Merry Christmas! Marby finally out as ICANN CEO

Göran Marby has “resigned” as the CEO of ICANN.

Chair Tripti Sinha informed staff of his departure last night, saying Marby had been working with the board “over the past few days” to ensure a “smooth transition” that will see him stay on the payroll as a consultant until May 23, 2024.

That’s the date his employment contract was due to expire anyway. There’s no word yet on whether his eye-watering salary will be reduced.

Sinha herself is a new installation, taking over after the board ousted Maarten Botterman a few months ago.

Sally Costerton, senior vice president of global stakeholder engagement, has taken over on an interim basis, while ICANN recruits a successor, but she has an added bonus of being likable and one assumes she’s a leading candidate to take over on a permanent basis.

Costerton, a British former PR professional, has been itching for the gig for over a decade, first applying after Rod Beckstrom quit in 2012 and immediately brought into the senior ranks by Fadi Chehadé, who hired both of his unsuccessful fellow short-listers.

A CEO with a background in public relations in theory is good news for ICANN transparency. The Org has been criticized for ignoring the media and other transparency obligations under its current leadership.

Marby’s achievements in his six and a half years as CEO include being the first person to persuade the board to pay him over a million dollars a year and

12 Comments Tagged: ICANN

ICANN loses another dot-brand, this one in use

Linde, a German chemicals company, has asked ICANN to terminate its gTLD registry contract.

Unusually, the dot-brand was actually in use, with many .linde domains still in its zone file, many of which were indexed by search engines.

It seems the company was using two-letter country-specific domains such as cz.linde and feature-oriented names such as socialmedia.linde to redirect to pages on linde.com or even the godawful the-linde-group.com.

But whatever Linde was trying, it didn’t live up to expectations, so .linde is set to be added to the funeral pyre of 100+ dead dot-brands.

Comment Tagged: dot-brands, ICANN, linde, termination

Abuse crackdown likely in next gTLD registrar contract

ICANN and its accredited registries and registrars have formally kicked off contract renegotiations designed to better tackle DNS abuse.

The aim is to create a “baseline obligation” for contracted parties to “take reasonable and appropriate action to mitigate or disrupt malicious registrations engaged in DNS Abuse”, according to recent correspondence.

This may close the loophole in the contracts identified this year that hinder ICANN Compliance’s ability to take action against registrars that turn a blind eye to abuse.

The current contracts require registrars to “take reasonable and prompt steps to investigate and respond appropriately to any reports of abuse”, which lacks clarity because there’s no agreement on what an appropriate response is.

The registries and registrars stakeholder groups (RySG and RrSG) note that there won’t be an expansion of the term “DNS abuse” to expand into web site content, nor will the talks cover Whois policy.

As is the norm for contract negotiations, they’ll be bilateral between ICANN and a select group of representative contracted parties, and conducted in private.

Talks are expected to take three to six months and the resulting amendments to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement and base Registry Agreement will be published for 30 days of public comment.

It’s been almost 10 years since the RAA was last updated.

Comment Tagged: abuse, contracts, ICANN, ra, raa

ICANN expects to approve Whois Disclosure System next month

ICANN could be offering a centralized system for requesting private domain registration data as early as a year from now, a mere five and a half years after GDPR ruined the global Whois system for many.

The Org recently alluded to its “board’s anticipated January 2023 vote to move forward in implementing the new system to streamline the intake and routing of requests for access to nonpublic gTLD registration data” in a blog post.

It has previously stated that it will take nine months to develop and roll out the system, along with a three-month “ramp-up period”, but that preparatory work may have already started.

The system will be based on CZDS, the service that currently allows people to request zone file data from registries, and cost $3.3 million to develop and run for its anticipated two-year trial period.

Don’t expect it to be called the Whois Disclosure System though. Community feedback has been pretty clear that “disclosure” is an inappropriate word because the system merely manages requests and does not actually disclose anything.

It’s also going to be voluntary for both requesters and registrars/registries for now.

The system was previously known as SSAD Lite, a cut-down version of the community-recommended System for Standardized Access and Disclosure, which ICANN estimated would have cost infinity dollars and take a century to implement.

Comment Tagged: gdpr, ICANN, privacy, ssad, whois, whois disclosure system

.music gets its first live web site

The .music gTLD may be still officially unlaunched, but it got its first live anchor tenant this week after the DotMusic registry joined a partnership aimed at making translated lyrics more accessible.

DotMusic said it has become part of an initiative called BELEM, for “Boosting European Lyrics and their Entrepreneurial Monetisation”. Given that the entire namespace of .music is currently available, one wonders why such a contrived acronym was chosen.

The project, which is funded with €2 million of European Union money, has a live web site managed by DotMusic at belem.music. It’s the first .music site to go live other than the mandatory nic.music registry hub.

BELEM is out to get lyrics in various European languages translated by humans and the translations licensed to streaming services.

It has 14 other partners, including Canadian lyrics licensing company LyricFind and French streaming service Deezer, which plans to roll out one-click translations based on the new service.

The aim, the group says, is to “break down cultural barriers and further support artists’ monetisation of their works”.

For DotMusic, it’s an anchor tenant perhaps more noticeable to the music industry than to the public at large.

The .music gTLD has been live in the root for over two years now, and there’s still no published launch plan.

Comment Tagged: .music, belem, deezer, dotmusic, lyricfind, new gTLDs

CentralNic buys a bunch of web sites for $5.2 million

CentralNic said yesterday has splashed out $5.2 million on what it calls “a portfolio of revenue generating niche websites”.

The announcement doesn’t specify any of the “multiple” sellers or the nature of the sites, other that to say it will add $1.2 million to the top line and $1.4 million of EBITDA in 2023.

The company was already responsible for monetizing some of the sites it has bought.

CentralNic hinted that it might be slowing down its long-running acquisition spree following the departure of 13-year veteran CEO Ben Crawford last week.

The company said “it is intended that in the future, the emphasis of cashflow generated will be a more balanced approach of returns to shareholders, deleverage and complementary bolt-on acquisitions.”

The newly announced deal was presumably in the advanced stages of closure at the time of Crawford’s departure.

Comment Tagged: acquisition, centralnic

Industry outlook gloomy for next year, predicts ICANN

ICANN is forecasting a downturn of the domain industry’s fortunes over the coming year according to its draft fiscal 2024 budget, published today.

The Org’s beancounters are budgeting for slumps in both legacy and new gTLD transactions, along with declines in the number of contracted registries and registrars.

Global economic conditions, such as the post-Covid recessions and high inflation being experienced by many nations, are blamed for the poor outlook.

Overall, ICANN expects to have a couple million bucks less to play with in FY24, which runs from July 2023 to June 2024.

It’s planning to receive $145.3 million, down from the $147.7 million it expects to receive in the current fiscal year, which is only half-way through.

Most of ICANN’s money comes from transaction fees on legacy gTLDs — mainly Verisign’s .com — and that’s where it’s predicting a 1% decline, from $88.3 million to $87.1 million, or 185.8 million transactions compared to 187.9 million.

ICANN receives transaction fees on every domain added, renewed or transferred between registrars.

Verisign has been lowering its financial outlook all year, as .com shrinks. Fewer .com renewals means less money for ICANN.

ICANN also thinks new gTLD sales are going down, from 25.7 transactions in the current year to 24.2 million in FY24, taking about $600,000 from ICANN’s top line.

The number of contracted registries is also predicted to decline by 19, from 1,146 to 1,127 by the end of the year, while the number of registrars is expected to increase from 2,447 to 2,452.

Other funding sources, such as ccTLD contributions and sponsorships, are expected to remain unchanged.

The draft budget is open for public comment and could well change before it is finally approved, which usually comes in May or June.

Comment Tagged: budget, ICANN

Content police? ICANN mulls bylaws change

ICANN could change its bylaws to allow it to police internet content to an extent, it emerged this week with the publication of the Operational Design Assessment for the next stage of the new gTLD program.

Currently, ICANN’s bylaws state that the Org may not “regulate (i.e., impose rules and restrictions on) services that use the Internet’s unique identifiers or the content that such services carry or provide”, and it’s been adamant that it is not the “content police”.

But the community has recommended that future new gTLD applicants should be able to agree to so-called Registry Voluntary Commitments, statements of registry policy that ICANN would be able to enforce via contract.

RVCs would be much like the Public Interest Commitments many registries agree to in the 2012 application round, implemented before ICANN’s current bylaws were in effect.

As an example I’ve used before, Vox Populi Registry has PICs that ban cyberbullying and porn in its .sucks gTLD, and in theory could lose its contract if it breaks that rule by allowing .sucks sites to host porn (like this NSFW one, for example).

ICANN’s board of directors expressed concern two years ago that its bylaws may prevent it from approving the RVC recommendation.

But Org staff have now raised, in writing and on a webinar today, the prospect that the board could change the bylaws to permit RVCs to go ahead. The ODA published on Monday states:

The Board may wish to consider how and whether it can accept the recommendations related to PICs and RVCs. One option may be to amend the Bylaws with a narrowly tailored amendment to ensure that there are no ambiguities around ICANN’s ability to agree to and enforce PICs and RVCs as envisioned

How worrying this could be would depend on the wording, of course, but even the chance of ICANN meddling in content is usually enough to raise eyebrows at the likes of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, not to mention supporters of blockchain alt-roots, many of whom seem to think ICANN is already censoring the internet.

It’s not clear whether the change is something the board is actively considering, or just an idea being floated by staff.

2 Comments Tagged: censorship, ICANN, new gTLDs, oda, pics, rvcs, sucks

ICANN bloat to continue as new gTLD program begins

ICANN expects to hire so many new staffers over the next few years that it’ll need to rent a second office in Los Angeles to store them all in, according to a newly published new gTLD program planning document.

We’re looking at about 100 more people on the payroll, about 25% above the current level, judging by ICANN figures.

The Org said in the Operational Design Assessment published last night that the next new gTLD round will need it to hire another 25 to 30 dedicated staff during implementation of the program, along with 10 to 15 contractors, and then an additional 50 to 60 permanent staff to help manage the program going forward.

The number could be even higher if the board of directors and community encourage ICANN to speed up the roll-out of the round by reducing automation and relying more on the manual processing of applications.

The ODA says that ICANN has already identified an option to lease more office space close to its LA headquarters, to house the newcomers.

The budget for ICANN’s current fiscal year expects the Org to average 423 operational staff and another 25 employees dedicated to the new gTLD program.

ICANN reckons that the next round will require 125 full-time equivalents (FTE) during the implementation phase, reduced to 114 after the application phase kicks off.

For comparison, in May 2012, shortly after ICANN closed the application window for the last round, the whole organization comprised just 143 people. A year later, it had grown to 239.

The ODA does not break down how many additional staffers it will need to hire if the community plumps for the low-automation “Option 2”.

Comment Tagged: ICANN, new gTLDs, oda, subpro

ICANN spunks a year, $9 million, on new gTLD plans destined for trashcan

ICANN has published the Operational Design Assessment for the next round of the new gTLD program, a weighty tome of 400 pages, most of which are likely destined to be torn up, burned, or used as toilet paper.

The ODA is the document, prepared by staff for board consideration, that lays out how the Org could implement the community’s policy recommendations for the next application round, how much it would cost, and how long it would take.

As I wrote last week, the paper outlines two options, the more expensive of which would take five years and cost $125 million before a single application fee is collected.

This option “reflects the goal of delivering on all outputs of the SubPro Final Report [the community’s 300-odd policy recommendations] to the maximum extent possible”.

This would see the clock ticking the moment ICANN gets the board’s nod and begins the implementation work — best case scenario, probably the first half of next year — and the first applications accepted at least five years later.

So, no new gTLD applications would be received until the first half of 2028 at the earliest. The first registry go-live would not happen until the 2030s, three decades after the first application window closed.

The second option, which was discussed on a webinar last week, would take about 18 months to roll out and cost half as much in up-front costs, but would not necessarily give the community every last thing it has asked for.

In this scenario, the next application window could open as early as 2025, followed by windows in 2026, 2027 and 2028. There’d be no per-window limit on applications, but ICANN would only start to process 450 each year, with the lucky applications selected by lottery.

What’s surprising about the ODA is how little airtime is given to the second option — known as the “cyclical” or “batching” option — which doesn’t really get a serious look-in until page 354.

The large majority of the document is devoted to the single-round, long-runway, more-expensive option, which Org surely knows will prove repellent to most community members and would, if approved, surely confirm that ICANN is mortally unfit for purpose.

Yet ICANN has nevertheless spunked over a year and $9 million of domain buyers’ money assessing an operational design it surely knows has no chance of ever going operational. It’s pure, maddening, bureaucratic wheel-spinning.

ICANN will hold two webinars tomorrow to discuss the document, so if you’re interested in the debate, best settle in for a night of tedious and rather frustrating reading.

The ODA itself is here (pdf).

Comment Tagged: gnso, ICANN, new gTLDs, oda, subpro