Features • 1) New gTLD Domain Name Registrants Caveat Emptor: ICANN & New gTLD Domain Names, 2) Tweets of the Week, 3) ICANN Accountability Work Stream 2 slippage, 4) Names, Domains & Trademarks: A Brave New World Without Sunrises or the TMCH? 5) ICYMI Internet Domain News: We Need A New Internet and the IETF is a Mess, 6) Q1 2017 Earnings Season: Qualcomm April 19, 7) Most Popular.
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| "WTF ICANN?" |
"1.2 Technical Feasibility of String. While ICANN has encouraged and will continue to encourage universal acceptance of all top-level domain strings across the Internet, certain top-level domain strings may encounter difficulty in acceptance by ISPs and webhosters and/or validation by web applications. Registry Operator shall be responsible for ensuring to its satisfaction the technical feasibility of the TLD string prior to entering into this Agreement."--ICANN Base Registry Agreement (pdf), updated 09 January 2014 (emphasis added).ICANN press release April 11, 2017: "... According to one study, 13 percent of websites reject new domain names with more than three letters [in the TLD (top-level domain)] ... many applications still do not accept the new domains [new gTLD domain names]. Universal Acceptance [UA] has progressed [even] less for IDNs than for gTLDs ..." (emphasis added) (Editor's note: ICANN has known about this UA problem since at least 2003 and yet the greedy, grossly negligent, and incompetent ICANN decided to proceed with its new gTLDs program, collect the money, and delegate over 1200 new gTLDs knowing they would "break stuff," without any disclosures or warnings to the general public or domain name registrants!)
Add to the above the fact that ICANN's new gTLDs come with no limitations as to future price increases to consumers (domain name registrants). Unlike .COM domain names, that shiny new gTLD domain name that cost you $XX this year to register could cost you $XX,000 next year to renew, and ICANN is in the process of deleting the requirement that new gTLD registry operators notify ICANN about price increases--better not put your new gTLD domain name on "auto-renew."
"ICANN is just a scam and the entire industry is based on monopolistic fraud with DC payoffs."--Mike Mann, domain name registrant, March 30, 2017.How did ICANN come to screw up its new gTLDs program so badly? There's plenty of blame to go around--inept ICANN leadership compounded by rampant conflicts of interest, incompetence, and cronyism, the effects of which continue to this day, but if I had to choose a single point failure it would be ICANN's decision to not follow the advice they were given by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (pdf) via the U.S. Department of Commerce (NTIA) (pdf) in December, 2008:
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| U.S. Dept. of Justice Antitrust Division advice to ICANN (Dec 8, 2008), supra, p.2 |
2) Tweets of the Week:
(a) @DomainKing on ICANN's new gTLDs:
(b) @SwiftOnSecurity on new gTLD .TOP:Remember one thing, there was no clamor by a single consumer on earth for new extensions. They don't care. Never will. #newgTLDS #Domains— Rick Schwartz (@DomainKing) April 10, 2017
Editor's note: What's ICANN doing? Nothing but collecting the money--.TOP is the second largest new gTLD in registrations--mostly in China (78%)--having a 15.4% market share among all new gTLDs.I'm not sure what ICANN is doing, but .top is so bad that the friggen registrar is blacklisted in our Palo Alto when I try to go there.— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) April 12, 2017
3) ICANN Accountability-Work Stream 2 slippage, March 2017 status (updated 10 Apr 2017):
Note: Jurisdiction subgroup (see below), will miss its target date for completion of work. 3 other subgroups--Diversity, Ombuds Office, and Review of the CEP--are "behind schedule:"
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| Above: excerpt from Activity Dashboard embedded in full further below |
CCWG Plenary,
I have attached a "discussion draft" of the Jurisdiction Subgroup's Revised Work Plan and Schedule. While this was first reviewed at the Subgroup's meeting earlier today, it was based on earlier discussions in the Subgroup.--Greg Shatan, Rapporteur, April 12, 2017 --[see embed below, highlighting added]
- CCWG-WS2 public mail list: http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/accountability-cross-community/2017-April/013888.html
- The WS2-jurisdiction April 2017 Archive by date
- http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/ws2-jurisdiction/
- [Ws2-jurisdiction] Notes, recordings and transcript for WS2 Jurisdiction Subgroup Meeting # 26 | 11 April 2017: Next meeting 18 April 1900 UTC
4) Names, Domains & Trademarks
- A Brave New World Without Sunrises or the TMCH?--Review of all Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) in all gTLDs PDP Working Group | ICANN.org--see mail list topics here.
