30 April 2014

Website Fair Use Defense Defeats Copyright Claim

Dhillon v. Doe | Loeb & Loeb LLP - JDSupra: Website Fair Use Defense Defeats Copyright Claim




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29 April 2014

Copyright Infringement, Safe-Harbor Defense

Gardner v. CafePress, Inc. - USDC S.D. California, February 26, 2014 | Loeb & Loeb LLP - JDSupra:



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28 April 2014

Netmundial 2014, Separation of IANA from ICANN

Netmundial moves Net governance beyond WSIS | IGP Blog: by Milton Mueller -- "....The Internet Governance Project, supported by various ccTLD operators and others, succeeded in getting language calling for structural separation in the IANA transition into the first draft of the document. ICANN marshaled all of its considerable resources to eliminate that language. First they succeeded, then it was put back in, and the final result, as one might expect, was a watered-down compromise. Now the statement only says "It is desirable to discuss the adequate relation between the policy and operational aspects."..." (read more at the links above)

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27 April 2014

The Only Significant Thing That Happened at NETmundial 2014

The NETmundial2014 final text (pdf) sidestepped all of the major issues of "internet governance," particularly the "IANA transition" as well as issues of internet surveillance, and is of little use--as the document itself states: "This is the non-binding outcome of a bottom-up, open, and participatory process ..." After all the bold talk of multistakeholderism, and an open and transparent process, the final text was the result of a process that was debated in secret, in a closed meeting where special interests and lobbyists prevailed, and pretty much watered-down and butchered the earlier drafts that had been discussed.


No, the only thing of significance to come out of NETmundial2014 was the Brazilian President signing into law the "Marco Civil"-- Brazilian president signs internet civil rights law • The Register: "In a theatrical flourish, Rousseff signed the "Marco Civil" at the podium before giving a speech at the opening ceremony of the NetMundial Internet Governance conference ... The bill protects privacy and freedom of expression online and enshrines net neutrality as [Brazilian] law. It is locally referred to as the "internet constitution". Five years in the making, the legislation recently gathered some political urgency after rogue sysadmin Edward Snowden's revelations of spying by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and particularly the monitoring of President Rousseff herself."

As for ICANN itself, flush with millions in cash from its money-making venture a/k/a the new gTLDs program, it financed a big junket and party in São Paulo, for its own staff and insiders.

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25 April 2014

Why the World Does Not Trust US Internet Oversight

Many people in the domain name industry are alarmed, or at least concerned, now that the US has announced it will abandon its benign, almost absentee role, in "oversight" of the internet. What future internet governance will look like is unknown. As much as many would prefer the US maintain its stewardship role to guarantee an open and free internet, it looks like that will not be possible. Why? As much as ICANN and Washington deny it, it is very simple --

8 biggest “enemies of the Internet” - Salon.com: "The United States and United Kingdom achieved the dubious honor of being branded “Enemies of the Internet” for the first time." (read more at link above)

 Thanks to the NSA abuses, there is no going back, or maintaining the status quo.

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23 April 2014

NETmundial 2014 LIVE April 23-24

NETmundial 2014 Day 2 - April 24 - Morning Sessions (English)

NETmundial 2014 Day 2 - April 24 - Afternoon Sessions (English)

NETmundial – The Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance LIVE:
NETmundial - YouTube: All NETmundial2014 events LIVE via YouTube (English and Multilingual), April 23-24, 2014
Also available via:

Other Info:
Agenda – http://netmundial.br/agenda/
Draft outcome document – http://document.netmundial.br
Content contributions – http://content.netmundial.br/docs/contribs
List of participants – http://netmundial.br/blog/2014/04/20/netmundial-announces-list-of-registered-participants/

About NETmundial
The Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance will focus on crafting Internet governance principles and proposing a roadmap for the further evolution of the Internet governance ecosystem. The meeting is scheduled for April 23rd and 24th 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and will be live webcast enabling remote participation. The meeting follows an initiative proposed by CGI.br and /1net. #netmundial2014

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22 April 2014

Net Mundial Global Multistakeholder Meeting, Future of Internet Governance

NETmundial, April 23-24, 2014, São Paulo, Brazil

Net Mundial | Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance:
NETmundial Brazil Conference Receives 189 Content Contributions - Wide-Ranging Ideas on Internet Governance


Read Panel on the Future of Internet Cooperation and Governance Mechanisms - http://content.netmundial.br/contribution/panel-on-global-internet-cooperation-and-governance-mechanisms-contribution-to-netmundial/204

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21 April 2014

International Trademark Registration

International Trademark Registration | Hodgson Legal - JDSupra:



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20 April 2014

IANA, Internet Governance, ICANN power-grab

Storm  coming -- better batten down the hatches! -- 

"Everyone needs to understand that ICANN as an organization has a very strong interest in gaining control of both the technical-operational and the policy making functions. Controlling both makes ICANN a far more powerful, and far less accountable, entity. Like all organizations, ICANN wants to achieve autonomy and strengthen itself. Countervailing forces in the Internet community will be needed to keep it in check."--Milton Mueller

If the Stakeholders Already Control the Internet, Why NETmundial and the IANA Transition?: " . . . .As we initiate what will almost certainly be a contentious global debate, it is worth pausing a moment to ask whether it is an inevitable stage of Internet governance evolution or a manufactured crisis designed to enhance autonomy and diminish accountability. ICANN has played a hyperactive role in bringing events to this point, and it remains to be seen when the dust finally settles whether it will regret trading the rather benign scrutiny of the U.S. for an oversight regime that may well be far more complicated and politicized."--Philip S. Corwin

"...At some point, a transition to an international system was required. On the other hand, ICANN may not necessarily be in a good position to take over this responsibility (as anxious as it is to do so). Many are worried that ICANN is beholden to the domain name registry industry, who pay large fees to ICANN for the privilege of managing (and reselling) top level domain systems. When ICANN recently opened up new gTLDs it reaped a huge profit. If you accept the maxim that “he who has the gold makes the rules” the transition to ICANN control may actually be about a transition to corporate control through ICANN. ICANN is often thought of as unaccountable. It’s multi-stakeholder model of governance attempts to bring all parties to the table. But that’s an awfully big table.  In the end, the ICANN executive group usually takes the initiative and drives the agenda—and without the check of the NTIA (however modest it has been in the past) they may have greater leeway to do as they please...."-- Paul Rosenzweig in Lawfare

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18 April 2014

The Internet and Copyright Issues

Advanced Copyright Issues on the Internet | Fenwick & West LLP - JDSupra:



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17 April 2014

Internet Domain Names, Trademarks

IP, "Intellectual Property," includes trademarks --

IP Issues Related to Internet Domain Names: (from the World Intellectual Property Organization a/k/a WIPO)"When you choose your company's domain name, depending on where you register, you may pick a generic or common name, but if you pick a name that is distinctive, users may more easily be able to remember and search for it. Ideally, it could also be distinctive enough to be protected under trademark law, because domain names can be protected as trademarks in some countries. If you picked a very common domain name (e.g. "Good Software"), your company could have difficulty in building up any special reputation or good will in this name and more difficulty in preventing others from using your name in competition. You should pick a domain name that is not the trademark of another company, particularly a well-known trademark." (read more at link above)

Trademark related websites with Trademark search functions:

USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office)

Trademark247.com

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16 April 2014

New gTLD Domain Names, Negative Impact on Trademarks

ICANN was warned, but proceeded anyway --

Web domain name revolution could hit trademark defence: UN - Yahoo News: "The mass expansion of Internet domain names could cause havoc for the defence of trademarks in cyberspace, the UN's intellectual property body warned . . . "We have this extraordinary expansion that is going on," said Francis Gurry, head of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which oversees global rules against cybersquatting. "That is going to have an impact, which is likely to be significant, on trademark protection. The exact nature of the impact, we aren't sure of at this stage, but it is likely to be significant and disruptive," Gurry told reporters. "Trademark owners are very concerned about the impact that this expansion will have on branding systems," he added...."

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15 April 2014

Obama, Internet Governance, Internet Freedom

What will globalization of management of the internet mean for internet freedom?

Will Obama Abandon Internet Freedom? - US News: " . . . the European Commission – the EU’s executive arm – is pushing for the adoption of what it calls “concrete and actionable steps” to make the essential functions of the Internet a matter of global business. It also wants the United States to establish “a clear timeline” to make the U.S.-based and U.S. chartered Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, a fully international body. Coupled with reports that ICANN wants to move part of its operations to Geneva, “embedding itself in Switzerland . . . . if the president [Obama] and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker are at the same time working out a scheme to give the Chinese government – which is not exactly a worldwide symbol of free thought and free association -- a commanding voice in how the Internet is managed, then what’s the point?” (read more at link above)

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14 April 2014

Trademark Confusion, Is One Letter Enough of a Difference?

Trade-mark Confusion: Is One Letter Enough of a Difference? | Field Law - JDSupra:




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13 April 2014

Keyword Domains Have Lost SEO Relevance

SEO Ranking Factors - Rank Correlation 2013 for Google USA 2013: "In our study, these two factors are considered the losers when compared with last year, because the existence of keywords in the URL and/or the domain have lost their relevance. This also affects backlinks when it comes to plain text keyword links. So it looks as if the days of "hard keyword optimization" are over. Google now puts much more emphasis on natural link profiles. Hard keyword links have lost significant influence and can probably – when used excessively – even have a negative effect; for example, when Google updates its algorithm with features devaluing bad links...."

So what works? According to the study (at link above), good backlinks, social signals and good content. So if you are  just parking your domain, don't expect any traffic from Google (or any other) search engine, even if you have an exact match keyword domain name.

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11 April 2014

ICANN governance, GAC is not happy

Things got heated in Singapore --

Trademarks and new gTLDs: what did we learn at ICANN 49? - Blog - World Trademark Review: "The GAC isn’t entirely happy - That the Government Advisory Committee’s (GAC) meeting with the ICANN board opened with a warning that a substantial Communiqué would follow shortly illustrated its frustration on a range of issues. After what sources portray as a heated session to finalise its Singapore Communiqué, the document was issued late on Thursday evening, with plans for a high-level meeting between the two bodies expanded on. The meeting, to be held in London in June, will focus on ICANN’s role and how to enhance the role of governments in the ICANN model. The Communiqué’s attached questions also make for interesting reading – the final asking ICANN for “more detailed information confirming that rules for auctions are consistent with its bylaws, its not-for profit status, the objectives of the new gTLD program and the applicant guidebook to promote competition, diversity, innovation and consumer choice?”. With questions tackling specific GAC concerns as well as focusing on aspects of ICANN governance, it seems that the GAC is keen on a more active role going forward."(read  more at link above)

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10 April 2014

US Congress Hearing April 10 on US Oversight of ICANN

Live streaming video by Ustream

Rayburn House Office Building 2141
Thursday, 9:00 a.m. (EDT), April 10, 2014
By Direction of the Chairman, Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet

Witnesses and Testimony:
The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
United States Department of Commerce
041014 ICANN Strickling.pdf (42.9 KBs)

Mr. Fadi Chehadé
President and Chief Executive Officer
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
041014 ICANN Chehadé.docx (29.8 KBs)

Mr. Steven J. Metalitz
Partner, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP
On Behalf of the Coalition for Online Accountability
041014 ICANN Metalitz.pdf (109.7 KBs)

Mr. Daniel Castro
Senior Analyst
Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)
041014 ICANN Castro.docx (31.5 KBs)

Mr. Paul Rosenzweig
Founder, Red Branch Law and Consulting
Fellow, The Heritage Foundation Testifying in His Personal Capacity
041014 ICANN Rosenzweig.pdf (271.7 KBs)

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COURTS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, AND THE INTERNET
The Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet shall have jurisdiction over the following subject matters: Administration of U.S. Courts, Federal Rules of Evidence, Civil and Appellate Procedure, judicial ethics, copyright, patent, trademark law, information technology, other appropriate matters as referred to by the Chairmand and relevant oversight.

Rep. Howard Coble, Chairman; Rep. Tom Marino, Vice-Chairman

Rep. SensenbrennerRep. Nadler
Rep. Smith (TX)Rep. Conyers
Rep. ChabotRep. Chu
Rep. IssaRep. Deutch
Rep. PoeRep. Bass
Rep. ChaffetzRep. Richmond
Rep. FarentholdRep. DelBene
Rep. HoldingRep. Jeffries
Rep. CollinsRep. Cicilline
Rep. DeSantisRep. Lofgren
Rep. Smith (MO)Rep. Jackson Lee
VacancyRep. Cohen

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09 April 2014

Letter from US Senators to NTIA's Strickling about IANA Transition

On  April 2, 2014, U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and 33 of their Senate Republican colleagues sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), seeking clarification regarding the recent announcement that NTIA intends to relinquish responsibility of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to the global multistakeholder community. The full letter can be found here, excerpt below --

" . . . .Because this issue is so important to the future of the Internet and for the protection of American values and interests, we request expeditious responses to the following questions and requests for information about the proposed IANA transition.
  • A 2000 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office stated that “it is unclear if the Department [of Commerce] has the requisite authority” to transfer control of the IANA functions to a private entity. Please provide us with the Administration’s legal views and analysis on whether the United States Government can transition the IANA functions to another entity without an Act of Congress. 
  • Please explain why it is in our national interest to transition the IANA functions to the “global multistakeholder community.” 
  • You have stated that NTIA believes “the timing is right to start the transition process.” Why does the Administration believe now is the appropriate time to begin the transition, and what was the specific circumstance or development that led the Administration to decide to begin the transition now?
  • What steps will NTIA take to ensure the process to develop a transition plan for the IANA functions is open and transparent?
  • Will NTIA actively participate in the global multistakeholder process to develop a transition plan for the IANA functions, or will the Administration leave the process entirely in the hands of ICANN?
  • You have stated that NTIA “will not accept a proposal that replaces NTIA’s role with a government-led or an inter-governmental solution,” but NTIA has been silent on how it will ensure the IANA functions do not end up being controlled, directly or indirectly, by a government or inter-governmental entity. What specific options are available to NTIA to prevent this from happening?
  • How can the Administration guarantee the multistakeholder organization that succeeds NTIA will not subsequently transfer the IANA functions to a government or intergovernmental organization in the future, or that such successor organization will not eventually fall under the undue influence of other governments?
  • NTIA asked ICANN to lead the transition process. However, ICANN has a potential self-interest in increasing its own autonomy and reducing its accountability to other entities. Some stakeholders have expressed concerns that ICANN may seek to control the IANA functions on its own, without oversight from anyone else. How did NTIA determine that ICANN is the appropriate entity to lead the transition process, and how will NTIA ensure that ICANN does not inappropriately control or influence the process for its own self-interest? 
  • Does NTIA believe ICANN currently is sufficiently transparent and accountable in its activities, or should ICANN adopt additional transparency and accountability requirements as part of the IANA transition? 
  • Is it realistic to expect that an acceptable transition plan can be developed before the IANA functions contract expires on September 30, 2015? Is there another example of a similar global stakeholder transition plan being developed and approved in just 18 months? 
  • How will NTIA ultimately decide whether a proposed transition plan for IANA, developed by global stakeholders, is acceptable? What factors will NTIA use to determine if such a proposal supports and enhances the multistakeholder model; maintains the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet Domain Name System; meets the needs and expectation of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and maintains the openness of the Internet? 
  • Will NTIA also take into account American values and interests in evaluating a proposed transition plan? How? 
As this process moves forward, we will conduct careful oversight on behalf of the American people to ensure that American values, American interests, and the open Internet are protected. Your detailed responses to our questions and requests for information will aid in that oversight, and we thank you in advance for your personal attention to this matter."

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08 April 2014

IANA Transition: Separate IANA from both ICANN and the US

Presently IANA is a 10-person department within ICANN. "So what does the IANA department do? The day-to-day job of the IANA staff includes: maintaining a central repository for the Internet’s standards, verifying and updating changes to Top Level Domain (TLD) information, distributing Internet numbers to regions for Internet use...In short, the IANA team is keeper of the records of unique identifiers of the Internet...." (source: ICANN)

IANA transition: "structural separation of ICANN and IANA is a much-discussed option in the transition" (source infra)

IGP Blog: "The country code registry for New Zealand, InternetNZ, has contributed additional value to this debate. It has prepared a set of diagrams that map out just what activities and functions are part of current governance arrangements for the domain name system. It shows what IANA, ICANN, the NTIA and Verisign actually do. Related functions are neatly grouped into boxes. The InternetNZ diagrams show how various approaches to the IANA transition would parcel out those functions to various entities. InternetNZ thus provides us with a very useful guide to the IANA transition. The 9-page document, which is must reading for anyone interested in the IANA transition, can be downloaded here: 2014-03-ICANN-IANA-Role-Structures"

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07 April 2014

Domain Name, property or license?

You May Not Necessarily Be the Master of Your Domain | Morrison & Foerster LLP - Social Media - JDSupra:



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ICANN Board of Directors, Conflicts of Interest

"ICANN has a conflict of interest in pursuing the global public interest since its own financial interests are at odds with keeping costs down for Internet users and businesses. Without US oversight, ICANN has the potential to grow into the world's largest unregulated monopoly." -  Daniel Castro, senior analyst for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (source: InformationWeek)

"“ICANN has made a lot of mistakes, and ICANN has not really been a good steward” - Garth Bruen, a security fellow at the Digital Citizens Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group that combats online crime.  "Business groups and some others have long complained that ICANN’s decision-making was dominated by the interests of the industry that sells domain names and whose fees provide the vast majority of ICANN’s revenue." - Washington Post

Domain Mondo: Are Domain Names Dinosaurs?: ".... the whole new gTLDs process was dysfunctional, driven by greed and conflicts of interest, without any consideration of demand, need, or the public interest...."

Ethics Fight Over Domain Names Intensifies - New York Times  March 18, 2012: "The Commerce Department ...warned the organization [ICANN] that it needed to tighten its rules against conflicts of interest or risk losing a central role.... ICANN has come under heightened scrutiny because of an initiative to increase vastly the number and variety of available Internet addresses. Under the plan, which ICANN is putting into effect, hundreds of new “top-level domains” — the letters like “com” that follow the “dot” in addresses — are set to be created. Some business groups say the expansion of domains will cause a rise in trademark violations and cybersquatting, while some governments object to Icann’s move to create address suffixes like .xxx, for pornography. But the initiative has been cheered by companies that register and maintain Internet addresses. A number of current and former members of the ICANN board have close ties to such registrars or to concerns involved in other areas that stand to benefit from the expansion.“ICANN must place commercial and financial interests in their appropriate context,” said Mr. [Rod] Beckstrom [former ICANN Chairman]... “How can it do this if all top leadership is from the very domain-name industry it is supposed to coordinate independently? “A more subtle but related risk is the tangle of conflicting agendas within the board... the United States government is also dissatisfied with ICANN. The Commerce Department said it had canceled a request for proposals to run the so-called Internet Assigned Numbers Authority because none of the bids met its requirements: “the need for structural separation of policy-making from implementation, a robust companywide conflict of interest policy, provisions reflecting heightened respect for local country laws and a series of consultation and reporting requirements to increase transparency and accountability to the international community.” Eyebrows were raised last year when Peter Dengate Thrush, former chairman of ICANN and a fan of the domain name expansion, joined a company that invests in domain names. [A version of the article appeared in print on March 19, 2012, on page B6 of the New York edition with the headline: Ethics Fight Over Domain Names Intensifies.]

