1) Greed is Good? ICANN New gTLD Auctions & The Big 'Money Grab'
"... 2. Auctions (both "private" and "ICANN last resort") have corrupted ICANN and the processes for developing new gTLDs--"it's all about the money"--and increase costs that new gTLD registry operators can only recoup by charging registrants far more money for new gTLD domain name registrations and renewals than necessary had ICANN followed RFC1591 and the advice of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division cited above. In effect, consumers (domain name registrants) are bearing, directly and indirectly, the entire costs of ICANN's ill-conceived, horribly implemented, and corrupt program for new gTLDs .... 5. In lieu of the contracted parties' proposed "money grab" above and all other third parties' already proposed, or yet to come, "money grabs," ICANN should instead end this entire repulsive and tawdry "money grab" stampede, and announce it will set aside ALL of the auction proceeds for the benefit of domain name registrants who have, indirectly, provided these funds ..." (emphasis added)Editor's note: excerpts above from my comment to ICANN's Initial Report of the New gTLD Auction Proceeds Cross-Community Working Group, my comment is embed in full below:
See all the comments to ICANN's Big "Money Grab" here.
2) ICANN News
Editor's note: for more on the EPDP Initial Report comment process (including an "easy to read" copy of the comment I submitted), go to last week's News Review.
Related:
- Purpose O and ICANN org questions (Dec 22, 2018).
b. New gTLD .AMAZON:
See also: (1) .AMAZON new gTLD application (pdf): "Geographic Names 21(a). Is the application for a geographic name? No." (2) 18 Dec 2018 Letter from ICANN CEO Göran Marby to GAC Chair Manal Ismail (pdf).
c. New gTLD .WEB IRP:
Remaining items on the .WEB IRP schedule:
7 January 2019 Afilias Reply on Its Request for Interim Measures of Protection
9 January 2019 I CANN Sur-Reply (if any)
14 January 2019 Video Hearing on Afilias Interim Request
28 January 2019 Emergency Panelist Decision on Interim Request
More info here.d. New gTLDs Next Round: 18 Dec 2018 Letter from ICANN Board Chair Cherine Chalaby to Cheryl Langdon-Orr and Jeff Neuman (pdf) re: new gTLD Subsequent Procedures PDPWG Supplemental Initial Report:
"We believe that any new recommendations should guard against bad faith applications to the extent possible. These concerns mostly center on the issues of auctions of last resort and on private auctions. We take special note of the possible practice of participating in private auctions for the sole purpose of being paid to drop out. We also take note of the abuse that becomes possible in alterations to the change request mechanisms. The Board has concerns about whether, and in what ways, the availability of private auctions incentivizes applications for purposes other than actually using the string; and we are interested in how these incentives for abuse might be minimized.".
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Verisign $VRSN
.COM Registry Operator VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) is one of the six companies joining the NASDAQ-100 index coincident with its annual re-ranking, effective prior to market open on December 24, 2018. Source: Bloomberg First Word.
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| NASDAQ-100 Index |
UPDATE: Dec 27, 2018: $VRSN UP 4% Since Added to the NASDAQ-100
Editor's note: The NASDAQ-100 Index is composed of the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market®, and was launched in January 1985.
4) ICYMI Internet Domain News
- Facebook’s Portal
- Smart Home Hubs From Google, Amazon and Others
- Verizon Phones with AppFlash Spyware
- The Elf on the Shelf & the Mensch on a Bench
-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo
