News Review 1) ICANN GNSO EPDP for gTLD Registration Data UPDATES

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-04-07) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) ICANN GNSO EPDP for gTLD Registration Data Updates, 2) Other ICANN News: a..AMAZON, b..AFRICA, c. Free Speech at ICANN?  d. Trolls at ICANN? 3) .EU, .AU, Donuts & New gTLDs, History of the Web, 4) ICYMI: Facebook & Internet Regulators, Former Regulator Lu Wei gets 14 years, EU Censorship, and more, 5) Most Read.

1) ICANN GNSO EPDP for gTLD Registration Data Updates:

a. 5 April 2019 Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby (pdf) embed below, to GNSO Chair Keith Drazek re: 1. EPDP Team on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Phase 1 Final
Report and 2. Technical Model by the Technical Study Group (TSG) on Access to Non-Public
Registration Data:

b. EPDP Status Update & Next Steps from EPDP interim Chair Rafik Dammak:

• April 18 is target date for a new EPDP Chair to have been selected and approved by GNSO Council. Deadline for submitting "Expressions of Interest" in the position is April 8, 2019.

• "Legal guidance next steps: The EPDP leadership team recommends that the legal committee is reconstituted as soon as possible, with meetings commencing shortly after reconstitution. In order to make the committee more effective, it is recommended that members have proven legal experience. Their role is not to advocate for their respective groups or positions, but to assess whether issues / questions raised by the EPDP Team are legal questions, have already been addressed elsewhere and channel any follow up to the EPDP Team's legal counsel. If at any point any member of the EPDP Team is of the view that the legal committee is going outside of its remit and/or individual members are not working for the best interest of the EPDP Team as a whole, the leadership team will review the membership structure."

• EPDP Phase 2 Work Plans: The EPDP leadership team recommends splitting the work into  two work tracks/areas: 1) System for Standardized Access to Non-Public Registration Data; and 2) all other remaining issues (remaining issues from Annex: Important Issues for Further Community Action and Issues deferred from phase 1 - as outlined in the mind map (pdf) updated 10 March 2019).

c. Email to EPDP members from ICANN support staff 2 Apr 2019, action item coming out of the ICANN64 EPDP Team meetings: "start adding any legal questions you believe require a response in the context of the phase 2 identified topics"--see graphic below--no questions yet added:

"You are also encouraged to highlight any specific legal guidance that has already been provided ... that may be of relevance to the upcoming deliberations." See Legal Memos provided by Bird & Bird to ICANN GNSO EPDP.

2) Other ICANN News

a. .AMAZON: Amazon's Fight With South American Countries Over Control of '.amazon' Domain Name Comes to a Head--"... on March 10, ICANN set a deadline of April 7 for the two sides to finally resolve this dispute once and for all. But that seems very unlikely ..."--gizmodo.com. See BBC.com: "The nations of the Amazon want the name back." See previously on Domain Mondo: News Review | Another ICANN New gTLD Disaster: .AMAZON.

Editor's note: the idea of having private .BRAND gTLDs was a mistake from the beginning, a corruption of the concept of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) as set forth in RFC 1591 written by Jon Postel, which predates the formation of  ICANN and its "Californication" of the internet and global DNS. I'm with the South American countries. ICANN should do the "right thing" for once and end the .BRAND gTLD program, refund the application fees, and "undelegate" all .BRAND gTLDs from the internet "root," while allowing every owner of a distinctive trademark to block use of that mark as a gTLD in the future.

b. .AFRICA Litigation Update: 

DotConnectAfrica Trust v. ICANN et al (Trial Court Proceeding)

• Plaintiff's Response to ICANN's Evidentiary Objections to Plaintiff's Judicial Estoppel Post-Trial Brief 29 March 2019;

• ICANN's Evidentiary Objections to Plaintiff's Judicial Estoppel Post-Trial Brief 28 March 2019.

c. Free Speech at ICANN? Follow the blog posts of well known domainer, and active ICANN participant observer, George Kirikos, on his new blog at FreeSpeech.com.

Editor's note: there are no "winners" in this matter, which I now refer to as Greg Shatan vs George Kirikos vs ICANN et al, and there are many with "unclean hands." Hopefully the ICANN Ombudsman will bring some "sanity" to the situation.

d. Trolls at ICANN?

Mark Svancarek, Microsoft, at ICANN64, Kobe, Japan

Mark Svancarek revealed this week on the EPDP mail list, that "Over the last several months, UASG lists have been exposed to one or more pseudonymous trolls who attack certain officers and ambassadors by name, and criticize decisions made in accordance with our charter which they feel merit their input; when we ban them, he/they just create multiple new aliases.  Sometimes they email us directly ..." [link and emphasis added]. 

Svancarek is Principal Program Manager, Privacy & Regulatory Affairs, Tech Policy & Internet Governance, at Microsoft. He has been an active participant in ICANN as Vice Chair of the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG), as well as EPDP member from the Business Constituency.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

• ccTLD .EU & Brexit Uncertainty: check this page at eurid.eu for updates. See also this.  

