Domain Name Wire » icann

2011 Domain Dunce: ICANN complains about hotel (and then takes it back)

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:55:45 +0000

It’s the end of year, and that means it’s time for Domain Name Wire’s annual Domain Dunce awards.

Let’s kick things off with a smelly situation.

By all accounts the Hotel des Almadies, which housed attendees of ICANN’s meeting at its recent meeting in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year, was far from luxury.

Attendees complained of rats, security concerns, air conditioning issues, and non-working showers.

That prompted Barbara Ann Clay, ICANN’s Vice President for Communications, to write a nastygram to Senegal’s Minister of Communication asking for compensation for guests. Attached to the letter was a 20 page report from ICANN’s at-large committee (ALAC).

But before the hotel or Minister of Communication could respond, ICANN retracted its complaint, writing that the letter was sent without appropriate buy-in from ICANN’s leadership.

Oops.

Below: a staircase at the Hotel des Almadies, which ALAC labeled “A dark, steep Staircase” and complained of a “tripping risk”.

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Want to be ICANN’s next CEO?

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:03:43 +0000

Non-profit publishes profile of desired CEO.

Want to be the CEO of an organization launching a highly controversial expansion of the internet namespace and seeing its budget double or triple your first year on the job?

ICANN has a job for you.

Today ICANN announced it has selected search firm Odgers Berndtson of Brussels to help it find a new CEO to replace Rod Beckstrom. ICANN has used the same firm previously.

It also published a candidate profile (pdf). Among the attributes that will make you successful in this role is being able to work within the “internet governance ecosystem”. It’s a bit scarey to see mentions of the United Nations in this profile document. But the truth is ICANN’s CEO needs to be able to manage expectations of other governments that want to play a greater role in internet governance.

This will be interesting to watch.

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ICANN’s Assets Grow to $100 Million

Andrew Allemann — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:07:26 +0000

ICANN releases audited financial statements for FY11.

Today ICANN posted its audited financial statements (pdf) for Financial Year 2011 (which ended in June). Here are some highlights:

Total assets grew to $100 million from $83 million the year prior. When accounting for liabilities ICANN has $80 million in “unrestricted net assets”.

ICANN has $29 million in cash.

It also had close to $52 million in investments (equities and fixed income) as of the end of June, but you can bet that’s taken a hit since then. It had a $6 million gain for the year.

Revenue increased from $66 million to $69 million.

Expenses nudged up about $1 million to $60 million. Personnel, travel and meetings were all up while expenses for professional services were down.

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ICANN’s Peter Dengate Thrush Problem

Andrew Allemann — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:03:57 +0000

Conflict of interest, whether real or imagined, looks bad for ICANN as it faces fresh criticism over its new TLD plans.

ICANN has a problem.

As criticism mounts against its approval of the new top level domain name program, some groups are pointing fingers at an inherent conflict of interest.

The key example is former ICANN Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate Thrush.

One month after pushing through a vote on the new TLD program in his last meeting as Chairman he took a role with publicly-traded Top Level Domain Holdings, a company focused solely on profiting from new top level domain names.

There are no rules prohibiting this move, as Dengate Thrush pointed out when I interviewed him about the new role.

I can’t blame him for jumping at the opportunity. I also don’t think putting the program up for a vote in June had anything to do with profiting from it — I think it had to do with getting the program approved before his term as Chairman was over.

But it doesn’t matter. The problem is it just looks bad.

Recently Internet Advertising Bureau joined Association of National Advertisers in opposing the new top level domains program. Interestingly, I haven’t seen them point to this specific conflict. But other groups, including Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, have.

ICANN has received plenty of pushback on its new TLD plans both during the process of creating the applicant rules as well as after it was approved. Everyone has an opinion, and it would be wrong to point to Dengate Thrush’s move as proof that this is just a money grab.

But that won’t stop people from bringing attention to it, and that will bad for ICANN.

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.Asia Plans to Release 1 and 2 Character Domain Names

Andrew Allemann — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 02:32:47 +0000

Registry for .asia domain names wants to release short names.

.Asia registry DotAsia Organisation Ltd is joining fellow top level domain name operators with plans to release one and two character domain names.

The registry has filed a Registry Services Evaluation Process request with ICANN explaining how it plans to allocate the domain names.

Like other registries, it plans a three-pronged release of domain names:

1. Request for Proposal – interested parties can submit a proposal about how they will use and promote a one or two character .asia domain name. Qualified applicants will be awarded the domains.

2. Sunrise – trademark holders of one and two character names can apply for domains. An auction will be held in the event of more than one qualified sunrise request for the same name.

3. Landrush and auction – any remaining unallocated domain names will be auctioned off or made available to the community.

You can view .asia’s request here.

According to HosterStats, there are just under 200,000 .asia domain names currently registered.

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Rod Beckstrom To Leave ICANN After End of Term

Andrew Allemann — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:04:39 +0000

CEO to step down at end of three year tenure.

ICANN President and CEO Rod Beckstrom will step down at the end of his three year term, the non-profit announced this afternoon.

He has been at the helm of the company since July 2009 and will finish his three year contract at the end of June 2012.

It’s been an interesting couple years since he joined the organization. Shortly after he started ICANN gained some independence from the U.S. government. But the relationship with the U.S. government has been sour as the group pushes forward with new top level domain names.

In an official press release, Beckstrom said:

“I can summarize my time here in four words: strong execution, great teambuilding,” he said. “We have built a world-class executive team, and elevated ICANN’s stature through strategic relationships with governments, businesses, top technology firms and international organizations.”

But Beckstrom’s tenture may be as controversial as the organization itself.

In June former ICANN staffer Kieren McCarthy wrote a post titled “Has ICANN already fired Rod Beckstrom?” that summarizes at least one view of Beckstrom.

Of course, ICANN is one of those punching bags that no one ever really likes. I didn’t hear a lot of positive talk about the previous CEO, either.

The announcement nearly a year in advance does seems a bit early, but it should give the group more time to recruit its next leader.

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ICANN CEO Snaps Back at ANA Over New TLDs

Andrew Allemann — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:23:54 +0000

Beckstrom responds to advertising group with strongly worded letter.

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom has responded (pdf) to a letter (pdf) from Association of National Advertisers (ANA) that had demanded ICANN suspend its plans for the new top level domain name program.

Beckstrom informs IANA that “The assertions in your letter are either incorrect or problematic in several respects.”

He stresses that the program is the culmination of work with every stakeholder in the ICANN process including 45 public comment periods (one of which ANA submitted comments for).

Beckstrom writes:

Your letter also claims that the program represents “unrestricted expansion” or allows “virtually any word or phrase.” These statements demonstrate a lack of understanding of Program details. More research on your part would have revealed: (i) restrictions on delegation rates; (ii) string requirements and limitations; (iii) required applicant background, financial and technical qualifications; (iv) objection processes for infringing and other inappropriately applied-for strings; and (v) standing registry operator obligations in the registry agreement.

He then explains actions ICANN took that address all five of ANA’s concerns it submitted during public comment periods.

And for a closing salvo, Beckstrom informs ANA that it isn’t scared about legal posturing:

Please be advised that ICANN will vigorously defend the multi-stakeholder model and the hard-fought consensus of its global stakeholder participants, its duty to act in accordance with established bottom-up processes, and its responsibility to the broad public interest of the global Internet community, rather than to the specific interests of any particular group.

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