Join us in San Francisco on Thursday, July 16 to celebrate EFF's 25th anniversary of fighting for digital rights!
EFF 25th Anniversary Party + Minicon Thursday, July 16, 2015
DNA Lounge 375 Eleventh Street San Francisco
Minicon from noon to 4 pm Party from 8 pm to late
Since 1990, EFF attorneys, activists, and technologists, along with volunteers, members, and donors, have worked to protect essential constitutional rights as digital technologies have transformed our lives. In our 25th year, join us in celebrating this powerful community fighting for the users—even and especially as we steel ourselves for the challenges to come.
We're hosting two events at DNA Lounge on Thursday, July 16 to mark this milestone. Starting at noon, we're hosting a minicon—an afternoon series of discussions and panels about the past, present, and future of online rights.
Later that evening at 8 pm, we'll kick off EFF's 25th Anniversary Party, featuring musical performances, dancing, and toasts hosted by our special guest emcees: Cory Doctorow and Wil Wheaton!
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If any reader is interested in attending this event, ticket info is below:
When and Where
Thursday, July 16, 2015
@ DNA Lounge
375 Eleventh St., San Francisco, CA 94103
Minicon: 12pm-4pm
Party: 8pm-2am
Outcomes | WSIS Forum 2015: Building on the open consultation process, more than 150 sessions were held during the WSIS Forum 2015. The overall theme of the WSIS Forum 2015 this year was “Innovating Together: Enabling ICTs for Sustainable Development”. This provided a vibrant atmosphere for facilitation and exchange on a multistakeholder vision of the WSIS Process. Forum Track Outcome Document (Preliminary Draft, v1.0) (pdf)
Check out the schedules for each of the 3 separate Channels below. Twitter feed further below. Enjoy!
Google I/O 2015 - Day 2 - Channel 1:
9AM PDT: A little badass. Beautiful. Tech and human. Work and love. ATAP.
11AM PDT: Helping Moonshots Survive Contact with the Real World
1PM PDT: Developing for the living room with Google
2PM PDT: Android Wear: Your app and the always-on screen
3PM PDT: Democratizing Education
Google I/O 2015 - Day 2 - Channel 2:
9AM PDT: Smarter user acquisition with App Indexing, AdWords and Google Analytics
10AM PDT: Project Tango - Mobile 3D tracking and perception
11AM PDT: Designing for virtual reality
1PM PDT: Developers connecting the world through Google Play
2PM PDT: Android best practices for data transparency
3PM PDT: Developing with Google on iOS
Google I/O 2015 - Day 2 - Channel 3:
9AM PDT: Polymer and modern web APIs: In production at Google scale
10AM PDT: Tech for a better world, faster: A discussion with Google.org's social innovators
11AM PDT: Firebase: An overview
1PM PDT: Improve your Android app's accessibility
2PM PDT: Ubiquitous Computing with Google
3PM PDT: Engineering for the Stratosphere - Presented by Women Techmakers
The FTC has responded (pdf here) to ICANN's letter (pdf) in which ICANN attempted to throw dot SUCKS Registry operator Vox Populi under the busand pass the buck to the FTC on a problem ICANN created in its ill-conceived, misbegotten, and "horribly implemented"new gTLDs program. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, after duly noting that the FTC had recommended against the "exponential" expansion of new gTLDs (which recommendations ICANN disregarded), proceeds to lecture ("recommendations") ICANN on how ICANN can begin doing its job responsibly and protect consumers (and thereby avoid having to run to the FTC for help and advice after having acted irresponsibly and negligently in authorizing over 1000 new gTLDs into the DNS):
Excerpt from FTC Chairwoman Ramirez Letter to ICANN May 27, 2015, re: Vox Populi and .SUCKS new gTLD
By not answering ICANN's question of whether Vox Populi is violating any laws, the FTC has left the issue open and the onus is now back on ICANN (the FTC may have opened an investigation, it does not "comment on the existence of any pending investigations").
Good for Ms. Ramirez and FTC--well done! The FTC is not going to bail ICANN out of problems ICANN irresponsibly created. Now the issue is back in "ICANN's court." ICANN now knows it is not just a clerk "collecting the money" from new gTLD wannabe Registry operators, but has a duty to protect consumers and the public interest, and must consider, before authorizing any new gTLD, the consequences of its own actions and omissions, and the contractual requirements it imposes upon new gTLD registry operators. One thing is clear, ICANN's existing new gTLDs program and policy is clearly deficient in the FTC's view, and ICANN needs to do a lot more to protect consumers (domain name registrants, trademark holders, users of the internet). Maybe ICANN will listen to the FTC this time.
In the meantime, the sunrise for .SUCKS closes Friday, May 29th.UPDATE: per the Registry operator--dotSucks Domain Name Registry: Sunrise Phase Extended until June 19th, 2015 -- "Even though the launch of the new dotSucks domain names has received overwhelming media and market attention, we have discovered that far too many intellectual property lawyers, company executives and brand owners were unaware of the registry, the availability of its names or the Trademark Clearinghouse. This was a concern that led us over the last weeks to pay closer attention to the ability of the trademark holders to make a timely and informed decision about registering their marks or not. We have decided that the responsible move is to extend the TMCH Sunrise phase for a period of three weeks. This effectively moves the close of the TMCH Sunrise Period to June 19th at 00:01 UTC with General Availability to start June 21st at 00:01 UTC."
Google I/O 2015 brings together developers for an immersive, two-day experience focused on exploring the next generation of technology, mobile and beyond. UPDATE: Day 2here Google I/O LIVE from San Francisco Moscone Center, May 28-29: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM PDT (US) both days- Sessions and Sandbox. Current date/time in San Francisco: Google I/O is for developers—the creative coders who are building what's next. Explore the latest in tech, mobile, and beyond. Check the schedule below or here. I/O 2015 is streamed LIVE. Watch belowthe keynote and select sessions in real time from your laptop or mobile device, or here. Twitter feeds further below.
Google I/O 2015 - Day 1 - Channel 1
Full Schedule - May 28 - Channel 1:
1PM PDT: What's new in Android
2PM PDT: What's New in Android Development Tools
3PM PDT: What's new in Google Play services
4PM PDT: Material Now
Google I/O 2015 - Day 1 - Channel 2
Full Schedule - May 28 - Channel 2:
3PM PDT: The next generation mobile web
4PM PDT: Growing games with Google
Google I/O 2015 - Day 1 - Channel 3
Full Schedule - May 28 - Channel 3:
1PM PDT: Google Cloud Messaging 3.0
2PM PDT: Smarter monetization with AdMob and Analytics
3PM PDT: Android Pay: The next generation of payments on Android
4PM PDT: Making apps context aware: Opportunities, tools, lessons and the future
Outline from Mary Meeker's 2015 Internet Trends Report (source: KPCB)
Below is the full Slide Presentation
Mary Meeker is a former Wall Street analyst, now late-stage venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers [domain name: kpcb.com] who has published annually an influential assessment of the Internet economy. Meeker presented her Internet Trends report at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes on Wednesday (full report below, outline above).
2015 Internet Trends Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
"KPCB’s Mary Meeker presents the 2015 Internet Trends report, 20 years after the inaugural “The Internet Report” was first published in 1995. Since then, the number of Internet users has risen from 35 million in 1995 to more than 2.8 billion today. The 2015 report looks at key Internet trends globally – while still healthy Internet user and smartphone subscription growth continue to slow, Internet engagement continues to rise led by consumers spending more time on their mobile devices, where they can be connected 24/7. Mobile advertising still has headroom to expand and new innovations around ad formats and buy buttons should prove compelling for consumers and businesses. "We are re-imagining more and more aspects of our daily lives, as mobile users and entrepreneurs continue to push innovation and creative output across new online platforms. User-generated / curated / shared content continues to rise, ranging from pins on Pinterest to videos on Snapchat and Facebook. Business processes continue to be re-imagined, led by companies aiming to make data more useful and services more efficient. Demographic shifts are helping to accelerate technology changes. Millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce and their work / life expectations differ from previous generations. As connectivity and commerce continue to rise, we have witnessed broad impacts on consumer expectations, which in turn can alter work for many, to a form of work that can be flexible and supplemental. Looking internationally, Chinese Internet leaders continue to innovate, while India is on-track to become the second-largest Internet market in the world." Domain Mondoaddendum to the above (based on an Economist research report today): three economies will dominate the 21st Century--China, India, and the U.S. Developing countries that have high GDP growth potential: Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mexico. Follow @DomainMondo
May 27, 2015: FIFA Corruption: Is It an Existential Crisis? - NC Partnership's Nigel Currie discusses FIFA corruption in international soccer. He speaks on Bloomberg's “Market Makers." A "money driving corruption"
FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges | NYTimes.com: "Critics of FIFA point to the lack of transparency regarding executive salaries and resource allocations ... Policy decisions are also often taken without debate or explanation, and a small group of officials — known as the executive committee — operates with outsize power. FIFA has for years functioned with little oversight and even less transparency. Alexandra Wrage, a governance consultant who once unsuccessfully attempted to help overhaul FIFA’s methods, labeled the organization “byzantine and impenetrable.”"
Sound familiar?
However mundane the reality of US government involvement, the IANA oversight provides a symbolic umbilical cord between ICANN and an external body. Once cut, there would be no external constraints on ICANN, a private, unregulated monopoly with control over global critical Internet resources. This is the reason why the IANA transition has to take place within a wider conversation about ICANN’s accountability .... ICANN as a corporation is a largely unregulated, private sector body with control over critical Internet resources on which global economies depend. It has no natural competitors, is cash-rich (in 2014, its current assets were more than $350 million, with a further $145 million in deferred income), and directly or indirectly supports many of its participants and other Internet governance processes. Without effective accountability and transparency mechanisms, the opportunities for distortion, even corruption, are manifold. In such an environment, it is not sufficient simply to invoke trust ... In a public interest company, there is even more cause for concern, particularly as ICANN also has a contractual compliance function over those companies. There are at least theoretical conflicts in the dual roles of supplier and regulator... -- Emily Taylor, ICANN: Bridging the Trust Gap (pdf) (emphasis added)
Or is Multistakeholderism just another word for Elitism?
UPDATE: But it is not just the ICANN Board, officers, and staff that need transparency and accountability mechanisms--the ICANN "stakeholders" themselves are a BIG problem that has yet to be addressed by any of the ongoing ICANN and IANA transition processes--indeed, if anything, the IANA stewardship transition and ICANN accountability work groups have accentuated the elitist, narrow interests who control ICANN stakeholder groups. Look at the members and active participants of these "working groups" and see how the "same names" appear on multiple groups lists--probably less than 100 people total are actually directing and deciding the future accountability mechanisms by which ICANN and IANA will be governed. This is a well-known problem with multistakeholderism about which both ICANN and the US government prefer to deny exists rather than address. Why? Because it serves the incumbent "power" interests--
Multistakeholderism unmasked: How the NetMundial Initiative shifts battlegrounds in internet governance | LSE Media Policy Project: "... most controversies about internet governance were the result of a dichotomy between the proponents of traditional regulation through intergovernmental authority and those of a multistakeholder model, the hypothetical middle ground between a free-market model, a cyberlibertarian idea of self-regulation and the classical governmental approach. What the debates about the two divergent approaches rarely reveal is that most implementations of the multistakeholder approach are far from an ideal governance model. In fact, while multistakeholderism may have so far allowed various non-state actors to participate in internet governance processes, it does not necessarily lead to a wider range of views or a more global representation of interests and concerns. In several instances, multistakeholder processes actually tend to increase the overrepresentation of actors from the highly developed Western world, whereas they neglect developing countries, which often lack independent civil society networks and strong business players that could meaningfully engage in the existing structures... a new but much needed discussion on power mechanisms and could eventually shed light on the real interests of those proponents of the multistakeholder approach who seem eager to maintain the unbalanced representation of voices and concerns in internet governance. In the long run, this discussion could lead to a more honest and transparent scenario for multistakeholderism, which does not fail to consider the rights and interests that all countries and all users have in the governance of the global internet." (emphasis added)
POLITICO: "NEXT STEPS FOR ICANN — The news that Fadi Chehadé will step down as CEO of ICANN next spring caught many watchers off-guard. But the change, says a spokesperson, is just part of the Internet governance group's natural evolution. "As Chehadé has made clear, ICANN is more than just one person," says Brad White, ICANN's director of communications in North America. "He hasn't just led. He's also inspired a community of often divergent and conflicting opinions. As for the process going forward, the board will form a search committee which will likely hire headhunters that specialize in international organizations to look for likely candidates." They might not have to look too far. When Chehadé was chosen as CEO in 2012, he appointed as senior advisors two of the three runners-up: Egypt's Tarek Kamel and the U.K.'s Sally Costeron." (emphasis and links added)
ICANN can, and should, do better than hiring headhunters to produce a list of possible candidates for an ICANN Board search committee to select its next CEO. That is unlikely to result in the kind of leadership ICANN desperately needs. Domain Mondo has suggested before, and reiterates, "Why would ICANN choose anyone as CEO who does not understand the domain name industry? Domain Mondo suggests that the next CEO of ICANN be selected from among the many, very talented people leading ccTLD registry operators throughout the world."
Right now,Domain Mondo can think of 3 individuals in ccTLD leadership positions--2 men and 1 woman--any one of whom would be far superior compared to ICANN's "batting average" in selecting past CEOs:
ICANN CEOs:
Michael Roberts, October 1998-March 2001
Stuart Lynn, March 2001-March 2003
Paul Twomey, March 2003-June 2009 Rod Beckstrom, July 2009-July 2012 Akram Atallah, July-September 13, 2012 (Interim)
Fadi Chehadé September 14, 2012-March 2016
Fadi Chehadé Opening Speech | ICANN 44 | Prague 25 June 2012: At the close of his speech he made three pledges: "I will listen ... I will be very transparent ... I will make all my decisions for the public interest."
