ICANN engagement with China “does not suggest any level of support for the nation’s government or its policies,” ICANN Chairman Stephen Crocker said in a letter Thursday to GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and two other Republican senators. Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, joined Cruz in increasing the pressure Monday on Crocker and former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé to fully answer the senators' questions about ICANN's relationship with the Chinese government. The senators had earlier raised concerns about Chehadé's involvement with the Chinese government-led World Internet Conference (see 1602040061, 1603030067 and 1604040056). Crocker compared ICANN's involvement in China with that of top U.S. tech companies like Cisco, LinkedIn and Microsoft. “These firms, like ICANN, do not endorse the policies, laws, and regulations of China simply by operating there,” Crocker said in his letter. “As long as the U.S. Government has a policy of engagement with China, U.S. firms operate there without the insinuation that doing so makes them complicit in China’s censorship.” The Chinese government and its citizens “have an understandable desire to participate at ICANN,” Crocker said: “They have done so constructively,” including the China tech community's role in introducing non-Latin Internationalized Domain Names. ICANN's involvement with China “will continue in the same way we engage with other countries,” he said. Chehadé's coming role as co-chairman of a high-level WIC advisory committee “is not coterminous with his position at ICANN” because he won't join the committee until “later this year,” Crocker said. Chehadé left ICANN in March. The ICANN board “is not aware of any conflicts of interest relating to his activities during his tenure that would require additional steps to be taken in order to remain consistent with ICANN’s policies in effect relating to conflicts,” Crocker said.
The Internet Infrastructure Coalition raised concerns Monday about now-former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé's “farewell” letter to the ICANN board. The i2Coalition said in a letter to board Chairman Steve Crocker that Chehadé's messaging indicated ICANN should become more “aggressive,” which could “lead towards moderating content online.” Chehadé, who left ICANN earlier this month, told the board in his letter that ICANN “must remain engaged, and … shape the discussion and debate.” ICANN “cannot fabricate an instrumental role for itself within IP matters,” i2Coalition Executive Director Christian Dawson said in the letter. The i2Coalition “firmly supported the inclusion of language limiting ICANN's activities to those that further its mission” and supported the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability's recommendation that ICANN's mission statement be revised to place limits on the nonprofit corporation's ability to extend its role, Dawson told Crocker. “Statements that move the organization into a role it was not created for and that curtail the effectiveness of its existing processes are concerning and reflect a step back from the achievements of the organization” under Chehadé, Dawson said.
The U.S. District Court in Los Angeles directed ICANN not to issue the .africa generic top-level domain (gTLD), granting a temporary restraining order sought by the DotConnectAfrica (DCA) Trust that halts delegation of the gTLD until after a ruling is issued in DCA’s lawsuit over its claim to the gTLD. ICANN had chosen to delegate the gTLD to ZA Central Registry over DCA and issued an emergency resolution Thursday “to prepare to move forward” with delegation of the gTLD. DCA disputed ICANN’s delegation decision and won a binding independent review process ruling at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution in 2015 that found ICANN violated its bylaws after DCA’s earlier 2013 challenge to the .africa delegation decision. U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner in Los Angeles ruled Friday there are “serious questions going to the merits” of DCA’s case. The registry “has demonstrated that once the [generic] TLD is issued, it will be unable to obtain those rights elsewhere. Moreover, the injury it will suffer cannot be compensated through monetary damages,” Klausner said in his order. ICANN claimed “the African governments and the ICANN community will suffer prejudice if the delegation of the gTLD is delayed,” Klausner said. The restraining order “will allow the Court time to consider arguments” from DCA, the registry said in a news release. ICANN said it plans to file a brief on the case March 14 and will participate in oral argument April 4, “after which the Court will make a decision about whether or not ICANN can proceed to delegation, even though the lawsuit is still proceeding.”
ICANN said its initial release of label generation rules for the root zone (LGR-1) is “designed to be the first installment of a conservative set of rules to determine the validity and variants of labels for the [Domain Name System] Root Zone.” LGR-1 contains code prints, variants and rules for using Arabic script in domain names. As ICANN approves additional LGR proposals for other language scripts, it will release “new versions of the integrated LGR,” the nonprofit said in a Wednesday news release. “Once finalized, each version can be applied mechanically to determine the validity of an applied-for top-level domain label and the maximal set of its allocatable variant labels for the scripts supported. Further mechanisms are being developed to determine which of these allocatable variant labels will actually be allocated to those who have applied for top-level domains.” ICANN Internationalized Domain Names Program Senior Manager Sarmad Hussain said the release of LGR-1 Wednesday is “a significant step forward in developing a multilingual Internet. These rules provide an open and transparent method for determining the validity and variants of top-level domain (TLD) names, or labels, in the world's various scripts and writing systems.” Development of LGR-1 “benefits current and future Internet users who use the Arabic script by making it easier to navigate the web, and helps address confusion and security issues in using the domain name system -- specifically top-level domains,” Hussain said in a blog post.
Domain name registry operator Minds + Machines’ board voted unanimously to fire CEO Antony Van Couvering, the registry operator said Monday. Chief Marketing Officer Toby Hall will take over as CEO pending regulatory approval, the company said. Although Van Couvering, who co-founded Minds + Machines, “has contributed greatly to the business’s development, the Board felt that a fresh approach is required in order to fully exploit the revenue potential of our leading portfolio of TLDs,” the company said in a news release. Minds + Machines’ portfolio of new generic top-level domains includes the .law and Spanish equivalent .abogado TLDs (see 1508210047). Van Couvering said in a CircleID blog post Monday that his ouster “was a surprise” and noted that “there were differences and disagreements” with the company’s board. “Owning a registry, or even better a portfolio of them, is a fantastic long-term business,” Van Couvering said. “Those who can't think long term (no cash) or won't (no vision), will not be well served by what's to come.”
The Domain Name Association said its new Healthy Domains Initiative (HDI) is focusing on recommending a set of best practices for promoting a healthy domain name system, including surveying the landscape of online abuse. Major industry parties like Amazon, Google, MPAA and RIAA joined with the FBI, registries and content providers during a meeting last week to begin work on those best practices recommendations, DNA said Monday. HDI members will now work on determining how DNA should prioritize the group’s work, while working groups within HDI are discussing potential initial best practices recommendations, DNA said. HDI “is an important step forward to ensure we work collaboratively with our peers toward a more secure and stable Internet naming system,” said DNA Chairman Adrian Kinderis in a news release. Rightside is “encouraged by the positive direction this effort is taking,” said Vice President-Business and Legal Affairs Statton Hammock.
MPAA and the Donuts domain name registry said they reached an agreement to ensure that websites using Donuts-registered domain names don’t engage in large-scale piracy. “This agreement demonstrates that the tech community and content creators can work together on voluntary initiatives to help ensure vibrant, legal digital marketplaces that benefit all members of the online ecosystem,” said MPAA CEO Chris Dodd in a Tuesday news release. MPAA will be a “Trusted Notifier” for reporting digital piracy websites using Donuts-registered domain names, Donuts and MPAA said. The agreement will have strict standards for making referrals, including “clear evidence of pervasive copyright infringement” and a “representation” that MPAA attempted to contact the website’s registrar and hosting provider to resolve the piracy, Donuts and MPAA said. Donuts will work with registrar partners to contact the website operator and seek additional evidence. If Donuts or a registrar partner finds a website engaged in illegal activity, the company may place a hold on or suspend the website for violating Donuts’ use policies, Donuts and MPAA said. Donuts “is committed to a healthy domain name environment and this is another step toward a safe and secure namespace,” said Executive Vice President Jon Nevett in the release.
GoDaddy said its new GoDaddy Investor mobile app for domain name investors will allow investors to monitor and bid on domain auctions via mobile devices. The app, available on Android and iOS devices, will allow investors to monitor domain auctions in real time and view their bidding history, GoDaddy said Wednesday. Investors will also be able to place proxy bids and receive instant notifications when they have been outbid, GoDaddy said. “We worked closely with our domain investors to bring the same great investing experience to mobile that they've enjoyed on desktop for years,” said Senior Director-Aftermarket Paul Nicks in a news release. “The new GoDaddy Investor app was designed with the timely nature of domain bids in mind.”
New top-level domains “are not treated any differently than traditional domain names like .com or .org” within Google's search results, Google Domains Product Marketing Manager Chad Lancaster said in a blog post Thursday on “common questions” about new TLDs. “Domain names with new endings are shown in search just like any other domain name.” Lancaster suggested website owners prepare URL mapping from current URLs to their corresponding new URLs when moving to a new TLD, along with configuring for redirection of site contents to the new URLs. “It takes time to be fully processed in Google Search, but once it is, your new domain name is expected to work just like your old domain name,” Lancaster said.
ICANN sought comment on the Generic Names Supporting Organization’s (GNSO) proposed implementation of an ICANN-adopted policy that among other things requires consistent labeling and display of Whois information for all generic top-level domains (gTLDs). ICANN adopted the policy in February 2014, after recommendations in 2013 from the GNSO Council. The implementation proposal would first require all gTLDs -- excluding .com, .net and .jobs TLDs -- to display Registration Data Directory Services (RDDS) output that’s compliant with the ICANN-adopted policy, except for the registrar registration expiration date and reseller information. The same gTLDs would be required to display fully RDDS-compliant information during a second implementation phase, ICANN said. All gTLDs -- including .com, .net and .jobs -- would be required to comply with the policy during a third phase. ICANN is seeking comment on how specialized Whois-related provisions of the .cat, .name and .tel registry agreements interact with new requirements on consistent labeling and display during the first two implementation phases. Comments on the implementation proposal are due Jan. 18, ICANN said Thursday.