News Review 1) ICANN64 Kobe, March 9-14, 2) .AFRICA Litigation Update

Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2019-03-10) with analysis and opinion: Features • 1) ICANN64, Kobe, Japan, March 9-14, 2) Other ICANN news: a. .AFRICA Litigation UPDATE, b. ICANN's 'BIG Money Grab' UPDATE, and more, 3) a. ccTLD .IO, b. New gTLDs + 5 Years, 4) ICYMI: VPNs, Data Brokers, Identity Theft, Internet Tax, 5) Most Read.

1) ICANN64, Kobe, Japan, March 9-14

UPDATE: LIVE ICANN64 videos embed below and here starting 13 March 2019, 7:30 pm EDT (US) which is 8:30 am March 14 in Kobe.

EPDP Team Meeting (4 of 4) 8:30 - 10:15, Thu, Mar 14, 2019 / 7:30pm EDT, March 13 (US).

 Agenda: Review of draft work plan and approach coming out of Saturday’s session. Consider further input that may have been gathered throughout the week, including Council input from weekend sessions as well as engagement session with TSG. Confirm next steps and next meeting Adobe Connect link, slides (pdf), mind map (pdf), wiki, and mail list.

LIVE (and replay) ICANN64 videos from Kobe, Japan:

ICANN Board Session on Governance

Q&A with ICANN Organization Executive Team

ICANN Public Forum 2

ICANN Board Meeting

Replay ICANN64 videos:

• ICANN64 Welcome Ceremony 

• TSG on Access to Non-Public Registration Data

• Next Steps in ICANN's Response to the GDPR

• ICANN Public Forum 1

• ICANN Strategic Planning Mon, Mar 11, 2019.

ICANN64 9-14 March 2019, Kobe, Japan: ICANN64 Schedule.
Date and time in Kobe, Japan:
Schedule Highlights (Sunday-Thursday) all times JST:

• EPDP Team Meeting (2 of 4) 17:00 - 18:30, Sun, Mar 10, 2019. 

More info: last week's News Review, EPDP at Kobe (chart), agenda, chart of EPDP meetings 2, 3, 4, at ICANN64.

• TSG on Access to Non-Public Registration Data 13:30 - 15:00, Mon, Mar 11, 2019. See ICANN blogpost and draft (pdf) and TSG page.

• Next Steps: ICANN's Response to the GDPR  15:15 - 16:45, Mon, Mar 11, 2019

• ICANN Public Forum 1 17:00 - 18:30, Mon, Mar 11, 2019

• EPDP Team Meeting (3 of 4) 10:30 - 12:00, Wed, Mar 13, 2019 Phase 1 implementation brainstorming session. 

• EPDP Team Meeting (4 of 4) 8:30 - 10:15, Thu, Mar 14, 2019

• ICANN Board Session on Governance 13:30 - 14:45, Thu, Mar 14, 2019

• Q&A with ICANN Org Executive Team 14:45 - 15:45, Thu, Mar 14, 2019

• ICANN Public Forum 2  16:00 - 17:45, Thu, Mar 14, 2019

• ICANN Board Meeting 18:00 - 19:00, Thu, Mar 14, 2019

Meeting resources:

• Remote Participation

• GNSO Remote Participation Wiki Page

• Pre-ICANN64 Policy Report (pdf), and Webinar

• GNSO Policy Briefing ICANN64 Edition (pdf)

• Livestream and YouTube

• Twitter: #ICANN64 and @sgdickinson

2) Other ICANN News

a. New gTLD .AFRICA Litigation UPDATE

Future Hearings:

• 04/04/2019 at 08:30 AM in Department 53 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, Trial Setting Conference
• 04/04/2019 at 08:30 AM in Department 53 at 111 North Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, Non-Jury Trial

b. ICANN's 'BIG Money Grab' UPDATE: Legal and Fiduciary Constraints Related Materials including Updated Memo (pdf) embed below, from: Xavier Calvez, Chief Financial Officer and Samantha Eisner, Associate General Counsel, ICANN, re: Proceeds from ICANN's 'Last Resort' Auctions of new gTLDs:

Background: News Review | Greed is Good? ICANN Auctions & The Big 'Money Grab'

c. ICANN Correspondence:

• 4 March 2019 Letter from ICANN Cyrus Namazi to GNSO Council Keith Drazek, Pam Little, and Rafik Dammak (pdf) re: Implementation of Privacy and Proxy Service Provider Accreditation Issues Working Group.
• 4 March 2019 Letter from ICANN Cyrus Namazi to RrSG Graeme Bunton (pdf) re: ICANN Proposed Extension of 2013 RAA Specification on Privacy and Proxy Registrations Expiration Date.
• 1 March 2019 Letter from ICANN Jamie Hedlund to Tucows Reg Levy (pdf) re: ICANN Contractual Compliance and Tucows' Change of Registrant (COR) Process.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks

a. ccTLD .IO re: ICJ Advisory Opinion (pdf)

Whether Britain controls the IO territory or not, ICANN can't remove .IO from the root without the assent of its current operator, which, with 270,000 registrations, is unlikely to commit suicide any time soon

— IGP Alert (@IGPAlert) February 26, 2019

b. New gTLDs + 5 Years

• New TLDs five years in | DomainNameWire.com--"Registration numbers for new TLDs have not met expectations for just about anyone who put money into it. That includes the many registries that spent millions acquiring strings as well as ICANN."--Andrew Allemann. Editor's note: don't miss the comments, e.g., "5 years of orchestrated hype and fake demand are coming to an end. Result: enormous damage to the industry as a whole, and a confused consumer base."
• BREAKING: .Boston Has Dropped into the Sea! Biggest nGTLD Collapse!​ | ricksblog.com--The real collapse has yet to come. Stay tuned as the black hole of domaining continues to dominate [new] GTLDs--Rick Schwartz. 

• ICANN Board action re: Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review | icann.org.

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 

Do You Trust Your VPN? Are You Sure?--slate.com: "Many VPNs appear to be outright scams ... they can see what you’re up to whenever you’re using the internet." 

The Data Brokers who are quietly buying and selling your personal information--fastcompany.com. See also: Warning: Your Identity Will Be Stolen--zerohedge.com. 

French tax on internet giants could yield 500 million euros per year--reuters.com: Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (“GAFA”) but also Uber, Airbnb, Booking and even French online advertising specialist Criteo are targets.

5) Most Read this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

#1 News Review | GNSO Council EPDP Vote March 4, Phase 2 Next

#2 Tech Review 1) Bank of the Future, 2) How China Created Its Own Internet

-- John Poole, Editor • Domain Mondo 

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