WSIS FORUM 2015 INTERVIEW: Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO, ICANN - published on May 25, 2015: Interview with Fadi Chehadé, President and Chief Executive Officer, ICANN at WSIS FORUM 2015, Geneva, Switzerland (25-29 May 2015). Subjects covered include the IANA Stewardship Transition and Enhancing ICANN Accountability as well as other Internet governance issues. However, no mention of the announcement last Thursday that Chehadé is leaving his position at ICANN. Further below, day 2 video highlights from WSIS Forum 2015. See also:
WSIS FORUM 2015 HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO: DAY 2 - Published on May 26, 2015 - Highlights from the second day at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2015, Geneva, Switzerland (25-29 May 2015).
Kudos to Anthony Scaramucci and SkyBridge Media LLC, an affiliate of SkyBridge Capital, for acquiring rights to use the domain name wallstreetweek.com and reinventing the iconic program originally hosted by Louis Rukeyser. The program airs on Fox stations in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago and San Francisco, and streams online at the website and on youtube.com. The legendary James Chanos of Kynikos (Greek for "cynic") Associates LP, and trader Lawrence Altman were featured on the latest episode--and they had a lot to say which may be relevant to all kinds of investors, covering many diverse topics, including China, the art market, energy stocks, the 2010 flash crash and trading against machines (HFT)--enjoy!
Wall Street Week published May 24, 2015: Short seller Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates and trader Lawrence Altman of CBD interviewed by hosts Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky. (Program length 28:30)
Another 3 or 4 years, China will look like Greece?
Of China's increasing debt and its threat, Jim Chanos said, "Chinese banking system is bloated and it’s basically taking out more and more leverage. That same ratio is now 300 percent. So, in five years they have more than doubled their debt-to-GDP and I joke to my Chinese friends, but somewhat half seriously, another three or four years they are going to be like my homeland Greece. They are going to be at 400 percent.”
“So, here is, here is the problem and the problem is the credit story,” Chanos said. “And the Shanghai stock market, by the way is a very bad barometer. We are not short Shanghai. We have never been short or long the the Asia market. When I started looking at China, it was 3,500, it went to 1,900 and now it’s 4,300 and when it was at 1,900 nobody told me, 'oh this means this is the end of China.' It was just the Shanghai stock market, its retail market. Now that it’s at 4,300. Everybody is coming out of the woodwork to say China is turning, it’s not.” Domain Mondo comment and analysis: As Chanos noted in the program, short sellers are cynics and keep the system honest. Based on his assessment of China and the art market, Domain Mondo expects domain name values--particularly .COM domain names-- to continue rising consistent with overall market trends (note his comments about the Shanghai market) and wealthy Chinese buyers' preference for dot COM domains--the global online standard. SeeThe Bull Market in dot COM Domain Names.[Note disclaimer at foot of webpage and here.]
About | WSIS Forum 2015: The WSIS Forum 2015 represents the world’s largest annual gathering of the [Information and Communications Technology] ‘ICT for development’ community. The WSIS Forum, co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Co-Facilitators (UNDESA, FAO, UNEP, WHO, UN Women, WIPO, WFP, ILO, WMO, UN, ITC, UPU, UNODC, UNICEF and UN Regional Commissions) has proven to be an efficient mechanism for coordination of multistakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge, sharing of best practices and continues to provide assistance in developing multistakeholder and public/private partnerships to advance development goals. This forum to provide structured opportunities to network, learn and participate in multi-stakeholder discussions and consultations on WSIS implementation.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT): ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications.
WSIS Forum 2015 builds upon the tradition of annual WSIS May meetings, and its format is the result of open consultations with all WSIS Stakeholders. Emerging trends in 11 WSIS Action Lines both in terms of Policy and Technology are produced as an Outcome of WSIS Forum in a multistakeholder environment on an annual basis. The WSIS Forum 2015 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects and Innovations on the Format aims at ensuring the participatory and inclusive spirit of the WSIS Forum 2015 by actively engaging governments, civil society, the private sector and intergovernmental organizations in the preparatory process. The Agenda and Programme of the WSIS Forum will be built on the basis of the official submissions received during the Open Consultation Process.
Remote Participation | WSIS Forum 2015: The WSIS Process has a multi-stakeholder character. WSIS Stakeholders include governments, civil society, private sector, academia and international organizations from all parts of the world. Today, information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide the opportunity for representation and inclusion of all stakeholders in the WSIS events by way of remote participation. In order to facilitate the participation and ensure the inclusion of all WSIS Stakeholders, remote participation has been designed as an integral feature of the WSIS Forum 2015.
WSIS Stakeholders who wish to participate remotely in any of the sessions, can do so via either the Webcast Service or the Adobe Connect platform. The Webcast Service uses Real Networks software to distribute audio and video to remote participants. The media is streamed so the user does not have to wait for files to download and can access video or audio at any point. The Adobe Connect platform will allow remote participants to follow the meeting by seeing video feed from the conference room, hear what is being discussed in English, see presentations/documents under discussion, and chat with the meeting host and other remote participants. Each session will have 10–15 for questions from remote participants.
How to access: To access remote participation, simple find and click on the desired session on the Agenda and select the type of Remote Participation (Webcast or Adobe Connect). A real-time registration form will pop up and remote participants will be asked to complete it before accessing the session. Webcasts are also archived.
The What, Why and When of WSIS (English Captioned)- published on May 25, 2015 - What is WSIS, when and why was it started, and what is the annual conference all about? A quick and comprehensible snapshot of the world’s foremost ICT4Development event.
Selection from the Monday, May 25th, Agenda: Internet of Things (IoT): The Way to Smart Sustainable Cities | WSIS Forum 2015: "Internet of Things (IoT): The Way to Smart Sustainable Cities -- sponsors: ITU and Partners -- Currently cities account for 50-60% of GHG emissions as well as 75% of the global energy consumption. While cities generously contribute to around 75% of the global GDP, they also generate 50% of the world’s waste. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population is estimated to reside in cities. A sustainable life for the future generations would thus depend on making cities smarter and more sustainable. Internet of Things (IoT) leads a sweeping cultural change as a huge number of machines, devices, sensors, actuators, and other objects become interconnected to each other and to higher-level systems. Due to the enormous amount of variety of connectable devices and automatically collected data entirely new services and features may arise, which are to form the basis of, among others concepts, “Smart Sustainable Cities”. This thematic workshop will discuss the role that Internet of Things (IoT) and emerging technologies such as crowd sourcing and crowd sensing play in building smart sustainable cities worldwide as well as provide several examples of application domains, including deployment of IoT and monitoring. This event will include a set of demonstrations and will present success stories from around the world to expand on the benefits of using IoT in cities while furthering the sustainable development goals."
Speakers / panellists:
11:00 - 11:10 Opening Ceremony Chaesub Lee, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum
11:10 - 11:30 Keynote speeches H.E. Kok Jwee Foo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Singapore United Nations Cristina Bueti, Adviser, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
11:30 - 12:45 Panel Discussion Moderator: Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum; Luis Muñoz, Head of the Network Planning and Mobile Communications, University of Cantabria, Spain; Srdjan Krco, CEO, DunavNET; Amine Mcharek, Management Science School, Korea Advance Institute for Science and Technology
12:45 - 13:00 Closing Session -- Bilel Jamoussi, Chief of Study Groups, International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Sébastien Ziegler, Director, Mandat International and Vice President, IOT Forum"
Additional note: on Tuesday, May 26th: Opening Policy Statements (11:30-12:30): Mr Fadi Chehade, CEO and President, ICANN
Foundation 41 // Biz Stone -
Kevin Rose interview of Jelly CEO and co-founder Biz Stone. Discussed are his entrepreneurial roots, leaving college to jump into the world of art and design, and embarking on a social startup in the early days of the web. Published on Oct 22, 2014. bizstone.com
Foundation 31 // Ev Williams - Foundation series: serial entrepreneur Evan Williams, interviewed by Kevin Rose, talks candidly about his experiences building Blogger, Twitter, and his latest project, Medium. Ev recounts the early days of Twitter, shares what he's learned about how to scale fast-growth products, and explains his philosophy about the power of collaboration. Published on Jun 28, 2013. medium.com/@ev/latest
ITU Interviews Robert Pepper, V P, Global Technology Policy Cisco Systems, Inc. -- Interview with Dr Robert Pepper, V P Global Technology Policy Cisco Systems, Inc. at ITU 150th Anniversary Celebration, Geneva, Switzerland, 17 May 2015. see: IoT -- Internet of Things
Published on April 8, 2015: "The year 2015 marks a major milestone in the history of the International Telecommunication Union. ITU’s 150th Anniversary celebration is an opportunity for ITU and its Members to honor the past as well as launch activities for the future."
Written Testimony for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy: "... the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and digital economy sectors are critical and EB (Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs) has led the effort to advance U.S. priorities on Internet governance, ensuring an open and global Internet, free from governmental controls. EB led the United States delegation to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) highest-level treaty conference late last year, securing agreement that there would be no expansion of ITU’s role in Internet governance or cybersecurity. EB is leading the U.S. push to expand access spectrum for mobile broadband and pave the way for remotely piloting aircraft and myriad space science activities at the ITU’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) later this year, seizing the opportunity to advance U.S. innovation and economic growth, further strengthen national security, and accelerate U.S. research and leadership."--Testimony of Kurt Tong, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, May 6, 2015.