• ccTLD .AU: auDA Creating Yet Another Mess--whizzbangsblog.com.

• New gTLDs Registry Operator Donuts raising wholesale domain name prices 6-9% on most of its 241 TLDs, effective October 1, 2019.  Editor's note: when you find out your "products" have limited appeal, all you can do is raise prices on those gullible enough to have fallen for your over-hyped product in the first place and are "stuck." Domain names are "sticky" not "fungible" which is why ICANN's entire model for new gTLDs is so ill-conceived. Too bad ICANN didn't listen to the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division.

• Timeline: The 30-Year History of the World Wide Web--visualcapitalist.com.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Internet Regulation: Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has called upon regulators to play a “more active role” in establishing rules that govern the internet. Reactions:

• Mark Zuckerberg Does Not Speak for the Internet--eff.org.
• Why we should say No to Facebook’s call to “Regulate the Internet”--internetgovernance.org.
• The Real Reasons Why Facebook's Zuckerberg Wants More Government Regulation--zerohedge.com: 1. Regulations Will Give Facebook More Monopoly Power (make things more expensive and difficult for smaller startups and potential competitors). 2. Zuckerberg and Facebook Will Help Write the New Rules. 3. It Will Limit Facebook's Legal Exposure.

China: A Chinese court has jailed former chief internet regulator, Lu Wei, for 14 years, having found the once influential official guilty of taking bribes worth almost $5 million from 2002 to 2017, including as head of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Lu Wei at ICANN50 in June, 2014, at London:

Editor's note: it's possible that ICANN paid Wei "bribes," directly or indirectly, during that same time. ICANN was doing every thing it could to garner support, or at least acceptance, from the Chinese government, in order to establish the "ICANN presence" in Beijing. We may never know for sure, ICANN has never been audited by the IRS. One thing is clear, Fadi Chehade, ICANN CEO at the time, acted strangely when quizzed about ICANN's expenditures and lobbying efforts with foreign governments, and never gave a straight answer nor the accounting he promised at the time. ICANN still doesn't disclose its lobbying activities and expenditures outside the U.S.

Can The EU Survive Its Own Censorship? The EU’s new, comprehensive Copyright Directive may change the way people use the internet--zerohedge.com.

Prediction: Article 13 will damage the EU more than it damages the internet. The EU believes it can push the future in the direction it wants. But the future has more mass than the EU. So what will happen instead is that the EU will push itself away from the future.

— Paul Graham (@paulg) March 27, 2019

Article 13 will damage the EU more than it damages the internet ... The EU will push itself away from the future

One thing that makes me skeptical about the EU long term is the way they seem to view regulation not as an unfortunate necessity, but as an exciting project.

— Paul Graham (@paulg) October 12, 2018

Google, Facebook Phished For Millions--Business email compromise (also called BEC, CEO or invoice fraud) usually targets finance and other corporate executives who are tricked into issuing payments that could be upwards of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars--cshub.com.

Microsoft obtained US court order to take control of 99 websites which Microsoft says are linked to Iranian hacking group Phosphorus--microsoft.com.

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

#1 News Review 1) Almost No One Wants To Be ICANN EPDP Phase 2 Chair

#2 EU's Juncker Warns UK Parliament To Reach Brexit Deal by April 12 (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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News Review | Fadi, Akram & Donuts, ICANN Conflicts of Interest

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-10-14 with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) a. ICANN News: Fadi Chehade, Akram Atallah & Donuts--Conflicts of Interest at ICANN--Who Me? b. GDPR & ICANN WHOIS Data EPDP, c. ICANN63 starts Saturday, 2) Q3 2018 Earnings Season: Verisign $VRSN & GoDaddy $GDDY, 3) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 4) Most Read.

EPDP Team F2F Saturday Meeting Oct 20, 2018 (1 of 4 at ICANN63) 8:30 CEST - 18:30 CEST

1) ICANN News

a. Fadi Chehade, Akram Atallah & Donuts--Conflicts of Interest at ICANN--Who Me?

Fadi Chehade (L) and Akram Atallah (R) at ICANN44 (source: icannphotos)

a. Donuts Press Release, October 9, 2018 – "Donuts Inc., the global leader in high-quality, new top-level Internet domains [new gTLDs], today announced that Akram J. Atallah [ICANN Global Domains Division President] will assume the role of chief executive officer [CEO], effective November 12, 2018 ..."

Clueless Goran Marby, ICANN President & CEO 9 Oct 2018:

"I want to extend my warmest wishes to Akram Atallah, President, Global Domains Division, who has decided to leave ICANN org for another opportunity after eight years, effective immediately ... I have asked Cyrus Namazi [crony of Akram Atallah], VP, DNS Industry Engagement, Global Domains Division, to serve as interim department head for the Global Domains Division, to help ensure a smooth transition ..."

Editor's note: as I previously noted--

source: abry.com/investment/donuts/ 10 Oct 2018

September 9, 2018--Editor's Analysis and Opinion:

"... The largest new gTLDs registry operator (more than 200 new gTLDs), Donuts Inc., announced Sep 5, 2018, that it had entered into an agreement "to be acquired by Abry Partners," a private equity firm in which former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade is now a partner. Terms and timing of the agreement were not disclosed, but Abry's investment is reportedly only for a majority stake in privately held Donuts, and does not provide any additional cash for the company, instead, it provides a way for original investors in Donuts to exit.

While still ICANN CEO, Chehade announced in May, 2015, he would leave ICANN in March 2016, long before his contract ended on June 30, 2017, and did not disclose his reasons for serving as ICANN CEO for only 3½ years, instead of his full term. In August, 2015, he announced that after leaving ICANN he would be a "Senior Advisor on Digital Strategy" at Boston-based Abry Partners, adding, "I expect to add other roles to my portfolio and will update you all as appropriate." Later in December 2015, Chehade announced from Wuzhen, China, that he would serve, after he left ICANN, as Co-Chair [other Co-Chair Jack Ma] of an advisory committee to the government of China's World Internet Conference (WIC), described by Professor Milton Mueller as "like almost everything in China, the WIC is unabashedly state-driven ... a vehicle for the Chinese [Communist] Party-state’s policy agenda ..." 

As ICANN CEO, Fadi Chehade's pet project was the NetMundial Initiative [Co-Chaired by Chehade and Jack Ma], which "crashed and burned" when ICANN and the World Economic Forum stopped funding it in 2016. In February, 2015, at a DNA meeting during ICANN52, Chehade stated, "I need to understand it [the domain name industry] more and spend more time in it, no question."

While at ICANN, Chehade was known for hiring and promoting his cronies to management positions within ICANN. Chehade promoted, in June, 2013, his childhood friend and former co-worker, Akram Atallah, to the then second-highest paid position at ICANN, President of the Global Domains Division (GDD), which is now [was] the highest paid position at ICANN at  $745,615.00 per the most recently available IRS 990 (pdf), p.56 of 81.

Perhaps it was for some or all of these reasons, that Abry Partners decided to venture into an industry where it has no experience--the domain name industry--despite what Abry says on its website, abry.com: "Abry invests in private equity, preferred stock and debt securities within our sectors of expertise ..."

October 2, 2016: "Fadi Chehadé quit as ICANN CEO 3½ years into a 5 year contract, but unfortunately, he left behind his legacy of cronyism at the organization [ICANN]:

"... Chehade and COO Akram Atallah – who are old friends – brought in more and more of their own people ... Not all of them were best suited or qualified, but real frustration developed when jobs were filled without the job even being posted internally. Nora Abusitta-Ouri, a former classmate of Chehade’s, became vice president of public responsibility programs. Former neighbor Susanna Bennett became Chief Operating Officer. Former co-worker Chris Gift became vice president of online community services. Former co-worker Allen Grogan became chief contracting counsel and then when that job finished, chief contract compliance officer. Neighbor of Atallah, Elizabeth Hoover became HR manager. Former co-worker Cyrus Namazi became vice president of industry engagement. Old friend Ashwin Rangan became chief innovation and information officer. The wife of a former co-worker, Maguy Serad, became vice president of contractual compliance. Another former neighbor, Christine Willett, became vice president of gTLD operations. In all, only one member of the C-suite hired since Chehade came on board has not been a friend or former co-worker ..."--IoNmag.asia Jun 25, 2015.

• Why Did ICANN Become a Member of Trademark Lobbyist Group INTA? Oct 15, 2016;

• ICANN Lobbying, Conflicts, Ethics, Transparency, Accountability, Disclosure Oct 23, 2015;

• News Review: ICANN Secretly Colludes With New gTLD Registry Operators July 17, 2016 ... and the list goes on ... 

• ICANN: Incompetent, Corrupt, Unfit.

Conflicts of interest at ICANN are nothing new--

“Given how quickly these two individuals sped through the revolving door [at ICANN], one can’t help but wonder if thinking about their next career move influenced their policy [implementation] decisions,’’ said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics.--Washington Post, August 20, 2011.

ICANN was admonished by NTIA in 2012, to little avail obviously--and ICANN's sordid history includes episodes involving an ICANN Board Chairman, and ICANN's Chief Strategy Officer "architect of the new gTLDs program." Now a former ICANN President & CEO and his crony President of the Global Domains Division add another chapter.

All of that "confidential" privileged and proprietary information ICANN required new gTLD applicants and their principals to submit to ICANN's Global Domains Division (GDD), is now (or soon will be) also known by their largest new gTLDs' competitor Donuts (240 new gTLDs) by virtue of the former GDD President being Donuts CEO--talk about an unfair competitive advantage!  ICANN runs such a slipshod operation that every new gTLD applicant should always assume all information they ever submit to ICANN, will also be known by at least one of their competitors in the future.

