Features • 1) Why All Those New gTLDs Mistakes Really Don't Matter, 2) An Important Message to ICANN, 3) ICANN News: Gaming the System the ICANN Way--Only Schmucks Pay Their Own Way to ICANN Meetings, and Something Really Is Broken in ICANN, 4) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Domain Investors Beware, 5) ICYMI News, 6) Q1 2017: Tucows & Rightside, 7) Most Popular.
1) Collisions, Unpredictable Predatory Pricing, Universal Acceptance #FAILS, & Other Fiascos--Why All Those New gTLDs Mistakes Don't Matter--Quote of the week from Oh, Those Wild and Crazy New TLDs | circleid.com:
"... Running a registry is apparently harder than it looks, but fortunately, so few people care about new TLDs that mistakes don't matter."-- John Levine (emphasis added)See also M3AAWG Appoints Dr. John Levine Liaison to ICANN | ICANN.org and Letter from Göran Marby to Jerry Upton | ICANN.org re: M3AAWG's Liaison to ICANN.
2) An Important Message to ICANN, new gTLD registry operators, promoters, hucksters, shills & the "ICANN community" re: new gTLDs--Wishful thinking will not change how domain names are used | OnlineDomain.com.
3) ICANN news
b) Something Really Is Broken in ICANN (and some ICANN stakeholders know it): two excerpts from an ICANN58 session (pdf) March 14, 2017:
c) New gTLDs, ICANN's Boondoggle: Buy Rightside: A Fast Growing Digital Toll Road[?] | SeekingAlpha.com 04 May 2017 Comment #3: "... Google and Amazon now realize that new gTLDs are a "loser business" and both have pulled back on their original plans for new gTLDs ... Even worse, ICANN is planning on opening up applications for another round of new gTLDs within the next 2 years. More competition for Rightside coming. How many new gTLDs will there eventually be? 10,000? 20,000? No one knows. Business for the new gTLDs registry operators is already so bad that one announced recently price increases of up to 3000% for its new gTLDs, in a last ditch attempt to survive, see: http://bit.ly/2qEKaNI ... More government regulation is coming. China has already taken the lead and closely regulates all TLDs within its sovereign internet behind the "Great Firewall." Other countries such as Russia are now adopting the "Chinese Model." Here in the U.S., the Department of Justice Antitrust Division is reportedly investigating ICANN and its new gTLDs program--even Verisign has received a Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) from the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice: http://bit.ly/2q3XG0r ..." (emphasis added)
d) Total IANA Transition Costs Jul 2014 - Mar 2017 $32.6 million (almost half to law firms):
e) Correspondence | ICANN.org: 26 April 2017:Letter from Chris Disspain to All Concerned [Published 28 April 2017] Chair | ICANN Board Governance Committee Update on the Review of the New gTLD Community Priority Evaluation Process--
"... The review is currently underway. We recognize that ensuring we fulfill all of our obligations means taking more time, but we believe that this is the right approach. The review will complete as soon as practicable and once it is done, the BGC, and Board where appropriate, will promptly consider the relevant pending Reconsideration Requests. Meanwhile, the BGC’s consideration of the following Reconsideration Requests is on hold: 14-30 (.LLC), 14-32 (.INC), 14-33 (.LLP), 16-3 (.GAY), 16-5 (.MUSIC), 16-8 (.CPA), 16-11 (.HOTEL), and 16-12 (.MERCK) ..."
f) ICANN59 Preliminary Block Schedule (pdf) ICANN59 June 26-29, Johannesburg, South Africa
g) Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic: ICANN Management Organization Chart | ICANN.org 01 May 2017.
4) Names, Domains & Trademarks
- Domain Investors Beware: "... As later investors acquire portfolios from early investors there will undoubtedly be a percentage of domain names composed of words, letters, and phrases that will have become challengeable by [trademark] mark owners with subsequently acquired statutory rights in those terms ..."--IPLegalCorner.com
- Identity theft by domain name | internationallawoffice.com: the Paris Court of First Instance ordered the transfer of a domain name consisting of the name of a person whose identity had been misused, "most likely fraudulently."
- China & new gTLDs: With nine of 10 top new gTLD registrants, China’s online dominance will worry many brand owners | WorldTrademarkReview.com.
- The Chinese trademark domain name scam in its entirety | DomainNameWire.com [Editor's note: LOL!]
- Domain Names Are Fading From User View| circleid.com : "The days of domain names as the center of internet policy and internet governance are ending. Domain name speculation will slowly become a quaint shadow of its former self ... The fading of domain names brings benefits ... it will obviate the need for most of the functions of ICANN." [Editor's note: Yes that would definitely be a benefit!]
- Microsoft: Advancing a Digital Geneva Convention (pdf) to protect cyberspace in times of peace ... The world needs new international rules to protect the public from nationstate threats in cyberspace. In short, the world needs a Digital Geneva Convention ...
- China's internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), issued new rules, effective June 1, requiring online news services to be managed by Chinese Communist party-sanctioned editorial staff, and extending restrictions on what news can be produced and distributed by online platforms. The rules apply to all political, economic, military, or diplomatic reports or opinion articles on blogs, websites, forums, search engines, instant messaging apps and all other platforms that select or edit news and information according to Reuters.com.
- China Offers Rare Insight Into Punishment for Speaking With Foreign Media | WSJ.com: "A Chinese committee removed a retired professor from his role with an association after he spoke with foreign media, exemplifying the findings of a new report that ranks China among the world’s worst violators of press freedom." See also 2017 World Press Freedom Index | RSF.org
- Digital Watch Newsletter 20 April 2017 (pdf): The Privacy Shield, created to allow US companies to transfer and process personal data of EU citizens without breaching EU rules, continues to attract concerns over the adequacy of the protection it offers. Such concerns have recently been raised by the EP and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS).
• Q1 2017 Financial Results on Domain Mondo this past week Apple $AAPL, GoDaddy $GDDY, and Facebook $FB. This coming week on May 9th both Tucows $TCX and Rightside $NAME report Q1 2017 results.
• GoDaddy Inc. Announces Proposed Follow-on Offering and Repurchase | godaddy.net 2017-05-03.
• Domain name registry services and technology company Neustar Reports Results for First Quarter 2017 | Neustar.biz: "NPAC Services contributed $128.3 million in revenue. Net income for the first quarter of 2017 totaled $45.4 million, or $0.80 per share."
- How much does Neustar's NPAC Services business contribute to Neustar's bottom line (net income)? 100%? See https://seekingalpha.com/article/3249845-neustar-poised-for-massive-nosedive.
- When does that very profitable NPAC Services business end? Probably 2018.
- "Neustar ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $47.0 million and outstanding debt under its credit facilities and senior notes of $751.6 million ..."
7) Most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:
-- John Poole, Editor* of Domain Mondo
*Note: all references to Editor's Note herein are to the above.