 The ICANN Conflicts of Interest Policy can be found here.
July 2014 Update on action increasing compensation of Fadi Chehadé, Directors, and others can be found here.

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a California non-profit corporation formed in 1998 that controls the global internet domain name system under authority granted it by the U.S. government. 

 FY14 Annual Report of Expense Reimbursement and Other Payments to ICANN Directors
For the Period 1 July 2013 through 30 June 2014 (pdf)

Summary of ICANN Officers and Board Members Statements of Interest - 13 June 2014 update
Officers
Akram Atallah –President, Global Domains Division – Nothing identified.
Susanna Bennett – Chief Operating Officer – Nothing identified.
Xavier Calvez – Chief Financial Officer – Nothing identified.
Fadi Chehadé – President and Chief Executive Officer – Nothing identified.
John Jeffrey – General Counsel and Secretary – Nothing identified.
David Olive – Vice President, Policy Development Support – Nothing identified.

Board Members
Sébastien Bachollet – Mr. Bachollet is a member of the Board of the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), which is the sponsoring organization responsible for policy setting for the .XXX sTLD and may be seeking to provide services to other new gTLDs; he has a consulting contract with Items International, which had a contract with ICANN for the ccNSO (2010) and the ASO(2011) reviews. Items International is also providing consulting services for one new gTLD applicant. Mr. Bachollet will not be involved in the new gTLD projects initiated by either IFFOR or Items International. For Items International he is in charge of open-data and information systems projects. Mr. Bachollet is also a member of the AFNIC Board.
Cherine Chalaby – Nothing identified.
Fadi Chehadé – Outside of his role as President and CEO, nothing identified.
Steve Crocker – Dr. Crocker is the CEO and a Director of Shinkuro, Inc. Shinkuro has had a contract with DHS for approximately $1 million annually for development of policies and procedures for adoption of DNSSEC; such policies may or may not align with ICANN's objectives in this area. Shinkuro also has a contract with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to provide services; this work may involve advice related to USPS's use of .POST and/or possibly future gTLDs, but will not relate to application processes or other interactions with ICANN.
Chris Disspain – Director and CEO of .au Domain Administration Limited, the .au ccTLD manager; .au has sponsorship agreement with ICANN under which .au pays ICANN a yearly amount based on the amount of names under management. Former Officer of ICANN, Paul Levins, is a Director of .au Domain Administration Limited. .au Domain Administration Limited licenses AusRegistry Pty Ltd to run the registry for the second level names in .au. Under the Registry License agreement, AusRegistrypays fees to auDA; companies affiliated with AusRegistry are affiliated with new gTLD applications.
Heather Dryden – Ex Officio, non-voting Board Director, representing Industry Canada for the Operator of dot-CA.
Bill Graham – Holds a consulting contract with the Internet Society. The subject matter of that contract is unrelated to the mandate of ICANN. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance.
Wolfgang Kleinwächter – Is Executive Director of a summer school program on Internet Governance that has sponsors, some of which have included, or currently include, ICANN current or potential contracted parties, all of which were sponsors before Mr. Kleinwächter was named to theICANN Board.
Bruno Lanvin – Nothing identified.
Erika Mann – Heads up the Facebook, Inc.'s policy office in Brussels.
Olga Madruga-Forti – Nothing identified.
Ram Mohan – Executive Vice President and Officer of Afilias, which is a contracted party with ICANN and which is under contract for services to registry operators that are under contract to ICANN. Mr. Mohan is also the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Internet Society. His sister-in-law is owner and CEO of an ICANN accredited registrar. Afilias is a minority shareholder in ICM Registry, Inc., that operates the .XXX TLD. Afilias has regular business transactions with Melborne IT (Bruce Tonkin's employer and an ICANN accredited registrar). Afilias is involved in some way in numerous new gTLD applications. Mr. Mohan's wife is employed by a new gTLD applicant, but she is not involved in the applications or in other matter relating to the applications or to ICANN.
Gonzalo Navarro – Chief of Staff, Chilean National Institute of Industrial Property.
Ray Plzak – Nothing identified.
George Sadowsky – Nothing identified.
Mike Silber – Member of the Management Committee and Treasurer of the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) South Africa. He is also, a Director and Treasurer of the .za Domain Name Authority, the ccTLD administrator for .za. The .za Domain Name Authority has concluded an arms-length operating agreement with Uniforum t/a the .za Central Registry for Uniforum to operate the .za registry. Under the agreement, Uniforum will collect and pay transaction fees to .za Domain NameAuthority. Uniforum is acting as the registry service provider for various new gTLD applicants.
Jonee Soininen – He owns a nominal amount of shares of a gTLD applicant.
Bruce Tonkin – Chief Technology Officer of Melbourne IT, which has contract with ICANN as accredited registrar on the same terms as all other registrars. Melbourne IT is an accredited registrar for: (i) .au Domain Administration Limited of which Chris Disspain is the CEO and former ICANN officer Paul Levins is a Board member; (ii) .fr operated by AFNIC on which Sébastien Bachollet serves as a Board member; and (iii) .info, where Afilias, the employer of Ram Mohan, is the gTLDoperator. Melbourne IT may also be a registrar for new gTLDs operated by the employer of ICANN's former Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Wilson.
Kuo-Wei Wu – CEO – National Information Infrastructure Enterprise Promotion Association (NIIEPA)– Internet Policy Research. His daughter works for Progressive Insurance, which applied for two new gTLDs. Out of an abundance of caution, Progressive established an ethical wall keeping Kuo-Wei Wu's daughter from any involvement or discussions related to the new gTLD applications.
Suzanne Woolf – Nothing identified.
______________________

 The following members of the Board of Directors of ICANN, disclosed the following "Statements of Interest" as of February 4, 2014 --

Sébastien Bachollet – Mr. Bachollet is a member of the Board of the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), which is the sponsoring organization responsible for policy setting for the .XXX sTLD and may be seeking to provide services to other new gTLDs; he has a consulting contract with Items International, which had a contract with ICANN for the ccNSO (2010) and the ASO(2011) reviews. Items International is also providing consulting services for one new gTLD applicant. Mr. Bachollet will not be involved in the new gTLD projects initiated by either IFFOR or Items International. For Items International he is in charge of open-data and information systems projects. Mr. Bachollet is also a member of the AFNIC Board.

Steve Crocker [Chairman of ICANN Board of Directors] – Dr. Crocker is the CEO and Director of Shinkuro, Inc. Shinkuro has had a contract with DHS [US Dept of Homeland Security] for approximately $1 million for development of policies and procedures for adoption of DNSSEC; such policies may or may not align with ICANN's objectives in this area. Shinkuro also has a contract with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to provide services; this work may involve advice related to USPS's use of .POST and/or possibly future gTLDs, but will not relate to application processes or other interactions with ICANN.

Chris Disspain – Director and CEO of .au Domain Administration Limited, the .au ccTLD manager; .au has sponsorship agreement with ICANN under which .au pays ICANN a yearly amount based on the amount of names under management. Former Officer of ICANN, Paul Levins, is a Director of .au Domain Administration Limited. .au Domain Administration Limited licenses AusRegistry Pty Ltd to run the registry for the second level names in .au. Under the Registry License agreement, AusRegistry pays fees to auDA; companies affiliated with AusRegistry are affiliated with new gTLD applications.

Ram Mohan – Executive Vice President and Officer of Afilias, which is a contracted party with ICANN and which is under contract for services to registry operators that are under contract to ICANN. Mr. Mohan is also the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Internet Society. His sister-in-law is owner and CEO of an ICANN accredited registrar. Afilias is a minority shareholder in ICM Registry, Inc., that operates the .XXX TLD. Afilias has regular business transactions with Melborne IT (Bruce Tonkin's [see below] employer and an ICANN accredited registrar). Afilias is involved in some way in numerous new gTLD applications. Mr. Mohan's wife is employed by a new gTLD applicant, but she is not involved in the applications or in other matter relating to the applications or to ICANN.

Mike Silber – Member of the Management Committee and Treasurer of the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) South Africa. He is also, a Director and Treasurer of the .za Domain Name Authority, the ccTLD administrator for .za. The .za Domain Name Authority has concluded an arms-length operating agreement with Uniforum t/a the .za Central Registry for Uniforum to operate the .za registry. Under the agreement, Uniforum will collect and pay transaction fees to .za Domain Name Authority. Uniforum is acting as the registry service provider for various new gTLD applicants.

Jonee Soininen – He owns a nominal amount of shares of a gTLD applicant. [name of applicant undisclosed]

Bruce Tonkin – Chief Technology Officer of Melbourne IT, which has contract with ICANN as accredited registrar on the same terms as all other registrars. Melbourne IT is an accredited registrar for: (i) .au Domain Administration Limited of which Chris Disspain [see above] is the CEO and former ICANN officer Paul Levins is a Board member; (ii) .fr operated by AFNIC on which Sébastien Bachollet [see above] serves as a Board member; and (iii) .info, where Afilias, the employer of Ram Mohan [see above], is the gTLD operator. Melbourne IT may also be a registrar for new gTLDs operated by the employer of ICANN's former Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Wilson.