As I noted in my recent comment (pdf) to ICANN on the new gTLDs program, ICANN's founding Chair, Esther Dyson, warned the U.S. government and global internet community against both the IANA transition and the new gTLDs program, saying in 2011 about the proposed new gTLDs program:

We are not running out of domains. This is a “way for registries and registrars to make money.”--source.

Little did we know that among the people who would personally be enriching themselves the most from ICANN’s corrupt new gTLDs program and policy (developed solely for the benefit of “contracted parties,” i.e., registry operators and registrars, not registrants), would be the two most senior officers at ICANN, who guided and were in charge of the full implementation of the program!

In addition to the multiple Fadi-Akram-Donuts conflicts of interest at ICANN now, and in the future,  Donuts and ICANN are currently in litigation against each other, and Akram Atallah is a material witness in that case, as well as one other pending case, and possible future litigation. The very same day as Akram's appointment as Donuts CEO (and resignation as President of ICANN's Global Domains Division) was announced, the appeal of Ruby Glen (Donuts affiliate) vs ICANN was being argued before a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Oral Argument video: Ruby Glen, LLC v. ICANN

Oct 9, 2018, 16-56890 Ruby Glen, LLC v. ICANN oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Ruby Glen, LLC appeals the district court's Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) dismissal of its diversity (jurisdiction) action against Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), seeking to temporarily enjoin ICANN from conducting the new gTLD .WEB auction [see District Court Order 2:16-cv-05505-PA-AS (pdf), and the Appellate Briefs].

Listen to the oral arguments of counsel for Ruby Glen (Donuts) and ICANN. At one point (starting at 21:19), counsel for ICANN concedes that Donuts (Ruby Glen) has a further right to file an IRP (Independent Review Process) whenever .WEB is no longer "on hold" status at ICANN, which sets up the interesting possibility that Donuts (Ruby Glen) could further attack the .WEB auction, as may also Afilias, either of which if successful in disqualifying Nu Dot Co (Verisign), could result in a new .WEB auction in which Donuts (Ruby Glen), now financed by Abry Partners' unknown investors a/k/a 'limited partners' (Chinese?), outbids Afilias for new gTLD .WEB.

UPDATE: The Ninth Circuit issued its "Not for Publication" decision (pdf) Oct 15, 2018, affirming the District Court's dismissal of Ruby Glen's (Donuts) First Amended Complaint, stating, inter alia: 

"... Ruby Glen is not without recourse—it can challenge ICANN’s actions through the Independent Review Process [IRP] .... Because Ruby Glen may pursue its claims through the Independent Review Process, the covenant not to sue is not “so one-sided as to shock the conscience.” See Walnut Producers of Cal. v. Diamond Foods, Inc., 187 Cal. App. 4th 634, 647–48 (2010) ..." (emphasis added)

Related: ICANN Board Liasons' Letter (pdf) re: ICANN New gTLDs' Filthy Lucre (new gTLD auction proceeds).

b.  GDPR & ICANN WHOIS Data EPDP 

ICANN EPDP Meetings this coming week:

• EPDP Meeting Tuesday Oct 16 wiki page (agenda and documents when available) 13:00 UTC, 9am EDT. UPDATE--Tuesday’s meeting will be focused on reviewing the agenda for the F2F meetings at ICANN63 and the High Interest Topic Sessions. (pdf). Purpose E (pdf), DrillingForData (pdf). 10/16 meeting Chat transcript, Adobe recording, MP3. High level notes and action items here. Meeting transcript (pdf).

• EPDP F2F Meeting Saturday, Oct 20 at ICANN 63, 8:30-18:30 local time Barcelona CEST (UTC+2). More info about other EPDP meetings at ICANN63 on next week's News Review.

Non-members of the EPDP working group can follow the Oct 16 meeting via Adobe Connect, or audio cast via browser or application. The EPDP meeting on Oct 20 can be followed remotely by clinking the link on the meeting's ICANN63 page. 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), Data Elements Workbooks (pdf), GNSO Council's updates, EPDP page.

Highlights of the EPDP Meetings Oct 9-11:
EPDP meeting to discuss retaining independent legal counsel Oct 10--chat transcript:
Stephanie Perrin (NCSG): we are not doing training, we are doing legal drafting. Let us not have any illusions about that. Who goes into a legal drafting exercise without an advising counsel? ...
Farzaneh Badii (NCSG): how much did they [ICANN] spend for the lawsuit against EPAG? Ayden Férdeline (NCSG): exactly Farzi ... perhaps we just weren't given an adequate budget ... Farzaneh Badii (NCSG): nope we were not. Stephanie Perrin (NCSG): So this is arguably the biggest policy argument in the history of ICANN, and we are pinching pennies? ... Berry Cobb (ICANN staff): From a budget perspective, we in effect have at most $168K without afffecting other line items such as funds set aside for F2F.

