So if you trekked near or far to San Fransisco for the ICANN meeting, especially if you haven’t attended one before, you may not know what sessions to attend or what to do.
Although this is only my 3rd meeting and I’m no expert, I have some suggestions of what sessions you may want to attend this week if your here.
If your note in SF for the meeting many of these sessions will have an audio feed and most have a live transcript feed so you can check them out from home.
The full schedule for the meeting is here. (As you click on the individual session you can find out more about audio feeds or live transcriptions)
The “welcoming” or opening ceremony is at 9 am Monday morning.
Highly suggested that you attend, and it is scheduled to run 2 hours and I will be there
Right after at 11am there is a session on the ” Presentation of Inter- Registrar Transfer Policy Part B Proposed Final Report “.
“This policy concerns five issues focusing on issues related to domain hijacking, the urgent return of an inappropriately transferred name and “lock status”.
“the Working Group has now published its proposed Final Report. This session will provide an overview of the proposed recommendations and hopes to encourage discussion and input that can be considered before the IRTP Part B Working Group finalizes its report.”
This should be of real interest to domainers, since this is as you may recall the plan that would allow transfers, including sales to be reversed for up to 6 months after a transfer or sale.
Of course the proposal is meant to be a cure for domain hijacking but many think it might be used to reverse otherwise legitimate sales where one party get cold feet.
So you might want to attend that one, I’m planning on being there
At 2pm there is a 1 hour session on new gTLD program status that you might want to attend, which is followed a 2 1/2 hour session on issues and discussions concerning the GAC and the new gTLD’s.
The meetings between the ICANN board the Government Advisory Counsel (GAC) are always interesting.
Usually this session only lasts 2-3 hours and the room is always packed up with plenty of people winding up standing to watch the proceedings so if your planning on attending get there early or you will be standing at least at the beginning of the sessions
This year there are two eight hour sessions:
- Tuesday, 15 March: 9:00am – 5:00pm
- Thursday, 17 March: 8:00am – 4:00pm
My understanding is that in the Thursday morning session, the GAC report on .XXX will be delivered.
The rest of the time on the two days will be largely dedicated to the new gTLD’s and trademark issues. I would urge everyone to spend at least a couple of hours listening to at least one of these sessions its a real eye opener.
While you can watch, you cannot participate in these sessions so no comments generally from the peanut gallery.
I will be at both of these sessions for a while but don’t plan to make a day of it.
Also starting at 8am there is a meeting of registrars which runs all day. Some of the discussion can be interesting but most of the time you are going to be bored.
At 2pm on Tuesday there is the meeting of the IP constituency which again are trademark holders issues with ICANN, new gTLD’s the URS and like issues should be discussed.
On Tuesday night ICANN holds an event called “Music Night”.
Especially for my younger domainer friends you will probably find this even quite boring, and even I could only sit through 10 minutes of it in Colombia before I bailed out.
On Wednesday at 9 there is another session on the new gTLD program and the discussions and issues raised by the GAC, so its more of a summary of the previous days 8 hour GAC session and where things currently stand.
At 6pm former President Bill Clinton will be giving an speech in the Grand Ballroom.
At 8pm the Gala will be held in Union Square across the street from the Westin.
I urge all to attend.
With the Former President in attendance expect security in outside the hotel to be tight.
ON Thursday once again there is second day of the GAC meeting with the ICANN board starting at 8am (see above)
Ok rally and porn stars.
I will be there reporting just for you!!!
At 4pm thee ICANN open forum is being held.
This is your chance to make a statement on any relevant issue you would like pretty much concerning the new gTLD’s or .XXX.
The comments are usually pretty interesting, moving or amusing and a good gauge of what people outside of the ICANN board are thinking.
Once again the FSC is calling for all people inside the adult industry to come out and voice their opposition to .XXX, including the aforementioned pornstars, so the session should be anything but dull.
Phil Corwin will be making a statement on behalf of the ICA and all domainers.
Comments are usually limited to 2-3 minutes so if your planning on speaking have your thoughts together before getting up there.
