Domain Mondo | domainmondo.com: News Review | EU's GDPR Causing Slower Growth at Facebook $FB

graphic "News Review" ©2016 DomainMondo.com

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2018-03-25) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) EU's GDPR Causing Slower Growth at Facebook $FB, 2) ICANN news: a. Data Protection & Privacy Issues: GDPR & WHOIS Next Steps, b. Terminating ICANN's 'Extortion Racket' .BRAND new gTLDs, and more, 3)Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI, 5) Most Read.

1) EU's GDPR Causing Slower Growth at Facebook $FB

Pivotal Research's Brian Wieser Says the EU's GDPR Is Causing Slower Growth at Facebook

Bloomberg.com video above published Mar 19, 2018: Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group (domain: pvtl.com), discusses the Facebook (facebook.com) (NASDAQ: FB) data breach and how regulatory efforts like the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are most likely causing slower growth for the company. He speaks with Bloomberg's Jonathan Ferro on "Bloomberg Markets: The Open." See FTC Probing Facebook for Use of Personal Data, Source Says | Bloomberg.com. Facebook $FB shares down 17.45% since Feb 1, 2018:

See also:

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) | European Commission | ec.europa.eu

How Europe's New Privacy Law Will Change the Web, and More | WIRED.com 19 Mar 2018: "Most of the data rights enshrined under GDPR were already established in the EU, but went unenforced. GDPR standardizes data rights across all EU countries, empowering regulators with the same big stick and sharper teeth. Violators face fines of up to 4 percent of annual global revenue. For Facebook, that would be $1.6 billion; for Google, $4.4 billion."
How Facebook Made Its Cambridge Analytica Data Crisis Even Worse | Bloomberg.com

Facebook under pressure as U.S., EU urge probes of data practices | Reuters.com

Facebook, Not Cambridge Analytica, Is the Source of the Problem | Bloomberg.com

WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook | TheVerge.com 20 Mar 2018: "Facebook bought his app for $16 billion ...."
Elon Musk Joins #DeleteFacebook With a Barrage of Tweets | NYTimes.com

To Completely Block Facebook Add these entries below to your hosts file | GitHub.com: "0.0.0.0 apps.facebook.com, 0.0.0.0 connect.facebook.net, 0.0.0.0 facebook.com, 0.0.0.0 fbcdn.com ...."
Apple CEO Tim Cook says privacy regulations may be necessary; Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges Facebook may need to be regulated--TheVerge.com.

2) ICANN news

graphic "ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers"

a. Data Protection & Privacy Issues: GDPR & WHOIS Next Steps | ICANN.org 21 Mar 2018:

graphic: ICANN Interim Model for Compliance with EU GDPR

"... At the end of March we anticipate having our next interaction with Article 29 representatives since sending them the proposed model. This next stage is critical to determine what appears in the public WHOIS, including what is collected, escrowed and transferred from registrants to registrars and registries. There are open questions about several elements in the Proposed Interim Model and it's important we determine what are the best ways to answer those in a final model. In presenting our plan of action, we want to ensure that access is not lost if an accreditation model is not implemented in time for the GDPR's 25 May 2018 enforcement deadline. We will also highlight again, the importance of additional time to implement our solution. We are very aware of the need for additional time beyond May 2018 to implement a compliance model by which accredited users with a legitimate purpose may gain access to non-public WHOIS data. Feedback may also allow further refinement of the accreditation model. We will share any information that we gain from our next meeting with you by posting it to our Data Protection/Privacy Issues correspondence page ..." (emphasis and link added)--see also:

Cautionary Tale: Interpol Is Also a Crime Victim | Bloomberg.com: "Russia and other authoritarian states are gaming the system to go after dissidents."

News Review | EU GDPR & ICANN WHOIS, What's Next? Timeline

News Review | ICANN WHOIS & EU GDPR: Points of View (video)

Data Protection/Privacy Issues | ICANN.org

Note also comments at this week's WSIS Forum 2018: ICANN, Data Protection and the GDPR | GIP Digital Watch | dig.watch: "Mr William J. Drake, international fellow and lecturer at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich, reminded the audience that the first function of the WHOIS service was a narrow technical one, namely, to identify the parties to be reached out to in order to ensure stability of the infrastructure and continuity of the operation. He said that other uses were not part of the discussion in the original bottom-up definition process. He added that current uses of the service cannot be confused with its purpose, mainly now that human rights are in ICANN's bylaws. He called for more involvement from privacy and data protection stakeholders, so that ICANN does not end up running a repository to be used by third parties, out of its scope and mandate.

"Mr Paul Mitchell, senior director of technology policy at Microsoft, said that the GDPR is more closely attached to the European authorities and people, but it impacts all over the world. He highlighted that Microsoft does not see a contradiction between full compliance with the GDPR and legitimate access to WHOIS, which is an important tool to make sure the system is safe. Mitchell concluded by saying that the development of the tiered access model was highly unlikely to be an operational solution with the involvement of stakeholders such as the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), Article19 working party, and data protection authorities, however critical and complex that model might be on the way to a permanent solution." More on that session here.

b. Recently Terminating ICANN's 'Extortion Racket'* .BRAND new gTLDs:

.XPERIA (SONY)
.MEO (MEO)
.SAPO (MEO).

*Editor's note: re ICANN's "extortion racket" .BRAND new gTLDs -- see testimony of Dawn Grove (pdf), Corporate Counsel for Karsten Manufacturing (.PING), September 14, 2016 hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts.

c. Tweet of the Week: NEUSTAR clueless, shameless, or just increasingly desperate?

Judging by all the comments, pretty clear no one really cares. https://t.co/q42Qv58YzV #newgtlds
— thereforeICANN (@thereforeICANN) March 19, 2018

d. Budget Discussions at ICANN61 | ICANN.org by Göran Marby, ICANN President and CEO, 20 Mar 2018: "... The ideas stemming from these initial conversations, are just that – initial ..."

e. More Information on the Adobe Connect Issue | ICANN.org, by Ashwin Rangan, 20 Mar 2018: "...We will continue to provide updates on this issue pursuant to our coordinated disclosure guidelines. This means we will work jointly with CoSo and the person who reported the issue on the investigation and on sharing information about this issue. Until we know more, ICANN's Adobe Connect services will remain offline. In the meantime, we will be rolling out alternative collaboration tools to the community soon ..." (emphasis added)

f. ICANN Public Comment periods closing in April (subject to change):

Plan to Restart the Root Key Signing Key (KSK) Rollover Process 2 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

Draft Procedure for Community gTLD Change Requests 2 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

Uniform Board Member Integrity Screening Process 17 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

Draft Project Plan for the Proposed Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) 18 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC
ICANN Reserve Fund: Proposed Replenishment Strategy 25 Apr 2018 23:59 UTC

g. ICANN61 postscript: Puerto Ricans and Ultrarich “Puertopians” Are Locked in a Pitched Struggle Over How to Remake the Island | theintercept.com.

h. UPDATE: CEP and IRP Status Update – 29 March 2018 [PDF, 247 KB]

Editor's note: there are no active IRPs

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

graphic "Names, Domains & Trademarks" ©2017 DomainMondo.com

a. DomainNameStats.com--"We've now officially released DomainNameStats.com, a new domain statistics site covering all TLDs that exist on the internet today."--Stats Blog | namestat.org.

b. New gTLD .APP--There’s an App for That; Now There’s .APP for That Too | Dorsey & Whitney LLP | JDSupra.com: "Google’s minimal requirements for .app domain names include the following: (1) .app domain name registrations are secure namespaces; (2) all content must be served over HTTPS so that browsers can load .app websites; and (3) any registrant of a letter/letter two-character ASCII label represents that it will take steps to ensure against misrepresenting or falsely implying that the registrant or its business is affiliated with a government or country-code manager if such affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement does not exist ..." Sunrise Period: Mar 29-Apr 30, 2018; Early Access Period: May 1-8, 2018 (anyone can register available .app domains for an extra fee); General Availability Period starts May 8, 2018.