Thursday Oct 11 transcript (pdf), pp. 37-38:

Stephanie Perrin (NCSG): "... I’d just like to note that we had a discussion last night about why we need legal counsel independent, neutral legal counsel who is familiar with data protection law to be on this call to stop this going in circles. In my view this is a good example. We continue to conflate the legitimate interests of third parties, that would be BC interests, to combat trademark abuse, law enforcement interests, cybercrime interests to combat, you know, malware and other kinds of DNS abuse. We continue to conflate those interests with the purpose of the collection, use and disclosure of the information, which is a primary relationship between the individual or entity getting a domain name and the delegated party that provides the ability to the Internet with that domain name. Right? That’s the primary purpose of registering a domain name. All these other interests are interests, they are not purposes. ICANN was instructed to pay attention to all of these other interests but that does not make them purposes in a relationship. So really to suggest that we are not going to facilitate the legitimate interests is unfair. We are working on how to facilitate those legitimate interests. But that is an instrument. The purpose of ICANN is not to set up Whois; it is to permit the registration of domain names. And while the purpose of ICANN in the context of GDPR has been stated as being continuing the Whois to the maximum extent possible, that is not a shared belief; that is a position taken by ICANN Legal and the Board ...".

More info on the EPDP meetings Oct 9-11 in last week's News Review.

Note also: 8 Oct 2018 Letter from Theresa Swinehart to Manal Ismail (pdf) re: ICANN Unified Access Model Status Update to Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC).

c. ICANN63 Barcelona 20-25 October 2018

ICANN63 starts Saturday, October 20, 2018, with a full schedule (all times local Barcelona CEST UTC+2)--ICANN63 info here and here--more on ICANN63 in next week's News Review.

UPDATE:

17 Oct 2018 Letter (pdf) from NCSG (Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group), Dr. Farzaneh Badiei, and Dr. Stephanie Perrin to ICANN Board of Directors re: "ICANN org violates data protection laws and principles to advance the interests of certain parts of the community"  [Domain Name Registrants Data Protection (GDPR)].

Pre-ICANN63 Policy Report (pdf)

d. GNSO Policy Briefing ICANN63 Edition (pdf)

e. GNSO Council Chair Candidates' Statements: Keith Drazek (pdf); Rafik Dammak (pdf).

f. 10 Oct 2018 Letter from GAC Chair Manal Ismail (pdf) to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby and ICANN CEO--Government Advisory Committee (GAC) Request for additional Secretariat Support: "it has become clear that in 2019 there will be a period of time during which the GAC will be without the resources to support a number of the functions currently being provided."

g. Emoji & Domains: 3 Oct 2018 Letter from ICANN CTO David Conrad to GNSO Council [published 8 Oct 2018 by ICANN org]:

"Thank you for your correspondence of 26 July 2018 concerning the GNSO's understanding of SSAC095 about emoji in domain names. We agree that no further action on this matter is needed at this time."

SSAC095 (pdf) recommendations re: emoji (highlighting added):

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

Q3 2018 Earnings Season:

Verisign $VRSN webcast Oct 25, 2018 at 4:30 PM EDT

$VRSN

GoDaddy $GDDY webcast Nov 6, 2018, 5:00 PM EST. Editor's note: Citi upgraded GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) from Neutral to Buy with a $86 price target, with Citi analyst Mark May citing $GDDY’s recent market correction, characterizing the company as a “nicely profitable, high FCF generative business with highly recurring subscription-based revenue, a stable competitive landscape, and a strong management team with a track record of execution.” Forecasts put revenue growth up 15% in Q3, 14% in Q4, and 11% in 2019.  Sources: Bloomberg First Word and SeekingAlpha.com Oct. 11, 2018.

$GDDY

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Reasserting cyber sovereignty: how states are taking back control by Evgeny Morozov--TheGuardian.com--The digital debate is now about trade and security – and every major nation is insisting on its technological sovereignty.

Net Neutrality: ISPs Suing California Over Net Neutrality Law--broadcastingcable.com. See also fedsoc.org: A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom.

China: China’s Internet guidelines a ‘serious violation of people’s freedoms’--adhrrf.org

Nepal: Freedom of Expression on the Internet in Nepal | Internet Society Nepal (pdf). See also  Nepal bans porn websites to curb sexual violence--over 24,000 pornography websites blocked but activists say the real problem is the lack of justice for women--aljazeera.com.

Laos: Overcoming a government crackdown on social media in Laos--aljazeera.com.

Africa: After Troubles In Myanmar, Facebook Charges Ahead In Africa--wired.com.

US: US State Department needs a makeover for the digital age--TheHill.com.

