Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:
Features • 1. China Cyber Sovereignty vs ICANN Multistakeholderism;
2. ICANN Websites, More ICANN Incompetence;
3. Average Annual Cost of an ICANN Employee;
4. Class Action vs Neustar;
5. Google.com UDRP;
6. GoDaddy Q4 2016 Results;
7. InternetAssociation.org political fundraising;
8. Names, Domains, Trademarks;
9. The Internet's 'Seven Keys';
10. DOA
not a replacement DNS;
11. ICANN CEP & IRP update;
12. Internet Attack Mitigation;
13. ICANN mafia;
14. Verisign 10-K (.WEB);
15. One of ICANN's stupid ideas gets nixed;
16. 3 most popular posts this past week on
Domain Mondo.
1. China Cyber Sovereignty vs ICANN Multistakeholderism:
What's Next for ICANN in the Absence of U.S. Oversight? An Interview With Kal Raustiala* | Council on Foreign Relations - Net Politics | cfr.org, excerpts:
Q: One central
criticism of the
multistakeholder model is that it isn’t representative enough ..." How do you respond?
"There is no question there are inequities in participation ..."
Q: Do you think that
China’s
concept of
cyber sovereignty is
incompatible with the
multistakeholder model? What are the
implications?
"... For China, which isn’t a fan of private actor input in almost any decision making, the ICANN model is a problem."
*
Kal Raustiala is a Professor of Law at UCLA, and Director of the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations.
UPDATE March 5, 2017:
News Review: China Will 'Vigorously' Promote the Reform of ICANN
2. ICANN Websites, More ICANN Incompetence:
ICANN NCPH Intersessional,
14-15 February 2017, Reykjavik, Iceland, Non-Contracted Parties House (NCPH) meeting transcripts, documents, presentations, recordings--excerpt (NCSG Session with the ICANN CEO):
Question: "... So the easy one that surprisingly came up first and everybody but a few people asked, it’s been coming up today as well many times, why can
nobody ever find anything on ICANN websites other than by Googling sometimes but no search function,
there is no organization. It’s impossible to find anything. Why don’t you hire a librarian to sort it out?
ICANN President & CEO Göran Marby: "That’s a very good question. Actually it is a very good question ... The simple answer to that question is that you are right. We don’t have a library function. We don’t have a document management system at all and, even worse than that, we don’t have any system in place on how to store things, how to label things, how to categorize things, how to collect things, and how to sort them together ..."
3. Average Annual Cost of an ICANN Employee almost $160,000 based on
"an average headcount of 339.5 which excludes 11.1 average headcount allocated to the IANA ..."--ICANN FY17 Q2 (ending Dec 2016)
QUARTERLY REPORT:
ICANN personnel costs--an average of $160,000 per employee per year--FY17 (Jul-Dec)
$27million ÷ 339.5 x 2),
source (pdf) (p. 56 below):
4. A
class action suit has been filed against registry services and technology provider
Neustar, Inc. ("Neustar"), [
NYSE: NSR | domain: Neustar.biz]--
MarketWatch.com--
Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. announced it had filed a
class action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware on behalf of shareholders of Neustar in connection with the proposed acquisition of Neustar by Golden Gate Capital and its affiliates (collectively, "Golden Gate") announced on December 14, 2016. The Complaint alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against Neustar, its Board of Directors, and Golden Gate, and is captioned
Parshall v. Neustar, Inc., Case No. 1:17-cv-00060-LPS (D. Del.). More information at MarketWatch link above.
5. Google.com UDRP:
6. GoDaddy $GDDY Q4 2016 Results, LIVE Webcast (Replay)--Feb 15, 5:00pm ET | DomainMondo.com:
"2016 Revenue Growth of 15% Driven by 7% Growth in Customers."
7. InternetAssociation.org, a trade group representing internet giants including Facebook and Google, is launching a new online political fundraising platform.--
Internet Association Brings Political Fundraising Into The Digital Age With New Crowdsourcing Platform | InternetAssociation.org.
