1) EU GDPR & ICANN WHOIS, What's Next? "Timeline needed by March 23, 2018"
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| source: ICANN.org presentation March 15, 2018, at ICANN61 (see embed below) |
"6. Will ICANN be ready for EU GDPR compliance on 25 May 2018?"Short answer: "No," based on ICANN's 15 March 2018 presentation referenced above and below.
Who Is Afraid of More Spams and Scams? | KrebsOnSecurity.com March 18, 2018: “Asked for his take on the chances that ICANN and the registrar community might still be designing the [WHOIS] vetting system this time next year, [ICANN SSAC Chair Rod] Rasmussen said '100 percent'."
More information:
- GDPR Models/Analyses | Purpose Statement | ICANN-Proposed Compliance Models 15 Mar 2018: gdpr-purpose-statement-appdetex-et-al-icann-proposed-compliance-models-15mar18-en.pdf [pdf 522 KB]
- Statement of the Noncommercial Stakeholders Group on the 8 March 2018 Model for GDPR Compliance (pdf) 11 March 2018: "... It is critical that the entire system of WHOIS – if it should exist at all – is redesigned to protect domain name registrants. The privacy and protection of registrants, the customers who fund ICANN’s activities, must be of primary importance. ICANN has a duty of care to protect its registrants ..." (emphasis added)
- ICANN's Whois reforms are on a path to failure | Internet Governance Project | internetgovernance.org March 13, 2018 by Milton Mueller: "ICANN’s community, in short, is asking for lawsuits and fines."
- News Review | ICANN WHOIS & EU GDPR: Points of View (video) | DomainMondo.com: "Editor's note: ... On Thursday, Feb 22, 2018, I asked ICANN CEO Goran Marby (who is a citizen of Sweden and the EU): '1) When did you first become aware of the ramifications of the EU GDPR for ICANN, and 2) what caused ICANN to be so late in preparing for the May 25, 2018 effective date?'..."
2) Other ICANN news
- Editor's note: I had to ask my question more than once (via two different ICANN61 sessions), but it was finally answered by ICANN GDD President Akram Atallah:
Question to ICANN: Where's the ICANN data showing geographic distribution, by country and ICANN region, of (a) domain name registrations, and (b) domain name registrants? Where are you publishing this data specifically on your website?
Answer (paraphrased): ICANN doesn't have or collect this data, although it could.In other words, ICANN is clueless when it comes to the geographic distribution of domain name registrations and registrants, ICANN's true "customers" who directly, and indirectly, fund ICANN. Next time ICANN says some area is "underserved," ask, "where's the data" that supports that statement. Because ICANN does not have the data, it often confuses "lack of demand" with "underserved." Many areas have little demand, in total or per capita, for gTLD domain names, for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with ICANN's remit, including economic, cultural, government censorship and internet shutdowns, unaffordable or unavailable internet connectivity, etc. The data in the Domain Mondo post Domain Name Registrations and the Global Internet Population is dated 2011-2013, but even then was enlightening: "The majority of domain names (78%) are registered in Europe or North America (US alone has about 33% of all registrations); Asia has 13%, Latin America 4%, Oceania 3%, and the Middle East and Africa combined 2%." ICANN is willfully data ignorant for a reason--incompetent ICANN management mostly hired or promoted by the former ICANN CEO whose primary criterion was cronyism (see "Now hiring"). Without the accountability of data, it is easy to become an empire-builder and justify all kinds of wasteful spending while rationalizing cuts to the organization's core mission, particularly when you are a new CEO:
- Whatever Happened to SSR2? See 13 Mar 2018 Letter from SO/ACChairs to Khaled Koubaa, SO/AC Chairs SSR2 Facilitator, excerpt: "We ask further that this be prioritised by the OEC so that the facilitator's appointment - and thus the re-start of SSR2-RT - can take place as soon as possible, and no later than 1 May for scheduling to take full advantage of face to face time at ICANN62." [Editor's note: Follow-up on SSR2 maillist and SSR2 wiki.]
SiliconANGLE.com video published Mar 17, 2018: Damaris Rivera, Puerto Rico Advantage (domain: PRAdvantage.com), talks with John Furrier at Blockchain Unbound 2018 held at San Juan, Puerto Rico March 14-16 (Blockchain Unbound was formerly called Puerto Crypto). More info: Puerto Rico lures blockchain industry to help fund its comeback | cnbc.com 16 March 2018.
b. Next up:
ICANN62 | Panama City | Policy Forum 25-28 Jun 2018.
c. 11 March 2018 Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to ITU's Houlin Zhao re 2018 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference:
d. 10 March 2018 Letter from Brian Winterfeldt to Cherine Chalaby, Manal Ismail, Göran Marby, and Rod Rasmussen re: "Critical RAA Violation; GoDaddy Port 43 Whois Masking & Throttling Programs."
e. Webinar on ccNSO Rejection Action Guideline: Recordings and Slide Deck | Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO) | ICANN.org: ccNSO Procedure for the Exercise of the Empowered Community's rights to Reject Specified Actions explained and discussed, to ensure ccTLDs are aware of their own roles and responsibilities, those of the ccNSO as a whole and of the ccNSO Council. See the recording and the slide deck used during the webinar.
f. New gTLDs .LLC, .INC, .LLP, .GAY, .MUSIC, .CPA, .HOTEL, .MERCK: Roadmap for Consideration of Pending Reconsideration Requests Relating to Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) Process That Were Placed On Hold Pending Completion of the CPE Process Review 15 Mar 2018: roadmap-reconsideration-requests-cpe-15feb18-en.pdf [pdf 30 KB]
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
a. How to Start Your Own Small Business - Women Small Business Owners | cosmopolitan.com: "... And lock down a URL [domain name]. Typically, [brand name]+[industry] setups work well (for example, MILKmakeup.com) ..." [Editor's note: I generally recommend getting a .COM domain name and do this before registering your name with a government office or making public your name, and by all means, do your 'due diligence' before registering the domain, avoid trademark infringement, etc.]. See also: Branding and Trademark Series: Building a Brand | Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP | JDSupra.com.
b. Is the logo still the most important part of a brand's image? | designweek.co.uk: "... Perhaps the name now has a bigger role in defining a brand. It’s not just how a brand looks but also how it sounds ... Market research company ComScore estimates that 50% of all searches will be completed by speaking by 2020. If people can’t pronounce the name, then how can they possibly request it from a voice assistant like Alexa or Siri?"
4) ICYMI Internet Domain News
a. United Internet AG ETR: UTDI: Ralph Dommermuth, billionaire founder and CEO of United Internet (subsidiaries include 1and1.com, uniteddomains.com, internetx.com, sedo.com), challenging Deutsche Telekom to team up on German fiber broadband reports Reuters.com.
Sedo | United Internet AG | united-internet.de: "Sedo operates in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States with its own branches and serves around 2 million customers from these locations."
b. Malware: Potent malware that hid for six years spread through routers | ArsTechnica.com: "Nation-sponsored Slingshot is one of the most advanced attack platforms ever."
c. Protecting human rights online: new guidelines on internet intermediaries | coe.int: "The Council of Europe today adopted policy guidelines addressed to its 47 member states on the roles and responsibilities of internet intermediaries such as search engines and social media."
d. Sri Lanka communal clashes: US urges Colombo to unblock internet services; China calls Emergency 'internal matter' | Firstpost.com
5) Four most read posts this past week (Sun-Sat) on DomainMondo.com:
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo
c. 11 March 2018 Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to ITU's Houlin Zhao re 2018 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference:
d. 10 March 2018 Letter from Brian Winterfeldt to Cherine Chalaby, Manal Ismail, Göran Marby, and Rod Rasmussen re: "Critical RAA Violation; GoDaddy Port 43 Whois Masking & Throttling Programs."
e. Webinar on ccNSO Rejection Action Guideline: Recordings and Slide Deck | Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO) | ICANN.org: ccNSO Procedure for the Exercise of the Empowered Community's rights to Reject Specified Actions explained and discussed, to ensure ccTLDs are aware of their own roles and responsibilities, those of the ccNSO as a whole and of the ccNSO Council. See the recording and the slide deck used during the webinar.
f. New gTLDs .LLC, .INC, .LLP, .GAY, .MUSIC, .CPA, .HOTEL, .MERCK: Roadmap for Consideration of Pending Reconsideration Requests Relating to Community Priority Evaluation (CPE) Process That Were Placed On Hold Pending Completion of the CPE Process Review 15 Mar 2018: roadmap-reconsideration-requests-cpe-15feb18-en.pdf [pdf 30 KB]
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
b. Is the logo still the most important part of a brand's image? | designweek.co.uk: "... Perhaps the name now has a bigger role in defining a brand. It’s not just how a brand looks but also how it sounds ... Market research company ComScore estimates that 50% of all searches will be completed by speaking by 2020. If people can’t pronounce the name, then how can they possibly request it from a voice assistant like Alexa or Siri?"
4) ICYMI Internet Domain News
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| United Internet AG brands |
b. Malware: Potent malware that hid for six years spread through routers | ArsTechnica.com: "Nation-sponsored Slingshot is one of the most advanced attack platforms ever."
c. Protecting human rights online: new guidelines on internet intermediaries | coe.int: "The Council of Europe today adopted policy guidelines addressed to its 47 member states on the roles and responsibilities of internet intermediaries such as search engines and social media."
d. Sri Lanka communal clashes: US urges Colombo to unblock internet services; China calls Emergency 'internal matter' | Firstpost.com
5) Four most read posts this past week (Sun-Sat) on DomainMondo.com:
3. New gTLD .WEB: Afilias vs ICANN, Verisign $VRSN & Nu Dot Co?
4. How a Steel Box Changed the World: A Brief History of Shipping (video)
4. How a Steel Box Changed the World: A Brief History of Shipping (video)