ICANN61 San Juan, Puerto Rico: GAC Communique & ICANN61 Tweets

Editor's note: ICANN61 ended in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday, March 15. Below is the GAC Communique issued March 15 by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), as well as a selection of tweets courtesy of @sgdickinson.

1) ICANN 61 GAC Communique:

2) ICANN61 Report via Tweets

#ICANN61 Welcome Ceremony, Cherine Chalaby: the #ICANN Board is committed to acting, at all times, in the collective interest of all stakeholders and not in the single interest of a single stakeholder.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

#ICANN61 PublicForum 1, @icann_president: I have a lot of ideas, but I believe that as #ICANN CEO, the multistakeholder model isn’t something I should participate in. You, the community decide. I’m here to serve you.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

#ICANN61 Public Forum, Cherine Chalaby: there’s no way to completely de-risk the KSK rollover. Things will always break when you have a KSK rollover. But sometimes the risk of *not* doing the rollover is higher than the risk of doing it.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 15, 2018

#ICANN61 PublicForum 1, @JamilZahid: as chair of the NomCom, proposes that the currently non-voting, term-unlimited RSSAC and SSAC liaisons to the NomCom become full voting members of the NomCom and be term-limited.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

#ICANN61 Public Forum: the #metoo movement comes to #ICANN. A group of women from the community have documented experiences of harassment at ICANN meetings & will send the compilation to ICANN Board today (nobody called out by name in compilation).

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 15, 2018

GDPR / WHOIS:

#ICANN61 Cross-Community on #GDPR, Cathrin Bauer-Bulst of @EU_Commission: the accreditation system for accessing non-public Whois remains the biggest missing piece of the puzzle. We need a temporary solution to go live in May while we work towards a permanent solution.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

#ICANN61 Cross-Community on #GDPR, @NickWenbanSmith: @Nominet hasn’t published email addresses for .uk domains for decades, and it’s not been a problem. There are 12 million .uk domains. Nominet only receives ~10 queries a month for non-public data on domains.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

#ICANN61 Cross-Community on #GDPR, @NickWenbanSmith: a reform of the basic principle of blanket worldwide publication of registrant data, with no checks and balances, was well overdue.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

FY19 ICANN Budget:

#ICANN61 @icann_president: The draft FY19 budget is a starting point that we expect the community to criticise. And we will take your criticisms into account. Ultimately, it’s the community that makes the final decisions about #ICANN’s budget.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

#ICANN61 Welcome Ceremony, Cherine Chalaby: #ICANN Board will consider ALL comments made to the public comment period on the draft FY19 budget.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 12, 2018

#ICANN61 Public Forum, Cherine Chalaby: #ICANN's funding levelling off doesn’t mean we should panic or worry. The question is how we can be effective in our spending. We need to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility & the ability for community to participate effectively.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 15, 2018

#ICANN61 GAC: Peru insists Communique not only document no. of GAC members present in San Juan but also total no. of GAC members, to show how participation is dropping & to send a message to the budget process about need for (more) funding for travel assistance.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 14, 2018

CCWG-Accountability WS2 jurisdiction report:

#ICANN61 GAC, France: report of CCWG-Accountability’s Sub-Group on Jurisdiction took some viewpoints into consideration more than others. Feel the recommendations have not taken all positions into account. Therefore France also couldn’t approve the Jurisdiction recommendations.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 11, 2018

#ICANN61 GAC, Argentina & Portugal: like Brazil, also see the lack of anything addressing #ICANN’s jurisdiction in California as problematic, so also objected formally to the recommendations of the CCWG-Accountability’s Sub-Group on Jurisdiction.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 11, 2018

New gTLD .AMAZON:

#ICANN61 GAC, Brazil: after discussions at #ICANN60 on .amazon #newgTLD, Amazon sent a revised proposal to the govts concerned about their application. The govts r discussing it, haven’t yet reached conclusion, meet again on 27 March, with report planned by mid-April at latest.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 10, 2018

GAC vs ICANN Board re 2-letter country codes at second level:

#ICANN61 GAC, Brazil: Board’s 2016 decision to allow 2-letter registrations at 2nd level was a major change to previously existing way 2-letter country codes were managed at 2nd level. Board has not responded to procedural or substantive issues that GAC has raised about this.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 10, 2018

#ICANN61 GAC: Portugal, Argentina, China and France support Brazil’s intervention expressing dissatisfaction
with the way the #ICANN Board handled their decision to allow 2-letter registrations in 2nd level domains.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 10, 2018

#ICANN61 GAC, Singapore: supports Brazil’s intervention about the lack of due process regarding Board’s decision on 2-letter codes at 2nd level. Need to address this or similar incident could happen again.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 10, 2018

#ICANN61 GAC, Belgium: the Board’s decision to allow 2-letter registrations at the 2nd level has set a precedent - it set aside an established, agreed, procedure and has reduced trust in ICANN process.

— Samantha Dickinson (@sgdickinson) March 10, 2018

See also on Domain Mondo: News Review: ICANN61 March 10-15, San Juan, Puerto Rico (video of Public Forums, Board Meeting, ICANN Org Executive Team, and session on GDPR)

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ICANN Jurisdiction: CCWG-Accountability WS2, Friday Oct 27, Abu Dhabi

ICANN CCWG-Accountability-WS2 Plenary of 27 Oct 2017,  09:00am Local Abu Dhabi  Time Convert (05:00 UTC) (1:00am EDT). Location: ​HALL 3​, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (remote observation details below).

Local Time Abu Dhabi 

CCWG WS2 Co-Chairs: Jordan Carter (ccNSO), Thomas Rickert (GNSO), Leon Sanchez (ALAC)

UPDATES (after meeting concluded):
The Jurisdiction Subgroup Draft Recommendations (embed below) passed a successful second reading at the WS2 Plenary on Oct 27, 2017.
•  Recording:

• Adobe Connect replay: AM SESSION | PM SESSION

• mp3 replay: AM SESSION | PM SESSION 

•  Document: Stress Tests for WS2 Jurisdiction

•  Chat: AM SESSION and PM SESSION

•  Transcripts when available will be posted here.

Meeting Web page: ​https://schedule.icann.org/event/CbHn/ccwg-accountability-ws2-face-to-face-plenary-session-icann-60
​ ​
Background: News Review | Brazil Opposes Draft Report re: ICANN U.S. Jurisdiction

Addendum: [Ws2-jurisdiction] [GAC] CCWG plenary. Jurisdiction Subgroup Draft Report - Minority viewpoint Oct 19, 2017: "Russia fully supports Brazil’s proposal. Furthermore, we would like to emphasize that the Subgroup Jurisdiction’s recommendations do not address our expectations for the solution of ICANN jurisdiction challenges and only partly could mitigate some risks but the absence of which makes the whole report unacceptable to us."--Best regards, Yulia Elanskaya Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.

Wiki: WS2 - Enhancing ICANN Accountability Home

Mailing Lists: https://community.icann.org/display/WEIA/WS2+Mailing+List+Archives

Brazil's Revised Minority Opinion (Dissenting Statement)(pdf) embed below:

Jurisdiction subgroup report (pdf) embed below:

Agenda 27 October 2017 Plenary: slide deck (pdf)

1. 08:30 – 09:00 local (04:30 – 05:00 UTC) Coffee
2. 0900 local (0500 UTC) - Introduction, update to SOIs, reminder on standards of behavior
3. Review of Agenda
4. Administration

4.1. Plenaries dates going forward
4.2. High interest presentation
4.3. ICANN 61
4.4. Review of timeline and status of Reports

5. Legal Committee Update
6. 10:00 local (06:00 UTC) - Update on IRP-IOT
7. 10:30 – 11:00 local (06:30 – 07:00 UTC) Coffee break
8. 11:00 local (7:00 UTC) - Second reading of the final recommendations of the Transparency sub-group

9. 11:30 -12:30 local (07:30 – 08:30 UTC) Jurisdiction - Presentation and discussion of minority opinions and other views - Session 1

10. 12:30 – 13:30 local (08:30 – 09:30 UTC) Lunch – buffet served in-room

11. 13:30 -14:30 local (09:30 – 10:30 UTC) - Jurisdiction - Presentation and discussion of minority opinions and other views Session - 2

12. 14:30 – 15:00 local (10:30 – 11:00 UTC) – Jurisdiction – second reading of the draft recommendations.

13. 15:00 local (11:00 UTC) AOB
14. 15:00 – 15:30 local (11:00 – 11:30 UTC) – Wrap-up and Co-Chair statement on the meeting.
15. ​Adjournment

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News Review: ICANN59 Policy Forum, June 26-29, Johannesburg

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-06-25):

Features •  1) ICANN59 Policy Forum, 2) Other ICANN news - Holding ICANN Accountable, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Popular.

 1) ICANN59 Policy Forum | Johannesburg | June 26-29

ICANN59 Schedule--"ICANN59 will be ICANN’s second ever Policy Forum. This four-day meeting will be focused on sessions which are core to current policy development work and outreach"--no official opening ceremony, no public forums. The pre-ICANN59 Policy Report embed below:

• Note the Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team (CCT Review Team or CCTRT) meeting in Johannesburg on 24-25 June. More info here.

• WS2 CCWG ACCT Face to Face Plenary Meetiing, Sunday, June 25, 08:30 - 17:30.

• ICANN59 Johannesburg: GAC Session on the CCT Review Update: The GAC will discuss the CCT Review Report on Monday June 26, 2017 14:00 - 14:30.

• EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)  ICANN59 Johannesburg: GDPR and its potential impact: looking for practical solutions Tuesday, June 27, 15:15 - 16:45. 