In the recent past there were attempts to have ITU involved in the DNS and domain name issues:
ITU-T Newslog - Procedures for Registration with the Top Level Domain .int: "Procedures for Registration with the Top Level Domain .int ITU-T Study Group 2 has approved at its December 2005 meeting, a Recommendation outlining procedures for registration with the domain ".int". ITU-T Recommendation E.910 clarifies the principles and procedures for the registration of names under the Internet top-level domain ".int" and the process by which qualified international organizations can register for domain names under ".int". Importantly it outlines what criteria an international organization must meet in order to qualify for such a domain." and Multilingual Domain Names: Joint ITU / WIPO Symposium: "The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) hosted a Joint Symposium on Multilingual Domain Names from 6-7 December 2001, at the International Conference Center of Geneva (CICG). Day one of the Symposium was led by ITU and dealt with technology and policy issues. Day two was led by WIPO and dealt with intellectual property and dispute resolution issues."
Less than 3 years into his tenure as ICANN President and CEO, with more than 2 years left on his contract--ICANN flush with millions in cash from the largest, but full of problems, expansion underway of the DNS in history (ICANN's new gTLDs), as well as the IANA stewardship transition incomplete and still questionable time frame--this seems an inappropriate time for the ICANN CEO to suddenly announce he's leaving. Indeed, Fadi Chehadé's announcement that he will leave ICANN next March, caught almost everyone by surprise, even ICANN insiders:
But long-time observers and participants within ICANN are probably inured to the constant ICANN spin-machine and accept ICANN incompetence and ineptness as a given. But most people don't care nor pay any attention to ICANN. If they did, this is what Fadi Chehadé's legacy at ICANN looks like today:
2. The global Internet community largely rejected Fadi's leadership in his top-downICANN-financedproject known as the NETmundial Initiative;
3. ICANN stakeholders had to force ICANN and the US Department of Commerce's NTIA to add an "ICANN accountability" component to the IANA stewardship transition process--NTIA's Larry Strickling never mentioned an accountability "enhancement" requirement in his March, 2014 announcement--but today even Strickling admits ICANN accountability "enhancement" is a necessary component going forward before any IANA stewardship transition can occur.
What we do know is that ICANN and Chehadé have been watched more closely in the past year due to all of the above. In addition, the above has brought added stress to the organization and those in leadership positions. Even normally calm ICANN Board Chairman, Steve Crocker, had a "meltdown moment" yesterday on the CCWG-Accountability mail list.
And ICANN stakeholders are also stressed out--recently an ICANN stakeholder, active in both the CWG-Stewardship and CCWG-Accountability processes, both of which have been working overtime due to "impossible" deadlines, in frustration posted the following on a public mail list:
"... ICANN has, in the process of the CWG and CCWG, revealed itself to be even more beset by bureaucratic thinking, clerical rot, hobby-horse obsessions, unimaginative analyses, and cut-rate Machiavellian management than I'd believed going in. I think it is a fine institution for managing an increasingly-irrelevant resource (TLDs), but it is not an institution that is in good shape to ensure the health of the Internet." (emphasis added)
[Note: see UPDATES below]
ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé has informed the ICANN Board of Directors that he will be concluding his tenure in March 2016 to move into a new career in the private sector outside the Domain Name Industry.
At the request of the Board, Chehadé will be available to work closely with ICANN after March 2016 to support the transition to a new leader, as well as to advise the Board on any issue they require including the implementation of the IANA Stewardship Transition from the US Government to ICANN and the technical operating community.
"I want to thank Fadi for his strong commitment," said Dr. Stephen Crocker, Chair of the Board of Directors. I am very confident that with Fadi's continued leadership and ICANN's very experienced management team who have the breadth to ensure that ICANN continues to manage its key responsibilities effectively, that the organization's work will proceed smoothly."
"I am deeply committed to working with the Board, our staff, and our community to continue ICANN's mission as we still have much to accomplish," said Chehadé. "During the remaining 10 months of my tenure, it's business-as-usual. My priority remains to continue strengthening ICANN's operations and services to the global community." (source: ICANN)
Last year the ICANN Board extended the contract of Fadi Chehadé by two years, to run until 30 June 2017, and increased his base salary by 12.5 percent. Chehadé joined ICANN in late 2012 and is a citizen of Egypt, Lebanon, and the United States. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Egyptian parents and left the then war-torn country in 1980 at the age of 18. He speaks fluent Arabic, English, French, and Italian. Before joining ICANN as its President and CEO in late 2012, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Vocado LLC, a U.S. firm that is a provider of cloud-based software for the administration of educational institutions.
Statement of Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling on ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade’s announcement that he plans to leave the organization next year: “Fadi Chehade has served as CEO of ICANN with tireless dedication, and I greatly appreciate his ongoing commitment to improve the accountability and transparency of the organization. NTIA remains committed to the responsible and timely transition of our stewardship of the Internet Domain Name System consistent with the conditions that NTIA outlined in 2014. A successful transition does not depend on the leadership of a single individual, but rather the engagement of the global multistakeholder community working collaboratively to ensure that the Internet remains open, secure, and resilient. I urge the community to remain focused on the important task of developing a transition proposal, including enhanced accountability mechanisms, that fully meets our conditions and can be implemented in a responsible and timely manner.”
Tim Berners-Lee: "....when a decision is taken about a possible new top-level domain, ICANN's job is to work out, in a transparent and accountable manner, whether it is really in the best interest of the world as a whole, not just of those launching the new domain. It also means that ICANN's use of the funds should be spent in a beneficent way...." (emphasis added)
New gTLD Auction Proceeds | ICANN New gTLDs: "Auctions are the mechanism of last resort to resolve string contention within the New gTLD Program... Auction proceeds will be reserved and earmarked until the Board determines a plan for the appropriate use of the funds through consultation with the community. Auction proceeds are net of any Auction costs..."
ICANN holds total new gTLD Auction net proceeds in excess of $58 million dollars (US), as of March 27, 2015.
Jonathan, "... on the [GNSO] initiative to create a CCWG to develop inputs on the use of the auction funds. The Board has explicitly committed to a full consultation process. Input from the CCWG will be quite welcome, but so will inputs from other sources. The Board has not chartered any group to make decisions about the auction funds, and we plan to proceed very deliberately. We will proceed very shortly with a call for inputs on general ideas and concepts, not specific projects. We make a point of reaching outside the usual ICANN SO and AC structures to include the rest of the Internet community. We will, of course, be glad to mention the CCWG effort as one of the ways for people to be involved. I hope this is consistent with your understanding and expectations." (emphasis added)
In other words, the ICANN Boardwill decide what happens to the new gTLD auction proceeds after consulting the global multistakeholder community. The GNSO or new gTLD domain name industry attempt to control the decision-making process and outcome through its own GNSO-initiated CCWG apparently has been blocked, for now, by ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker.
MarkMonitor® Domain Management experts Elisa Cooper and Matt Serlin discuss key guidelines for managing a global domain portfolio. (source: MarkMonitor - markmonitor.com - published on May 15, 2015)
This excellent MarkMonitor one-hour webinar covers:
• Practical tips for containing costs and reducing overextended portfolios
• Steps for uncovering and maximizing the value of your portfolio
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The "money quote" in the recent news press release (see at bottom below) about the XYZ and Uniregistry new joint venture and registry operatorCars Registry Limited:
"This trio of extensions was completed recently with the acquisition of the highly coveted.Cardomain extension from Google." (emphasis added)
ICANN--the domain name regulatory monopoly--a "non-profit" California corporation that is in the "business" of "selling" a/k/a "authorizing" the creation of new gTLDs and their delegation into the Internet root (for the mere sum of $185,000 plus a modest annual fee), has made the following information available to the public:
On 22 January 2015, ICANN and Charleston Road Registry Inc., entered into a Registry Agreement under which Charleston Road Registry Inc., operated the .car top-level domain [new gTLD]. Effective 21 April 2015, the Registry Agreement was assigned by Charleston Road Registry Inc. [Google] to Cars Registry Limited [XYZ and Uniregistry joint venture] which now operates the .car top-level domain.
The agreements may be read at the following links below:
Assignment and Assumption Agreement
Charleston Road Registry Inc. to Cars Registry Limited (21 April 2015) PDF
Excerpt from the public portion of the application for new gTLD (new generic top-level domain) .CAR, originally posted: 13 June 2012, Application ID: 1-1683-8443118(a) (emphasis added):
"... Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD [.CAR].
18.a. Mission⁄Purpose of the Proposed gTLD [.CAR]
"Charleston Road Registry is an American company, wholly owned by Google, which was established to provide registry services to the Internet public... Its business objective is to manage Google’s gTLD portfolio and Google’s registry operator business. As discussed further in the responses to questions 23 and 31, Charleston Road Registry intends to outsource all critical registry functions to Google Registry Services. The mission of this gTLD, .car, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which registrants can enact second-level domains that offer content related to cars, including the sale, purchase, rental, financing, servicing, repair, insurance and⁄or management of cars, as well as automobile industry-related information, such as new product development and trends (e.g. alternative fuel sources). This mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain. The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with direct association with the term, ʺcar.ʺ Charleston Road Registry believes that registrants will find value in associating with this gTLD, which could have a vast array of purposes for businesses, organization, or individuals seeking to associate with the term ʺcar.ʺ This assertion is supported by industry data: the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers reports over 80 million vehicles were produced worldwide in 2011 [Source: http:⁄⁄oica.net⁄category⁄production-statistics⁄), and the global automobile market is over $3 trillion (http:⁄⁄www.ibisworld.com⁄industry⁄global⁄global-car-automobile-sales.html]. In addition, US-based Cars.com reports 10 million site visitors per month [Source: http:⁄⁄www.cars.com⁄go⁄about⁄us.jsp?section=C&content=fact&aff=national]. The proposed gTLD will also provide Charleston Road Registry with the means to meet its business objectives...."
Two major factors are shown in the graphic above: 1) internet penetration (%); 2) total internet population of each nation (indicated by the relative size of each nation on the map). For example, China already has the largest internet population in the world, but lower internet penetration than the US, which means more growth in the Chinese internet population is likely in the future. However, remember other correlations are applicable for the internet and domain name industry (click on map to enlarge).
Trends and Patterns:
The rise of Asia as the main contributor to the world’s internet population; 42% of the world’s internet users live in Asia.
China, India, and Japan together have more Internet users than Europe and North America combined.
Few of the world’s largest internet countries fall into the top category (>80%) of internet penetration (and indeed India falls into the lowest category, at <20% penetration). In other words, in all of the world’s largest internet nations, there is still substantial room for growth.
All but four of the countries with an internet penetration rate of over 80% are in Europe (Canada, New Zealand, Qatar, and South Korea being the exceptions).
Most Latin American countries now can count over 40% of their citizens as internet users. Because of this, Latin America as a whole now hosts almost as many internet users as the United States.
"Cables lying on the seafloor bring the internet to the world. They transmit 99 percent of international data, make transoceanic communication possible in an instant, and serve as a loose proxy for the international trade that connects advanced economies." -Vox
"...The United States is by far the most connected country in the world, with submarine cable landing points on both coasts that connect it to most other continents..." (source: Oxford Internet Institute)
At left: thumbnail from Telegeography.com's Global Internet Map 2012 shows major US internet backbone hub gateways--New York City, Washington, D.C., Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco metros--as well as the number one hub in the world in capacity in 2011: London (UK). Over 11 Tbps of international Internet capacity connected to London in 2011.
New data from TeleGeography and its Global Bandwidth Research Service indicates international bandwidth grew 44 percent in 2014, to reach 211 Tbps. The 65 Tbps of new capacity deployed in 2014 equals nearly the entire amount of bandwidth in service globally in 2011. This rapid capacity growth is driven by a changing mix of global network operators--private networks, particularly those of large content providers like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, account for a growing share of international bandwidth, even surpassing public Internet bandwidth on the trans-Atlantic route last year. As a result, network operation is now a core part of the business for some of the largest content providers. Opportunities still exist for traditional network operators as not all wholesale customers can achieve the large scale of content companies, leaving substantial demand for purchases of increments of capacity.
Web Companies Driving Construction Boom at Internet’s Core - WSJ: "... Google has been an aggressive builder of network pipes. The company helped build a trans-Pacific submarine cable finished in 2010 and is in the process of funding another one. The company also took a one-third stake in another fiber optic cable that will link the U.S. to Brazil... A Google spokeswoman said the network investments allow the company to provide users with better, faster services. Facebook and Microsoft are also investing heavily in the building blocks of a private global network. The pair helped secure funding for a new cable called AEConnect between Ireland and the U.S., according to a person familiar with the matter..." Google Peering & Content Delivery: "... How does Google deliver traffic to users? In the core: We invest and build our global backbone network to connect our data centers and transport traffic to Internet aggregation points. We carry traffic as far as possible on our own network. At the edge: We peer directly with access network operators and ISPs. Google treats all operators equally with an open, settlement-free peering policy. Beyond the edge: We deploy the Google Global Cache platform in access providers' networks to deliver content even closer to users, and reduce transport costs for operators..." China Approves New Crossing-Pacific Cable Project: "A new multinational crossing-Pacific submarine cable project which directly connects China and the US has been approved by China's National Development and Reform Commission. China's three telecommunication giants, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile, together with companies from several other countries and regions, will jointly contribute to the funding and construction. The project is designed with a total length of around 14-thousand kilometers and a total capacity of 60 Tb/s...." (May 2, 2015) Other references:
