The domain name industry descends on Hyderabad this week for ICANN's 57th annual public meeting, with a mixed sentiment of excitement and determination as ICANN stands on its own two feet absent US Government oversight. We'll have to get used some new acronyms as a result: PTI -- Public Technical Identifier; and the CSC -- Customer Standing Committee, but otherwise I don't think many of us will notice the difference. more
We're pleased to announce that the first Applicant Auction has come to a successful finish! As of this morning, the winners are now the only remaining applicants for the six contested strings... The winning prices totalled $9.01 million, which we have distributed to the other applicants after confirming that their ICANN applications have been withdrawn. more
There has been an upsurge in brands withdrawing their applications. The timing undoubtedly is due to the deadline of 70% refund of the $185k application fee. But why are so many of the withdrawals .brand/closed generics? Having been involved in drafting of financial projections for over 50 applications and having answered a number of financial Clarification Questions, I believe that the major reason why there is an acceleration in .brands, especially closed ones, is that they are receiving a large number of CQs... more
The Fourth Applicant Auction has concluded, resolving contention for three more strings. Donuts Inc. came away from the auction as the winner of all three strings: .LIFE, .CHURCH, and .LOANS. Life Covenant Church, Inc. will be compensated for withdrawing their application for .CHURCH, and Radix will be compensated for their withdrawal from .LOANS, while Xiamen 35.com Technology Co.,Ltd and CompassRose will be compensated for their withdrawal from .LIFE. more
Guidebook for all interested parties. The best way to start this process would be to give conditional approval to the proposed final AGB next week. This may in fact involve acquiescing to the specific requests placed before it by litigious special interests, but those requests should be granted because they are reasonable and in the best interests of the program and its participants and stakeholders, not because ICANN feels it has to cave at the first sign of a gTLD opponent lawyering up. more
Paul Sloan reporting in CNET: "ICANN tomorrow will reveal who is going after what new domain extensions, paving the way for a very different looking Web. Prepare for dot-madness... It's not just the hard-core denizens of the domain world that are going after new TLDs, which are also known as 'strings.' Others are jumping into the fray. The most intriguing is Google, which in late May revealed that it's applying for an undisclosed number of strings, including .Google, .YouTube, .docs, and .lol..." more
ICANN's dismissal of public comments submitted on the .COM Registry Amendment wasn't surprising given that it recently dismissed the public comments on the .Org Renewal Agreement, but the speed and disdain which it demonstrated was. Despite public pronouncements by ICANN President and CEO, Gören Marby and assurances from ICANN Board Chair, Maarten Botterman, that public comments were welcomed and that ICANN would take them seriously... more
After two years of meetings, comment periods, and more meetings, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers submitted its IANA transition proposal to the US Department of Commerce last week at the end of the ICANN 55 meeting in Marrakech. While this is a critical milestone and the multi-stakeholder community should be commended for its efforts, several concerns still remain. more
We had high hopes that the Domain Name Association's Healthy Domains Initiative (HDI) wouldn't be just another secretive industry deal between rightsholders and domain name intermediaries. Toward that end, we and other civil society organizations worked in good faith on many fronts to make sure HDI protected Internet users as well. Those efforts seem to have failed. more
Like many of those present at the ICANN Seoul meeting last October, and indeed along with those around the globe who were eagerly awaiting new TLDs, I too was angered and frustrated at ICANN's deadlines that were slipping like a cartoon character running on an oil slick, caused by an incessant search by certain industry factions for perfection in an imperfect science. (We do work with the internet remember?). more
(The following is an edited version of comments I submitted to ICANN regarding "closed" generic TLDs.) On February 5th, ICANN solicited comments on whether ICANN should determine the circumstances under which a generic TLD operator is permitted to adopt "open" or "closed" registration policies. Allowing gTLD operators to make these determinations, as opposed to ICANN, will promote innovation on the Internet to the benefit of consumers. more
Given the level of public interest in Ethos' acquisition of Public Interest Registry ("PIR") from the Internet Society, it is no surprise that this agreement continues to attract press attention. Ethos welcomes open discussion on this important investment, and we are of course following the media coverage closely. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to respond point-by-point to every article, so I would like to take this opportunity to address several mischaracterizations of the deal recently reported by Wired, Deutsche Welle, and others. more
Speaking at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting in Vilnius , Lithuania, on Tuesday, Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's President and CEO, warned against the danger of placing Internet governance into the framework of intergovernmental organizations exclusively. "If governance were to become the exclusive province of nation states or captured by any other interests, we would lose the foundation of the Internet's long-term potential and transformative value. Decisions on its future should reflect the widest possible range of views and the wisdom of the entire world community -- not just governmental organizations." more
While most of the recommendations included in the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) Report are much needed reforms to ICANN's accountability mechanisms, the proposal also contains a fundamental flaw, which jeopardizes its overall acceptance and risks delaying the IANA transition process further: it changes the role of governments from "advisory" to "decisional" over ICANN's governance, and it separately enhances the power of governments over ICANN's board of directors. more
When in March 14, 2014, the NTIA announced its intention to step away from its historical oversight role over the IANA functions, something extraordinary happened. A global dialogue immediately ensued. The first part of this dialogue is expected to come to an end in the forthcoming ICANN annual meeting in Marrakech next week. After two years of vigorous discussions, the Internet community says it is now ready to move to the next part of the process - implementation. more
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