I urge everyone to attend the 2 hour session
Thursday is St. Patty’s day, not sure yet where the hot spot is in SF is, but I expect to be wearing the Green and consuming mass quantities of Harp with some domainer friends and hopefully find out the answer to the age old question of “what do you do with a drunken sailor”
On Friday morning at 10:30 the ICANN board will meet and make whatever decision they are going to make out of this meeting.
Already said they won’t be voting on the new gTLD program the big issue for vote once again is .XXX.
We will see if the Board finally makes a call on this after having punted in Colombia 3 months ago.
Once again I urge all to attend this session which is scheduled for 2 hours.
Hope you enjoy the meeting.
While all those useless distractions are being staged, the smart domain money will be in Washington DC for some very critical meetings before the end of March.
The Obama administration is not amused with the ICANN Circus.
For those interested in serious telecommunications (not a Circus) the U.S. Government is starting TWO new green-field networks.
1. A First Responder Network that should have been in place for Katrina. It will be an extension to 911 and encompass 311.
2. A brand new Super-WIMAX (mostly wireless) Network with a true Internet Architecture based on Peer-2-Peer NOT Thin-Client-Server.
People at the ICANN Circus could likely not care-less about either of the above.
Your readers may have an interest because some may be “invited” to help.
The U.S. Government has wisely ordered that the lunatic Multi-Stakeholder Model will NOT be used. Experts will be consulted and companies with clue.
The FCC has a cool domain name for their forums:
://reboot.fcc.gov/
The ICANN Cartel meeting is …
1. A FRONT for the real Back Room deals
2. A illusion that the average investor (any domainer) HAS A SAY!
3..PROOF THAT THE 18 CENTS YOU ARE FORCED TO PAY ON
A DOMAIN NAME, IS GOING TO GOOD USE LIKE WORLD WIDE
“SUPER LUXUARY” VACATIONS (meetings) in places that ..
most Domainers will NOT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ATTEND!
REPOST EDIT:
Mar 08th, 2011 12:03 PM
By Diane Duke, Free Speech Coalition Executive Director
.XXX is A Fascist Scheme
It’s Time, Let’s Fight Back!
There are a few other points that are imperative for you to understand concerning .XXX. If you auto-redirect your existing .com at your new .XXX domain, your .com domain will be required to follow the same regulations as .XXX. That means you have to let whatever entity that ICM has chosen to automatically scan and monitor your .XXX site for “illegal and offensive material” and to make sure you are compliant in the best practice regulations that IFFOR (or should I say ICM) imposes, to monitor your .com domain. Also, if .XXX passes, there are governments that will block .XXX. This will not only immediately de-value your .XXX domain, but will also pose a threat to your click-through .com domain. From a business perspective, purchasing .XXX domains is a bad investment and is potentially dangerous to your existing domains and traffic.
It is likely that ICANN will vote on .XXX at their March 18 Board meeting in San Francisco. We will have a strong presence there, but, I will be honest—the cards are stacked against us. ICM has invested over $12 million to push .XXX through the ICANN machine.
BRIBERY / RACKETERING:
So what has $12 million bought ICM?
* Sponsorships for a number of conferences at which there were votes for .XXX.
* An independent Review Process that voted in favor of ICM on the issue of “sponsored” community (i.e. the adult entertainment community) even though no one from the adult entertainment community was questioned or interviewed in the process.
* An ICANN insider, Becky Burr, to represent ICM in all ICANN matters—did I mention that she was on ICANN’s Accountability and Transparency committee for a good portion of her time, representing ICM to ICANN?
* An ICANN Board Chair adamantly in favor of pushing .XXX through.
* An ICANN Board member, Sebastian Bachollet, hired to be on the IFFOR Board (can you say conflict of interest?)
* A shortened public comment period at the San Francisco conference—two hours rather than the usual five hours, in an attempt to silence the adult community’s public voice.
* ICM’s ability to conceal the information they submitted as proof of sponsorship support, knowing full well that the actual sponsorship community easily would refute the “proof” submitted.
* A vote by the Board to move forward with the process even though they knew and stated publicly during the board meeting that what they were voting on was a lie.
ICANN will be in a position to make a great deal of money if .XXX is approved. But there is a voice of reason in this catastrophic mess called ICANN. ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee (GAC) has, on three occasions, noted the lack of support from the sponsorship community and also a number of other problems with .XXX; GAC has reached consensus opposition to .XXX. ICANN is required, by its bylaws, to take GAC advice into account. Moreover, the US government, the entity that authorizes ICANN to oversee the domain name system, has expressly cautioned ICANN about ignoring GAC advice, basically threatening to take away its authority if it continues to overstep its boundaries by ignoring the public policy concerns of world-wide governments.
Adult industry professionals must take action NOW!
On March 17, ICANN will convene a public forum, albeit much abbreviated. FSC is organizing key leaders in the adult community to speak at the conference during the public comment period. We know they will limit the number of speakers inside the conference, but we can have a pronounced voice outside the building. In a time when rallies are changing the world around us we are…
Calling all industry professionals to rally in San Francisco against .XXX!!
When: Thursday, March 17, 2011, from 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Where: ICANN Conference, the Westin, San Francisco, Union Square, 335 Powell Street, San Francisco
What: Press conference and rally outside the Westin
Who: All industry professionals and supporters of the adult entertainment community.
If you can participate in the rally, contact Kim at Free Speech Coalition, at (818) 348-9373) or by email at joanne (email addy) freespeechcoalition.com. We will provide additional information.
It you cannot participate but still want to be heard, we will launch a tweet campaign-make sure you are signed up and able to tweet by March 16, follow FSC on twitter and we will launch our campaign so that the decision makers are fully aware of where we stand on the issues.
In the long run, if .XXX passes, FSC is considering the following possibilities:
1. Filing a dispute through ICANN’s IRP (Independent Review Process), although we are rightfully wary of all things ICANN
2. Filing a lawsuit, including an immediate injunction against ICANN—we have a team of attorneys considering best possible arguments
3. Organizing a boycott of .XXX—there are two ways to defeat .XXX. One, with a BANG, and the other, with a trickle. Clearly, we would prefer to have .XXX defeated, over and done with. However, passage of .XXX does not necessarily mean that it is viable or will be successful. ICM needs adult businesses to purchase .XXX domain names. ICM has reported over and over again that its business model relies on between 300,000 and 500,000 .XXX domain names. After over five years of actively marketing pre-registrations, ICM has just over 200,000 pre-reservations —and remember, that includes registries that have reserved a number of names in hopes of re-selling to the adult industry. It costs absolutely NOTHING to pre-reserve a domain name. Once money has to be paid, those numbers will decrease. Couple that with a boycott and .XXX could fail before the end of its first year. Remember, more of these domain names have failed than succeeded, and without the support of the industry it is purported to serve….XXX will be is washed up!!
“The ICANN Cartel meeting is …”
===
The current ICANN (Cartel) Meeting in the U.S. certainly has to be put into the context of the San Francisco (Silicon Valley) venue.
Getting 2000 people to come to anything in a large city is trivial.
As a comparison 4000 people stream into Vegas for a simple MLM show.
Another comparison is the 40,000 librarians who meet each year.
ICANN is clearly now overtly creating distractions like the Bill Clinton talk to
divert people from asking hard questions. The good news is, people with a clue
are not fooled. As Bernie Madoff would say, “EVERYONE knows”.
from what i remember:
the constinuency meetings are important early,
you first put in your time attending, then get nominated to serveo on a committee, then you might be passed over.. but if you come back you get on, then you be a good team player and stay on the commitee or working group.. then you get to become chair and accomplish your agenda…
so guys, sart your clocks ticking and try to move in the ladder on the business, at large and other committees and working groups.
then the public comment period, ONE or TWO key thoughts in a well presented simple contribution will make it to the board, and may become a point of reference for further discussion
then they put in a day or two of buffer so no one will stick around for the public board meeting, then there the night before the board meeting secret cabal where all the decisions are really made
but maybe im too jaded..
lastly my other takeway from the 199902001 period is the nuetral observers have the most credibility in any issue,
ie if trademark issue and between domainers and business, the technical community is seen as nuetral and holds sway…
in a techncail registry.egistrar issue, then the trademark lobby steps in as the nuetral third party..
but is anybody really nuetral and it makes for alot of horsetrading..
page howe
.Kids Domains
HERE IS WHY .XXX will devalue all .Com Domains
and is a Fascist Plan to Red Light free expression .
.XXX means you have to let whatever entity that ICM has chosen to ”
“Automatically scan and monitor your .XXX site for “illegal and offensive material”
(and to make sure you are compliant in the best practice regulations that IFFOR
(or should I say ICM) imposes, to GOVT LIKE monitor your .com domain).
Also, if .XXX passes, there are Governments that will block .XXX. This will not only immediately….. de-value your .XXX domain….., but will also pose a threat to your…
click-through .com domain.
From a business perspective, purchasing .XXX domains is a bad investment
and is potentially dangerous to your existing domains and traffic.
Good summary, Mike.
It’s all a fascist conspiracy, of course, to those for whom everything is a fascist conspiracy.
Guys
I have an exclusive interview with Stuart Lawley which I will publish in a couple of days so we will have plenty of time to debate .XXX
Its not the point of this post.
“It’s all a fascist conspiracy, of course, to those for whom everything is a fascist conspiracy.”
===
Nope, it has all been documented 24x7x365 since the 1990s. It is very easy to draw the straight lines between 50 or 60 Control Freaks, Clerics, Circus Clowns and the infamous “Community”.
Follow the Money. It Seeks Overall Control.
in my opinion, .xxx can’t be a big success
@ John Berryhill
If anybody has a loop sided stake at keeping the UDRP /WIPO
system the same rotten way it is YOU!
Making Bundles Money of of people nightmares is not right
or is it John?
“So You’re At ICANN, Now What? Here is What You Should Attend”
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Has anyone attended any of the secret meetings in the Palo Alto Office in the Real Silicon Valley ?
Has anyone been invited to the DNS insider’s meetings orchestrated by OARC funded by ICANN ?
“Here is What You Should Attend”?
“Here is What You are ALLOWED to Attend”?
As the GAC is always told, they do not know what they do not know. Duh.
Do you think the insiders are going to tell them?
@biglie
So if the US govt puts up this new wimax thing, Uh won’t yha have to be connected to the current interwebs somewhere anyway so people can do their shopping and searching at all the usual places anyway?
“won’t yha have to be connected to the current interwebs somewhere”
====
Yes, some people claim the 80/20 rule applies even on the “InterWebs”.
80% of the content comes from 20% of the major players. Some claim even less.
Some claim that 8 or 10 domain names are all that is needed, to make a fortune.
At the end of the day, it will all be about money and ROI – Return on Investment.
The ICANN Meeting in San Francisco should be a major turning point where
the academics realize the Good.Old.Days are over, people doing things for FREE
while ICANN rakes in millions has taught people some harsh lessons.
The FREE.Ride Internet is Over. The Toll Booths will be everywhere.
“if the US govt puts up this new wimax thing”
===
Three other things to consider:
1. The U.S. Government is simply being the Ring-Leader and has already selected NINE companies (including Google, Neustar (US,BIZ,CO) & Telcordia) to be the ICANN-like referees.
2. DNS is not required to operate an Internet. A Peer-2-Peer Architecture could be very different. Those NINE companies are partly tasked with shaping the structure.
3. Users just want a network to work & to be consistent and to have compelling content. Content is not hard to find and to re-package. Toll booths are a given.
ICANN & their RIRs showed people how to construct a big one.
“Making Bundles Money of of people nightmares is not right
or is it John?”
What’s not right are your incessant personal attacks against anyone who attempts to do something more productive than post rambling and incoherent comments on internet message boards.
I gather that you also buy into the type of warped conspiracy-minded thinking which holds that doctors are all part of a plot to perpetuate diseases because otherwise, they would be out of a job.
I’ve spent over a decade advocating for the rights of domain registrants in my own free time and, absolutely, a good part of what I do professionally is to defend the rights of domain registrants in dispute situations. The notion that there are “bundles of money” involved is pretty funny, really. Except for the several cases I take every year at no charge whatsoever, the majority of clients for whom I work are pretty successful, and the point is to keep them that way. No, helping other people with their commercial success is not generally a charity cause.