IoN (Internet of Names), Issue #2

Issue #2

ICANN LOS ANGELES

OCTOBER 2014

this issueq INDUSTRY NEWS 4q WHO WILL WIN .MOVIE? 14q ICANN ACCOUNTABILITY 22q HUMOR 26

latest industry newslip-smacking food reviewsconference overviewICANN accountabilityinterviews

Who will win .movie?

news analysis opinion restaurant guide interviews events humor cartoons

featured04 News in brief11 Conference guide14 Main feature19 Food guide22 Industry spotlight

regular From the editor 07 Opinion 08 Q&A 10 Vox pop 17 Q&A 25 Humor 26

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An idea to repurpose two unused ccTLDs to create “privacy friendly” areas of the Internet has created some controversy in Norway. Håkon Wium Lie (pictured), who is CTO of browser company Opera proposed that the dot-sj (Svalbard ) and dot-bv (Bouvet Island) domains be used specifically for “safe harbour” web services with any domain owners being required to sign a contract that they would abide by strict privacy and security rules, including storing all their data within Norway and so protected under Norwegian law. The idea has been met with both praise and criticism. The Norwegian government is opposed.

New Zealand has opened up its dot-nz namespace at the second level. Existing domain owners will have six months to register or reserve their shorter dot-nz version before it is made available publicly. Conflicts with multiple third-level domain owners have been provided with an online tool where they can register their preference for who should get the shorter

name. The decision to open up the second level has been a lengthy one but has not been mired in the same controversy as a similar decision by dot-uk registry Nominet earlier this year. Nominet pushed through its proposal despite widespread criticism and its CEO stepped down soon after the policy was approved.

Equatorial Guinea is following in the footsteps of Tokelau’s dot-tk registry and offering its dot-gq domains for free from 1 December. A sunrise period for trademark holders opened on 1 October. The decision will “empower Internet users and build an online identity” for Equatorial Guinea, according to operator Freenom. Freenom operates the same service for Tokelau as well as Gabon (dot-ga) and Mali (dot-ml).

Verisign has proposed the creation of a standards setting body for the domain name industry. The dot-com registry operator foresees that the “Registration Operations Association” will work outside current standards bodies and bring registries and registrars together to “consolidate and simplify”

their current technical interfaces. A launch event is planned at the ICANN Los Angeles meeting. A website is already up at regiops.net.

ICANN ran its first batch of gTLD auctions, raising over $14 million from just three top-level domains: dot-buy, dot-tech and dot-vip. The average price of $4.8 million is more than double the average $1.9m price paid in recent auctions taking place outside of ICANN’s “last resort” auction process. A further six monthly auctions are planned featuring over 100 extensions. ICANN has not provided details for what it intends to do with the funds it receives through the process.

Tables turnedIn an unusual turn of events, a company was forced to pay $25,000 to the owner of a domain name it actually won through the UDRP process. After Austin Pain Associates was granted ownership of AustinPain.com, in a decision that news site DomainNameWire dubbed “highly questionable”, the original owner, HugeDomains, sued them in federal court for making “misleading statements”. The case was settled for $25,000 and Austin Pain Associates subsequently bought the domain it had won for an undisclosed sum.

Apple has introduced full resolvability of new top-level domains in the latest version of its mobile

iOS operating systems. iOS 8 was announced at the same time as its new iPhone 6 phones last month and but will also run on older iPhones and iPads. Previously the phone’s in-built browser had to be forced to resolve new TLDs by inserting the prefix ‘http://’. The latest version automatically recognizes all extensions in the global root zone file.

The Anti-Phishing Working Group released its report into the first half of 2014, noting that the introduction of new top-level domains had not impacted the level of fraudulent activity through fake websites. That said, phishing is greater than it has ever been, despite a faster response and takedown. Chinese phishers are the worst offenders accounting for 85 percent of all fake websites and Apple is the most targeted brand name.

ICANN released an approximate timeline for the next round of new gTLDs highlighting the different reports and analysis it is required to carry out before reopening applications. Theoretically, it will be possible to apply for more top-level domains in 2016, but realistically it won’t be until late 2017 or sometime in 2018.

The uptake of new gTLD domains has “fallen short of industry expectations” according to CentralNic, which went public last year. Its interim results report noted that delays to the

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5ION MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2014

program has impacted the domain industry but chairman John Swingewood remained bullish, stating that he believed a growth in demand was on its way and the company was well positioned to take advantage of it.

Feeling buzzedBill Doshier found a whole new market sector that he wasn’t expecting shortly after the launch of his dot-buzz registry. A number of “cannabis-themed” registrations began appearing in his zone file. “I realized quickly this is a serious business supported by a passionate, Internet savvy community,” Doshier told DomainNameWire. With marijuana legal in an increasing number of US states, he intends to make the most of his unexpected customers by marketing his domains directly to the burgeoning cannabis industry.

The Internet Governance Forum has announced its next annual event will be held in João Pessoa, Brazil on 10-13 November 2015. The IGF is also currently asking for nominations for its main advisory group, contributions to sum up the meeting in Istanbul last month, and registrations for its first 2015 conference

preparatory meeting to be held in Geneva on 1-3 December.

Russia is developing plans to impose state control of the country’s Internet in the event of an emergency. According to business daily Vedomosti, the Security Council will meet to discuss the findings of a report that concluded Russia was vulnerable to attack. Measures under consideration include the ability to block all IP addresses originating from outside Russia, and compelling Russian ISPs to install equipment that would enable Russia to be disconnected from the global Internet.

ICANN is facing more criticism over its handling of a review into its own accountability. A letter signed by all the heads of its different member groups complained that a process plan put forward by staff came out of the blue and that “substantial questions and concerns remain unanswered, including around the process to date and the plan as constructed”. ICANN responded by putting the plan out to public comment.

US Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling and Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda have warned that the upcoming ITU Plenipotentiary may

be used to increase government control of the Internet. Strickling told The Media Institute in Washington DC that the US government will “offer a strong rebuttal to proposals to give governments control over the Internet” as well as push the multistakeholder model. Sepulveda warned in a blog post that “there are some who want to manipulate or change the mandate of the ITU in ways that would purport to give governments the sole authority over the Internet’s content”. He vowed to fight them. So far there are no actual proposals for increased government control over the Internet for the ITU conference.

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Los Angeles is a unique place. Love it or hate it - and there are very few people who sit in the middle - the one thing you can’t escape about the city is that business rules. And in LA,

that business is entertainment. From the countless billboards for new

movies and TV shows, to the enormous array of places to see and be seen, to the legions of sign-spinners, to the fact that every hotdog stand, burger joint or taqueria will reliably inform you that it is the best - sometimes just in Los Angeles, often in the United States, occasionally in the entire world.

You think big in Los Angeles. Your waiter is poised to become the next Brad Pitt, each street musician knows a record contract is one passer-by away. In every trendy bar and fancy hotel - and there are many - deals are struck, most revolving around the movie industry that has become synonymous with one of LA’s neighborhoods: Hollywood.

It is fitting then that ICANN is coming to Los Angeles - also home to its headquarters - just as the domain business is booming. At the last ICANN meeting in London there were 200 new top-level domains; now there are over 400. There were 750,000 new domains; now

there are 2.5 million. And we are just entering the big time: auctions for domains that equate directly to huge global businesses.

Since we’re in Los Angeles, we decided our cover feature would look at one of the biggest potential new gTLDs. The fight for dot-movie pitches all the biggest gTLD companies against one another and looks like a sure-fire winner in an increasingly crowded market. Dot-movie could well become the poster child of this new domain business.

As for ICANN, the big issue is not business but business as usual. Plans to hand over control of the critical IANA contract are intricately tied in with the need to finally fix its accountability problems. The signs are not good. Not once but twice the entire community has rebuked the organization’s staff for exhibiting exactly the behavior that led to the accountability gap in the first place. We delve into the problem of getting ICANN to live up to its promise of acting in the Internet community’s best interests.

And then of course we have all the latest news and views of the domain industry. As well as some hidden humor. And let’s not forget our guides for where to eat and what to do while you’re in the City of Angels. Enjoy!

Kieren McCarthyEditor, IoN Magazine

It’s all about business (as usual)

from the editorPUBLISHER DotAsia

EDITORIAL Editor: Kieren McCarthy Email: [email protected]

CONTRIBUTORSEmily Taylor

ADVERTISING AND SALES Leona Chen-Birkner Email: [email protected]

ACCOUNT MANAGER Jennifer Chung Email: [email protected]

DESIGN CSP Creative Kieren McCarthy

ILLUSTRATIONS Patrick Taylor

IMAGES BigStockPhotoKieren McCarthy

GENERAL ENQUIRIES DotAsia 12/F, Daily House35-37 Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Email: [email protected] Website: www.ionmag.asia

TWITTER @ion_mag

COPYRIGHTAll material appearing in IoN magazine is copyright unless otherwise stated or it may rest with the provider of the supplied material. IoN takes all care to ensure information is correct at time of printing, but the publisher accepts no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of any information contained in the text or advertisements. Views expressed are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher or editor.

Internet of Names


The Whois - a distributed database containing contact details and technical information about every registered domain name - is due for a makeover. ICANN asked a group of experts to lay out a vision for a registration data service fit for the 21st century. The result is scary.

It’s a useful thought experiment. The Whois - a distributed database that has remained largely unchanged for decades. What would you do if you could start from scratch? If you didn’t have to worry about integration, legacy, incremental improvement, and could just wave a wand to change the whole thing?

What the ICANN experts would do is design a centralised database, containing validated contact details, accessed by accredited users. There would be new types of contacts - legal, abuse, and business - as well as the old ones. Key data, such as the registrant’s name and address would be “gated”, i.e. not visible to the public, and revealed to pre-accredited users for legitimate purposes. Users of the data will be held accountable. Privacy and Proxy providers would be accredited. At-risk individuals or organisations will have a separate system to ensure credentials are kept secure, attested by trusted third parties, and overseen by an independent review board.

There’s a lot to praise in the report: good analysis of the reasons for accessing Whois data, and acknowledgement some users have a legitimate expectation of privacy. But the Expert Working Group (EWG) appears politically naive in proposing a centralised data repository for all gTLD registration data just a year after revelations of mass surveillance. That’s just the start. Here are a further 11 reasons why this is a bad proposal.

n Cost of set up: The EWG proposes a costly, complex and confusing replacement of today’s Whois. There will be at least 10 new types of actors (including Validators, Accreditors, Secure Credentials Providers, the centralised database itself), all of which will need paying for.

n Cost to industry: No consideration is given to the cost to the ecosystem of transition. The proposals require a contact-based data structure. While some have this, others do not, and implementing a database refactor is non-trivial in terms of cost or effort. One estimate for a medium sized database is over $100,000.

n Complexity: Good policy should be clear, concise and well-communicated. The EWG report is 166 pages long, contains 180 difficult-to-understand policy

recommendations and a number of internal contradictions.n Wrong assumptions: The report provides scant

evidence for its claims. It assumes “more validation” means “better data quality”. It assumes proxy data is more accurate than regular Whois data - where’s the evidence? There’s little or no reference to the evidence-based studies ICANN has commissioned in the last few years. It assumes registrants will have a lawyer who agrees to permanently act as an address for service - I haven’t met one yet.

n Poor transparency: The EWG has been accused of “suppressing” a dissenting opinion from one of its members, and has failed to analyse unfavourable survey responses in its final report.

n Privacy: That dissenting opinion from the group’s privacy expert says that the proposed solution will actually reduce privacy. One example is new contact fields, like legal contact, will default to registrant’s name and address and appear publicly.

n Impractical: The EWG proposes a technical engine that will apply national or regional data protection laws on a case by case basis. Assuming that anyone could find two lawyers who agree with one another enough to encode “the law”, the whole idea is impractical and costly.

n Data access: Law enforcement is concerned less data will be available than before and the system failed to account for the actions of bad actors.

n Creating a centralised body that’s “too big to fail”: The EWG consider (briefly) the technical risks of having a single organisation run the centralised database, but doesn’t mention the risks of organisational failure. When an organisation is too big to fail, external constraints on its behaviour are usually ineffective.

n Lack of joined up thinking: While ICANN and other I* star organisations are lobbying against data localization, the EWG mandates it; while ICANN has been issuing data retention waivers to registrars to comply with EU law, the EWG mandates retention of historic Whois data forever.

n Reverse queries/Whowas: Two new services that are disproportionate and intrusive to individual privacy, will be enormously expensive, and of dubious legality.

11 Reasons to say No to the latest Whois plan

Emily Taylor is an author and expert in Internet Governance, Law and Technology, and a sought-after moderator and public speaker.


Q>There’s a report that just came out from the United

Nations on IDNs that said they were heavily localized and closely coupled to regions where that language was spoken. Has that been your experience with your IDNs?

A<Yes, I would agree with that. The value of Chinese IDNs

is throughout the entire Chinese-speaking world. We’ve seen a 50-50 split on domains registered on the Chinese mainland and those outside of China. There are satellites around the mainland like Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but then you have Chinatowns in every part of the world. We see our IDNs as being of service to Chinese language groups all over the world - and that’s what we’ve seen in our registrations. We’ve sold 53,000 so far in the four months they’ve been available.

Q>Can you explain why you chose the Chinese characters

for “chinese online” and “chinese website” rather than straight words?

A<It’s because that reflects what Chinese users actually type

into their browsers. If for example Chinese users search for “Nissan”, they’ll be directed to the Japanese version or the English version. So they have become adept at typing the phrase “Nissan Chinese language website” into Baidu. And that phrase is our TLD. It is an easy way for non-Chinese companies to be found online.

As for “online”, that’s the most commonly used term for Chinese users when they are searching for an online product or service. Because of the size of the Chinese Internet, it is

Q>A Arto Isokoski is CEO of TLD Registry, operator of two new gTLD IDNs in Chinese, .在线 (Chinese Online) and .中文网 (Chinese website). He talked with us about the Chinese domain market.

so much harder to find online services than through, say, Google and the English language. “Online” adds really valuable context.

Q>In English, shorter domains are more valuable. How does

that work with the Chinese language?

A<Chinese is already an incredibly compact language so we’re

not all that worried about whether IDNs are short in the same way you are when you have English words with multiple letters. The big difference is in how domains are typed into a browser. The fastest way is to talk into a phone. Chinese voice recognition is incredibly accurate, far more accurate than English. More than 70 percent of Chinese Internet users use a mobile device for at least part of their interaction with the Web.

The Western way of using a Qwerty keyboard - especially on a tiny mobile

Q>Universal acceptance is a hot topic in the non-English world,

why is it so important to Chinese Internet users?

A<The greatest growth area for new Internet users are those

coming from rural areas, who are comparatively poor so not everyone has a PC. Or they may have an old one that everyone shares. And they don’t speak a word of English. Somewhere today there is a Mr Wong looking at the Internet for the first time in his life - and he looks down at his Qwerty keyboard and has no idea how to do anything. He has spoken and written Chinese all his life, he’s

proud to be Chinese, so why can’t he type in Chinese? This is why universal acceptance is so important. This is the digital divide.

device - drives Chinese people insane. What our domains do is remove the need to use that Qwerty keyboard.

Q>IDNs are increasing but given the number of

people online in China why isn’t its takeup and usage much, much larger?

A<These are the earliest days of IDNs in China. There has been

the Chinese word for “China” online since, 2004 I believe, but when Chinese IDNs were first released, you needed special browser plugins and they were awful, they didn’t work. So Internet users quickly tired of buggy software and the average user, if you ask him about Chinese IDNs, will probably tell you they don’t work. Those issues have long since been resolved but many users have a bad memory of things not working so we have been working hard on letting people know that these domains now work.


inside12 Venue12 Los Angeles13 Session Guide16 Meeting issues17 Vox Pop19 Food


Venue: Hyatt Regency Century PlazaBuilt on an old movie lot and guest to every US president since Johnson, the conference venue for ICANN 51 has a history as rich and colorful as the entertainment industry whose HQs are situated nearby.

The hotel is located in part of what used to be the backlot of movie studio 20th Century Fox, which was sold off for just $43 million in 1960 to cover the burgeoning costs of its Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton blockbuster Cleopatra. It was originally to be an Arabian Nights themed hotel with gondolas and colored water spouts but taste ultimately prevailed.

The sleek new Century Plaza Hotel quickly became one of the most coveted venues on the West Coast, with President Lyndon Johnson using it to host his President’s Ball in 1967. Its reputation was cemented two years later when the main ballroom was used to host the so-called “Dinner of the Century” to celebrate Neil

Armstrong and his fellow astronauts’ successful mission to the moon.

Ronald Reagan was a huge fan of the hotel, staying in it so frequently that he dubbed it the “Western White House”. Every US president since has stayed or been hosted in the hotel.

Although those glory days are behind it, the hotel remains a landmark and a popular destination. It is well-designed, grand and ideally located to reach all parts of Los Angeles with minimal fuss

(discounting the traffic of course). It even retains some of its

rich movie history: a number of entertainment industry headquarters are based nearby and when we visited the poolside was closed off for a movie shoot.

So while you are wandering around the halls of the Century Plaza take a second to consider the many powerful and famous people that have stood there in the same spot as you. It could almost be a movie.

Ronald Reagan celebrates his re-election in the main conference room. © Reagan Presidential Library.

Navigating Los AngelesLos Angeles is one of those places where you will know some of its neighborhoods even if you have never visited the city: Hollywood; Beverly Hills; Santa Monica; Venice.

Each is worth visiting but beware: to get from one to another you will need to deal with freeways and traffic. Welcome to the City of Angels!

No one walks in Los Angeles. It may be a cliché but it’s true. The only place pedestrians are welcome is in shopping malls. If you don’t have a car, you need to get a cab.

Until recently it was actually illegal to flag down a taxi. It is now legal but remains largely impractical. To catch one, head to the nearest hotel or tourist attraction, or use one of the new wave of services/apps such as Lyft, Flywheel or Uber.

Public transport? If you are lucky enough to be near one of the underground Metro stations, and want to end up near one of the other stations, don’t pass up the opportunity. Otherwise your only other option is buses which are less frequent and more unpleasant than you would expect. In short, get a cab.

Getting to and from the airport means taking the dreaded 405. Every

Angelino will tell you horror stories about the 405 freeway. To give you a sense: when one part of it was closed for two days for renovation, it rapidly became known as “Carmaggedon”.

If you need to travel during rush hour - which in LA last for three to four hours (7-9.30am; 3-7pm), be prepared to double your travel time. From LAX to the conference venue, that means 25-50 minutes.

Century City - where the conference will be held - doesn’t contain much. But the closest neighborhood is Beverly Hills (about a 5-10 minute drive away) which has some great shopping. That road then continues to LA’s most famous spot: Hollywood. It will take from 20-40 minutes from the venue depending on traffic.

Other good spots are Downtown and the “beach cities’ of Santa Monica and Venice. All are 30-60 minutes from the venue.

Los Angeles. Home of freeways and traffic jams

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Session GuideWith 150 sessions in seven days, an ICANN meeting can be overwhelming. Here’s our guide for what to catch:

Sat 11 October5.30pm: GAC Meeting on IANA and ICANN Accountability (Plaza Pavilion). This session will identify the topics of most concern to governments over the IANA transition and the related changes people want to see in ICANN before it is handed control. Likely to set the tone for the rest of the week.

Sun 12 October3pm: GAC/GNSO joint meeting (Plaza Pavilion). The two powerhouses of the ICANN community will meet to discuss… yes, the IANA transition and ICANN’s accountability issues.

Mon 13 October8.30am: Welcome Ceremony (Los Angeles). The official start of the conference. Expect speeches and a rundown by the CEO of what the organization has been up to since the last meeting and what will happen this meeting. Arrive early to get a good seat, or just watch online.

10.30am: SO/AC-Led High Interest Topic Session (Los Angeles). A revamp session from a few years ago where the leaders of different groups outline their thoughts on the main topics of the meeting. Designed to encourage discussion and broad understanding early on. Should be good.

2pm: All Things Whois (Los Angeles). The age-old policy problem is about to blow up again following the suggestion that the entire system be revamped using a centralized database. Expect disagreement.

Tue 14 October8.30am-4.45pm: Board meeting with SOs/ACs (Los Angeles). Scheduled one after the other, ICANN’s Supporting Organizations and Advisory

Committees discuss the topics of most importance to them with the ICANN Board. Great for getting an idea of what is on everyone’s minds.

Wed 15 October8.30am: Contractual Compliance Program Updates (Westwood). Dull but important. ICANN’s ability to enforce the contracts it signs has been the source of complaints for years. This session is an opportunity to question those involved directly.

10.30am: BWG NomCom Report (Santa Monica). Potential fireworks. The Nominating Committee selects Board members and other leaders in ICANN and as a result is a hotbed of political intrigue. A new report proposes changes to make it function better. Not everyone will agree with them.

1.30pm: Rights Protection Mechanisms: User Feedback (Beverly Hills). After a raft of new measures were introduced to protect trademark

rights in new domains, this session will ask for feedback from those impacted over how they have worked. Could be interesting.

Thu 16 October8.30am: Enhanced ICANN Accountability (Los Angeles). The summation of many different sessions over the week on this one topic. In many ways, this session will sum up how well the overall meeting has gone. If things have gone well, expect some thoughtful debate; if not, expect argument and defensiveness. Either way, this will be the key session of the conference.

1.30pm: Public Forum (Los Angeles). The big public session where anyone can raise issues they have in front of the whole community. Rarely dull.

5.15pm: Board meeting (Los Angeles)

Go to http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule-full for the full schedule.

Hot topic: IANAThis issue goes hand-in-hand with accountability - despite ICANN management’s best efforts to separate the two.

At the moment it appears a foregone conclusion that ICANN will take over the critical IANA contract in October 2015. But there are plenty of things to be decided before that happens.

The shift in the IANA contract is one of the truly important Internet governance topics in a subject area that constantly over-estimates its relevance to the global communications network.

It is going to be a painful and complicated process filled with difficult compromises and messy formulations but that will not make it any less important to the Internet’s future health.

Hot topic: AccountabilityThere are no less than six sessions on ICANN and accountability; many more where accountability is a main agenda topic.

Most are also “cross community”: the GAC with the Board; the GAC and GNSO; a cross-community working group; and a full community session on the last day.

Out of all this, the ICANN community hopes to arrive at some concrete changes that will resolve some of the decade-long problems that surround how and why ICANN makes decisions.

So far at least ICANN’s staff has proven to be very resistant to such efforts. This meeting will see how far the staff is willing to push its vision of what accountability looks like, and how far the community is prepared to push back.

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Next month, the biggest names in the Internet will fight for control of the future of movie websites. We take a look a who we think will win.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that of all the hundreds of new Internet extensions, dot-movie is likely to prove a big commercial success.

Of the top five grossing movies of the year so far, which have brought in more than $1.3 billion, not one has a good domain name. You will find Guardians of the Galaxy ($319m and counting) at http://marvel.com/guardians and Transformers: Age of Extinction ($245m) at http://transformersmovie.com. Would they rather be marketing guardians.movie and transformers.movie? You can

pretty much bet on it.

Dot-movie domains can command a healthy premium: when even

a modestly sized movie has

a marketing budget of $1 million, it’s hard to imagine that a $100 or even $1,000 domain is going to be a hard sell.

More than 6,000 new films are produced every year: around 500 in the United States and 1,500 in India. The Internet Movie Database lists more than 250,000 different films. And that’s just the names. There are more than 6,000 video production companies in the US, and around 60,000 worldwide.

Then of course there are the legions of fans - you can pretty much guarantee that even the most obscure Star Wars reference (nalancheel.movie, anyone?) will be snapped up. Domainers will arrive in the hope of a big future payoff when Universal Studios releases TrafficTree in 2018 and finds it doesn’t have the name.

And then there are the retailers, bloggers, merchandisers…

All of which of course leads us to the big question: who will win

dot-movie?

Eight companies originally applied for the name “movie”; three have since dropped out. But among those still vying for it - all of whom look certain to face each other in an auction on 19 November - are the three biggest and most well funded applicants in the entire process. Two are household names: Google and Amazon. The third is Donuts, which applied for no less than 307 different names and raised

$100m to win them.

The other two bidders should not be ruled out however: dot Movie Limited is owned by Famous Four Media, which applied for 60 names and is backed by Domain Venture Partners, which raised $46m. ARI Registry Services is the longshot. Its main focus is back-end services for new registries but it may not have the large sums of capital necessary for a bidding war - which is what dot-movie is likely to be. So, just how much is the dot-movie registry really worth?

From the auctions that have taken place so far for new gTLDs, the average private auction price has been $1.5m, and the average ICANN auction system has been $5m.

Who will win dot-movie?


These figures appear to account for the fact that while new top-level domain launches in the past could expect to see 300,000 or more sales, the release of large number of new registries has brought the average launch size down to around 10,000 domains (albeit with the price of a domain now between five to ten times larger). The most successful new gTLD launches are hitting 100,000 domains.

Auctions so far are valuing registries

at roughly $100 per expected domain. With the average sale price around $50, a good rule of thumb is to double the domain sale price and multiply it by the number of expected sales.

We can expect dot-movie to be at or near the top of the new gTLD launches both in terms of size and in price. And so, the dot-movie registry, we estimate, is worth around $20m, which effectively puts it out of the range of anyone but the big three: Amazon, Google and Donuts.

Of course there are a whole range of other factors that will enter into the equation. Amazon, for example, is investing heavily in its video service and wants to compete with Netflix in the streaming market, as well as sell DVDs and related movie items through its online store. Control of the dot-movie registry may also provide it with a strategic weapon in negotiations with film companies (Amazon is not shy in using pressure

tactics, as its dispute with bookseller Hachette makes all too clear.) In

that sense, if Amazon has decided dot-movie is

of strategic value, there is almost no

sum it wouldn’t be prepared to pay.

Google on the other hand is known for its willingness to use its vast resources to secure what it thinks might be a good idea. With billions of people constantly searching for information on movies, as well as local screen times, a dot-movie registry could be a big boost to the online giant. So far, however Google has been focused on winning more technical names, for example paying off Microsoft to acquire the dot-docs top-level domain.

Meanwhile, Donuts is looking for a few big wins in its huge gTLD spread-bet and dot-movie might represent exactly that. Out of its 307 applications, 149 of them were uncontested so it has money in the bank. It has also shown a willingness to outbid others when it wants a specific domain. The list of names Donuts decided to apply for was developed by studying reams of search data for the most popular terms and you can bet that the word “movie” featured highly. Donuts will want dot-movie and may be willing to bet the house on it.

Previous auctionsWith so many applications between them, this is not the first time the Big Three have found themselves

going for the same name, so it’s

worthwhile looking at how they have handled previous conflicts.

Amazon outbid three of the four

companies going for dot-movie in the recent auction for dot-buy, eventually paying $4.6 million for it. Clearly, dot-buy is a good get for Amazon as an online retailer.

What is more telling is a set of deals Google and Amazon made between themselves back in July, with Google taking dot-play, dot-dev and dot-drive and Amazon walking away with dot-talk and dot-you. Soon after, Google withdrew from its dot-book application, suggesting a deal between the giants. It also suggests that both companies are focused on getting the names most closely aligned with their current businesses

and are willing to let other names go (as opposed to outbidding everyone because they can afford to).

One other interesting auction was for dot-video - which Donuts eventually won despite Amazon also applying for the name.

So, with Google in charge of dot-play (the name of its music and video service), and Donuts owning the rights to dot-video, you could be forgiven for thinking Amazon has set its sights on the dot-movie name.

If it does outbid the others and secure the rights to dot-movie - and that would be our bet - it may just be the start of a controversy. Amazon previously said it would run dot-movie as a closed registry. In other words, you would have to get Amazon’s permission before being allowed to register a dot-movie domain.

This approach already earned Amazon a formal rebuke from the Government of Australia but it appears ready to push on regardless. If Amazon does win dot-movie, you’d better hope its first phone call is to the Motion Picture Association of America.

‘‘The dot-movie registry, we estimate, is worth around $20m’’


We’re back in ICANN’s home town for the first time in seven years. Back in 2007, the talk was about new gTLDs, Whois, and ICANN’s accountability. Hang on...

to fix the issues that have surrounded ICANN for a decade and yet never been adequately resolved? Perhaps more importantly - why have none of the past efforts worked?

A big topic of conversation is expected to be the increased power that governments would have if ICANN agreed that two-thirds of its Board would have to disagree with a formal GAC decision for it to be rejected. Currently only half have to disagree.

And the longest policy debate in ICANN’s history - Whois - is due to reanimated with the release of a final report that argues for an overhaul of the current system and - controversially - the creation of a single global database for everyone’s personal registration details.

Let’s hope some progress is made so we don’t find ourselves discussing these same topics in 2021. n

A lot has happened since ICANN last met in its home town. Back in October 2007, the organization

had just over 100 staff to the 300 it now boasts. It has moved headquarters, and opened several new offices across the world. It finally launched new generic top-level domains - and has seen its budget explode as a result. It has a new CEO, chairman, and, save two members, an entirely new Board.

And yet as all those that have an interest in the Internet domain name system fly into Los Angeles, the issues that they will be discussing remain surprisingly familiar.

In 2007, US Commerce Secretary John Kneuer addressed the opening ceremony and asked what changes needed to be made in light of the possible ending of the US government’s agreement with ICANN.

CEO Paul Twomey spent some time talking about the accountability and transparency changes that ICANN was making in response to community criticism. The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) argued that it needed to be more closely listened to in ICANN’s policy making. And the GNSO was reviewing ways to improve the Whois domain owner database.

Those same four topics will likely lead discussions this time around.

The IANA transition. It looks like it will happen this time and the group to decide that is finally being formed. Tied closely with that is the question of accountability - what can be done

ICANN Los Angeles


Jothan Frakes, Co-Founder of NamesCon.Vegas

Simon Cousins, CMO at TLD Registry

‘‘Focus on the ‘Emotional Infrastructure’ of the TLDs they operate. Don’t just market them to registrants. Inspire and help drive natural, organic adoption and use.”

What should be the number one priority for new domain registries?vox pop

‘New registries can speed their market acceptance by encapsulating their offer to

end-users in a consistent, attractive, credible brand identity

and marketing kit.”

Emily Taylor, author and Internet governance expert

“Keep it simple, and standard. Don’t mess with tons of premium

and reserved names. Nurture your channel to market, and keep

your prices low.”



It’s probably the more frequently asked question at any conference: do you know a good place to eat? Fortunately we do.

We’ve already visited the venue, toured the neighborhood and tried out the options do you don’t have to. And here’s what we found...

Breakfast

BreezeWHAT Californian/BuffetWHERE Hyatt RegencyCOST $$The venue restaurant on the ground level in the far left (as you come in) of the hotel. Standard breakfast venue for a good hotel. You can have a buffet or order à la carte. Everything is offered from pancakes to cereal to a breakfast burrito. There are some nice seating options (booths, outside) and service is good but you are unlikely to be writing home about it.

StarbucksWHAT Pastries, coffeeWHERE Hotel lobbyCOST $The mini-Starbucks just to the right of the hobby lobby (as you come in) offers pretty much what you would expect: pastries, coffee options, fresh fruit, a small number of seats and a queue. What you lose in comfort and options, you gain in convenience.

Lunch Your options are definitely limited within the hotel but just across the street is an open-air shopping mall with no less than 10 eating venues.

All the best options are helpfully clumped together on the opposite side from the venue. Unless you want to zig-zag through the mall, your best bet is take a left out the hotel, walk down to street to the main road (Santa Monica Boulevard) and take a left along the side of the complex.

Halfway along, you will find steps leading to all the best lunch options in the area.

The CounterWHAT Burger and friesCOST £If it’s a burger you’re looking for, The Counter is the best place to get it. You get to build your own from a dizzying array of options and will most likely have to give up on the idea of actually eating it with your hands, but the food is good and the ingredients are fresh.

The sweet potato french fries are definitely worth trying (if you have room) and the milkshakes are great. It is also probably your fastest option at lunchtime so if you are a little rushed but desperate to get out into the California sunshine for a little bit, this is probably the place for you.

food19


Pink TacoWHAT MexicanCOST $$A funky restaurant adored with Californian-Mexican modern art and young, hip servers, Pink Taco is not going to serve you the best enchiladas you’ve ever had in your life but it is a fun spot, especially if you are arriving in a group.

The outside canopied section is very sociable and may be a good place to return to in the early evening for a drink (just go easy on the margaritas). You will need to go up a second set of stairs to find Pink Taco (it is literally above Seasons 52).

a Rock SugarWHAT Asian FusionCOST $$$Hard to miss - look for the giant, adorned wooden doors complete with Thai statues. This is probably the best restaurant in the cluster. A lovely setting and ambience and some modern twists on Asian cuisine built around Thai and Indian dishes. Good for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Like most of the restaurants listed here, it is also open for dinner.

GulfstreamWHAT American, SeafoodCOST $$$A good, mid-priced and popular restaurant. If you’re craving seafood this is the place to come but it also offers a wide range of American dishes. Try the crabcakes and the aptly named “heavenly biscuits”. This one is

best saved for a quiet day so you can enjoy a starter and main course and maybe even a dessert. Dishes will set you back $20 however, so don’t expect a small bill.

a ToscanovaWHAT ItalianCOST $$A busy and friendly Italian restaurant, part owned by Robert De Niro. It offers typical Italian dishes with fresh ingredients and a pleasant outdoor patio reminiscent of Italy itself.

Inside the open kitchen and pizza oven provide a relaxed but classy feel

with excellent service. The pasta is freshly made so we’d recommended any of the pasta dishes and the calamari is also pretty good.

Seasons 52WHAT AmericanCOST $$The menu changes weekly (hence the name) each time offering a broad range of fresh American food. A very pleasant outside seating area with a view makes it a good spot for an after-conference Happy Hour meet-up.

Caters well to vegetarians and includes lots of healthy options.

20Find this guide, complete with maps, online at

food.ionmag.asia

21ION MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2014 21

As concierge at the Hyatt, Thomas Lee has seen a lot of people and fashions come and go. Here he provides us with his personal recommendations for the best dining in town. All are within walking distance of each other and just 10 minutes from the hotel in Beverly Hills.

Mastro’sWHAT SteakhouseWHERE 246 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills CALL 310 888 8782COST $$$$A consistently excellent experience, this high-end steakhouse and lounge is just 5-10 minutes from the Hyatt. People rave about the lobster mash.

Thomas says: “It’s a chain restaurant but this is their flagship. It’s upscale, trendy. It has a lively bar and a rooftop lounge.”

ScarpettaWHAT ItalianWHERE 225 North Canon DriveBeverly HillsCALL 310 860 7970 COST $$$$In the Montage Hotel and just a block from Mastro’s and Bouchon, this lovely Italian restaurant makes the most of the climate with an outside seating area overlooking a courtyard. The food is just as delightful.

Thomas says: “An upscale Italian in a charming setting. There are lots of other casual Italian restaurant nearby.”

a BouchonWHAT Californian FrenchWHERE 235 North Canon DriveBeverly HillsCALL 310 271 9910COST $$$Overlooking the same courtyard as Scarpetta, Bouchon combines a wonderful, relaxed location with first-class French fare. A delightful spot and our concierge’s top pick.

Thomas says: “One of the very best LA dining experiences. It’s a lovely setting; elegant without being stuffy. And they have a great wine list.”

The Grill on The AlleyWHAT SteakhouseWHERE 9560 Dayton Way, Beverly HillsCALL 310 276 0615 COST $$$A traditional, old-school steakhouse and a Beverly Hills landmark. The Grill changed hands earlier this year and received its first bad reviews in years. Fortunately locals says it has returned to its legendary best. Great food and great service.

Thomas says: “If there’s a big group, I always recommend people go here. It’s an upscale neighborhood grill; a great place to take the boss… or to get away from the boss. It has a diverse selection of food from chicken to a grill - it’s a bar/grill in Los Angeles style.”

Dessert at Bouchon © ARNOLD GATILAO

Personal recommendations from Thomas LeeConcierge at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza

Fine Dining



ICANN and accountability

’I am happy to let you know that we have heard you clearly and are very favorable to setup a 21 day public

comment period.” So began an email from ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade to Keith Drazek of Verisign last month.

Keith pointed out just a few days earlier that ICANN staff had tried to skirt the Internet community and push through its own system for assessing how accountable it was to the people it is supposed to represent.

The irony of an organization’s staff trying to put in the fix on a process that only exists because people are sick of the repeated efforts to do exactly that was not lost. The entire ICANN community signed a letter complaining. So ICANN agreed to a public comment period.

The truth is that the increasingly canonized “multi-stakeholder model” is a fractious mess most of the time, leaving ICANN’s staff as the people who have to make sense of the conflicting and contradictory viewpoints, and put forward

something that can be voted on.Except for quite some time,

many have felt that the needle has swung too far in the direction of the organization itself, and that decisions, and how they are arrived at, have become unclear at best and self-servingly opaque at worst.

But that isn’t what is meant by the hot-button term “accountability”. What “accountability” tries to capture - and expose - is the bad habit

of people who are entrusted to make final decisions starting to

believe that they are entitled to do so. That the entire decision-making process, with its familiar patterns and frustrations, becomes somehow optional rather than integral.

The surefire way to find out if this attitude does exist is to test it. If the system is truly set up to find the centre of gravity, pull it in a different direction and see how much resistance there is…

The first serious effort at addressing accountability was in 2007, when ICANN hired an independent body - the One World Trust - to review it and provide recommendations for how to improve. ICANN had just avoided

being crushed by the United Nations at a World Summit and was in self-improvement mode.

And so the recommendations were published, and ICANN dutifully took each one and highlighted what it would do to meet them. It promised a report each year identifying progress.

The annual update never happened. And many of the reforms were lost when ICANN saw its good behavior rewarded with the promise of being let off the leash. A “mid-term review” of its agreement with the US government sparked the next accountability review. This second one overlapped and subsumed the first.

The great and the good in the President’s Strategy Committee led an “Improving Institutional Confidence” consultation (IIC for short). A vast array of ideas, international meetings, and 12 months of pondering later, a long list of proposed changes were arrived at. And then unceremoniously ditched.

Behind the scenes, the US government had agreed to loosen its power. But only if ICANN agreed to a number of regular reviews - the most important being the “Accountability and Transparency Review Team” (ATRT). So the IIC was out the window; it was freedom for ICANN and whatever the ATRT may bring.

And then as soon as ICANN signed the new agreement - the Affirmation of Commitments,

which

‘‘The bad habit of people trusted to make final decisions starting to believe they are entitled to do so’’

Let’s be frank: neither ICANN’s staff nor its Board want to be made more accountable to the Internet

community. The only question

is: how far are we

willing to

drag them?

Just one more tug, that’s... all... we... need...


nominally gave it greater autonomy - promises to be more open and accountable were, again, thrown out.

New CEO Rod Beckstrom publicly disowned the ATRT before it had even started its work. The staff’s behavior toward the team was so bad that an entire section in the final report was given over to the staff’s “inordinate

defensiveness”. And so the exhausting process of dragging management off its throne began all over again.

Since then we have had a second ATRT team and an Accountability Structures Expert Panel - both put in place despite staff opposition.

And yet, despite five full reviews in seven years, when another

accountability review was announced in response to the US government saying it will relinquish control of the IANA contract, the Internet community did not say “why do we need this?” but rather highlighted and reiterated yet again the same institutional problems that have existed for a decade over how and why decisions are made, and the poor mechanisms in place to revisit bad ones.

It’s Groundhog Day in the world of ICANN accountability.

Except once the IANA contract is handed over and the US government walks away, there will no longer be a leash to pull on.

And that is why it’s no longer a matter of trying to persuade ICANN to be more accountable. It’s not. It will remain forever and aggressively resistant to the idea. It’s now about seeing how far the Internet community can drag ICANN in the right direction before time runs out.

GRRR. A BRIEF HISTORY OF ACCOUNTABILITY EFFORTS

2006-2007: One World Trust. An independent review, paid for by ICANN. 39 recommendations; some still not introduced. Annual updates ditched in the first year.

2008-2009: Improving Institutional Confidence. 36 recommendations, boiled down to two; both dropped.

2010-2011: Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT).

27 recommendations. Dismissed by CEO; entire appendix covering staff defensiveness; reforms repeatedly delayed.

2012: Accountability Structures Expert Panel. 16 recommendations. Most ignored.

2012-2014: Accountability and Transparency Review Team 2 (ATRT2). 12 recommendations. Under pressure, all adopted by Board. Implementation still ongoing and uncertain.


Q>You are currently the third-largest new gTLD registry.

What do you put that down to, and what does success look like with all these new extensions?

A<While we’re currently the third largest on total registration

numbers, we’re the top selling new extension as others have given away significant numbers of domains for free. That said, we feel the most important metric is actual usage, and we’re very pleased with the large number of live websites using dot-club names already, and the wide range of interests - from existing clubs, to celebrities like Demi Lovato, to blogs, to social sites, to startups and other entrepreneurs. A number of sites are already re-directing their old web addresses to their new dot-club address. The market for the new domain extensions is varied and not every domain has the same

Q>AAs Chief Marketing Officer for .CLUB, Jeff Sass scored a hit when rapper 50 Cent endorsed the registry thanks to his hit single - and now domain - In Da Club. Dot-club registry is now one of largest new gTLD registries, with over 100,000 registrations.

model or business plan. A niche domain, targeted to a very specific vertical, for example, dot-realtor or dot-photographer, will have a very different focus and measure of success than a more broad-based, mainstream domain. Pricing is a big factor as well, and there is a wide range of pricing models across the new domain extensions.

Q>It used to be that one million domains in a new registry was

seen as not that successful. Is the race to provide the cheapest domain and largest number of domains over?

A<We are only a little over six months into the “new domain

extension” program so it is too early to draw big conclusions. With domain extensions that add a very specific meaning, price may have a different impact. While for a purely generic domain there may be a lot of price

Q>So what is the backstory to 50 Cent? That was somewhat of a

coup for an industry that you wouldn’t associate with mainstream culture.

A<In one of my very first meetings with Colin [Campbell,

CEO of .CLUB], before I was even on the team, I mentioned that we ought to do something with 50 Cent because of his uber hit song, “In Da Club”. Fast forward to two years later, as we prepare for our official launch, and we were able to connect with 50 Cent’s team and get him excited about dot-club and working with us. The truth is, Curtis (50 Cent) is a shrewd entrepreneur and we timed his launch of fan site 50inda.club with our launch party in New York. We look forward to more cross-promotions with his current album, Animal Ambition, and future projects.

sensitivity, when a domain extension truly adds meaning and marketing value on the right of the dot, cheapest may definitely not be better. A smaller number of end-users might be more than willing to pay a little more for a name. So gross registration numbers won’t necessarily indicate the actual success of a registry. There are wide discrepancies in price, overhead structure, marketing spending and other factors that will contribute to the success of a registry.

Q>What trends are you seeing in your customers? And what has

surprised you since launch?

A<Registrants in dot-club so far are wide reaching, both

regionally and by vertical. We see lots of exisiting golf, country and other established clubs taking their names. Lots of sports related teams, and fan clubs for musicians, artists and celebrities. Entrepreneurs, especially for businesses with a subscription or membership model have adopted dot-club names, like Shaving.club, LuckyDuckCoffee.club, TheDudes.club. “Club” is unusual word in that it is spelled the same and means the same all over the world, so we are seeing customers in China, Japan, Germany, England, France, India, Turkey, Ukraine, Pakistan... One thing that surprised us is how many blogs are using a .club name. Still we are at the very beginning and have a long way to go. Awareness of the new domain names is still very low, and collectively, everyone in the industry needs to collaborate on raising awareness. That is one reason we support organizations such as The Domain Name Association (thedna.org).


Your sister? Fadi asks 50-year-old mother of teenage daugher By Billy Flattery Demonstrating his legendary charm and grace, this evening ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade mistook a teenage daughter to be the sister of a 52-year-old woman he was talking to.

“Well, that’s incredible,” he told the blushing lady. “I would never have guessed.”

Chehade subsequently won over other drinkers at the Last Chance Saloon in South Central Los Angeles, telling the venue’s warm-up act that he sounded like an early Bob Dylan and comparing manic-depressive host Bill McDouglas to “Jerry Seinfeld at his very best”.

It was not all roses however after a dispute arose between two neighboring drinkers, each of who insisted that Fadi told them he was their best buddy.

Further problems arrived when multiple guests at the Saloon assured the bar staff that they had been told the TV would be switched to their channel as soon Fadi got back from the toilet.

“He said we would have CNN,” bellowed one guest. “FOX!” exclaimed a second. “Sports!”, noted a third.

Dot-cheese sells 50, wait, no, 51 more domains than dot-ham

By Stats GasmIn an extraordinary day of launches, dot-cheese stole the sandwich domain market from dot-ham by an incredible 50 domains.

As of right now, there are 261 dot-cheese domains and just 201 dot-hams. You could say they have been eaten for breakfast...

But that’s not all, in a staggering turnaround, the distinctly cheeky dot-monkey beat out his zoo competitors, including dot-elephant and dot-zebra, sealing a deal with the Monkey Keepers Association of North America and adding an extraordinary 43 domains to this burgeoning registry.

Meanwhile, in other hot news, 150,000 domains were added to dot-moustache, making it the largest new registry ever to launch in the last two months. Sadly, 99 percent of them disappeared a few hours later when it was discovered that an employee has fallen asleep on his keyboard while

entering reserved names. We are hearing good

things however from dot-cocktail whose marketing officer has already bought us four drinks and who we are told has lined up celebrity slosher Lindsay Lohan to front their huge campaign to be held during happy hour next Tuesday on the Hollywood Strip.

Mind-blowing amazements in the latest launch stats. Hang on to your britches!

Accountability process dynamically retooled

By Brad NauseumICANN’s accountability process have been dynamically retooled to account for recent social media explorations, insiders have told us.

“We’re revisiting not only the paradigm of accountability but the philsophical roots of this game-changing approach to real-time engagement,” a spokesgibber told us.

Among the changes are a 360-real-time changeboard that will reflect instant community interactions and a spark-

wiki that literally fizzes with updates as they occur anywhere on the globe.

Asked whether the new dynamic toolbox would include comments into the actual process or simply splash them on a screen for a few seconds, we were excitedly told: “Oh yes, if you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, we want to hear from you.”

By Peter SpinsterA planned gala in Los Angeles has been cancelled after ICANN revealed it was not able to support the event.

“Unfortunately, there was a shortfall of over $100,000,” spokesflan Kris Crostini told attendees. “And we only have $150 million of your dollars in the ICANN account to be spent how the community decides. Right, I have to go. First class to Dubai, baby! See you in Marrakech!”

LA Gala off due to lack of funds

I realize that humor isn’t for everyone. It’s only for people who want to have fun, enjoy life, and feel alive - Anne Wilson Schaef

For Chinese people, the end of ASCII is fast approaching. The little boy in this ad is experiencing the vividness of the internet in his own language, for the first time. He hasn’t had to hunt-and-peck at a tiny ASCII keyboard. He has used his own language’s characters, written with his little 5-year-old fingertip, perhaps for his favorite Chinese cartoon character.

With flexible, well-managed and well-marketed Chinese domains, kids, rural adults and literally hundreds of millions more ordinary Chinese people are given what many view as a birthright – access to the ‘net in their own language.

And the most flexible, well-managed and well-marketed Chinese domains – not to mention the biggest selling new gTLD IDNs in the world – are Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website.

域名.在线

TLD Registry IoN ad 2014-09-29.indd 1 2014-09-30 9:01:26 AM

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IoN (Internet of Names), Issue #2

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