact of New gTLDs on Consumer Welfare,” Compass Lexecon (March 2009).
• Dennis Carlton, “Preliminary Report – Price Caps for New gTLD Internet Registries,” Compass Lexecon (March 2009).
• New gTLD Economic Study Phase II Report is Released (2010) | ICANN.org
• ICANN Email Archives: [5gtld-guide]: "Economic "Study" Phase II does not make the case for new TLDs - ICANN and authors should be ashamed to present this "work" to the public"--"... Now, on to the latest "paper". Briefly, it is junk, and mere intellectual masturbation. It once again lacks any empirical rigour. It also ignores what the Department of Commerce letter of 2008 *told* ICANN to study: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/comments/2008/ICANN_081218.pdf. Take a look at PAGE 1 of that PDF!! Where is the work about whether the domain registration market is one market or separate markets? Where is the work about substitutability? Where is the work about switching costs? And so on? Is ICANN trying to pull a fast one on the public, by not even instructing its paid consultants to do the right study?? Everyone should read the ENTIRE PDF from 2008. It was very detailed. Everyone should read the original comments to the Carlton reports and to the Phase I report (not the staff summaries). There were detailed submissions, and once again ICANN and its paid consultants have failed ..."--George Kirikos (emphasis added)

ICANN.org | Archives | New gTLD Program: Materials on TLD Demand and Economic Analysis:

• New gTLDs – Final Reports Available on Competition and Pricing [Broken Link on ICANN.org] (6 June 2009)
• Report Of Dennis Carlton Regarding ICANN's Proposed Mechanism for Introducing New gTLDs [PDF, 628K]
• Comments on Michael Kende's Assessment of Preliminary Reports on Competition and Pricing [PDF, 52K]
• New gTLDs – Preliminary Reports on Competition and Pricing (4 March 2009)
• Preliminary Report of Dennis Carlton Regarding Impact of New gTLDs on Consumer Welfare [PDF, 157K]
• Preliminary Analysis of Dennis Carlton Regarding Price Caps for New gTLD Internet Registries [PDF, 56K]
• Public Comment: CRAI Report on gTLD Registries and Registrars (24 October 2008)
• Report from CRA International “Revisiting Vertical Separation of Registries and Registrars” [PDF, 493K]
• According to the Best Available Data » Blog Archive » att/t-mobile and icann share economic consultants | blog.caida.org: "... But equally eye-opening is the economic consulting firm AT&T is using — the same one ICANN used to “study” whether gTLD expansion would benefit consumers. Unlike this transcript, that study I was actually allowed to read, so I and many others learned how dishonest it was. It is not clear who will learn about “certain economic issues of AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile”…"
• According to the Best Available Data » Blog Archive » thoughts on ICANN’s plans to expand the DNS root zone by orders of magnitude | blog.caida.org

Other Internet Domain News:

•  ICANN at 3rd World Internet Conference. Wuzhen, China | ICANN.org: "... heading to Wuzhen this week, together with two of our APAC Board members, Asha Hemrajani and Akinori Maemura, to attend the 3rd World Internet Conference held in my home country, China from 16 – 18 November."--Song Zheng, Head of China, ICANN. Remember last year, when then ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade went to Wuzhen for the World Internet Conference? See After Wuzhen, Should ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Be Fired? | DomainMondo.com (28 December 2015).

Wuzhen Report on World Internet Development 2016 released | wuzhenwic.org: "President Xi Jinping addressed the gathering via video, and Mr. Liu Yunshan, Member of Standing Committee of Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee, delivered a keynote presentation at the opening ceremony. Over 1600 representatives from more than 110 countries and territories, and 16 international organizationshad a chance for extensiveand unrestricted discussions on Internet development prospects."

China Presses Tech Firms to Police the Internet | WSJ.com: "Alibaba now has about 3,000 of its nearly 50,000 employees involved in counterterrorism and cybersecurity efforts ... The main speaker at the conference wasn't a technology official, but the Chinese Communist Party’s ideological chief Liu Yunshan. Mr. Liu proclaimed China to be a global opinion leader on the use of new technologies in counterterrorism ... Many industry stakeholders aren't convinced. But the presence of big western companies at the conference -- including Facebook, International Business Machines Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn Corp. -- illustrated the importance of China to their businesses."

•  China’s vast Internet prison | WashingtonPost.com: "The latest effort came Monday. China’s national parliament approved a cybersecurity law that can be used to restrict free speech and force foreign Internet companies to heed the demands of China’s security services. Censorship is not new in China; a huge phalanx of officials are devoted to it, harsh punishments are meted out, and the country is ringed by a content-blocking Great Firewall. But now censorship will be more fully enshrined in the legal code." See also: China adopts new cybersecurity law that has overseas rights groups and businesses completely spooked: Shanghaiist.com: "Despite widespread international concern from corporations and rights advocates for more than a year, Chinese authorities pressed ahead with this restrictive law without making meaningful changes," said Human Rights Watch (HRW) China director Sophie Richardson.

•  Freedom on the Net 2016 | FreedomHouse.org  "Internet freedom around the world declined in 2016 for the sixth consecutive year.

• Two-thirds of all internet users – 67 percent – live in countries where criticism of the government, military, or ruling family are subject to censorship.
• Social media users face unprecedented penalties, as authorities in 38 countries made arrests based on social media posts over the past year. Globally, 27 percent of all internet users live in countries where people have been arrested for publishing, sharing, or merely “liking” content on Facebook.
• Governments are increasingly going after messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, which can spread information quickly and securely."

•   UK has passed the 'most extreme surveillance law ever passed in a democracy': "The law forces UK internet providers to store browsing histories -- including domains visited -- for one year, in case of police investigations."--ZDNet.com

•  Correspondence | ICANN.org:

• 15 November 2016 Letter from Arif H. Ali, Dechert LLP to ICANN Board (pdf) published by ICANN 16 November 2016; Council of Europe Report DGI (2016)17 - re: new gTLD .GAY. 
• 31 October 2016 Letter from Göran Marby to Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) [Published 06 November 2016] WTSA 2016 – Proposed AFCP Res: 47 about country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and geographic domain names.

•  CCWG ploughs on with WS2: ICANN57 | legallyindia.com: "substantial discussions in WS2 are only just kicking off, with some subgroups (such as the Diversity subgroup) yet to begin their deliberations"--for more on WS2 see WS2 - Enhancing ICANN Accountability | ICANN.org.

•  WIPO Transparency: WIPO Adopts Open Access Policy for its Publications | WIPO.int: The World Intellectual Property Organization announced its new Open Access policy to promote the widest possible public access to its publications, furthering the Organization’s commitment to the dissemination and sharing of knowledge.

• Understanding the DNS Attacks: Convenience v Security | JDSupra.com: Understand what your online digital footprint looks like. This is just as important for an individual as for a company. Knowing this can help to prevent others from exploiting you. Understand how you look in the eyes of the hacker, and diminish or secure your assets ... The accessibility of our assets directly impacts infrastructure exploitation. If we protect our assets, we are less vulnerable. Preparedness is the best predictor of how quickly and effectively a person or a company will recover from an attack ... Evaluate all third-party providers and partners connected to your company for their security both at the outset and on an ongoing basis to mitigate the risk of attack, breach, or business interruption.

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

1. News Review [5Nov]: ICANN57 Hyderabad, India, the Elephant in the Room
2. What Your Wireless Carrier May Not Be Telling You, U.S. Mobile Data Usage
3. .AFRICA, .WEB, ICANN Litigation Update, IRP & CEP Status Report
4. TechReView [12Nov]: US Votes For Change, Silicon Valley Shell-Shocked (video)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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Conference on the Global Digital Content Market, Jaron Lanier Keynote

Highlights from Jaron Lanier Keynote at Digital Content Market Conference:

Writer, composer and tech futurist Jaron Lanier delivered the keynote address at the opening of the Conference on the Global Digital Content Market, April 20-22, 2016 at WIPO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Published April 21, 2016)

Above: video playlist from the Conference on the Global Digital Content Market, April 20-22, 2016, at WIPO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. First 3 videos:

1. Naja Nielsen, Chief Editor, DBC Radio: Naja Nielsen, Chief Editor of DBC Radio (Denmark), on "Best, worst of times."

2. Dima Khatib, Managing Director, AJ+: Dima Khatib, Managing Director of AJ+ online news channel (Qatar), shares her views: "Everyone is copying us."

3. Ritu Kapur, CEO, Quintillion Media: Ritu Kapur, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Quintillion Media Pvt. Ltd.: Curation (without a link to the source) can be jargon for plagiarism.

WIPO Conference on the Global Digital Content Market: April 20 – 22, 2016, Geneva, Switzerland--"The creative content economy has seen radical change to access and business models for more than a decade. The tensions between increased access and a sustainable economic value chain are the essence of this conference, which explores: copyright in the digital age the impact of the digital environment on creators the role for publishers, producers and distribution platforms digital markets, access, and participation."

• Program (pdf)
• Speaker profiles (pdf)
• YouTube Playlist
• World Intellectual Property Day – April 26, 2016
• World Intellectual Property Day 2016 - Events

#digicontent2016:
#digicontent2016 Tweets


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WIPO: Domain Cybersquatting Cases Up in 2015, Driven by New gTLDs

Cybersquatting and Internet Domain Names in 2015: WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and Director of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center Erik Wilbers discuss WIPO domain name dispute resolution cases in 2015. Published by WIPO on Mar 17, 2016

Trends in Cybersquatting and Internet Domain Names in 2015: WIPO Director General Francis Gurry shares his key takeaways from WIPO domain name dispute resolution cases in 2015. Published on Mar 17, 2016

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) issued a press release today, stating that amid ICANN's roll-out of hundreds of new generic Top-Level Domains (new gTLDs) such as .GURU, .NINJA and .NYC, trademark owners filed 2,754 cases under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) with WIPO in 2015, an increase of 4.6 % over the previous year. According to WIPO, cybersquatting disputes relating to new gTLDs accounted for 10.5% of WIPO’s UDRP caseload in 2015, which covered a total of 4,364 domain names, and "among these names, .XYZ, .CLUB and .EMAIL were the most common new gTLDs." Since new gTLDs comprised only about 3% of all domain names registered globally at the end of 2015, the amount of cybersquatting cases in new gTLDs is more than triple that percentage, based on the WIPO report. WIPO also noted:

"The increase in new gTLD registrations in WIPO’s caseload is anticipated to continue, in particular as new gTLDs contested at Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) auction, such as “.SHOP”, are yet to launch.  Meanwhile, calls are being made for a next round of new gTLDs, particularly by brand owners, such as Twitter.  At the same time, ICANN has commenced a process to review Rights Protection Mechanisms such as the URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension system) and the UDRP.  As the UDRP initiator and leading administrator, WIPO takes a strong interest in these ICANN processes."

Annexes to the release:


WIPO infographic:



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WSIS Forum 2015, Geneva, May 25–29, Remote Participation Online

About | WSIS Forum 2015: The WSIS Forum 2015 represents the world’s largest annual gathering of the [Information and Communications Technology] ‘ICT for development’ community. The WSIS Forum, co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Co-Facilitators (UNDESA, FAO, UNEP, WHO, UN Women, WIPO, WFP, ILO, WMO, UN, ITC, UPU, UNODC, UNICEF and UN Regional Commissions) has proven to be an efficient mechanism for coordination of multistakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge, sharing of best practices and continues to provide assistance in developing multistakeholder and public/private partnerships to advance development goals. This forum to provide structured opportunities to network, learn and participate in multi-stakeholder discussions and consultations on WSIS implementation.

#wsis Tweets

Information and Communications Technology (ICT): ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications.

WSIS Forum 2015 builds upon the tradition of annual WSIS May meetings, and its format is the result of open consultations with all WSIS Stakeholders. Emerging trends in 11 WSIS Action Lines both in terms of Policy and Technology are produced as an Outcome of WSIS Forum in a multistakeholder environment on an annual basis. The WSIS Forum 2015 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects and Innovations on the Format aims at ensuring the participatory and inclusive spirit of the WSIS Forum 2015 by actively engaging governments, civil society, the private sector and intergovernmental organizations in the preparatory process. The Agenda and Programme of the WSIS Forum will be built on the basis of the official submissions received during the Open Consultation Process.

Confirmed Speakers (pdf)

Remote Participation | WSIS Forum 2015: The WSIS Process has a multi-stakeholder character. WSIS Stakeholders include governments, civil society, private sector, academia and international organizations from all parts of the world. Today, information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide the opportunity for representation and inclusion of all stakeholders in the WSIS events by way of remote participation. In order to facilitate the participation and ensure the inclusion of all WSIS Stakeholders, remote participation has been designed as an integral feature of the WSIS Forum 2015.

WSIS Stakeholders who wish to participate remotely in any of the sessions, can do so via either the Webcast Service or the Adobe Connect platform. The Webcast Service uses Real Networks software to distribute audio and video to remote participants. The media is streamed so the user does not have to wait for files to download and can access video or audio at any point. The Adobe Connect platform will allow remote participants to follow the meeting by seeing video feed from the conference room, hear what is being discussed in English, see presentations/documents under discussion, and chat with the meeting host and other remote participants. Each session will have 10–15 for questions from remote participants.

How to access: To access remote participation, simple find and click on the desired session on the Agenda and select the type of Remote Participation (Webcast or Adobe Connect). A real-time registration form will pop up and remote participants will be asked to complete it before accessing the session. Webcasts are also archived.

Current Date/Time in Geneva:



The What, Why and When of WSIS (English Captioned)- published on May 25, 2015 - What is WSIS, when and why was it started, and what is the annual conference all about? A quick and comprehensible snapshot of the world’s foremost ICT4Development event.

Selection from the Monday, May 25th, Agenda:
Internet of Things (IoT): The Way to Smart Sustainable Cities | WSIS Forum 2015:
"Internet of Things (IoT): The Way to Smart Sustainable Cities -- sponsors: ITU and Partners -- Currently cities account for 50-60% of GHG emissions as well as 75% of the global energy consumption. While cities generously contribute to around 75% of the global GDP, they also generate 50% of the world’s waste. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population is estimated to reside in cities. A sustainable life for the future generations would thus depend on making cities smarter and more sustainable. Internet of Things (IoT) leads a sweeping cultural change as a huge number of machines, devices, sensors, actuators, and other objects become interconnected to each other and to higher-level systems. Due to the enormous amount of variety of connectable devices and automatically collected data entirely new services and features may arise, which are to form the basis of, among others concepts, “Smart Sustainable Cities”. This thematic workshop will discuss the role that Internet of Things (IoT) and emerging technologies such as crowd sourcing and crowd sensing play in building smart sustainable cities worldwide as well as provide several examples of application domains, including deployment of IoT and monitoring. This event will include a set of demonstrations and will present success stories from around the world to expand on the benefits of using IoT in cities while furthering the sustainable development goals." 

Speakers / panellists:
​​​11:00 - 11:10 ​​Opening Ceremony Chaesub Lee, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum ​​
11:10 - 11:30 ​Keynote speeches H.E. Kok Jwee Foo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Singapore United Nations Cristina Bueti, Adviser, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ​​
11:30 - 12:45 Panel Discussion Moderator: Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum; Luis Muñoz, Head of the Network Planning and Mobile Communications, University of Cantabria, Spain; Srdjan Krco, CEO, DunavNET; Amine Mcharek, Management Science School, Korea Advance Institute for Science and Technology
​​12:45 - 13:00 ​Closing Session -- Bilel Jamoussi, Chief of Study Groups, International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum"

Additional note: on Tuesday, May 26th: Opening Policy Statements (11:30-12:30): Mr Fadi Chehade, CEO and President, ICANN


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