Re: [bc-gnso] FOR REVIEW: BC comment on Status Update from expert working group on gTLD Directory Services

[Marilyn Cade <marilynscade@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

John Berard is liaison from GNSO Council to CCNSO Council.  

I am not comfortable with making a statement that assumes that there has been a 
robust and thorough discussion about views about ccTLD policy even in this one 
area.  We have done a tremendous amount of work focused on gTLD WHOIS.  But we 
have not had a robust, cross BC discussion of detail and thoroughness yet 
related to ccTLD policy in this area. 

I offer a comment, and an alternative that might be possible to reach agreement 
on. 

I added John as I hope to have a sense from him about how the Council will view 
a BC statement, as we haven't developed or enhanced much of a relationship 
between the BC and the CCNSO, although many of us individually have individual 
relationships. I know that Stephane as a former registrar, and some companies 
who register and use ccTLD names, and those who manage  portfolios/or offer 
specialized services to registrants, also have relationships focused on domain 
name misuse, or registration, or protection. I know a number fairly well, but 
it is more because of broader ICANN governance and because of work that some of 
us have done with several ccTLD managers /ccNSO on budget analysis. That is 
true for some other BC members.

On larger ICANN governance issues, the BC have an opportunity to work with the 
ccTLDs.

I am cautious that we not come negatively, as we have a growing opportunity to 
collaborate, and perhaps come closer to finding approaches that ccTLD managers 
may want to collaborate with us on in policy areas, as well as ICANN governance 
areas.  

However, I think that we may need to separate interest in discussing what BC 
statements might be agreed  about ccTLD policy from this particular BC comment. 
I do not think we have time to thoroughly discuss BC views about ccTLD 
policy/nor relationships. OR implications about what and how to express fuller 
views. 

I could support a short neutral statement that as businesses who register and 
use ccTLD domain names,we are interested in further consideration and 
discussion with the ccNSO on accurate and accessible WHOIS,  but I am not 
enthused about going too far or too detailed. .

Marilyn Cade


Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 26, 2014, at 12:22 AM, "Jimson Olufuye" <jolufuye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
> wrote:
> 
> Hi Andy,
> 
> Thanks for your valuable input.
> 
> I do agree with your improvement but take a look at the clarification I 
> provided on item 8 to explore further improvement.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> JO
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] FOR REVIEW: BC comment on Status Update from
> expert working group on gTLD Directory Services
> From: Andy Abrams <abrams@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Tue, February 25, 2014 11:18 pm
> To: Jimson Olufuye <jolufuye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: "svg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <svg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Steve
> DelBianco <sdelbianco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, bc - GNSO list
> <bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Thank you to Steve, Susan, Jimson and Tim for their work on this public 
> comment.  Attached are Google's proposed comments to the draft.  We welcome 
> any feedback or discussion on the points raised.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Andy
> 
> 
>> On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 6:27 AM, Jimson Olufuye <jolufuye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
>> wrote:
>> Thanks for the feedback Stephane.
>> 
>> Item 6 of the draft BC comment covers your concern with regard to compliance 
>> with local privacy law. Would you want to strengthen the statement in view 
>> of the gaps with the RAA?
>> 
>> I also share your view on the need for some congruence in policy for gTLD 
>> and ccTLD but I guess that might be an addendum to our BC comment on the EWG 
>> status report. What do you think?
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>> Jimson Olufuye, fncs, ficma, PhD
>> CEO Kontemporary® 
>> Chair, AfICTA
>> connecting African ICT players & 
>> ... fulfilling the promise of the Digital Age for everyone in Africa.
>> www.aficta.org 
>> www.kontemporary.net.ng
>> M: +234 802 3183252
>> Skype: jolufuye
>> 
>> This email is for the exclusive recipient/s and it may contain confidential 
>> materials. If you have received it and it is not meant for you, please alert 
>> me @ jolufuye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or discard at once. Thank you.
>> 
>> 
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] FOR REVIEW: BC comment on Status Update from
>> expert working group on gTLD Directory Services
>> From: Stephane Van Gelder Consulting <svg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Date: Tue, February 18, 2014 12:34 pm
>> To: Steve DelBianco <sdelbianco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: bc - GNSO list <bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx>
>> 
>> Thanks to Steve and the drafters for all this work.
>> 
>> I am speaking from memory on the EWG's report, as I have not had time ro 
>> re-read it, so apologies if these have already been raised. However, I do 
>> think there are some points the BC should consider:
>> 
>> Any contractual obligation placed on any part of the domain name supply 
>> chain (be it registries, registrars or registrants) MUST NOT contravene 
>> local law. This is especially true for data privacy issues, which are a 
>> major point of focus in Europe for example. The recent debates over the 
>> latest RAA (as a reminder, some European registrars are finding themselves 
>> unable to sign the RAA, and therefore unable to sell new gTLDs which pust 
>> them at a competitive disadvantage, because it goes against their local 
>> privacy laws: http://blog.blacknight.com/blow-fuse.html) show that any WHOIS 
>> work must also take these obligations into account. I am worried that the 
>> EWG does not seem to have taken more than a passing glance at ccTLD WHOIS 
>> obligations such as those placed on the French registry by the French 
>> national data privacy agency (CNIL). Looking at this more closely would 
>> highlight the need for opt-out clauses for those who'se national laws would 
>> prevent them enacting any EWG recommendations as-is.
>> 
>> In short, I think our message here to ICANN should also be: learn from the 
>> current RAA mistakes!
>> 
>> Another point I have made before is that I believe as representatives of 
>> businesses worldwide, we should continually nudge for this work to encompass 
>> ccTLD WHOIS as well. We have all heard before the many reasons why the EWG 
>> should not be doing so, but as businesses, do we really think it's OK to 
>> have such extensive work be done on gTLD WHOIS only? The level of confusion 
>> this risks generating for businesses that are not domain savvy, and may not 
>> understand that there are different rules for, say, .COM and .DE, should not 
>> be underestimated.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Stéphane Van Gelder
>> Chairman and Managing Director/Fondateur
>> SVGC.net
>> 
>> T (FR): +33 (0)6 20 40 55 89
>> T (UK): +44 (0)7583 457053
>> Skype: SVANGELDER
>> www.StephaneVanGelder.com
>> www.svgc.net
>> ----------------
>> Follow us on Twitter: @stephvg and "like" us on Facebook: 
>> www.facebook.com/DomainConsultant
>> LinkedIn: fr.linkedin.com/in/domainconsultant/
>> 
>> 
>>> On 18 February 2014 04:22, Steve DelBianco <sdelbianco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> Attached are draft BC comments and questions on the Status Update from the 
>>> expert working group on gTLD Directory Services.  
>>> 
>>> The EWG status update is here, and described on this page.  Comments close 
>>> 28-Feb, so today begins a 12-day member review period.
>>>   
>>> Thanks to BC members Jimson Olufuye, Tim Chen, and Susan Kawaguchi for this 
>>> drafting work. 
>>> 
>>> Jimson is the CEO of Kontemporary, a systems Integration and ICT 
>>> Consultancy firm. Though less than 10% of the company revenue is from 
>>> domain businesses, he has interacted extensively with gTLD and ccTLD WHOIS 
>>> registry systems.
>>> 
>>> BC members are familiar with Susan’s many years of work to improve WHOIS, 
>>> first with eBay and now with Facebook.   Susan was appointed to the WHOIS 
>>> review team two years ago and is now a member of the EWG on Directory 
>>> Services.  
>>> 
>>> Tim is CEO of DomainTools, whose products partly rely on whois data to help 
>>> users understand who operates a given website or IP address, and to also 
>>> make connections between domain names.  DomainTools' clients include law 
>>> enforcement, trademark attorneys, cybercrime investigators, brand 
>>> protection agents, and a wide variety of professionals in the DNS industry.
>>> 
>>> All BC members are invited to REPLY ALL with edits (using TRACK CHANGES, 
>>> please).  
>>> 
>>> Note that the second half of this draft shows a dialog between Tim and 
>>> Jimson regarding certain aspects of Directory Services.  Based on member 
>>> feedback, we will refine that section into additional points or questions 
>>> for the EWG.
>>> 
>>> —
>>> Steve DelBianco
>>> Vice chair for policy coordination
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Andy Abrams | Senior Trademark Counsel
> Google | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
> (650) 669-8752
> <BC comments - EWG Status Update [Google + AfICTA comments].doc>