8. Fame Names, Domains & Trademarks--
The Designer Formerly Known As…Intellectual Property Issues Arising From Personal Names As Fashion Brands | Ladas & Parry LLP | JDSupra.com--or how to lose your personal name.
9. The Problem with "The Seven Keys" | ICANN.org: "From time to time, articles are published about
"the seven people who control the keys to the Internet.” These articles, while probably well-intentioned, are
completely incorrect. Let’s be absolutely clear:
there are no keys that cause the Internet to function (or not to function) ..." Read more at the link above.
10. Digital Object Architecture (DOA) not a replacement DNS--Letter to ICANN Board from Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers Constituency [ISPCP] | ICANN.org--holmes-to-icann-01feb17-en.pdf (pdf 256 KB)--
"... At the recent ITU World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly (WTSA) held in Tunisia in November 2016 DOA dominated much of the discussion. It placed those countries that support the initiatives being pursued within the ITU (referred to above) in direct opposition to those who are currently fiercely opposed to that approach from both technical and political perspectives ... Although the subject of much discussion, both from a technical and political standpoint, there is clear evidence that in many cases there is a lack of understanding of what DOA really represents. Some people even speak of DOA as a replacement DNS, which it certainly is not ... The ISPCP bring this issue the attention of the ICANN Board with a request that the Board considers how best to work with its involved stakeholders and the technical community to raise awareness of DOA and ensure that the community has a true, factual understanding of the situation and its relationship to ICANN ..."
11. ICANN CEP (Cooperative Engagement Process) and
IRP (Independent Review Process)
Status Update – 14 February 2017 –
irp-cep-status-14feb17-en.pdf [426 KB] (embed below, highlighting added):
|
"Revenues for our Registry Services business are attributed to the country of domicile and the respective regions in which our registrars are located, however, this may differ from the regions where the registrars operate or where registrants are located. Revenue growth for each region may be impacted by registrars reincorporating, relocating, or from acquisitions or changes in affiliations of resellers. Revenue growth for each region may also be impacted by registrars domiciled in one region, registering domain names in another region. Although revenues continued to grow in the more mature markets of the U.S. and EMEA during 2016, China saw the highest growth rate due in part to the increased volume of new registrations during the second half of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016."
|
•
.WEB in Verisign 10-K:
Note 4. Deposits to Acquire Intangible Assets: "As of December 31, 2016 , the Company has paid $ 145.0 million for the future assignment to the Company of contractual rights to the . web gTLD, pending resolution of objections by other applicants, regulatory review, and approval from ICANN. Upon assignment of the contractual rights, the Company will record the total investment as an indefinite-lived intangible asset."
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS:
On January 18, 2017, the Company received a Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) from the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice requesting certain material related to the Company becoming the registry operator for the .web gTLD. We are in the process of responding to the CID. It is not possible at this time to estimate a range of potential financial and non-financial outcomes in connection with this matter.
15. One of ICANN's many stupid ideas gets nixed at the public comments stage:
|
Names of ICANN "diseases" |
Report of Public Comments | Identifier Technology Health Indicators: Definition | ICANN.org: "... several expressed concerns over the proposed use of Latin-like medical-based terminology [Datamalgia, Abusitis, Magnitudalgia, Perfluoism, Datafallaxopathy] to identify Internet health conditions.
Since this feedback was so clear, ICANN is dropping the Latin terminology as the project goes forward." For background read:
News Review: ICANN Busy Proving IANA Transition Was A Terrible Mistake: "
8. ICANN is this a joke OR is ICANN the joke? ..." (01 Jan 2017).
16. 3 most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on
DomainMondo.com:
- Alphabet Inc at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Conferences 2017
- TechReview | What's Really Wrong With Twitter & Why Trump Lost in Court
- News Review: Who Needs a Domain Name and Website Anymore?