2018-05-13

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

graphic "News Review" ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-05-13) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) As GDPR Deadline Looms, Is ICANN Lost in La-La Land? 2) Other ICANN news: a. .APP & Failing New gTLDs, b. Afilias vs ICANN re .WEB, c. ALAC At Large Review, d. RSSAC,  e. Adobe Connect, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks, $GDDY, $TCX4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read.

WHOIS GDPR Update 17 May 2018: ICANN Board Approves Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data | ICANN.org: Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data (Approved 17 May 2018; Effective as of 25 May 2018) PDF [735 KB] embed below:

Additional Resources
  • The ICANN Board of Directors' resolution, available here, was unanimously adopted, and may be reaffirmed every 90 days for no more than one year.
Cherine Chalaby, ICANN Board Chair said: "While there are elements remaining to be finalized, the adoption of this Temporary Specification sets us on the right path to maintaining WHOIS in the public interest, while complying with GDPR before its 25 May enforcement deadline."

To ensure compliance with the GDPR, access to personal data will be restricted to layered/tiered access, where only users with a legitimate purpose can request access to non-public data through registrars and registry operators. Until a unified access model is in place, registries and registrars will have to determine which requests are permissible under the law. Alternatively, users may contact either the registrant or listed administrative and technical contacts through an anonymized email or web form available via the registered name's registrar. Registrants may opt to have their full contact information made publicly available. (source: ICANN.org)

Prior UPDATES:
15 May 2018 ICANN Webinar: Proposed Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data
Adobe Connect Replay. Reference Materials:
13 May 2018 Approved Board Resolutions | Special Meeting of the ICANN Board | ICANN.org: "Consideration of the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data (Implementation of GDPR Interim Compliance Model)--"Resolved (2018.05.13.11), the Board intends to move to a decision on the adoption of a proposed Temporary Specification on gTLD Registration Data (pursuant to the procedures in the Registry Agreement and Registrar Accreditation Agreement concerning the establishment of temporary policies) on or about 17 May 2018. The Board intends to use this additional time to confirm that appropriate modifications are incorporated into a proposed Temporary Specification prior to considering adoption. Upon adoption, a proposed Temporary Specification would be effective for a 90-day period beginning 25 May 2018, and the Board would reaffirm its temporary adoption every 90 calendar days for a total period not to exceed one year."

Revised proposed Temporary Specification on gTLD Registration Data (redline):

Original Post:
1) As GDPR Deadline Looms, Is ICANN Lost in La-La Land? 
 ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck ©2018 DomainMondo.com
ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck: How Many Days Until May 25?

With the May 25th GDPR deadline looming, has ICANN moved from its previous delusional fantasy world to confronting the harsh reality that ICANN is nowhere ready to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by May 25, less than two weeks away, or is ICANN still lost in La-La Land? ICANN leadership and management essentially wasted most of the last two years instead of properly preparing for the GDPR:
See: UPDATE May 10, 2018: ICANN CEO's Desperate 6-page Letter to WP29 Chair.
"A day late and a dollar short," ICANN is now grasping for straws--see May 5, 2018 Letter from ICANN Board Chairman Cherine Chalaby (pdf), to the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) Chair Manal Ismail re: "ICANN Board Board comment on GAC Advice regarding GDPR" excerpt below:
"... The Board’s current thinking and approach on the proposed Interim Model (May 25) is inconsistent or could be viewed as inconsistent with certain items of the GAC’s advice, and as a result the Board would find great benefit in having an exchange with the GAC on these matters ...  the Board proposes to discuss these matters via a conference call with the GAC during the week of 7-13 May 2018. The Board acknowledges the short notice of this request but given the fast-approaching effective date of the GDPR [May 25] realizes the need to move as quickly as possible to address the GAC advice prior to the Board taking action on an Interim Model (May 25) ..." (emphasis added)
The results from the ICANN Board's confab with the GAC? "... the Board has made a preliminary determination that its current approach on the proposed Interim Model (May 25), to be implemented in a Temporary Specification, is inconsistent or could be viewed as inconsistent with certain items of GAC advice."--11 May 2018 Letter from Cherine Chalaby to Manal Ismail (pdf).

And then late Friday, May 11, ICANN announced its Proposed Temporary Specification Now Available | ICANN.org: available here [PDF, 625 KB] (Registrants pay particular attention to page 29--Appendix I: Supplemental Procedures to the Transfer Policy) --[Editor's note: see revised redline version above.]

Meanwhile the wreckage from ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck keeps piling up--

UPDATE: All ICANN GDD Summit 2018 Session Recordings here.
GDD Industry Summit | 14-17 May 2018 | ICANN.org--agenda (pdf) excerpt:

1 May 2018 Letter from Tobias Sattler [CPH] to Akram Atallah [ICANN org] [Published 4 May 2018] Contract Party House TechOps (CPH TechOps) on GDPR Impact on Domain Name Transfers and Registrant Contact Changes.

7 May 2018 Letter from Tobias Sattler to Akram Atallah [Published 10 May 2018] Contracted Party House (CPH) TechOps on GDPR Impact on Domain NameTransfers and Registrant Contact Changes: "Unfortunately, the alternative proposal put forth by ICANN is not feasible for implementation in advance of 25 May 2018." 

10 May 2018 Letter from Dean Marks & Steve Metalitz [COA] to Akram Atallah & Cyrus Namazi [ICANN] [Published 11 May 2018] Coalition for Online Accountability (COA) opposes the RrSG (Registrar Stakeholder Group) request to halt implementation of privacy/proxy accreditation.

Accred-Model Version 1.5 May 11, 2018: version 1.5 [pdf] Accreditation and Access Model.--"A few skeptical thoughts in a tweet thread. https://twitter.com/qirtaiba/status/995071967572062214 These may not qualify as "constructive", but I wouldn't want to have silence interpreted as assent." -- Jeremy Malcolm, Senior Global Policy Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation eff.org.

Editor's note: ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby said this week that accreditation guidance from the EU will not come until late summer, seemingly dashing the hopes of the lawyers and lobbyists pushing their "version 1.5" above. It's just one more aspect of ICANN's GDPR Train Wreck. Send your 'Thank You' notes to ICANN CEO Goran Marby & the ICANN Management Team.

2) Other ICANN news
graphic "ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers"
a.  Google's (purchase price $25,001,000) new gTLD .APP launched (General Availability) this past week, achieving a total of  191,447 registrations by Friday May 11, 2018, according to  ntldstats.com, but even .APP was unable to stanch the overall hemorrhaging of new gTLDs' domain name registrations:
New gTLDs domain name registrations, including .APP, Apr 30 - May 11, 2018, source: ntldstats.com
This is what happens when you design and implement a new gTLDs program founded on consumer fraud, .BRAND extortion racket, exploitative pricing power and greed, and ICANN incompetence:
New gTLDs domain name registrations, April 2017 - May 11, 2018, source: ntldstats.com
ICANN's failing new gTLDs are also impacting ICANN's finances--ICANN FY18 Q3 Presentation (pdf)--excerpt:
See also: ICANN's new gTLDs increase online child sexual abuse imagery--"New gTLDs being used for the distribution of child sexual abuse imagery continues to be a rising trend in 2017"--IWF.org.ukInternet Watch Foundation: Annual Report 2017 (pdf) (The IWF Annual Report is a record of its actions against online child sexual abuse imagery during 2017).

b. Afilias vs ICANN et al re: new gTLD .WEB: see latest correspondence between counsel for Afilias and counsel for ICANN.

c. ALAC--At-Large Advisory Committee--ICANN's perennial "problem child":
"... all the recommendations have been either flatly rejected or modified. Furthermore, if the proposal is adopted by the OEC and ICANN Board without ALAC first properly dealing with the concerns from the wider ICANN community, this would set an alarming precedent for any future ICANN Review. If critical opinions and recommendations, particularly those that are broadly supported within the ICANN community, are perceived as ultimately being ignorable, ICANN Reviews will lose credibility"--CPH to ICANN Board, infra
Letter from Graeme Bunton [Contracted Party House (CPH)] to ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby | ICANN.org: Statement of concern for At-Large Review Implementation Overview Proposal, excerpt:
".... The CPH believes the Organizational Effectiveness Committee of the ICANN Board should not consider ALAC’s proposal until such time as a detailed response is provided by ALAC that addresses criticism raised by the At-Large Review report, and the questions helpfully put together by ICANN staff. This response should be presented to the whole ICANN community, so that any further input from, or discussion with, the community can be arranged, to see the Review through to an appropriate end."--bunton-to-chalaby-07may18-en.pdf [59.5 KB]

d. RSSAC034 | Report from the RSSAC May 2018 Workshop | ICANN.org: "The purpose of this workshop was to finalize the proposed governance model (the Model) for the DNS Root Server System (RSS). At the workshop, the RSSAC reviewed the Model, discussed scenarios and implementation, and planned next steps." More info: 09 May 2018 rssac-034-09may18-en.pdf [63.5 KB]

e. Adobe Connect Update | ICANN.org: "Based on your overwhelming sentiment, over 75% of you asked in one way or another for Adobe Connect, we are carefully moving ahead with attempting to restore Adobe Connect"--Editor's note: my input via email to ICANN April 20, 2018 (cc EU antitrust & WP29, David Redl (NTIA), ICANN CEO, Board Chair & Ombudsman):
"This is a "no-brainer"--restore the Adobe Connect ASAP (until you find a better or equal solution for less cost)--Adobe Connect should have NEVER been taken offline, particularly in the middle of ICANN61, as you report the only known exploit of the vulnerability was by the same "researcher" who "discovered" and reported the vulnerability. By that same logic, the entire DNS, with all of its KNOWN and UNKNOWN vulnerabilities, including the Public WHOIS, should be taken offline immediately. But since ICANN org has no respect nor regard for the vast majority of the world's domain name registrants, we all know where ICANN org stands on that issue. As members of the global internet community, none of us have a choice, we are continuously assaulted and burdened by the poor decisions made by overpaid and incompetent ICANN org management and the dysfunctional, self-selected "ICANN community" dominated by "special interests"--trademark lawyers, corporate lobbyists, and contracted parties--registrars and registry operators. Maybe the European Union can help us with the "privatized" ICANN global monopoly, since the U.S. government abandoned its "stewardship" role in 2016."

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
graphic "Names, Domains & Trademarks" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
a. Trademarks: Flood of Trademark Applications From China Alarms U.S. Officials | WSJ.com"... applications that officials say appear to be rife with false information. .."

b. $GDDY: GoDaddy's Ray Winborne, Chief Financial Officer, and Mike McLaughlin, Chief Customer Officer, will present at the 46th Annual J.P Morgan Technology, Media and Communicaitons Conference in Boston on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. A live audio webcast of the event will be available on GoDaddy's investor relations website. Following the presentation an audio replay will be available at investors.godaddy.net. See alsoQ1 2018 results reported this past week by GoDaddy $GDDY  and Tucows $TCX.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
graphic "ICYMI Internet Domain News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
a. Victory! Georgia Governor Vetoes Short-Sighted Computer Crime Bill | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org

b. How to Trace an Email Message | SecurityBoulevard.com

c. In a Desperate Move to Squash Internet Freedom, Iran Blocks Telegram | Center for Human Rights in Iran | .iranhumanrights.org

5) Three Most Read Posts & Readership Stats this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
graphic "Domain Mondo" ©2017 DomainMondo.com



Readership geolocation stats, top 4 this week (based on page views): 
1) U.S., 2) China, 3) Germany, 4) France.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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