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

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

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

3. Coinbase's Vision Beyond Bitcoin (video)

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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News Review: GDPR, ICANN EPDP Dysfunction, & WHOIS Misuse

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-09-09) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) GDPR, ICANN EPDP Dysfunction, & WHOIS Misuse,  2)a. ICANN v. EPAG, b. SSR2, c. RDAP, and more, 3) a. Donuts, Domains, Fadi Chehade, Abry Partners & The Greater Fool Theory, b. Dumb Domainers, c.ICANN Survey, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read & Top Geolocations.

1) GDPR, ICANN EPDP Dysfunction, & WHOIS Misuse

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

ICANN EPDP Team Meetings coming up: Tuesday Sep 11, and Thursday Sep 13, 13:00 UTC, 9am EDT. Non-members of the EPDP Team can follow the EPDP meetings via Adobe Connect: https://participate.icann.org/gnso-epdp-observers, or audio cast via browser or application.

Editor's note: links to the transcripts, Adobe Connect recordings, and MP3 audio, will be posted in UPDATES below (as made available by ICANN). Note that links to EPDP meetings' transcripts are usually posted on the GNSO calendar within 24 hours). See also EPDP Team wiki, mail list, Temp Spec, EPDP Charter (pdf), GNSO's EPDP page, & weekly updates to GNSO Council.

Thursday Sep 13, 2018, EPDP Team Meeting (wiki page); Agenda in slides embed below:

Notes:
a. 9/13 Meeting transcript (pdf), Chat transcript (pdf) embed below, Adobe Recording, and MP3.

b. 9/13 Notes & Action items (embed below), Action Items; re: agenda item 4 (Introduction to Appendix A), see DSI for Appendix A here; The data matrix for item 3 can be found here (under background documents).

c. EDPB Advice (pdf)(embed below):

Tuesday Sep 11, 2018, EPDP Team Meeting (agenda in meeting slides embed below).

Notes:
a. 9/11 Meeting Transcript (pdf)  Adobe Recording, MP3, Chat transcript (pdf) embed below; notes and action items;
b. 4.4. purpose overview by Thomas Rickert here and attachment; Google Sheet EPDP Team input (last 3 columns) by 19.00 UTC on Friday 14 September to allow the leadership team to work with Thomas and Benedict to prepare the subsequent discussion on this overview.

9/11 Chat transcript (highlighting added):

c. GDPR Training--Ayden Férdeline (NCSG) Sep 10: "This training is hopelessly inadequate and intended to ‘check a box’ rather than impart in EPDP members any new knowledge. The course is intended to take 45 minutes to complete and, from what I understand, has a retail price of £20 per user. The course offers no training on the powers of supervisory authorities, on how to perform a data protection impact assessment, or on privacy by design, among other obvious deficiencies in its curriculum. I was under the impression we were looking for a course that would take at least three hours to complete, if not one day. We cannot be taught too much in one day, but we could be taught a lot more than can be learned in this 45 minute course (which can be completed a lot quicker than that actually) intended for front-line employees. This is so disappointing and really does us a great disservice. This is not the training we needed, and it should have been obvious from the price alone it was not intended to be used by those who would be tasked with designing a GDPR-compliant policy or system." 
Chris Disspain: "Do you have an example of the sort of training to which your refer?"
Ayden Férdeline: "Yes, I would be looking to the catalogue of courses offered by the [International Association of Privacy Professionals](https://iapp.org). They have a number that I think would be sufficient for our purposes (some that looked suitable to me were those at the “train”, “GDPR ready”, “engage”, and “expertise” levels, but NOT “awareness”). We need to know how to implement the GDPR in a way that meets regulatory requirements while minimising risk to ICANN and the contracted parties, which is exactly what the 45-minute £20 course ICANN has found us does not help with (and was never intended by the provider to do)."
d. Triage Report 

Triage Report to be submitted to the GNSO Council Sep 11, 2018, excerpt: "The objective of this Triage Report is to document the EPDP’s level of agreement on specific provisions within the current Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data .... essentially no section of the Temporary Specification will be adopted without modifications. " (emphasis added)

* * * * * * *

Highlights from last week's ICANN EPDP Team meetings--excerpts from EPDP meeting Sep 6, 2018, transcript (pdf), references are to the transcript page number:

Kurt Pritz (the inept EPDP Chair appointed by the GNSO Council): "the triage report, you know, to me does not constrain us in any way in our future deliberations. I’m going to go ahead and [send] this [the triage report] to the GNSO Council ..." transcript, p. 4.

Kurt Pritz: "Can somebody from staff answer that? I think I know the answer but I’ve screwed up before." p. 5.

Alan Greenberg (ALAC): "I must admit I’m somewhat confused. Milton had suggested that we put together, you know, drafting teams, I think anyway, I think what he said is to not have competing individual positions suggested. I’ve heard that we have assigned or asked specific people to try redrafting. I haven't heard about any actual multi-group, multi-person teams being put together to try to find a consensus drafting which Amr sort of implied when in his intervention, and we are clearly getting competing proposals here. So I’d like some clarity on how are we supposed to move forward? We seem to be doing – going in three different directions at once and I’m not sure that’s really helpful." p. 12.

Mark Svancarek (BC): "Sorry for piling on with complaints about us having to review the last  document submitted last night as the first document to review this morning, but I just have to pile on. I really think this conversation has been pretty ineffective ..." p. 32.

Alan Greenberg (ALAC): "I have to say I find this whole thing surreal. We’re discussing this as if these are definitive changes and should we accept them or not but James has said these were largely drafted from registrar point of view ignoring other ICANN needs, so I’m not quite sure why we're doing this but I’ll continue ..." p. 36.

Thomas Rickert (ISPCP): "So I’m struggling with this entire discussion and I think that if we ask whether this group – what people think we're trying to achieve here we will probably get as many answers as we have participants on the call ..." p. 39.

More info and updates on last week's meetings in last week's News Review. Note also:

• The EPDP Team will finally get its requested GDPR training;

• Early Input from ICANN AC/SOs to EPDP Team;
• Comment on the 20 August 2018 “Draft Framework for a Possible Unified Access Model" from RySG & RrSG (pdf);
• 4 September 2018 Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to Tucows CEO Elliot Noss (pdf) re: ICANN Registration Data Privacy, in reply to 7 June 2018 Letter from Elliot Noss to Göran Marby (pdf), embed below:

• Worth Reading Again: September 25, 2017 Memo (pdf) to ICANN's failed RDS WG re: Final responses to EU data protection questions re gTLD Registration Directory data.
•  Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to GAC Chair Manal Ismail 04 Sep 2018 - Request for Guidance on GDPR and Providing Access to Non-Public WHOIS Data marby-to-ismail-04sep18-en.pdf [pdf, 305 KB].
•  Letter from Independent Compliance Working Party to ICANN (Jamie Hedlund), et al. 06 Sep 2018, re: ICWP Priorities, icwp-to-hedlund-et-al-06sep18-en.pdf [pdf, 132 KB].

• WHOIS Misuse Study:

WHOIS Misuse of Registrants' Data--from the EPDP mail list (emphasis and links added): "Piscatello’s blog post is almost pure fiction. For example, he claims that there’s no evidence that Whois affects spam, when systematic research commissioned by ICANN itself concluded: “The main finding of the descriptive study is that there is a statistically significant occurrence of WHOIS misuse affecting Registrants’ email addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers, published in WHOIS when registering domains in these gTLDs. Overall, we find that 44% of Registrants experience one or more of these types of WHOIS misuse. Other types of WHOIS misuse are reported, but at a smaller, non-significant rate. Among those, a handful of reported cases appear to be highly elaborate attempts to achieve high attack impact.”"

Editor's note: the draft study (pdf) and final study (pdf) referenced above. Comments to the final WHOIS Misuse Study commissioned by ICANN are here. Of note are the comments submitted by the At-Large Advisory Committee (pdf): "The ALAC will support any useful measure to abate misuse," and the Noncommercial Users Constituency (pdf): "measures must now be taken to protect Registrants."  Excerpt below:

See also: https://whois.icann.org/en/file/misuse-study-final-13mar14-en.

2) Other ICANN News

a. ICANN v. EPAG Domainservices, GmbH--English Translation of ICANN's Response to EPAG's Comment on ICANN's Plea of Remonstrance  [PDF, 178 KB]. Original filing in German here (personal identifiable information was redacted by ICANN). More case documents here.

b. SSR2: The ICANN Security, Stability, and Resiliency of the Domain Name System Review Team (SSR2) finally re-started its work, holding an in-person meeting 22-23 Aug 2018, after being paused by the ICANN Board of Directors in October 2017. Read more here.

c. RDAP: Moving Forward with RDAP | ICANN.org (RDAP is an eventual replacement for WHOIS protocol).

d. KSK Rollover: Preparing for the KSK Rollover | verisign.com: the KSK rollover is currently scheduled for 11 Oct 2018, subject to final approval by the ICANN Board of Directors.

e. ICANN Board Genval Workshop: September 14-16, the ICANN Board will be convening in Genval, Belgium, a town just south of Brussels, to hold its fifth workshop of calendar 2018. More here. Also, the ICANN Board will be holding a public Board meeting in Genval, Belgium: 16 Sep 2018, 08:00 – 09:00 UTC / 4am-5am EDT (US), in English only, via listen-only Adobe Connect: https://participate.icann.org/opencommunity/
Participant Code: 5542211258; Additional access numbers here.

f. ICANN Global Domains Division (GDD) General Operations Handbook for Registrars in Chinese 面还提供其他语种：2018年8月21日registrar-handbook-21aug18-zh.pdf [pdf, 409 KB]

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. Donuts, Domains, Fadi Chehade, Abry Partners & The Greater Fool Theory

FLASHBACK--US Senator Ted Cruz: ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade Is Misleading the United States Senate--"Chehade Should Recuse Himself From All ICANN Decisions That Could Impact The Chinese Government"--February 23, 2016.

