1) ICANN Webinars On DNS Abuse in ICANN's New gTLDs
Date: 13 September 2017 | Time: 14:00-15:30 UTC (time convert) 10am EDT (US)
Join via Adobe Connect or Dial-In Participant Code: 1429847649
Date: 14 Sept 2017 | Time: 04:00-05:30 UTC (time convert) Sept 13 9pm PDT (US)UPDATE Webinar Video Replay:
Join via Adobe Connect or Dial-In Participant Code: 1429847649
- 14:00 UTC -- Web Conference Recording
- 04:00 UTC -- Web Conference Recording
Slides (pdf) embed below:
Statistical Analysis of DNS Abuse in gTLDs (SADAG) Report | ICANN.org Public Comment period closes19 Sep 2017 23:59 UTC extended to 22 Sep 2017 23:59 UTC 27 Sep 2017 23:59 UTC.
Recordings (in English) of the webinars are also published on New gTLD DNS Abuse Review | newgtlds.icann.org. More info here.
For background: Report: ICANN's New gTLDs As Global DNS Malware | DomainMondo.com
2) Other ICANN news
a. New gTLD .WEB Litigation
Ruby Glen, LLC [Donuts affiliate] v. ICANN | ICANN.org: Plaintiff's Opening Appellate Brief [(pdf) 30 August 2017. See also Plaintiff's Notice of Appeal Regarding Dismissal (pdf) 20 December 2016; Exhibit 1 (pdf); Exhibit 2 (pdf).
"Ruby Glen, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Covered TLD, LLC. Covered TLD, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Donuts Inc." (Appellant's Opening Brief, p.2, emphasis added)
Editor's note: Afilias, not Ruby Glen (Donuts), was the second-highest bidder (pdf) at the .WEB auction (pdf). So what's the point of the lawsuit and appeal? Reportedly spite. Donuts (Ruby Glen) apparently was betting on getting a private auction for .WEB from which it would have received more than $22 million as a "losing" bidder under ICANN's authorized "casino-like" private auctions. (Note that the biggest, and maybe the only, profits made thus far with new gTLDs, have been in "gambling" within the private auctions and getting the winning "sucker" to bid high.)
Instead, in the case of .WEB, due solely to the insistence of the winning bidder, the ICANN "last resort" auction for .WEB produced net proceeds of over $132 million for beneficent purposes in accordance with the Applicant Guidebook, as well as ICANN's mission and status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation.
b. New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation
Plaintiff DCA (DotConnectAfrica Trust) Survives ICANN's Motion for Summary Judgment--excerpt of Order (embed further below):
See also Plaintiff DCA's first amended complaint (pdf) for second, third, fourth, fifth, and tenth causes of action.
c. Quote of the Week [CCWG-AuctionProceeds] Conflict Of Interest: "This is ICANN, where there is effectively no such thing as conflict of interest so long as you declare."--Evan Leibovitch (emphasis added)
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
• Deadwood Trademark Registrations: Trademark Office Wants to Make It Easier to Cancel Registrations | TheIndianaLawyer.com: "Trademark practitioners will tell you the U.S. Trademark Office has a deadwood problem ... the Trademark Office’s register is full of registrations for trademarks no longer in use (or in the case of some, never used) and no longer entitled to registration, often referred to as “deadwood registrations.” Fortunately, the Trademark Office has been listening and is developing strategies to help remove deadwood."
• Facebook Moves to Seize Russian Domain Name facebook.ru | TheMoscowTimes.com: Facebook is demanding Russian payment system Zolotaya Korona hand over the domain name facebook.ru which it has held since 2005, Kommersant.ru reported Monday.
• Criminal Cybersquatting
SecuringIndustry.com: US man arrested for fake clothing smuggling: "... a "sophisticated scheme" to import around 200 shipping containers of fake brand-name apparel from China into the US. Su Ming Ling (50), a former resident of Queens, New York, was arrested in California ... According to legal documents, Ling allegedly used several aliases between May 2013 and January 2017 to register and create numerous internet domain names and email addresses with the intention that they resembled the internet domain names of real US businesses ..." See also Luxury Brands Just Got One More Reason to Hate the Internet: Spoofing | Adweek.com: "New study reveals it's a bigger problem than many believed."
