2016-11-27

News Review: ICANN, ccTLDs, and the Domain Name Marketplace (slides)

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news [pdf]:

 Feature •  ICANN is struggling with its domain name marketplace index and the relevance of ccTLDs in the global domain marketplace in competition with gTLDs. See Incompetent ICANN Struggles With Its Domain Names Marketplace Index.

The slides (pdf) here (embed below) are from an ICANN57 session presentation authored by Andy Simpson, Principal Data Scientist at Verisign, about ccTLDs in the global domain name marketplace.


Main points:
  • Evaluating the domain marketplace using exclusively gTLDs introduces disproportionate regional bias to marketplace characterizations. 
  • 51% of registrants' portfolios in European countries are made up of national ccTLDs.
  • gTLDs and ccTLDs coexist and share of market varies from one country to the next.
  • Many ccTLDs market themselves on the global stage directly against gTLDs. [.CO being just one example of many.]
  • ccTLDs are a significant component of the domain name marketplace and any index that characterizes the health of that marketplace should consider the ccTLDs role and contribution.
Maybe ICANN, which does not have even one data scientist among its bloated, mostly overpaid management and staff, will get a clue and hire one. Even some ICANN stakeholders are aware of ICANN's incompetence in this area (see below). Unfortunately, ICANN has mostly relied on "junk science" experts, see, e.g., News Review [20Nov]: ICANN Used 'Junk Science' Firm to Justify New gTLDs.
New gTLDs - Competition, Consumer Trust & Consumer Choice Review Interim Findings & Next steps | ICANN.org: "One thing that has become clear to the CCT-RT is the need for additional data to be collected and curated by ICANN on a more regular basis. A large part of the recommendations will involve the need for robust and complete datasets for future review teams, outside analysts and policy development teams."

 Other Internet Domain News:

•  How Incompetent ICANN Helps Cybercriminals, Cybersquatters, & Spammers: Here’s a secret: ɢoogle.com is not google.com | AnalyticsEdge.com.

•  World's largest domain name registrar GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) is in talks to acquire Host Europe Group (HEG), expand into the more profitable web hosting business and broaden its customer base in Europe. HEG could be valued at about €1.7B, or over 12x its forecast 2016 core earnings of €140M according to a report in Reuters.com.

•  ICYMI: "You had said that the Governmental Advisory Committee in the ICANN was inherently unstable, and that it was like the UN within the ICANN. Now that the post-transition terms of engagement are established, do you think that still holds?" Milton Mueller: "It is. The problem with the GAC is not so much that it represents governments. But you have this one-government-one-position approach to it, which makes it just like an intergovernmental organisation."--Times of India | IndiaTimes.com.

•  DIDP Request 20161024-9, The Centre for Internet & Society:
Request (24 October 2016) (pdf): "... This is a request under your Documentary Information Disclosure Policy for information on ICANN’s process for verification of identity of gTLD bidders. There has been a lot of discussion about the legitimacy of Nu Dot Co which recently won the auction to control the .WEB domain name. Our specific questions are as follows: 1) Documents showing the process followed by ICANN to verify the identity of all gTLD bidders. 2) Affidavits filed by ICANN regarding the identity of Nu Dot Co. 3) Any other documentation showing that ICANN was able to verify the identity of Nu Dot Co. ..."
ICANN Response (23 November 2016) (pdf): "... Items 2 and 3 seek the disclosure of all “[a]ffidavits filed by ICANN regarding the identity of Nu Dot Co” and “[a]ny other documentation showing that ICANN was able to verify the identity of Nu Dot Co.” As you may be aware, Nu Dot Co.’s participation in an ICANN-facilitated auction is the subject of ongoing litigation. All pleadings filed in the Ruby Glen, LLC v. ICANN matter, including affidavits regarding the identity of Nu Dot Co. have been published on ICANN’s Litigation page at https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ruby-glen-v-icann-2016-07-23-en. To the extent that there are any other documents responsive to this request, they are subject to the following Defined Conditions of Nondisclosure and are therefore not appropriate for public dissemination: • Information subject to the attorney– client, attorney work product privilege, or any other applicable privilege, or disclosure of which might prejudice any internal, governmental, or legal investigation ..."

•  Oracle and Dyn (Dyn.com): "On November 21, 2016, Oracle announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Dyn, the leading cloud-based Internet Performance and DNS provider that monitors, controls, and optimizes Internet applications and cloud services to deliver faster access, reduced page load times, and higher end-user satisfaction. The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. Until the transaction closes, each company will continue to operate independently. Dyn's solution is powered by a global network that drives 40 billion traffic optimization decisions daily for more than 3,500 enterprise customers, including preeminent digital brands such as Netflix, Twitter, Pfizer and CNBC. Adding Dyn's best-in-class DNS solution extends the Oracle cloud computing platform and provides enterprise customers with a one-stop shop for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)." --Oracle.com (emphasis added). Note: Dyn is also an accredited domain name registrar with ICANN and suffered a recent DDoS attack.

• ICANN Public Comment Periods that close in December, 2016:

•  Digital Divide: Most people have access to Internet services but many do not actually use them. The spread of 3G and 4G networks across the world make the Internet increasingly available to more and more people. In 2016, mobile-broadband networks covered 84% of the world's population, yet with 47.1% Internet user penetration, the number of Internet users remain well below the number of people with network access. While infrastructure deployment is crucial, high prices and other barriers remain important challenges to getting more people to enter the digital world.--International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

•  Facebook Said to Create Censorship Tool to Get Back Into China | NYTimes.com: "Unveiling a new censorship tool in China could lead to more demands to suppress content from other countries. The fake-news problem, which has hit countries across the globe, has already led some governments to use the issue as an excuse to target sites of political rivals, or shut down social media sites altogether."

•  Censorship alive and well in Silicon Valley: "It is a worrying to see the censorship of those we disagree with"--NewStatesman.com--Reddit.com CEO Steve Huffman publicly admitted to editing comments on the pro-Donald Trump subreddit r/the_donald ... Huffman [also] deleted comments from the pro-Trump community on the site, and also altered comments that insulted him.“This legitimately should result in him being fired,”...“If it doesn't then we know reddit as a whole is no longer trustworthy and should abandon ship.”

 •  Delete yourself from the internet by pressing this button | TheNextWeb.com

•  Most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:
  1. News Review [20Nov]: ICANN Used 'Junk Science' Firm to Justify New gTLDs
  2. MacroView [21Nov]: 12 Days Post-Election, the "Trump Effect" Takes Hold (video)
  3. TechReview[26Nov]: Trump Election Victory Aftershocks Hit Silicon Valley
  4. Scott Galloway: Wall Street is Wrong About Google and Amazon
  5. TechReview [19Nov]: Facebook's Anti-Trump Fake News, Was It Effective?

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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