"... even with this huge threat [GDPR] looming over it, ICANN still can’t handle the data protection issue wisely and fairly. All of its efforts to prepare for the crisis reveal the same bias that got it into the problem to begin with. ICANN’s internal efforts involve only registries and registrars – the supply side of the industry – and not registrants .... [ICANN] blog [post by Akram Atallah and Theresa Swinehart] says that ICANN has formed an internal task force “comprised of senior leaders and subject matter experts” to focus on this important matter. Who is on this task force? Just contracted parties (registries and registrars), other registries and ICANN staff ... Not a single representative of domain name registrants, not a single privacy advocate, not a single data protection authority was allowed on the panel. And when we say “not allowed,” we mean it. The person responsible for organizing the session, Peter Vergote of Belgium’s .BE registry, was repeatedly asked to include a registrant representative on that panel. In particular, the name of privacy advocate Stephanie Perrin, an internationally recognized privacy expert, winner of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award, and someone familiar with the workings of ICANN, was put forward. Vergote refused ...."--How ICANN is manipulating its GDPR discussions | InternetGovernance.org by Milton Mueller (link and emphasis added)

All ICANN59 times are Current Local Time in Johannesburg, South Africa:

2) Other ICANN news: 

a. Holding ICANN Accountable:

What is taking ICANN CFO Xavier Calvez so long (see embed below) to respond to Domain Mondo's inquiry of May 28, 2017? Perhaps "hiding" compensation of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICANN, a 501(c)(3) non-profit California corporation, is something that neither the IRS nor the California Attorney General condones? However, it may speak "volumes" of how ICANN is really run and what ICANN leadership really thinks of the global public interest, accountability, and transparency. As I have said before, with ICANN (like dead fish), the rot starts at the top.

b.  ICANN's dysfunctional Centralized Zone Data Service (CZDS) and Registry Operator Monthly Activity Reports | Advisory and Recommendations (pdf) from ICANN's SSAC (Security and Stability Advisory Committee):

"Top level domain (TLD) zone files are vital resources for performing Domain Name System (DNS) research, security research, and anti-abuse operations. The stated goals of the Centralized Zone Data Service (CZDS) program were standardization and easy, reliable operations for participants who have a requirement to access these zone files ... after three years of operation, community members have documented problems where the CZDS does not deliver on these objectives. Policy and process difficulties prevent subscribers from gaining and then maintaining reliable access to zone files. These problems affect the ability of subscribers to perform research and security functions that benefit the public interest. Furthermore, certain registry metrics related to zone files and WHOIS queries are being reported in an inconsistent fashion. This advisory details these problems and recommends improvements."

source: SSAC SAC097

The above "recommendations" are all based upon minimal common sense, which begs the question: where is ICANN's bloated and overpaid management? Asleep or just incompetent?

c. WS2 Dashboard 23Jun17 final.pdf "this version was rushed for ICANN 59, statistics cover 6-01 thru 6-23 only, not the full month."

d.  Information for Domain Name Registrants | ICANN.org June 20, 2017. How to find these resources on the ICANN website--"RESOURCES" drop-down menu to "Domain Name Registrants":

See also: Informed and Active Domain Name Registrants are Essential for a Secure and Stable DNS | ICANN.org

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

•   Update: Systemic Copyright Alternative Dispute Resolution (SCADR) Policy | pir.org June 20, 2017: "... the feedback we have received to date indicates that this solution lacks sufficient support from our stakeholders. Accordingly, PIR will not implement the SCADR."

•  Afnic Study: The Global Domain Name Market in 2016 | afnic.fr: Country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) experienced zero growth in 2016. Overall market growth in 2016 was 7.1%, down from 11.7% in 2015.

•  Of course, most know of the decline in new gTLD domain name registrations in 2017:

Source: ntldstats.com In just 3 months, new gTLD registrations have declined by 2.5 million

ICANN's Theorem of Greed + Incompetence = Choice & Innovation has been proven FALSE.

•  Thinking of Moving Your Website To A New Domain Name? It can (and probably will) take 3 months (or more) for Google Search to pick up all the changes, in the meantime your website will  lose traffic, customers, business and $$, no matter what that SEO guru or new gTLD huckster told you--SERoundTable.com.

•  US Supreme Court (pdf) says in the U.S., a disparaging remark is free speech and can be a registered trademark. See also: SCOTUS Strikes Down Disparaging Trademark Ban | foxrothschild.com.

•   Questions Mount Over Future Of IP [Intellectual Property] | ip-watch.org.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News:

• Cisco Live 2017 Las Vegas Broadcast | CiscoLive.com:  Opening Keynote by Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco, Monday, June 26, 10:30 am PDT
• AWS re:Invent 2017 | Amazon Web Services: registration now open for the world's largest global cloud computing conference, 27 Nov - 1 Dec 2017; campus: ARIA, Encore, MGM, Mirage, The LINQ, and The Venetian in Las Vegas, NV (US).
• Using Texts as Lures, Government Spyware Targets Mexican Journalists and Their Families | NYTimes.com: "Mexico’s most prominent human rights lawyers, journalists and anti-corruption activists have been targeted by advanced spyware sold to the Mexican government on the condition that it be used only to investigate criminals and terrorists."
• URL Padding: Facebook Mobile Users Hit by Phishing Scam | hackread.com: ‘URL padding’ is a technique used by spammers to hide a malicious address by masquerading it in a legitimate looking domain name and hence tricking users into giving out their credentials. URL padding has been observed by researchers at PhishLabs as being used by a majority of the spammers to target mobile users.
• Web freedom takes a hit as Asian countries crack down on Internet usage | techwireasia.com
• Thailand jails man for 35 years for Facebook posts that insulted its royal family | TechCrunch.com
• Statement on Marawi, Martial Law and internet freedom | DavaoToday.com: "We urge citizens and organizations to be vigilant and jealous of the rights we enjoy, offline or online, against any arrogant overreach by the military and government ... Let’s keep the Philippines’ and the internet free."
• Egypt blocks more internet sites, Government & Economy | businesstimes.com.sg
• U.K. Leaders: Fight Terror With Global Internet Censorship | .thenewamerican.com
• Silicon Valley’s self-serving myths about online freedom | ft.com: "The promise of an internet under the benign oversight of innovators was never achievable."
• Globalist Internet Regulation Agenda Suffers Setback in Britain | Breitbart.com: "One silver lining for British libertarians following the U.K. general election, which saw Labour’s hard left leader Jeremy Corbyn come within spitting distance of Downing Street, is that Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for internet censorship might now be harder to achieve."
• Beware: PayPal scam is back and more dangerous than ever | BT.com
• Help Save Internet Fairness | AmericanLibrariesMagazine.org: "Public comments now open on new FCC net neutrality proposal"
• What is net neutrality? Day to save the Internet to be held on July 12 | Metro.co.uk
• BroadbandBreakfast.com: Panelists at Tech Event Hope that Trump Administration Will Rally to Cause of Global Internet Freedom.
• I worked for Obama, but I’m going to Trump’s tech meeting ... | WashingtonPost.com

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

• News Review | New gTLD .AFRICA: ICANN Motion for Summary Judgment

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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News Review | Caveat Emptor: ICANN & New gTLD Domain Names

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

Features • 1) New gTLD Domain Name Registrants Caveat Emptor: ICANN & New gTLD Domain Names, 2) Tweets of the Week, 3) ICANN Accountability Work Stream 2 slippage, 4) Names, Domains & Trademarks: A Brave New World Without Sunrises or the TMCH? 5) ICYMI Internet Domain News: We Need A New Internet and the IETF is a Mess, 6) Q1 2017 Earnings Season: Qualcomm April 19, 7) Most Popular.

1) Caveat Emptor Registrants: ICANN Says New gTLDs' Domain Names May Not Work As Expected on the Internet--

"WTF ICANN?"

"1.2 Technical Feasibility of String. While ICANN has encouraged and will continue to encourage universal acceptance of all top-level domain strings across the Internet, certain top-level domain strings may encounter difficulty in acceptance by ISPs and webhosters and/or validation by web applications. Registry Operator shall be responsible for ensuring to its satisfaction the technical feasibility of the TLD string prior to entering into this Agreement."--ICANN Base Registry Agreement (pdf), updated 09 January 2014 (emphasis added).

ICANN press release April 11, 2017: "... According to one study, 13 percent of websites reject new domain names with more than three letters [in the TLD (top-level domain)] ... many applications still do not accept the new domains [new gTLD domain names]. Universal Acceptance [UA] has progressed [even] less for IDNs than for gTLDs ..." (emphasis added) (Editor's note: ICANN has known about this UA problem since at least 2003 and yet the greedy, grossly negligent, and incompetent ICANN decided to proceed with its new gTLDs program, collect the money, and delegate over 1200 new gTLDs knowing they would "break stuff," without any disclosures or warnings to the general public or domain name registrants!)

Add to the above the fact that ICANN's new gTLDs come with no limitations as to future price increases to consumers (domain name registrants).  Unlike .COM domain names, that shiny new gTLD domain name that cost you $XX this year to register could cost you $XX,000 next year to renew, and ICANN is in the process of deleting the requirement that new gTLD registry operators notify ICANN about price increases--better not put your new gTLD domain name on "auto-renew."

"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.

How did ICANN come to screw up its new gTLDs program so badly? There's plenty of blame to go around--inept ICANN leadership compounded by rampant conflicts of interest, incompetence, and cronyism, the effects of which continue to this day, but if I had to choose a single point failure it would be ICANN's decision to not follow the advice they were given by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (pdf) via the U.S. Department of Commerce (NTIA) (pdf) in December, 2008:

U.S. Dept. of Justice Antitrust Division advice to ICANN (Dec 8, 2008), supra, p.2

See also on Domain Mondo: Global Public Interest: Why ICANN Will Always Be A #FAIL and New gTLDs Failing, ICANN58 Ends, ICANN in La La Land.

2) Tweets of the Week: 
(a) @DomainKing on ICANN's new gTLDs:

Remember one thing, there was no clamor by a single consumer on earth for new extensions. They don't care. Never will. #newgTLDS #Domains

— Rick Schwartz (@DomainKing) April 10, 2017

(b) @SwiftOnSecurity on new gTLD .TOP:

I'm not sure what ICANN is doing, but .top is so bad that the friggen registrar is blacklisted in our Palo Alto when I try to go there.

— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) April 12, 2017

Editor's note: What's ICANN doing? Nothing but collecting the money--.TOP is the second largest new gTLD in registrations--mostly in China (78%)--having a 15.4% market share among all new gTLDs.

3) ICANN Accountability-Work Stream 2 slippage, March 2017 status (updated 10 Apr 2017):

Note: Jurisdiction subgroup (see below), will miss its target date for completion of work. 3 other subgroups--Diversity, Ombuds Office, and Review of the CEP--are "behind schedule:"

Above: excerpt from Activity Dashboard embedded in full further below

CCWG Plenary,
I have attached a "discussion draft" of the Jurisdiction Subgroup's Revised Work Plan and Schedule.  While this was first reviewed at the Subgroup's meeting earlier today, it was based on earlier discussions in the Subgroup.--Greg Shatan, Rapporteur, April 12, 2017  --[see embed below, highlighting added]

• CCWG-WS2 public mail list: http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/accountability-cross-community/2017-April/013888.html
• The WS2-jurisdiction April 2017 Archive by date
• http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/ws2-jurisdiction/
• [Ws2-jurisdiction] Notes, recordings and transcript for WS2 Jurisdiction Subgroup Meeting # 26 | 11 April 2017: Next meeting 18 April 1900 UTC

CCWG-Accountability WS2 Activity Dashboard updated 10 April 2017:

4) Names, Domains & Trademarks

• A Brave New World Without Sunrises or the TMCH?--Review of all Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) in all gTLDs PDP Working Group | ICANN.org--see mail list topics here. 

• Registrar, Registry, Domain Name…A Quick Primer… | Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC | JDSupra.com: "... “What other documentation would be part of a domain name transfer (or sale)?” Excellent point. Beyond the processes above, if you are transferring a domain name to or from a third party, we generally recommend the parties enter into a Domain Name Transfer and Assignment Agreement that specifies domain to be transferred, the consideration to be paid between the parties (and when such amounts are paid), and contains at least three key concepts (sample wording for each is provided below) ..."

• India's Growing Internet Penetration and the Power of .COM by Prakhar Bindal | businessworld.in 12 Apr 2017: "So, even if you need to pay a little extra to get the domain name of your choice, it is almost always worth it. India’s growing online penetration spells a world of opportunity for Indian small businesses ... Choosing the right domain extension also matters. 79 percent of the SMBs in India currently prefer .com over other TLDs. Trust and the need for a professional image are the primary reasons driving this preference. This is in line with the global trend, where .com remains the most widely used TLD across the world ..."

• CEP and IRP Status Update – 14 April 2017 | ICANN.org  (pdf)

• TICK DIFFERENT – But Apparently Not All That Different? | Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. | JDSupra.com: "... Swiss watchmaker Swatch AG finds itself embroiled in another trademark dispute with Apple, Inc. – this time, for the trademark TICK DIFFERENT. Swatch applied for the trademark in Switzerland, which Apple has challenged before the Swiss Federal Administrative Court. Apple, you may recall, coined the slogan THINK DIFFERENT in connection with a 1997 ad campaign ..."

• Trade Mark Scams - Beware of Unofficial Notices | Lexology.com

• Christian Dior sues more Chinese websites for selling fakes | SecuringIndustry.com

• No False Advertising Where There Is No Injury or Statements Are Opinions | McDermott Will & Emery | JDSupra.com: citing Verisign, Inc. v. XYZ.com LLC, Case No. 15-2526 (4th Cir., Feb. 8, 2017).

5)  ICYMI Internet Domain News 

• We Urgently Need a New Internet | circleid.com:  "... Unfortunately however, the current internet cannot be fixed. So we need a new one. My colleague Martin Geddes has written an excellent article on why the old net is broken and why it can't be fixed ..."
• Mend, Don't End, the IETF | circleid.com: "First things first: Martin is right. The IETF is a mess ..."
• The benefits and harms of e-commerce on competition law | Dentons | JDSupra.com
• DDoS attacks abusing exposed LDAP servers on the rise | InfoWorld.com: "Abusing the vulnerability could generate a "DDoS wildfire," Ixia's Murarasu said. It's also easy for attackers to find BIND servers that can be abused because all they have to do is set up a malicious nameserver to send a response and scan the internet for nameservers that respond with a large query."
• Why HTTPS Won't Keep Your Internet Usage Habits Secret | Inc.com: HTTPS will not protect you from an ISP that wants to sell information about your Internet usage habits.
• DDoS attack takes out Melbourne IT DNS servers | arnnet.com.au
• Wordpress hard pressed by malicious javascript and trojans | scmagazine.com
• Recognizing Access to the Internet as a “Basic Need,” Rejecting Blanket Bans on Internet Use, and Raising Questions as to the Scope of Monitoring Personal Computers | Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer P.A. | JDSupra.com
• Beware ICANN Groupthink: "Groupthink is when a group of individuals on a project become overly insular and fail to rely on outside thinking or fresh perspective.--Blattel Communications | JDSupra.com.

6) Q1 2017 Earnings Season coverage on Domain Mondo this coming week:

Qualcomm NASDAQ: QCOM (Domain: qualcomm.com) --Apr 19, 2017, 4:45pm EDT Qualcomm Q2 FY17 Earnings Conference Call--this Domain Mondo coverage due to pending Apple vs Qualcomm litigation.

See also: Why We Think We’re Better Investors Than We Are | NYTimes.com: "Studies have revealed significant overconfidence in the judgments of scientists, lawyers, engineers, doctors and those in other professions ..."

7) Most popular post (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: News Review | ICANN & Its New gTLDs: Pedophilia's Best New Friends?

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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DISCLAIMER

News Review: Who Needs a Domain Name and Website Anymore?

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

Feature •  Who needs a domain name and website anymore?

Some would have you believe websites are passé:

Source: Hootsuite.com and Edelman.com

But read:

• Hashtags in Super Bowl ads slip to 30% in 2017, overtaken by URL use in 39% | MarketingLand.com and Exclusive: Rick Schwartz Thinks Use of Domains In The Super Bowl Over Hashtags Is A Game Changer For The Domain Industry | TheDomains.com.
• Facebook, Snapchat Deals Produce Meager Results for News Media: "Newspapers and other media outlets are struggling to make money from their partnerships with tech giants like Facebook and Snapchat, raising concerns over their business models in a news landscape increasingly dominated by social media platforms."--Bloomberg.com
• Why I Spent $1.5 Million on Our Domain [SUMO.COM] | entrepreneur.com
• Why brand names are the new logos | DesignWeek.co.uk: "Re-brands commonly involve the simplification of brand marks. Think of Airbnb, Google, Moo.com. In the interests of user experience, simple flat word marks with key-line symbols are prevalent for tech brands."
• The End of Digital Advertising as We Know It | knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu: "The new era of post-peak advertising will mean that publishers and marketers will have to adapt or die." 
• TechReview | What's Really Wrong With Twitter ... | DomainMondo.com: "... ANY general media platform trying to attract "users" [customers]--viewers or consumers of content--that relies solely on an app, and is effectively unusable on the mobile web, is a #FAIL [compare Twitter's mobile web experience to YouTube.com via a mobile web browser]."

Other Internet Domain News:

1.  New gTLD .WEB Updates:

• Verisign $VRSN Q4 2016 Earnings LIVE Webcast Feb 9, 4:30pm ET: "... as it relates to our becoming the registry operator for .web, on January 18, 2017, the company received a Civil Investigative Demand from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, requesting certain information related to VeriSign's potential operations of the .web TLD. The CID is not directed at VeriSign's existing registry agreements. As we said at the time of the auction last July, we strongly believe VeriSign is well-positioned to grow and widely distribute .web to provide an additional option to the marketplace, given our proven track record of reliability and stability, and we look forward to explaining our views as we respond to the CID and continue to cooperate with the DOJ."--D. James Bidzos, Verisign President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board (Transcript | SeekingAlpha.com).
• Pending: Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of  Appeals: Ruby Glen LLC (Donuts affiliate) vs ICANN.
• Afilias Chairman Jonathan Robinson resigns as Co-Chair of the Cross-Community Working Group on new gTLD Auction Proceeds (CWG-Auctions)--

2.  ICANN CCWG Accountability Workstream 2 (WS2) Dashboard for the month of January 2017 (pdf) excerpt:

See also:  ICANN Jurisdiction, CCWG-Accountability WS2 Questionnaire | DomainMondo.com.

3. Update on ICANN's CCT-Review--Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice Review--"We will be spending our two next plenary calls (February 9 & 15) discussing the Executive Summary, defining Prioritization and finally reviewing recommendations priority (including if there is a prerequisite to subsequent procedures). Considering we are behind schedule on our papers discussions, we have shifted our deadline to publish our draft recommendations to February 20 ..."--CCT-RT Chair Jonathan Zuck

4.  Global Amendment to the Base New gTLD Registry Agreement:  ICANN completely disregarded domain name registrants' concerns, and is going to remove pricing transparency on new gTLDs, what happens next?

5.   ICANN Board Report – February 2017 Workshop 09 Feb 2017 board-report-workshop-feb-2017-09feb17-en.pdf [676 KB], excerpts:

• As of the end of December 2016, ICANN org has 365 people, that is 21 people less than the FY17 year end budget projection of 386. Over the last three months, 15 joined and another 8 left.
• ICANN Org by Locations: As of December 31 2016, North America Offices & Remote consists of 217 (79%) in Los Angeles office, 28 in Washington DC office, 29 work remotely in US, 1 work remotely in Canada, totaling 275 (75% of the total organization).

6.   Letter from Göran Marby to Thomas Schneider [Published 8 February 2017] ICANN | President & CEO Responses to the questions in Annex 1 of the Hyderabad Communiqué GACCommuniqué - Hyderabad, India [Published 8 November 2016] excerpt:

Question 2b. Is ICANN conducting any type of independent research that allows it to obtain metrics and generate statistics related to concentration of malicious domain names per registrar/registry and how this trends over a determined period of time? Answer: "At this time, ICANN is not generating statistics on malicious domains in a comprehensive way ..."

7.  Healthy Domains Initiative Isn't Healthy for the Internet | Electronic Frontier Foundation | EFF.org:

Healthy Domains Initiative Isn't Healthy for the Internet https://t.co/anM74XNULK via @EFF #domains #DomainName #NetGov @ICANN #ICANN pic.twitter.com/LSabeWKtfW

— Domain Mondo (@DomainMondo) February 11, 2017

8.  Rightside (NASDAQ: NAME) and Donuts Sign Multi-Year Extension of their New gTLD Registry Services Agreement (Feb 7, 2017): Rightside will continue to provide the back-end registry services for Donuts' nearly 200 new generic Top Level Domains (new gTLDs). "A registry back-end system performs the critical functions necessary for a domain name registry to fulfill its technical obligations in running a top-level domain (or TLD, the section of the web address to the right of the dot).  This includes provisioning and maintenance of domains in the registry database and the domain name system (DNS), supplying Whois services, providing shared access to registration functions for domain name registrars, and numerous features to support the business and operational requirements of registry operators."

9.  Q4 2016 Results this coming week on DomainMondo.com: GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) Q4 2016 Results, LIVE Webcast Feb 15, 5:00pm ET. ICYMI on Domain Mondo: Tucows $TCX Q4 2016 Earnings LIVE Webcast Feb 7, 5:00pm ET.

On DM's coverage list, only Rightside (NASDAQ:NAME) has failed to announce when it will release Q4 2016 results. Perhaps Rightside, like Neustar, will  go private since it's a thinly traded small cap stock and apparently isn't going anywhere:

10.  Geneva Internet Platform DigitalWatch newsletter (pdf) notes 1) that "over the last two decades, globalisation and the growth of the Internet have been closely related. Looking ahead, the crisis of globalisation will have an unavoidable impact on the internet ... in addition to a more fragmented internet ..." and 2) in Russia, three cybersecurity specialists connected to the Kremlin were arrested over allegations that they were spying for Washington.

•  3 Internet Domain News Quick Takes:

1. Domain name transferred under UDRP restituted by French court in absence of infringement | WorldTrademarkReview.com
2. Top 10 Domain Name Mistakes (Part I) | The National Law Review | natlawreview.com
3. Fiber broadband: Is it a waste with 5G and Elon Musk's satellites on the horizon? | ZDNet.com

•  The 4 most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:

1. UPDATE: Ninth Circuit Denies Stay of TRO, State of Washington vs Trump
2. News Review: .AFRICA Update, ICANN Annual Report, ICANN.org 404: Update Feb 9, 2017: ICANN finally free to proceed with the delegation of new gTLD .AFRICA following California Superior Court ruling. 
3. Twitter $TWTR Q4 2016 Earnings LIVE Webcast Feb 9, 8:00am ET
4. Tucows $TCX Q4 2016 Earnings LIVE Webcast Feb 7, 5:00pm ET

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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DISCLAIMER

ICANN Jurisdiction, CCWG-Accountability WS2 Questionnaire

ICANN Jurisdiction Questionnaire

* For this Questionnaire [above], “ICANN’s jurisdiction” refers to (a) ICANN being subject to U.S. and California law as a result of its incorporation and location in California, (b) ICANN being subject to the laws of any other country as a result of its location within or contacts with that country, or (c) any “choice of law” or venue provisions in agreements with ICANN.

For translations of the questionnaire:
Language:  Word Doc /  PDF
English:  EN  /  EN
Arabic:  AR /  AR
Spanish:  ES  /  ES
French:  FR  /  FR
Russian:  RU /  RU
Chinese:  ZH  / ZH

ICANN's information and explanation:

CCWG-Accountability Work Stream 2 Issues Jurisdiction Questionnaire | ICANN.org: "The newly-adopted ICANN Bylaws created several Work Stream 2 accountability subgroups. One of these subgroups, the Jurisdiction Subgroup, is addressing questions related to ICANN's jurisdiction, including how choice of jurisdiction and applicable laws for dispute settlement impact ICANN's accountability and the actual operation of policies. The Jurisdiction Subgroup has put out a questionnaire seeking responses to several jurisdiction-related questions. The Subgroup is asking you to consider and respond to these questions with concrete, factual submissions. The questionnaire can be found at https://community.icann.org/x/UpXRAw and is available in each of the 6 languages supported by ICANN. You may respond to the questionnaire in any of these languages. Responses must be transmitted via email to ccwg-acctws2.jurisdiction.questionnaire @icann.org . Responses must clearly identify the individual responding and, where applicable, the organization for which the response is being submitted. Responses may be submitted at any point during the response period. The subgroup will accept responses until 23:59 UTC 17 April 2017." (emphasis added)

ICANN organizational provisions concerning "jurisdiction":

ICANN Articles of Incorporation as revised (emphasis added):
1. The name of this corporation is Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (the "Corporation").
2. The name of the Corporation's initial agent for service of process in the State of California, United States of America is C T Corporation System.
3. This Corporation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. It is organized under the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law for charitable and public purposes. The Corporation is organized, and will be operated, exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes within the meaning of § 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), or the corresponding provision of any future United States tax code. Any reference in these Articles to the Code shall include the corresponding provisions of any further United States tax code ....

ICANN Bylaws as revised (emphasis added):

ARTICLE 4: Section 4.7. COMMUNITY MEDIATION: ... (e) The mediator shall conduct the mediation in accordance with these Bylaws, the laws of California and the rules and procedures of a well-respected international dispute resolution provider, which may be the IRP Provider. The arbitration will be conducted in the English language consistent with the provisions relevant for mediation under the IRP Rules of Procedure and will occur in Los Angeles County, California, unless another location is mutually-agreed between the Mediation Administration and Board Mediation Representatives.

ARTICLE 6 EMPOWERED COMMUNITY
Section 6.1. COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE EMPOWERED COMMUNITY
(a) The Empowered Community ("EC") shall be a nonprofit association formed under the laws of the State of California ....

ARTICLE 16 POST-TRANSITION IANA ENTITY
Section 16.1. DESCRIPTION
ICANN shall maintain as a separate legal entity a California nonprofit public benefit corporation (["PTI"]) for the purpose of providing IANA services ....

Section 16.2. PTI Governance

(a) ICANN, in its capacity as the sole Member of PTI, shall elect the directors of PTI in accordance with the articles of incorporation and bylaws of PTI and have all other powers of a sole Member under the CCC except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws.

(b) No amendment or modification of the articles of incorporation of PTI shall be effective unless approved by the EC (pursuant to the procedures applicable to Articles Amendments described in Section 25.2, as if such Article Amendment referenced therein refers to an amendment of PTI's articles of incorporation).

(c) ICANN shall not amend or modify the bylaws of PTI in a manner that would effect any of the matters set forth in clauses (i) through (xiv) below (a "PTI Bylaw Amendment") if such PTI Bylaw Amendment has been rejected by the EC pursuant to the procedures described in Section 16.2(e):

(i) any change to the corporate form of PTI to an entity that is not a California nonprofit public benefit corporation organized under the CCC or any successor statute ....

ARTICLE 24 OFFICES AND SEAL

Section 24.1. OFFICES

The principal office for the transaction of the business of ICANN shall be in the County of Los Angeles, State of California, United States of America. ICANN may also have an additional office or offices within or outside the United States of America as it may from time to time establish ....

ARTICLE 27 TRANSITION ARTICLE
Section 27.1. WORK STREAM 2
(a) The Cross-Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability ("CCWG-Accountability") was established pursuant to a charter dated 3 November 2014 ("CCWG-Accountability Charter"). The CCWG-Accountability Charter was subsequently adopted by the GNSO, ALAC, ccNSO, GAC, ASO and SSAC ("CCWG Chartering Organizations"). The CCWG-Accountability Charter as in effect on 3 November 2014 shall remain in effect throughout Work Stream 2 (as defined therein).
(b) The CCWG-Accountability recommended in its Supplemental Final Proposal on Work Stream 1 Recommendations to the Board, dated 23 February 2016 ("CCWG-Accountability Final Report") that the below matters be reviewed and developed following the adoption date of these Bylaws ("Work Stream 2 Matters"), in each case, to the extent set forth in the CCWG-Accountability Final Report:
....

(vi) Addressing jurisdiction-related questions, including how choice of jurisdiction and applicable laws for dispute settlement impact ICANN's accountability; ...

See also: UPDATE Feb 9, 2017: ICANN [Finally] Free to Proceed with the Delegation of .AFRICA Following Court Decision | DomainMondo.com

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DISCLAIMER

UPDATE: Trump Loses at Ninth Circuit, Stay of TRO "DENIED"