• More Cybersquatting: Gucci, Hermès, Chanel, Givenchy Among Top Brands Being Targeted by Cybersquatters | TheFashionLaw.com.
• What Is DNS Hijacking? | WIRED.com: "... A hacker who's able to corrupt a DNS lookup anywhere in that chain can send the visitor off in the wrong direction, making the site [website] appear to be offline, or even redirecting users to a website the attacker controls ..." See also How DNS TXT records can be used against enterprises | searchsecurity.techtarget.com.
• Chinese Brand Names, Copycats, and Soundalikes | ChinaLawBlog.com
• Cybercrime: SEC chief says cyber crime risks are substantial, systemic | Reuters.com
• GoDaddy Expansion: RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney says the management of the world's largest domain name registrar, GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY), sees the need to penetrate more market to expand past its current 17M customers and 465M small- to mid-sized enterprise clients outside the United States.--SeekingAlpha.com. See also MarketWatch.com Sep 6, 2017: GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) shares fall after 2nd share offering in 4 months.
• .UK domains left at risk of theft in Enom blunder | theregister.co.uk: Registrar eNom finally plugs web address hijacking vulnerability.
• New gTLD .CPA: Congressmen concerned about misuse of .CPA top-level domain | AccountingToday.com
• .AU backlash: Unrest at the Australian Domain Administration shows little sign of abating | afr.com: the .AU domain name regulator "faces an intense member backlash to the new vision, style and plans of newish CEO Cameron Boardman ..."
• Why microsites aren't always ideal for SEO | SearchEngineLand.com: "... reasons you may want to reconsider splitting your website into multiple microsites. Following are some potential SEO issues that can result from implementing microsites ..." See also Google says we don't need no stinking location modifiers... or do we? | SearchEngineLand.com.
4) ICYMI Internet Domain News
5) Most read posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
Statistical Analysis of DNS Abuse in gTLDs (SADAG) Report | ICANN.org Public Comment period closes
Recordings (in English) of the webinars are also published on New gTLD DNS Abuse Review | newgtlds.icann.org. More info here.
For background: Report: ICANN's New gTLDs As Global DNS Malware | DomainMondo.com
2) Other ICANN news
a. New gTLD .WEB Litigation
"Ruby Glen, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Covered TLD, LLC. Covered TLD, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Donuts Inc." (Appellant's Opening Brief, p.2, emphasis added)
Editor's note: Afilias, not Ruby Glen (Donuts), was the second-highest bidder (pdf) at the .WEB auction (pdf). So what's the point of the lawsuit and appeal? Reportedly spite. Donuts (Ruby Glen) apparently was betting on getting a private auction for .WEB from which it would have received more than $22 million as a "losing" bidder under ICANN's authorized "casino-like" private auctions. (Note that the biggest, and maybe the only, profits made thus far with new gTLDs, have been in "gambling" within the private auctions and getting the winning "sucker" to bid high.)
Instead, in the case of .WEB, due solely to the insistence of the winning bidder, the ICANN "last resort" auction for .WEB produced net proceeds of over $132 million for beneficent purposes in accordance with the Applicant Guidebook, as well as ICANN's mission and status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation.
