1) China disrupts global companies’ web access
China is plugging the last holes in its 'Great Firewall' internet censorship apparatus, hampering global companies' (and others) ability to operate in the country. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Jan 17, 2018.
UPDATE: In Davos China’s economic-policy mastermind Liu He to speak at 2018 World Economic Forum — Quartz | qz.com: "The 66-year-old is head of the Communist Party’s top economic-affairs steering group, and a vice-chairman of the country’s main economic-planning body. "See also: China Says It Shut Down 128,000 Websites in 2017 | voanews.com: "while the government says its rules are aimed at ensuring national security and stability, human rights organizations have warned that the country’s tough laws governing the internet amount to repressive measures aimed at quashing dissent."
2) ICANN news
Other submitted comments may be read here,
b. GDPR & WHOIS: ICANN Seeking Community Feedback on Proposed Compliance Models: "provide your feedback by 29 January 2018. Please send your feedback to gdpr @ icann.org." See also:
- 15 Jan 2018 Letter from Göran Marby to Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin (pdf) Chairwoman, Article 29 Data Protection Working Party re: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- 13 January 2018 Letter from Brian Winterfeldt to Göran Marby [Published 19 January 2018] President | Intellectual Property Constituency Models for GDPR Compliance
- How Badly Is WHOIS Broken? 15+ New Spam Emails, 9 Robocalls, 6 Spam texts within 24 hours of registering a domain [name] | DomainNameWire.com.
c. ICANN Draft FY19 Operating Plan and Budget and Five-Year Operating Plan Update
"Funding for FY19 is at $138 million which is below the FY18 Adopted Budget of $143 million. In addition, FY19 Funding of $138 million is $3 million above the FY18 forecast of $135 million. We anticipate funding to remain flat ..."--ICANN.orgICANN will hold webinars on 26 January to provide an overview of the documents and answer any questions:
Jan 26 00:30 UTC (7:30pm ET Jan 25) & Jan 26 16:30 UTC (11:30am ET Jan 26)
https://participate.icann.org/planning OR https://icann.adobeconnect.com/planning * (incompetent ICANN has noticed incorrect link(s)* so try both)
If needed, participant passcode 3362488533 (same for both webinars). Go here for more information.See also New gTLD revenue cut by HALF in ICANN budget | DomainIncite.com: "The new gTLD industry is performing terribly when compared to ICANN’s predictions just six months ago."--Kevin Murphy (emphasis added).
d. IGO and INGO Identifiers for All gTLDs | ICANN.org: "Contracted parties will have until 1 August 2018 to complete implementation of the new requirements for certain specific names of IGOs, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement (RCRC)." See also: IOC, Red Cross, and IGO reserved names.
e. IANA Transition Costs | Cost Summary | Inception to November 17 | ICANN.org--Total 33.6M:
f. Noted ICANN correspondence:
• 16 January 2018 Letter from Arif Ali of Dechert LLP to ICANN Board & Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) re: New gTLD Application for .MUSIC Reconsideration Request and CPE Review.
 |
| reconsideration-16-11-trs-et-al-petillion-to-icann-bamc-redacted-16jan18-en.pdf [497 KB] |
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
• ccTLD .au: 'Stakeholder' evaluation called for as auDA moves to implement direct registration | ZDNet.com.
• Hackers are flooding the internet with more fake domain names ... | PBS.org: cybercriminals use IDNs to lure consumers to phishing websites that appear exactly like the ones they intended to visit.
• In Memoriam: UDRPsearch.com | IPLegalCorner.com
4) ICYMI Internet Domain News
The 76-page report provides a comprehensive review of Iran’s internet policies and initiatives, in particular, the development and new capabilities of Iran’s state-controlled National Internet Network (NIN), which gives the government newly expanded abilities to control Iranians’ access to the internet and monitor online communications.• Tech Companies Are Complicit in Censoring Iran Protests | WIRED.com: "But it’s not just the regime that is stripping Iranians of their digital freedom: American technology companies that limit Iranian users’ access to their services—the result, usually, of an overly cautious interpretation of US sanctions—are also, in effect, restricting internet access and hindering free expression."
• Russia moves toward creation of an independent internet | DW.com: "The Russian government can't abide the system because it's set up in a way that governments only have an advisory role with ICANN"--former ICANN board member Wolfgang Kleinwächter.
• EU: Five EU Commissioners threaten to regulate online platforms if they do not remove more illegal content like hate speech--EURACTIV.com: "heads of more than 20 tech firms, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Amazon arrived in Brussels for discussions."
• The Public Domain Starts Growing Again Next Year, and It’s About Time | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org: "It’s not just small artists that rely on the public domain. Disney’s built an empire on making movies based on public domain fairy tales. Just last year, Disney released a live-action version of its animated take on Beauty and the Beast, a story that has been around since the 1700s ... Creativity is enriched when the public domain is robust and easily accessed, and we look forward to finally seeing it grow once again in 2019."
• #MeToo--the famous and glamorous 74-year-old French actress Catherine Deneuve apologized to victims but still stands by the letter she signed, saying she did not like the “media lynching” and “climate of censorship” unleashed by the #metoo campaign, adding, “I don’t like this pack mentality, all too common these days.”
5) Most read posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:
1. Tech Review | Ethereum Co-Founder: The Future Decentralized Web (video)
2. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google - Time To Break Up Big Tech? (video)
3. Crypto Carnage: Chinese Regulators Move To Close Bitcoin Mines (video)
4. News Review | New gTLD .WEB, ICANN & Verisign, What's Next?
5. Tech Review | Cryptocurrency & Government Regulation (video)
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
