News Review | FCC Votes To Kill U.S. Internet Net Neutrality, Video Replay

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-12-10) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) FCC To Kill U.S. Internet Net Neutrality on December 14, 2) ICANN news: FY18 Q1, Failing New gTLD, and more, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: a. ICANN Enabled Fraud & Theft of Domain Names, b. Trademark Infringement, c. Domain Brokers, GDPR & WHOIS, d) Antitrust, 4) ICYMI: Wuzhen Summit (4th WIC), 5) Most Read.

1)  UPDATE: FCC Votes 3-2 To Kill U.S. Internet Net Neutrality Title II Rules

Open Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Hearing, December 14, 2017, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm EST, Room TW-C305, 445 12th Street S.W., Washington, DC. Watch the LIVE webcast replay below.

FCC Open Commission Meeting - December 14, 2017

Net Neutrality Issue begins at 01:09:52

The U.S. FCC proceeded with its scheduled December 14 vote to kill net neutrality rules despite calls for delay by consumer groups (pdf) (embedded below), and others, strongly urging the FCC to delay the vote on the “Restoring Internet Freedom” draft Order until resolution of the pending en banc Ninth Circuit case FTC v. AT&T Mobility LLC, 835 F.3d 993 (9th Cir. 2016), reh’g en banc granted, No. 15-­‐16585, 2017 WL 1856836 (9th Cir. May 9, 2017), which, if decided in favor of AT&T, would strip the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of oversight authority over ISPs like AT&T, Verizon, and others, leaving consumers completely unprotected. The impact on startups and small and medium size businesses from the FCC's proposed Order, is also of great concern.

UPDATES: 

• Pioneers for Net Neutrality letter to select members of Congress: ".... We therefore call on you to urge FCC Chairman Pai to cancel the FCC’s vote. The FCC’s rushed and technically incorrect proposed Order to abolish net neutrality protections without any replacement is an imminent threat to the Internet we worked so hard to create. It should be stopped."--Tim Berners-Lee, Paul Vixie, Vint Cerf, Steve Wozniak, and more. (emphasis added)
• The FCC Still Doesn’t Know How the Internet Works | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org

Want to stop the FCC? Go to Protect the Open Internet Order | EFF Action Center.

Highlighting added to embed of consumer groups letter below:

See also:

• Tim Wu: Why the Courts Will Have to Save Net Neutrality | NYTimes.com.

• Net neutrality supporters predict tough court battle over FCC's repeal plan | TheHill.com: "The draft order seems to say that the FCC is no longer interested in exercising its responsibilities as an expert agency,” Jonathan Sallet, a former FCC general counsel under the Obama administration, said in a call with reporters Wednesday, adding, "I do not believe a court of appeals will uphold this order.”

2) ICANN news

a. ICANN Quarterly Report FY18 Q1 (presentation and recordings) excerpt:

See also: FY19 Process Overview - Finance Community Wiki | ICANN.org.

b. Failing New gTLD: .WED Placed in Emergency Back-End Registry Operator (EBERO) Program | ICANN.org: "Registry operator, Atgron, Inc., which operates gTLD .WED, experienced a Registration Data Directory Services failure, and ICANN designated EBERO provider Nominet as emergency interim registry operator. Nominet has now stepped in and is restoring service for the TLD."

c. CCT-RT: Webinar: Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice Review New Sections of Draft Report | ICANN.org: 18 December 2017 Time: 16:00 – 17:00 UTC, more info at link above.

d. GNSO: GNSO Council Strategic Planning Session 29 – 31 January 2018, Los Angeles (pdf)--Editor's note: Trying to make the unbalanced & inherently dysfunctional, functional?

e. 2017 Reconsideration Requests Status Update 07 Dec 2017: reconsideration-requests-status-2017-07dec17-en.pdf [104 KB].

f. Auction Schedule: New gTLDs "On Hold" (highlighting added):

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. ICANN Enabled Fraud & Theft of Domain Names--Artful Misrepresentations of UDRP Jurisprudence:"... [UDRP] panelists do not walk in lock-step, and since there is no “appellate” authority to correct errors of law (in the U.S. only the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) ..."--IPLegalCorner.com

b. Trademark Infringement: Apple vs Xiaomi--"Mi Pad” tablet computer denied EU trademark because the name is too similar to Apple’s “iPad”--Reuters.com.

c. Domain Names: i. The state of domain name brokers | OnlineDomain.com: "There are a few, probably less than 10, that are pretty good ...;" and ii. GDPR Updates: Whois Changes | OpenSRS.com.

d. Antitrust: Hearing | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary | judiciary.senate.gov: The Consumer Welfare Standard in Antitrust: Outdated or a Harbor in a Sea of Doubt? Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights Date: Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at 02:30 pm EST - Watch LIVE.

“I think people are understanding just how poorly structured these institutions are, how sloppily they were built ... It’s not just a matter of the fact that these people have too much power, it’s also that they are sloppy in the use of their power.”--Barry Lynn--Google critic takes on tech giants | TheHill.com: "Since the 1980s, antitrust policy in the U.S. has largely drawn from what’s known as the Chicago School, which holds that competition regulators should focus on how consumers are impacted by issues like pricing when deciding whether to take action against a company. The new antitrust movement argues that framework is too narrow and that regulators also need to take into account a company’s effects on its competition."

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Wuzhen Summit--4th World Internet Conference, Dec 3-5, Wuzhen, China:

• Cyber Sovereignty & Wuzhen Summit 2017 Update: China's 4th WIC (video) | DomainMondo.com

• China Hosts 4th World Internet Conference (WIC) Dec 3-5 | DomainMondo.com

• US, China experts differ on Net governance | StraitsTimes.com: "American panelists calling for a multi-stakeholder approach, while the Chinese said the role of governments cannot be overstated."

The U.S. can no longer ignore China as a global internet player | brookings.edu by Ryan Hass* who attended the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen for the first time this year:

"The Chinese government is aggressively moving to attract international support for its vision for internet rule-making and management, while the United States government appears largely missing in action."

*From 2013 to 2017, Ryan Hass served as the director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia on the Obama administration's National Security Council (NSC) staff. 

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

1. News Review | China Hosts 4th World Internet Conference (WIC) Dec 3-5.

2. Smartphone Maker Xiaomi Seeking A $50 Billion IPO Valuation (video)

3. Cboe Launches Bitcoin Futures Trading in Chicago On Sunday (video)

4. Tech Review | The Internet Broke The Media & There's No Going Back 

5. Brexit: Luring Tech Talent to the UK vs EU (video)

6.  Tech Review | U.S. Tax Reform: What It Means For Big Tech (video) 

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo

Note: original post title: News Review | FCC To Kill U.S. Internet Net Neutrality on December 14

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Cyber Sovereignty & Wuzhen Summit 2017 Update: China's 4th WIC (video)

World Internet Conference attracts worldwide talent to China's Wuzhen

CGTN America video above published Dec 3, 2017: The World Internet Conference (WIC) attracted worldwide talent to Wuzhen, China. Tech and political leaders came together to discuss the future of the internet. CGTN’s Zou Yun reports.

I totally agree on what I just heard “Big names are here, #WuzhenSummit is the Davos for #DigitalEconomy” #WorldInternetConference pic.twitter.com/j0CJ63J9hu

— Miguel Ángel Margáin (@MA_Margain) December 4, 2017

Miguel Ángel Margáin @MA_Margain
Director General del Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial #PorUnMéxicoOriginal @IMPI_Mexico  |  http://www.gob.mx/impi

China's President Xi Jinping renews call for  ‘cyber sovereignty’ at the Wuzhen Summit a/k/a World Internet Conference--

• Apple, Google CEOs Bring Star Power as China Promotes Censorship | Bloomberg.com

• Internet censorship: It's on the rise and Silicon Valley is helping it happen | ZDNet.com: "Instead of opposing the internet barriers raised by the world's authoritarian regimes, Silicon Valley is playing along."
• China’s Xi Jinping Opens Tech Conference With Call for ‘Cyber Sovereignty’ | WSJ.com: "China’s President Xi Jinping called for “more fair and equitable” governance of the global web, as the country opened a state-run internet conference aimed at pushing its alternative vision of the web."
• China Asserts Cyber Sovereignty; Google, Apple Plead for Better Access | Variety.com: "Western companies have complained that they are not allowed access to Chinese markets and customers while Chinese companies can operate freely overseas. That potentially puts China in breach of its obligations to the World Trade Organization. But China suggests that cyber sovereignty is a matter of national security, protecting the country from crime and terrorism."(emphasis added)
• UNICEF highlights child online safety at Wuzhen Summit | ChinaDailyAsia.com.

Cyber sovereignty, the idea that each country has the right to censor and regulate the internet is being taken up elsewhere including Russia which temporarily blocked Tencent’s social media app WeChat in May for not complying with local regulations. Also addressing the conference Sunday were Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In the last year, Apple has removed from its local App Store various apps not  approved by China's government, including Skype. Facebook, Google, Netflix, YouTube, and Twitter, are among the many western tech companies blocked in China. China was ranked last in terms of internet freedom in a survey last month by Freedom House, a pro-democracy group that lists Google among its funders. "One person who won’t be making an appearance this year is China’s former internet tsar Lu Wei, who delivered a speech at the closing ceremony two years ago. Lu has been detained amid an internal party corruption investigation."--South China Morning Post | scmp.com.

Top tech CEOs take to the stage as Wuzhen Summit opens in East China's Zhejiang province, Dec 3, 2017. (Photo: IC) pic.twitter.com/ySb2H2bM8b

— China Daily (@ChinaDailyUSA) December 3, 2017

See also on Domain Mondo: News Review | China Hosts 4th World Internet Conference (WIC) Dec 3-5

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News Review | China Hosts 4th World Internet Conference Dec 3-5

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-12-03) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) China Hosts 4th World Internet Conference (WIC) Dec 3-5, 2) ICANN news: a. ICANN Going Broke?  b. Russian Internet DNS for BRICS, c. Letter from India, d. SSR2 Status, e. FY18 Q1 Report, f. CEP & IRP Update, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: New gTLDs Are NOT Failing Due To 'Lack of Awareness', 4) ICYMI: Net Neutrality, Internet Freedom, EU Internet Censorship, 5) Most Read Posts.

1) China hosts 4th World Internet Conference (WIC) December 3-5, 2017, Wuzhen, China

The World Internet Conference also known as Wuzhen Summit, is an annual event, first held in 2014, organized by government agencies in China to discuss Internet issues and policy.

• Hosts: Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and Zhejiang Provincial People's Government.
• Domain: wuzhenwic.org 

4th World Internet Conference Press Conference | wuzhenwic.org 16 November 2017, in Beijing: "Ren Xianliang, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Ge Huijun, director of the publicity department of Zhejiang province and Party secretary of Tongxiang city Sheng Yongjun provided information about the conference and answered questions. With a theme of Developing Digital Economy for Openness and Shared Benefits -- Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace, this year's conference has 20 forums covering the five topics of digital economy, cutting-edge technologies, Internet and society, cyberspace governance and exchanges and cooperation, said Ren. The conference will welcome 1,500 guests from five continents, including heads of international organizations, internet business leaders, internet celebrities, experts and scholars."

Those attending include Apple CEO Tim Cook. China's President Xi will appear via video.

AGENDA (detailed agenda here)
3 Dec: Opening Ceremony; Plenary Session; Release Ceremony
4 Dec: Forums (17 forums) 1. Global Digital Economy; 2. Artificial Intelligence; ....
5 Dec: Forum: Business Leaders Dialogue; Forum: Finding the Better Way to Drive the Real Economy; Forum: Closed Meeting on Cybersecurity; Closing Ceremony

December 2015 Flashback (first tweet below was from Fadi Chehade, predecessor to current ICANN President & CEO Goran Marby):

. @icann_president If it's in your personal capacity, you should find some other account to post from. #ICANN

— Andrew Sullivan (@anvilwalrusden) December 19, 2015

See: After Wuzhen, Should ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Be Fired? | DomainMondo.com (2015-12-28).

See also:

• China’s Cybersecurity Law One Year On | newamerica.org

• ICANN in Wuzhen, China - Fourth World Internet Conference ... | ICANN.org 29 Nov 2017, by Sally Costerton, Sr. Advisor to the President and SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement.

2) ICANN news

a. ICANN Going Broke? ICANN Reserve Fund Depleted. Income Likely To Decline?

"During the GNSO Council meeting in Abu Dhabi, ICANN’s Chief Financial Officer stated that ICANN’s funding is “stabilizing” – that is to say, income has stopped growing. The registrar community appears to feel it is trending downwards, judging from the discussion in the GNSO Council meeting. We feel very strongly that the time is now for the organisation to reconsider unnecessary expenditure and to work to build a strong Reserve Fund that can support the organisation should income begin to decline. Given ICANN has lost 15% of its fee-paying registrars this quarter alone, we think this is a very real possibility." (emphasis added)--excerpt: Statement​ ​of​ ​the​ ​Non-Commercial​ ​Stakeholders​ ​Group​ (NCSG) ​on​ the ICANN​ ​Reserve​ ​Fund​ ​Rationale​ ​and​ ​Target​ ​Level (pdf) embedded below (highlighting added):

Editor's note: read the other comments submitted, including mine, here.

See also: ICANN Budget Freeze, Uncertainty in Revenues, US Politics, IANA Transition, Volunteer Fatigue (2014-09-18).

b. A Russian Internet DNS for BRICS--move over ICANN--Russia to launch ‘independent internet’ for BRICS nations - report | RT.com--President Vladimir Putin personally set a deadline of August 1, 2018 for the completion of the task "an independent internet infrastructure for BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa] nations, which would continue to work in the event of global internet malfunctions." 

DefenseOne.com:"More precisely, Moscow intends to create an alternative to the global Domain Name System, or DNS ... If you’ve got a backup internet running that connects you to key nation-state trading partners, you can hack your opponent at less risk of disrupting your own state" (emphasis added).  [Editor's note: prepare for more severe cyberattacks against DNS internet infrastructure after August 1, 2018.]

c. Geographic Names and 2 character country codes (ccTLDs) at the second level--speaking of BRICS--Letter from India (pdf) to ICANN (Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India, to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby, Nov 22, 2017):

d. SSR2 Status: SSR2 Review Team Work still SUSPENDED (since October 28, pursuant to directive of ICANN Board of Directors 28 Oct 2017, accepted by ICANN AC/SOs (pdf), restart date TBD). Source: SSR2 Review Team mailing list.

e. ICANN FY18 Q1 Stakeholder Update: On 30 Nov 2017 ICANN published its report for the quarter ending 30 September 2017, and an Executive Summary recording from Göran Marby, ICANN President and CEO, and Cherine Chalaby, Chairman of the ICANN Board of Directors, reviewable here. The public is invited to attend a question and answer (Q&A) call on 7 December at 17:00 UTC to ask any questions about the report. More information, including how to register for the call, here.

f. CEP and IRP Status Update – 15 November 2017 | ICANN.org (pdf, 509 KB).

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

New gTLDs Are NOT Failing Due To 'Lack of Awareness':

source: ntldstats.com Nov 28, 2017

Ignore the false narratives of the hucksters (new gTLD registry operators and their sycophants), and ICANN's incompetent Global Domains Division (GDD), the above (screenshot Nov 28, 2017, courtesy of ntldstats.com) is not a picture of consumer (registrant) "lack of awareness" about new gTLDs, but a picture of consumers (registrants) rejecting the unwanted and defective new gTLDs--note that on Nov 27, every one of the top ten new gTLDs was "bleeding red"--declining in domain name registrations. According to ntldstats.com, since April 13, 2017, total new gTLDs' domain name registrations have declined by about six million registrations, and for all of 2017 so far, a net loss of over 4 million new gTLDs' domain name registrations.

Here's another source of data: DomainWire Global TLD Report Q3/2017 | CENTR.org excerpt:

*Legacy gTLDs are defined by CENTR.org as all gTLDs not part of the 2012 new gTLD application round. These TLDs include: .aero, .asia, .biz, .cat, .com, .coop, .info, .jobs, .mobi, .name, .net, .org, .pro, .tel, .travel and .xxx.

Editor's note: ICANN and the "ICANN community" should learn to listen to consumers (registrants) before assuming to know what registrants want and need. Hint: consumers do not want or need hundreds of new gTLDs that fail to work as expected on the internet (technical feasibility #fail), nor gTLDs with unpredictable predatory registry pricing (anti-consumer monopolistic pricing power) and excessive overreaching RPMs (anti-registrant, anti-free speech). Registrants do not want or need a pack of lying hucksters pushing their defective, worthless new gTLD domain names, using as many lies as they think they can get away with. Add to all of that the new gTLDs 'private auctions' which drove up costs that can only be recovered from registrants, and you have a picture of a real new gTLDs program #FAIL. ICANN never listens to registrants and that is why this new gTLDs program is failing. Most knowledgeable registrants are neither as gullible, nor incompetent, as ICANN.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

• Net Neutrality: The Courts Will Have to Save Net Neutrality in the U.S.: "So drastic is the reversal of policy [if, as expected, the commission approves FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s proposal on December 14, 2017], and so weak is the evidence to support the change, that it seems destined to be struck down in court ... government agencies are not free to abruptly reverse longstanding rules on which many have relied without a good reason ... polls indicate that 76 percent of Americans support it [net neutrality]. The F.C.C., in short, is on the wrong side of the democratic majority ... Because he (FCC Chair Pai] is killing net neutrality outright, not merely weakening it, he will have to explain to a court not just the shift from 2015 but also his reasoning for destroying the basic bans on blocking and throttling, which have been in effect since 2005 and have been relied on extensively by the entire internet ecosystem."--Tim Wu, Columbia University Law Professor in NYTimes.com.

Among Trump supporters there is a rebellion brewing over net neutrality: 

"This is as anti consumer as it gets. All will pay more for less [while] simultaneously enriching corporations as they increasingly control who sees what when and how. This is NOT MAGA. It’s a heist and a hijacking"--Trump supporter in TheIntercept.com.

•  Internet Freedom and Business and Human Rights Section | state.gov: "The [U.S.] State Department’s Internet Freedom and Business & Human Rights (IFBHR) Section within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor leads U.S. government policy to promote and protect human rights online as well as with business, globally. We strive to ensure that the same rights people have offline are also protected online. This means promoting a global Internet that is open, interoperable, reliable, and secure. We work with other U.S. government agencies, governments, civil society, companies, and multi-stakeholder partners to protect Internet freedom." November 27, 2017, Fact Sheet (pdf).

•  EU Internet Censorship: European Law Claims to Protect Consumers… By Blocking the Web | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org Nov 22, 2017: "... the European Parliament passed a new Consumer Protection Regulation [PDF] that allows national consumer authorities to order ISPs, web hosts and domain registries to block or delete websites... all without a court order. The websites targeted are those that allegedly infringe European consumer law ... the range of websites that could be censored is both vast and uncertain ..."

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

1. News Review | ICANN Board Executive Committee, Conflicts of Interest

2. Amazon Web Services AWS re:Invent 2017, Nov 27-Dec 1, Las Vegas 

3. Uber Data Breach: Uber's Legal Liabilities Impact On Uber's IPO (video)

4. Bitcoin & Other Cryptocurrencies: Investing or Gambling? (video)

5. Tech Review | Tencent Reaches $500 Billion Market Capitalization (video)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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Digital China: China’s Plans for Cyberspace & the Digital Economy (video)

Digital China: What Are China’s Leaders & Scholars Saying About Their Plans for Cyberspace?

LIVE Webcast, Oct 17, 2017, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm ET (US), from New America, Washington, D.C.

LIVE Video Tuesday:

• 10-11:30am ET: Old Laws and New Technology: How Can We Keep Up? 
• 1-2:30pm ET: Digital China: China’s Plans for Cyberspace & the Digital Economy

As China launches its 19th Party Congress, its plans to shape cyberspace are becoming ever clearer. Through the publications of government and Party officials, we are increasingly getting insights into Chinese plans for the digital economy. Often however that information is only available to Chinese-speakers. Therefore, through New America, a group of China cyber experts have launched a new effort to translate and analyze key Chinese documents and make them available to a wider audience.

At this event they will offer their insights on China’s plans for the digital economy, including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, internet governance, and much more. What have Chinese officials already told the world? What goals has Beijing already achieved? Where has China run into challenges? What new initiatives should we expect from the 19th Party Congress, the 4th World Internet Conference, and beyond? What does this mean for the United States?

Follow the conversation online with #DigiChina and @NewAmCyber.

Participants:

John Costello, @CostelloJK
Cybersecurity Fellow, New America

Samm Sacks, @SammSacks
Senior Fellow in the Technology Policy Program at Center for Strategic & International Studies

Paul Triolo, @pstAsiatech
Geo-technology Practice Head, Eurasia Group

Graham Webster, @gwbstr
Lecturer and Senior Fellow at Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School

Moderator:
Ian Wallace, @pianwallace
Co-Director of the Cybersecurity Initiative, New America & Senior Fellow, International Security Program
#digichina Tweets
See also:

• China’s Communist party congress: 3 investment themes to watch | ft.com
• "... 19th Party Congress, the political event that will determine the country’s leadership lineup and policy priorities for the next five years ..."--"China's Big Reshuffle": A Preview Of The Year's Biggest Political Event, China's 19th Party Congress | ZeroHedge.com

New America (newamerica.org) is "dedicated to the renewal of American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the digital age through big ideas, technological innovation, next generation politics, and creative engagement with broad audiences."

3/4 @NewAmCyber Super Cyber Tuesday Event 2: DigitalChina w/@gwbstr @pstAsiatech @CostelloJK @SammSacks #dccyberweek https://t.co/nzFgnB2H8v

— New America Cyber (@NewAmCyber) October 16, 2017

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News Review: IGF 2016, Internet Governance Forum, Guadalajara, Dec. 5-9

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

Feature • The Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2016) meets this week in Guadalajara, Mexico, December 5-9 (online participation is available). Links and more information here. Watch IGF 2016 LIVE: Live Webcasts from all sessions. Full schedule here (register via this link for online participation). All times on schedule are  Guadalajara CST.

IGF 2016 Highlighted Sessions:
Monday, December 5:

• 11:00 - 12:30 ICANN - Reflections on the evolution of the multistakeholder model in the context of the IANA Stewardship Transition

Tuesday, December 6:

• 09:00 - 10:00 OF13: INTERNET & JURISDICTION
• 09:00 - 10:30 WS173: Internet Fragmentation: net neutrality

Wednesday, December 7:

• 09:00 - 10:30 WS162: The Role of Judiciary Systems and Internet Governance
• 10:15 - 11:45 WS63: ICANN New gTLD Program: Exploring Impact & Future Direction
• 10:45 - 11:30 FREEDOM HOUSE
• 12:00 - 13:00 OF27: FREEDOM ONLINE COALITION
• 15:00 - 16:00 OF14: ICANN Open Forum with Steve Crocker and Göran Marby
• 16:30 - 18:00 WS64: A Post IANA Transition ICANN

Thursday, December 8:

• 10:15 - 11:45 WS243: Accountability in Internet related policies
• 10:45 - 12:15 WS91: The power of the noncommercial users on the Internet
• 12:00 - 13:30 WS37: Internet Fragmentation: Getting next 4 billion online
• 15:00 - 16:30 WS189: Civil Society Experiences from the IANA Transition Process

Friday, December 9:

• 11:30 - 13:00 Shaping the Future of Internet Governance
• 12:00 - 13:30 WS75: Domain Name System fragmentation? Risk and reality
• 11:30 - 13:00 WS262: VoIP Crackown: Implications for gov, telecom & civil society
• 13:25 - 13:45 [LIGHTNING SESSION] Trademark Systems Enable Sustainable Growth on the Internet

See also: ICANN to Participate in Internet Governance Forum (IDF) in Guadalajara, Mexico: "... we've organized panels to explain how the post-transition ICANN will operate, with a focus on the crucial role of the new community-based accountability mechanisms. Another important topic will be the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) application process. Watch for our Open Forum and the Day 0 "Town Hall."--ICANN.org.

IGF 2016 Official booklet (pdf):

Other Internet Domain News:

• ICYMI this week on Domain Mondo:

• ICANN New gTLDs' Covenant Not To Sue Sinks Donuts, DCA Trust Next? Lawsuit filed by Donuts affiliate, Ruby Glen LLC, about the new gTLD .WEB last resort auction, dismissed with prejudice by U.S. District Court, which found the ICANN applicant guidebook's Covenant Not To Sue "bars Plaintiff's entire action." 
• GNSO Admits Domain Name Transfer Policy Flawed, Blames ICANN Staff. New domain name transfer policy went into effect on December 1, 2016.
• TechReview | Looking Inside Russia’s Creepy Innovative Internet (video)

• China Pitches 'Orderly' Internet to Tech Companies:

Video above published November 18, 2016 by WSJ.com: China invited global tech executives for its World Internet Conference 2016 in Wuzhen where it pitched its version of the web. Jack Ma, founder of China's Internet giant Alibaba, and Fadi Chehade, former President and CEO of ICANN, act as co-chairmen of the World Internet Conference advisory committee, as Chehade proudly announced on his official ICANN President twitter account on December 18, 2015.

The World Internet Conference, also known as the Wuzhen Summit, is a ‎Chinese Communist Party (CCP) project to challenge the prevailing multistakeholder internet governance model established by the U.S. and other liberal democracies.

China, the internet, and the World Internet Conference (WIC): "... First, China is basing its policy on the concept of cybersovereignty. It prefers the multilateral approach to the multistakeholder approach to international digital policy. A possible third approach, hinted at in Wuzhen by the adoption of a new term – ‘multiparty’ – will be discussed more in the forthcoming period. Secondly, China’s main focus is on economic digital diplomacy. China needs a stable and predictable digital economic space for its export-oriented industry. At the G20 Summit (4–5 September), China positioned e-commerce prominently. In fact, both the communique released at the end of the summit, and the adopted Blueprint on Innovative Growth (pdf), emphasise the role of the digital economy and the new industrial revolution. Alibaba’s Jack Ma’s proposal for an Electronic World Trade Platform, welcomed by G20 leaders, is another example ..."--Newsletter | digitalwatch.giplatform.org (pdf) (link and emphasis added)

See also: Putin brings China's Great Firewall to Russia in cybersecurity pact | TheGuardian.com: "The Kremlin has joined forces with Chinese authorities to bring the internet and its users under greater state control" and Maybe the Internet Isn’t a Tool for Democracy After All | nymag.com: "Powerful undemocratic states like China and Russia have for a while now put the internet to use to mislead the public, create the illusion of mass support, and either render opposition invisible or expose it to targeting. The paid bureaucrats in the Communist Party’s “50-cent army” flood debates on Chinese social media and message boards with nationalist propaganda ..." and  Rights Groups Warn Tech Firms Over China's Harsh New Internet Regime | rfa.org.

•  Internet Freedom Wanes As Governments Target Messaging, Social Apps : All Tech Considered: NPR.org

•  Global Internet Report 2016 | InternetSociety.org: "The 2016 Global Internet Report takes a close look at data breaches through an economic lens and provides five clear recommendations for a path forward .... Recommendations:
1. Put users at the centre of solutions; and include the costs to both users and organisations when assessing the costs of data breaches.
2. Increase transparency through data breach notifications and disclosure.
3. Data security must be a priority. Better tools and approaches should be made available. Organisations should be held to best practice standards when it comes to data security.
4. Organisations should be accountable for their breaches. General rules regarding the assignment of liability and remediation of data breaches must be established up front.
5. Increase incentives to invest in security by catalysing a market for trusted, independent assessment of data security measures.
Underlying principles: data stewardship and collective responsibility."

•  Is the Internet Fragmenting? Part 4: The Policy Lens on Livestream.com

•  The Gig Economy: Work, Online Selling and Home Sharing | Pew Research Center | pewinternet.org: "24% of Americans report earning money from the digital ‘platform economy’ in the past year. The extra income they make is a luxury for some, but a necessity for others."

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

1. TechReview: Trump Election Victory Aftershocks Hit Silicon Valley
2. News Review: ICANN, ccTLDs, and the Domain Name Marketplace (slides)
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4. GNSO Admits Domain Name Transfer Policy Flawed, Blames ICANN Staff
5. ICANN New gTLDs' Covenant Not To Sue Sinks Donuts, DCA Trust Next?
6. MacroView | Trump Effect: U.S. Stock Markets & Consumer Confidence Rise

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-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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