UrbanDictionary.com definition of "donut"--'Top Definition'--"An individual who is extremely stupid. Lacks intelligence and common sense."
b. New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation
"... any claims that do not lie in fraud or willful injury are barred by the Covenant [Not to Sue]. Those that do, are not [barred][p.5] .... The Court cannot therefore, find as a matter of law that ICANN did not defraud DCA by stating on the one hand it would follow its Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation in processing DCA's application, while on the other hand giving preference to ZACR's application throughout the process. CONCLUSION: For the foregoing reasons ICANN's motion for summary judgment is denied as to the second, third, fourth, fifth, and tenth causes of action. The motion is granted as to the remaining causes of action."[p.10] [Dated Aug 9, 2017](emphasis added)Order on ICANN's Motion for Summary Judgment (pdf)(embed below)
See also Plaintiff DCA's first amended complaint (pdf) for second, third, fourth, fifth, and tenth causes of action.
c. Quote of the Week [CCWG-AuctionProceeds] Conflict Of Interest: "This is ICANN, where there is effectively no such thing as conflict of interest so long as you declare."--Evan Leibovitch (emphasis added)
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
• Facebook Moves to Seize Russian Domain Name facebook.ru | TheMoscowTimes.com: Facebook is demanding Russian payment system Zolotaya Korona hand over the domain name facebook.ru which it has held since 2005, Kommersant.ru reported Monday.
• Criminal Cybersquatting
• More Cybersquatting: Gucci, Hermès, Chanel, Givenchy Among Top Brands Being Targeted by Cybersquatters | TheFashionLaw.com.
• What Is DNS Hijacking? | WIRED.com: "... A hacker who's able to corrupt a DNS lookup anywhere in that chain can send the visitor off in the wrong direction, making the site [website] appear to be offline, or even redirecting users to a website the attacker controls ..." See also How DNS TXT records can be used against enterprises | searchsecurity.techtarget.com.
• Chinese Brand Names, Copycats, and Soundalikes | ChinaLawBlog.com
• Cybercrime: SEC chief says cyber crime risks are substantial, systemic | Reuters.com
• GoDaddy Expansion: RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney says the management of the world's largest domain name registrar, GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY), sees the need to penetrate more market to expand past its current 17M customers and 465M small- to mid-sized enterprise clients outside the United States.--SeekingAlpha.com. See also MarketWatch.com Sep 6, 2017: GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) shares fall after 2nd share offering in 4 months.
• .UK domains left at risk of theft in Enom blunder | theregister.co.uk: Registrar eNom finally plugs web address hijacking vulnerability.
• New gTLD .CPA: Congressmen concerned about misuse of .CPA top-level domain | AccountingToday.com
• .AU backlash: Unrest at the Australian Domain Administration shows little sign of abating | afr.com: the .AU domain name regulator "faces an intense member backlash to the new vision, style and plans of newish CEO Cameron Boardman ..."
• Why microsites aren't always ideal for SEO | SearchEngineLand.com: "... reasons you may want to reconsider splitting your website into multiple microsites. Following are some potential SEO issues that can result from implementing microsites ..." See also Google says we don't need no stinking location modifiers... or do we? | SearchEngineLand.com.
4) ICYMI Internet Domain News
- We can stop hacking and trolls, but it would ruin the internet | NewScientist.com: "Right now, there’s a kind of internet-governance cold war over the handle [DOI] system. After winning the fight for UN recognition as an international standard, some Arab states, Russia and China want to start rolling it out. On the other side, Western countries are generally against the handle system, happy to stick with plain TCP/IP, whether out of precedent or principle."
- Several Reported Detained at Moscow Internet-freedom Rally | voanews.com
- TheNewDawnLiberia.com: Measuring the Internet for Freedom: "... in Ethiopia, the government blocked more than 15 media websites and the smartphone chat application WhatsApp. Sites promoting freedom of expression and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as those offering censorship-circumvention tools, such as Tor and Psiphon, were also suppressed. All of this was uncovered through the use of software called ooniprobe, which is designed to measure networks and detect Internet censorship ..."
- We can’t take internet freedom for granted | IrishExaminer.com
5) Most read posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:
1. News Review | New gTLDs Hucksters Lose Again: ICANN Says No $$$
2. 2017 Hurricane Season, Satellite Views, Weather App MyRadar, LIVE Feeds
3. News Review | Report: ICANN's New gTLDs As Global DNS Malware
4. Making Chatbots More Human, New York Startup Init.ai (video)
5. Visualizing the Massive $15.7 Trillion Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo