New gTLD .WEB: ICANN Hands Over 7000 Pages to DOJ Antitrust Division

The latest #ICANN Org Executive Team report to the Board is now available >> https://t.co/pHZZjuFOeb. Translations will be posted shortly.

— ICANN President (@icann_president) July 14, 2017

Highlights of June 2017 ICANN Org Executive Team Report to the ICANN Board (with a dash of Domain Mondo humor added):

ICANN Org Report to the Board June 2017 [covering 11 Apr 2017 — 30 May 2017] (pdf) highlights (all page references below are to the above referenced report):

a. New gTLD .WEB - DOJ Antitrust Division Investigation
b. ICANN Headcount
c. New gTLDs Program
d. ICANN Security Operations team report
e. Gravy Train: ICANN59 "Supported Travelers"
f. ICANN.org website
g. FY18 Projections for new gTLD transaction fees
h. Outstanding ICANN Board Issues from May 2017 Board Workshop

a. New gTLD .WEB - DOJ Antitrust Division Investigation:

ICANN Turns Over 7000 pages of documents to the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division (domain: justice.gov/atr) in response to the Civil Investigative Demand regarding Verisign's potential operation of [new gTLD] .WEB (p.11):

b. ICANN Headcount: "As of the end of May 2017, ICANN org has 393 people, which is 7 people more than the FY17 year-end budget projection of 386. Over the last three months, 23 joined and another 4 left." A true picture of the geolocation of ICANN staff is below (by adding the first 200 staff members (all in the U.S.) cut off in the graphic (p.7) which gives a distorted view)--76% (298 people) of all ICANN staff work in the U.S.--

ICANN graphic modified to show 200 U.S. staff (lower blue bars) not shown in original (June Board Report p.7)

c.  New gTLD Program: "In the period 12 April to 30 May 2017, the GDD team facilitated 2 delegations of new gTLDs, bringing the total delegated from the program to 1220. There are now 37 strings pending in the program, made up of 103 applications that have either not progressed to sign a registry agreement or not formally withdrawn from the application process. The primary issues impeding progress on the 103 remaining applications are the 53 of applications in contention awaiting the conclusion of the Review of the CPE process ..." (p. 14)

d. The ICANN Security Operations team report:

 "... the [ICANN] CEO’s trip to LACNIC in Brazil (which, despite protests and the overrunning and burning of government buildings in Brasilia, went smoothly). In Istanbul, Simon and Sean delivered travel safety and security training for all staff ..." (p.18)(emphasis added)

e. Gravy Train: "To date, Travel Services has booked 355 supported travelers for travel to ICANN59." (p. 20)

f. ICANN.org website: "The Communications team recently took over responsibility for the ICANN.org website, so one of our primary areas of focus has been on improving the process for adding new content, managing existing content and increasing the speed of publication, while also working within the technical and resource limitations we have." (p. 30)

g. FY18 Projections for new gTLD transaction fees (sec. 3.2 “Funding”) show a best estimate of approximately 30% growth in funding derived from transaction fees associated with registrations in new gTLDs. Given that this level of growth is also established as the “low estimate,” the GNSO Council strongly encouraged ICANN Finance staff to consult with GNSO contracted parties (and in particular, gTLD registry operators) to ensure that this assumption is supported by their growth projections for the corresponding time frame. (p. 32)

h. Outstanding ICANN Board Issues from May 2017 Board Workshop (p. 4):

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