Definition of "Donut" (American English) In informal speech the phrase is used to highlight stupidity, e.g., "You Donut"

1. An individual who is extremely stupid. Lacks intelligence and common sense.
2. An idiot. A mild insult often used in the work places of southern England.
3. Somebody who does something incredibly stupid. An idiot.

Editor's Analysis and Opinion: Fadi Strikes (Out) Again! The largest new gTLDs registry operator (more than 200 new gTLDs), Donuts Inc., announced Sep 5, 2018, that it had entered into an agreement "to be acquired by Abry Partners," a private equity firm in which former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade is now a partner. Terms and timing of the agreement were not disclosed, but Abry's investment is reportedly only for a majority stake in privately held Donuts, and does not provide any additional cash for the company, instead, it provides a way for original investors in Donuts to exit.

While still ICANN CEO, Chehade announced in May, 2015, he would leave ICANN in March 2016, long before his contract ended on June 30, 2017, and did not disclose his reasons for serving as ICANN CEO for only 3½ years, instead of his full term. In August, 2015, he announced that after leaving ICANN he would be a "Senior Advisor on Digital Strategy" at Boston-based Abry Partners, adding, "I expect to add other roles to my portfolio and will update you all as appropriate." Later in December 2015, Chehade announced from Wuzhen, China, that he would serve, after he left ICANN, as Co-Chair of an advisory committee to the government of China's World Internet Conference (WIC), described by Professor Milton Mueller as "[l]ike almost everything in China, the WIC is unabashedly state-driven ... a vehicle for the Chinese [Communist] Party-state’s policy agenda ..." 

As ICANN CEO, Chehade's pet project was the NetMundial Initiative, which "crashed and burned" when ICANN and the World Economic Forum stopped funding it in 2016. In February, 2015, at a DNA meeting during ICANN52, Chehade stated, "I need to understand it [the domain name industry] more and spend more time in it, no question."  While at ICANN, Chehade was known for hiring and promoting his cronies to management positions within ICANN. Chehade promoted, in June, 2013, his childhood friend and former co-worker, Akram Atallah, to the then second-highest paid position at ICANN, President of the Global Domains Division (GDD), which is now the highest paid position at ICANN at  $745,615.00 per the most recently available IRS 990 (pdf), p.56 of 81.

Perhaps it was for some or all of these reasons, that Abry Partners decided to venture into an industry where it has no experience--the domain name industry--despite what Abry says on its website, abry.com: "Abry invests in private equity, preferred stock and debt securities within our sectors of expertise."

The Abry-Donuts deal may be both getting out while the getting's good (for the original investors in Donuts) and an example of the greater fool theory. If so, it may be just another version of what is described in the article at the next link below, only at the TLD (top-level domain) level.

b. Domaining: The “Dumb Domainer” Industry and How it Operates | ricksblog.com.

c. Trademarks & Domain Names: Participate Now in the Sunrise and Trademark Claims Survey | ICANN.org. [Editor's note: I've already completed the survey, and I encourage all registrants to complete the survey which takes less than 15 minutes.]

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

a. Why the Whole World Should Be Up in Arms About the EU's Looming Internet Catastrophe--eff.org:

"The link tax means that only the largest, best-funded companies will be able to offer a public space where the news can be discussed and debated. The censorship machines are a gift to every petty censor and troll (just claim copyright in an embarrassing recording and watch as it disappears from the Internet!), and will add hundreds of millions to the cost of operating an online platform, guaranteeing that Big Tech's biggest winners will never face serious competition and will rule the Internet forever."

b. California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 becomes effective on January 1, 2020. It includes some aspects of the EU’s General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR), such as the right to be forgotten, "but it raises the ante"--jdsupra.com.

c. New GDPR-Inspired Data Laws In Brazil And India--jdsupra.com.

d. Cyber Norms: A Farewell to Norms |  internetgovernance.org: "Exhibit A: Russian 'meddling'--The current hysteria about Russian influence operations in the U.S. is deserving of a Sherlock Holmesian title: “Russian Influence Operations and the Curious Case of the Inverted Norm."

e. Facebook: How Duterte Used Facebook To Fuel the Philippine Drug War | buzzfeednews.com: due to "heavy subsidies that keep Facebook free to use on mobile phones, Facebook has completely saturated the country. And because using other data... is precious and expensive, for most Filipinos the only way online is through Facebook ..."

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

1. News Review: 1) ICANN EPDP Struggles; 2) New gTLD .WEB Updates

2. Tech Review | Tesla $TSLA And Elon Musk's Wild August Ride (video)

3. Tech Review: 1) Apple $AAPL 9/12 Event; 2) Facebook $FB HQ Expansion

DomainMondo.com's readers by geolocation--top 3 countries--results the same for week and month:

1. United States of America (US)
2. People's Republic of China (CN)
3. Federal Republic of Germany (DE)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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