Suzanne Woolf – Employer, Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), for which she is a key employee, provides products and services related to its BIND software product to Afilias, and ICANN has contracted with ISC re: BIND software used in the DNS infrastructure. Outside her salary, she has no direct financial interest in these contracts. ISC does business with many DNS related entities. ISC is currently actively pursuing partnerships and capabilities to become a back-end registry service provider, but does not currently provide such services. Suzanne is Secretariat Director for OARC (DNS-OARC, the Operations, Analysis, and Research Center for the DNS); Shinkuro is a beneficial member of OARC. ICANN has contracted with OARC to (i) study L-Root capabilities; and (ii) to collect and analyze DNS data related to DNSSEC rollout in 2010.

Source of above information is ICANN (emphasis added).
____________________

A Look Back at ICANN Board of Directors, Conflicts of Interest as of 12 March 2012-- (source: ICANN) - Summary of Individual Board Director and Board Liaison Statements of Interest (in alphabetical order):

Sebastien Bachollet – Member of the Board of the International Foundation for Online Responsibility (IFFOR), which is the sponsoring organization responsible for policy setting for the .XXX sTLD; has a consulting contract with Items International, which had a contract with ICANN for the ccNSO review and is currently running the ASO review. Items International is set to provide consulting services for New gTLDs. Mr. Bachollet will not be involved in the new gTLD projects, but will be in charge of open-data and information systems projects.

Rod Beckstrom – TWIKI.NET – Investor.
Cherine Chalaby – Nothing Identified.

Steve Crocker – CEO and Director of Shinkuro. Afilias, that has registry agreement with ICANN, has an investment in Shinkuro. Ram Mohan is a Director and an investor of Shinkuro. Shinkuro does some analysis and software development work for Afilias related to their back end, narrowly focused on the detailed operational differences among the various DNS name server software packages. Shinkuro has a contract with DHS for $1 million for development of policies and procedures for adoption ofDNSSEC; such policies may or may not align with ICANN’s objectives in this area.

Chris Disspain – Director and CEO of .au Domain Administration Limited, the .au ccTLD manager; .au has sponsorship agreement with ICANN under which .au pays ICANN a yearly amount based on the amount of names under management. Former Officer of ICANN, Paul Levins, has been named as a Director of .au Domain Administration Limited.

Heather Dryden – Ex Officio, non-voting Board Director, representing Industry Canada for the Operator of dot-CA.

Bill Graham - Holds a consulting contract with the Internet Society. The subject matter of that contract is unrelated to the mandate of ICANN.

Bertrand de La Chapelle – Launched and heads a program (research and dialogue facilitation) on the topic “Internet and Jurisdiction”, at a Paris-based think-tank. Some expected funding for the program comes from entities that may apply for new gTLDs or provide services to applicants.

Erika Mann – Heads up the Facebook, Inc.’s policy office in Brussels.

Ram Mohan – Employee Officer of Afilias, a contracted party with ICANN and which is under contract for services to registry operators that are under contract to ICANN. Afilias is an investor in Shinkuro, the R&D Company for which Steve Crocker is the CEO, and where Ram is a Director and a small shareholder. Afilias is a minority shareholder in ICM Registry, Inc., the .XXX TLD operator. Afilias has a minority investment in Sedari, which provides advice to new gTLD clients. Afilias is a minority shareholder in an entity that was a candidate to operate the ICANN Trademark Clearinghouse. Afilias has a contractual relationship with ICANN's former CEO on security-related matters. Ram's family member is the owner and CEO of an ICANN accredited registrar. Afilias has a standard agreement with Melbourne IT (Bruce Tonkin's employer and an ICANN accredited registrar). Afilias is a contributor to Internet Systems Consortium (Suzanne Woolf's employer) for BIND and for the development of BIND10. Ram is the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC).

Thomas Narten – Software engineer for IBM. IBM may apply for a new gTLD.

Gonzalo Navarro – Chief of Staff, Chilean National Institute of Industrial Property.
Ray Plzak – Nothing identified.
R. Ramaraj – Nothing identified.

Thomas Roessler - Chairman of the Board of the World Wide Web Foundation (US), for which George Sadowsky provides consulting services. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that appointed Mr. Roessler as Board Liaison is the recipient of a major grant from the Internet Society (ISOC), whose major income source is the operation of the .org TLD through PIR and Afilias (Ram Mohan’s employer and new gTLD registry operator). Several contracted parties of ICANN are current or former W3C member organizations.

George Sadowsky – Provides consulting services to the World Wide Web Foundation (US), for which Thomas Roessler serves as Chairman of the Board.

Mike Silber – Director and treasurer of ccTLD .za domain name authority and member of the Management Committee and treasurer of Internet Service provider Association (ISPA) South Africa.

Bruce Tonkin - Chief Strategy Officer of Melbourne IT, which has contract with ICANN as accredited registrar on the same terms as all other registrars. Melbourne IT is an accredited registrar with .au Domain Administration Limited of which Chris Disspain is the CEO. Melbourne IT has a standard registry-registrar agreement with Afilias (Ram Mohan employer and current gTLD registry Operator) for .info and has a non-exclusive teaming agreement for services for new gTLD applicants with Afilias. Melbourne IT also provides corporate domain name management services to IBM (Thomas Narten’s employer).

Kuo-Wei Wu –CEO – National Information Infrastructure Enterprise Promotion Association (NIIEPA)– Internet Policy Research.

Suzanne Woolf – Employer, Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), for which she is key employee, provides products and services related to its BIND software product to Afilias, and ICANN has contracted with ISC re: BIND software used in the DNS infrastructure. Outside her salary, she has no direct financial interest in these contracts. ISC does business with many DNS related entities. ISC is currently actively pursuing partnerships and capabilities to become a back-end registry service provider, but does not currently provide such services. She is Secretariat Director for OARC (DNS-OARC, the Operations, Analysis, and Research Center for the DNS); Shinkuro is a beneficial member of OARC. ICANN has contracted with OARC to (i) study L-Root capabilities; and (ii) to collect and analyze DNS data related to DNSSEC rollout in 2010.

Judith Duavit Vasquez – Chair and CEO, with controlling interest in, Phcolo, Inc., which is involved in telecom and Internet infrastructure business; Board member for GMA Network, Inc., GMA Radio and GMA New Media Inc., which are broadcast, radio and digital media platform and content providers. Has indicated that she may be involved with a new gTLD application.

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06 April 2014

The Internet Ecosystem according to ICANN


























source: ICANN

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04 April 2014

The Internet is a Mess

1. Rampant UDRP abuse;
2. Inept ICANN internet governance;
3. NSA et al infiltration and abusive practices;
4. Declining internet freedom

Here's an indicator --
Eric Schmidt to dictators: 'You don’t turn off the internet: you infiltrate it' | Technology | theguardian.com: "Dictators are taking a new approach in their responses to use of the internet in popular uprisings, according to Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt. “What’s happened in the last year is the governments have figured out you don’t turn off the internet: you infiltrate it,” said Schmidt, speaking at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. “The new model for a dictator is to infiltrate and try to manipulate it. You’re seeing this in China, and in many other countries.”"

 Too bad Turkey, home to one of  ICANN's 3 headquarters, didn't get the message!

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03 April 2014

Internet Law Resource Center™, Bloomberg BNA

  • updated continuously
  • analysis, guidance, and primary source material 
  • full-text judicial, administrative, and arbitrator opinions and rulings 
The Internet Law Resource Center™ is an information solution for practitioners in cyberlaw, domain name owners, managers, and others involved with domain names -- integrating news coverage and expert analysis with an archive of full-text case law, pleadings, statutes, policy papers, and regulations,  developments on ICANN’s new gTLD program, keyword advertising, online privacy, internet taxation, and other issues. For more info (including free trial): Internet Law Resource Center™ | Bloomberg BNA

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02 April 2014

Congressional Hearing April 2 on ICANN, IANA, and Internet Governance, Witnesses and Testimony

Live streaming video by Ustream Ensuring the Security, Stability, Resilience, and Freedom of the Global Internet | Energy & Commerce Committee: The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at 10:30 a.m. EDT, in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The title of the hearing is “Ensuring the Security, Stability, Resilience, and Freedom of the Global Internet.” The hearing webcast will be available at http://energycommerce.house.gov/.

Hearing Notice  - Background Memo
Witnesses - Panel I: (go to links below for each witness's testimony)
The Honorable Larry Strickling
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
Witness Testimony (Truth in Testimony and CV)

Mr. Fadi Chehadé
President and CEO
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
Witness Testimony (Truth in Testimony and CV)

The Honorable David A. Gross
Partner
Wiley Rein, LLP
Witness Testimony (Truth in Testimony and CV)

Witnesses - Panel II:
Mr. Steve DelBianco
Executive Director
NetChoice
Witness Testimony (Truth in Testimony and CV)

Ms. Carolina Rossini
Project Director, Latin American Resource Center
Internet Governance and Human Rights Program
New American Foundation
Witness Testimony (Truth in Testimony and CV)

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01 April 2014

Move over ICANN, Russia Wants In On Internet Regulation

NETmundial is just the beginning --

Russia Goes for Gold in Internet Regulation | Freedom House: " . . . take note of another world event Putin wants to host in Sochi. The proposed second World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in 2015 would grapple with some of the most complex issues related to the internet, including how it operates, the structure of its virtual economy and who manages its content.Over the coming year, the United Nations will sponsor more than a half dozen meetings to prepare for the long-term WSIS agenda. If advocates of human rights and democracy online fail to pay close attention, Russia and other internet-regulation supporters such as China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia will use the meetings to transfer control of the internet from apolitical technical agencies to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a Geneva-based UN body. The ITU has served an important, useful function in regulating telegraph, radio, TV, satellites, and other communication technologies. But it is the wrong body to govern the internet. If the states in favor of giving the ITU "jurisdiction over the internet's operations and content" succeed in imposing geographic rules on the borderless internet, the change would quickly stifle innovation and the free exchange of ideas that have driven cyberspace's growth and influence..." (read more at link above)

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