- Registrar, Registry, Domain Name…A Quick Primer… | Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC | JDSupra.com: "... “What other documentation would be part of a domain name transfer (or sale)?” Excellent point. Beyond the processes above, if you are transferring a domain name to or from a third party, we generally recommend the parties enter into a Domain Name Transfer and Assignment Agreement that specifies domain to be transferred, the consideration to be paid between the parties (and when such amounts are paid), and contains at least three key concepts (sample wording for each is provided below) ..."
- India's Growing Internet Penetration and the Power of .COM by Prakhar Bindal | businessworld.in 12 Apr 2017: "So, even if you need to pay a little extra to get the domain name of your choice, it is almost always worth it. India’s growing online penetration spells a world of opportunity for Indian small businesses ... Choosing the right domain extension also matters. 79 percent of the SMBs in India currently prefer .com over other TLDs. Trust and the need for a professional image are the primary reasons driving this preference. This is in line with the global trend, where .com remains the most widely used TLD across the world ..."
- TICK DIFFERENT – But Apparently Not All That Different? | Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. | JDSupra.com: "... Swiss watchmaker Swatch AG finds itself embroiled in another trademark dispute with Apple, Inc. – this time, for the trademark TICK DIFFERENT. Swatch applied for the trademark in Switzerland, which Apple has challenged before the Swiss Federal Administrative Court. Apple, you may recall, coined the slogan THINK DIFFERENT in connection with a 1997 ad campaign ..."
- No False Advertising Where There Is No Injury or Statements Are Opinions | McDermott Will & Emery | JDSupra.com: citing Verisign, Inc. v. XYZ.com LLC, Case No. 15-2526 (4th Cir., Feb. 8, 2017).
5) ICYMI Internet Domain News
- We Urgently Need a New Internet | circleid.com: "... Unfortunately however, the current internet cannot be fixed. So we need a new one. My colleague Martin Geddes has written an excellent article on why the old net is broken and why it can't be fixed ..."
- Mend, Don't End, the IETF | circleid.com: "First things first: Martin is right. The IETF is a mess ..."
- The benefits and harms of e-commerce on competition law | Dentons | JDSupra.com
- DDoS attacks abusing exposed LDAP servers on the rise | InfoWorld.com: "Abusing the vulnerability could generate a "DDoS wildfire," Ixia's Murarasu said. It's also easy for attackers to find BIND servers that can be abused because all they have to do is set up a malicious nameserver to send a response and scan the internet for nameservers that respond with a large query."
- Why HTTPS Won't Keep Your Internet Usage Habits Secret | Inc.com: HTTPS will not protect you from an ISP that wants to sell information about your Internet usage habits.
- DDoS attack takes out Melbourne IT DNS servers | arnnet.com.au
- Wordpress hard pressed by malicious javascript and trojans | scmagazine.com
- Recognizing Access to the Internet as a “Basic Need,” Rejecting Blanket Bans on Internet Use, and Raising Questions as to the Scope of Monitoring Personal Computers | Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer P.A. | JDSupra.com
- Beware ICANN Groupthink: "Groupthink is when a group of individuals on a project become overly insular and fail to rely on outside thinking or fresh perspective.--Blattel Communications | JDSupra.com.
6) Q1 2017 Earnings Season coverage on Domain Mondo this coming week:
Qualcomm NASDAQ: QCOM (Domain: qualcomm.com) --Apr 19, 2017, 4:45pm EDT Qualcomm Q2 FY17 Earnings Conference Call--this Domain Mondo coverage due to pending Apple vs Qualcomm litigation.See also: Why We Think We’re Better Investors Than We Are | NYTimes.com: "Studies have revealed significant overconfidence in the judgments of scientists, lawyers, engineers, doctors and those in other professions ..."
7) Most popular post (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: News Review | ICANN & Its New gTLDs: Pedophilia's Best New Friends?
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo