May 10, 2021 at 4:14:09 PM UTC
VERIFY
Websites
Runtime: 12.8s
On May 10, 2021 at 4:14:09 PM UTC, http://www.freespeech.com/ was accessible when tested on AS6866 in Cyprus.
Failures
HTTP Experiment
null
DNS Experiment
null
Control
null
DNS Queries
Resolver:
195.14.154.101
Query:
IN A www.freespeech.com
Engine:
system
Name
Class
TTL
Type
DATA
Answer IP Info
@
IN
A
104.26.14.27
AS13335 (Cloudflare, Inc.)
@
IN
A
172.67.75.138
AS13335 (Cloudflare, Inc.)
@
IN
A
104.26.15.27
AS13335 (Cloudflare, Inc.)
TCP Connections
104.26.14.27:80: succeeded
104.26.15.27:80: succeeded
172.67.75.138:80: succeeded
HTTP Requests
URL
GET https://freespeech.com/
Response Headers
Cf-Cache-Status:DYNAMICCf-Ray:64d475c41e18c281-FRACf-Request-Id:09f8a7ee940000c2810b2b1000000001Content-Type:text/html; charset=UTF-8Date:Mon, 10 May 2021 16:14:21 GMTExpect-Ct:max-age=604800, report-uri="https://report-uri.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/beacon/expect-ct"Link:<https://freespeech.com/wp-json/>; rel="https://api.w.org/", <https://wp.me/kuGN>; rel=shortlinkNel:{"report_to":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}Report-To:{"endpoints":[{"url":"https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report?s=eBgikO37a%2BoBU%2FN9rolVR4tbDX0vHM7a%2Bf9dQ9XI4SjH4do4mTRRTo5JsR%2BbhNhh1BzLjGR1O6uRej55V9xwJDm%2BpHDcoAG8i6MAkLD3BA%3D%3D"}],"group":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}Server:cloudflareVary:Accept-Encoding,User-Agent
Response Body
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<article id="post-79" class="post-79 post type-post status-publish format-standard sticky hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann">
<header class="entry-header">
<span class="sticky-post">Featured</span>
<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/update-my-participation-rights-have-now-been-eliminated-at-icann-working-groups/" rel="bookmark">Update: My participation rights have now been eliminated at ICANN working groups</a></h2> </header>
<div class="entry-content">
<p>Just to followup on the <a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/icann-threatens-to-restrict-participation-rights-of-critic-george-kirikos/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">earlier blog post of today</a>, I received the following email from Keith Drazek (GNSO Council Chair),</p>
<blockquote><p>Dear Mr. Kirikos,</p>
<p>Receipt of your letter is acknowledged.</p>
<p>We note and regret that you have elected to not accept and agree to abide by ICANN’s Expected Standards of Behavior (ESOB).</p>
<p>As such, per the notice provided in the Council Leadership Team’s letter of 29 March, you will be placed in observer status in the RPM PDP WG and any other GNSO-related forum until such time we receive the necessary communication confirming acceptance of the ESOB, or until such time the ICANN Ombuds rules that you may return to member status following any appeal.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Keith Drazek<br />
GNSO Chair (on behalf of the GNSO Council Leadership Team)</p></blockquote>
<p>So, unless I “bend the knee” and “swear an oath of fealty” (or unless the ICANN Ombudsman says I can return), I’m forever banished. Is that reasonable and proportionate?</p>
<p>And, this affects participation for <strong>all working groups</strong> (not just the RPM PDP), even though there’s no issue in the IGO PDP!</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-twitter"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-twitter-79" class="share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text" href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/update-my-participation-rights-have-now-been-eliminated-at-icann-working-groups/?share=twitter" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Twitter"><span></span><span class="sharing-screen-reader-text">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)</span></a></li><li class="share-facebook"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-facebook-79" class="share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text" href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/update-my-participation-rights-have-now-been-eliminated-at-icann-working-groups/?share=facebook" target="_blank" title="Click to share on Facebook"><span></span><span class="sharing-screen-reader-text">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)</span></a></li><li class="share-linkedin"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="sharing-linkedin-79" class="share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text" href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/update-my-participation-rights-have-now-been-eliminated-at-icann-working-groups/?share=linkedin" target="_blank" title="Click to share on LinkedIn"><span></span><span class="sharing-screen-reader-text">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)</span></a></li><li class="share-end"></li></ul></div></div></div> </div>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/update-my-participation-rights-have-now-been-eliminated-at-icann-working-groups/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2019-04-05T10:54:59-04:00">April 5, 2019</time><time class="updated" datetime="2019-04-05T11:05:05-04:00">April 5, 2019</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a></span> </footer>
</article>
<article id="post-71" class="post-71 post type-post status-publish format-standard sticky hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann">
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<span class="sticky-post">Featured</span>
<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/icann-threatens-to-restrict-participation-rights-of-critic-george-kirikos/" rel="bookmark">ICANN Threatens to Restrict Participation Rights of critic George Kirikos</a></h2> </header>
<div class="entry-content">
<p>ICANN, in an affront to free speech and due process, has threatened to restrict my participation on important domain name policy issues, and I think it’s crucial that these topics be brought before the public for debate. <a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/icann-threatens-to-restrict-participation-rights-of-critic-george-kirikos/#more-71" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “ICANN Threatens to Restrict Participation Rights of critic George Kirikos”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/icann-threatens-to-restrict-participation-rights-of-critic-george-kirikos/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2019-04-05T01:34:30-04:00">April 5, 2019</time><time class="updated" datetime="2019-04-05T02:00:55-04:00">April 5, 2019</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-62" class="post-62 post type-post status-publish format-standard sticky hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann tag-udrp tag-verisign">
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<span class="sticky-post">Featured</span>
<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/hello-world/" rel="bookmark">Hello, World!</a></h2> </header>
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<p>I have launched this new blog today at FreeSpeech.com, in order to better educate the public about domain names, internet governance, ICANN, free speech, and other topics. <a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/hello-world/#more-62" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “Hello, World!”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/hello-world/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2019-04-05T00:33:44-04:00">April 5, 2019</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/udrp/" rel="tag">UDRP</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/verisign/" rel="tag">Verisign</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-555" class="post-555 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann tag-udrp tag-verisign">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2021/04/26/icann-staff-have-repeatedly-violated-public-comment-period-requirements-in-bylaws/" rel="bookmark">ICANN Staff Have Repeatedly Violated Public Comment Period Requirements in Bylaws</a></h2> </header>
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<p>I noticed earlier today that the ICANN <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/gnso-rpm-pdp-phase-1-final-recommendations-2021-04-07-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public comment period for Phase 1 of the RPM PDP</a> was unreasonably short, going from April 7, 2021 to April 30, 2021, a mere 23 days. As I noted on Twitter:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Can anyone explain why the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ICANN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ICANN</a> RPM PDP public comment period is only 23 days, whereas historically comment periods are 40+ days? <a href="https://twitter.com/ICANN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ICANN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ICANN_GNSO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ICANN_GNSO</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheFixIsIn?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheFixIsIn</a></p>
<p>Compare: April 7 to April 30<a href="https://t.co/BGivR1Md7u">https://t.co/BGivR1Md7u</a></p>
<p>vs. historical comment periods:<a href="https://t.co/tJWbuiLzZE">https://t.co/tJWbuiLzZE</a> <a href="https://t.co/Uvd99DV6f8">pic.twitter.com/Uvd99DV6f8</a></p>
<p>— George Kirikos (@GeorgeKirikos) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeKirikos/status/1386728598854414341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2021</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>this didn’t make sense, and seemed to me to be an attempt to stifle public input. I submitted a complaint to the relevant ICANN staff, and even submitted a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qT-2K_FsSGrxUNEjuHcjGxAZaC_xB55QO13gw9Wy-Pk/edit#gid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supporting spreadsheet analysis</a> which proved that 23 days is inconsistent with past comment periods.</p>
<p> <a href="https://freespeech.com/2021/04/26/icann-staff-have-repeatedly-violated-public-comment-period-requirements-in-bylaws/#more-555" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “ICANN Staff Have Repeatedly Violated Public Comment Period Requirements in Bylaws”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2021/04/26/icann-staff-have-repeatedly-violated-public-comment-period-requirements-in-bylaws/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2021-04-26T17:26:04-04:00">April 26, 2021</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/udrp/" rel="tag">UDRP</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/verisign/" rel="tag">Verisign</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-520" class="post-520 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann tag-udrp">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/10/30/icann-rpm-pdp-holds-a-sham-consensus-call-to-approve-its-recommendations/" rel="bookmark">ICANN RPM PDP holds a sham consensus call to approve its recommendations</a></h2> </header>
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<p>To what should be no one’s surprise at this point, the shenanigans in the ICANN RPM PDP working group continue, as a <strong>sham consensus call</strong> is now taking place to approve its recommendations.</p>
<p> <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/10/30/icann-rpm-pdp-holds-a-sham-consensus-call-to-approve-its-recommendations/#more-520" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “ICANN RPM PDP holds a sham consensus call to approve its recommendations”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/10/30/icann-rpm-pdp-holds-a-sham-consensus-call-to-approve-its-recommendations/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2020-10-30T10:35:08-04:00">October 30, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/udrp/" rel="tag">UDRP</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-492" class="post-492 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann tag-udrp tag-verisign">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/08/25/verisign-wants-the-urs-to-apply-to-dot-com-registrants/" rel="bookmark">Verisign Wants The URS To Apply To Dot-com Registrants</a></h2> </header>
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<p>Verisign, the abusive monopolist that operates the registries for dot-com and dot-net, wants to impose the <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/urs-2014-01-09-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uniform Rapid Suspension</a> (URS) policy on dot-com and dot-net registrants, which will <a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/12/03/urs-a-failed-domain-name-dispute-resolution-policy-that-icann-insiders-wish-to-impose-on-more-registrants-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">put valuable legacy domain names at risk</a> via a flawed dispute resolution procedure that was designed only for low stakes “throwaway” and worthless new gTLD domains.</p>
<p> <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/08/25/verisign-wants-the-urs-to-apply-to-dot-com-registrants/#more-492" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “Verisign Wants The URS To Apply To Dot-com Registrants”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/08/25/verisign-wants-the-urs-to-apply-to-dot-com-registrants/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2020-08-25T15:59:01-04:00">August 25, 2020</time><time class="updated" datetime="2020-08-25T16:48:06-04:00">August 25, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/udrp/" rel="tag">UDRP</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/verisign/" rel="tag">Verisign</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-465" class="post-465 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-icann category-uncategorized tag-icann tag-udrp tag-verisign">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/07/14/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-7/" rel="bookmark">ICANN RPM PDP Phase 1 Comment Period is another sham, part 7</a></h2> </header>
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<p>More shenanigans have now been detected in the ICANN RPM PDP, namely attempts to manipulate the outcome of the policy work through duplicative and/or coordinated comment submissions.</p>
<p>The ICANN <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/rpm-initial-report-2020-03-18-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RPM PDP Phase 1 comment period</a> ended on May 4, 2020, more than 2 months ago, yet ICANN had repeatedly refused to allow the raw public comments to be downloaded for easy independent analysis. I discussed that in a <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/15/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-6/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prior blog post</a>.</p>
<p>After much energy expended in a back and forth with ICANN’s Complaints department, <strong>some (but not all)</strong> of which has been posted under <a href="https://www.icann.org/complaints-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Complaint #00014905</a> on ICANN’s website, they finally did the right thing and made the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VX5swylTsUMDOZu5t_a2bhohiqUDnLQg7Yqf1CtvSYM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">raw comments downloadable</a> yesterday (just go to the File menu, and select the Download submenu, choose a format, etc.). Making the public comments spreadsheet downloadable was something that literally took ICANN staff at most 5 minutes to do, yet they spent months refusing such access. That is a cultural problem at ICANN, which refuses reasonable requests in the public interest, unless one is an “insider” — had it been Verisign or another “friend” of ICANN, surely they would have simply done the right thing <strong>immediately</strong>.</p>
<p>As I <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/15/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-6/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">suspected in the prior blog post</a>, there were seeming irregularities in the public comments:</p>
<blockquote><p>There may be even more irregularities which would be easier to detect if the data was more easily accessible.</p></blockquote>
<p>I have now created a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12oyApOsJyfEMY6hegAue_syuuqD-KHPCEWe_PamypbA/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>new spreadsheet</strong></a> (available in <a href="https://freespeech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RPM-PDP-comments-analysis-20200714.xlsx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Excel format here</a>, if the link to the Google Sheet is not working, e.g. if you’re in China) that highlights specific comments that were submitted, allowing one to easily compare them and see how similar they are to one another. The “Form Responses 1” tab is the original raw data, in its hideous format which made comparisons and analysis quite difficult (couldn’t resize or move columns/rows, long comments hard to read, couldn’t copy/paste, etc.). The “Analysis 1” tab takes row 1 and turns it into Column A using the “TRANSPOSE” function (see formula in cell A1). Similarly, the comments of <strong>Hermes</strong>, <strong>UNIFAB</strong>, <strong>Comite Colbert</strong>, <strong>Chanel</strong>, <strong>Moncler</strong> and <strong>Novartis</strong> are taken from rows 7, 25, 28, 30, 32 and 48, and turned into columns B through F, again, using the “TRANSPOSE” function (see formulae in cells B1 through G1). Thus, the cells weren’t copied and pasted — they were pulled using a formula, and thus no duplication errors were introduced by incorrect copying of cells to the wrong place. I then made a few cells bold, added a background colour for column A, and resized the columns B through F, to make it easier to see the similarities.</p>
<p>As you can easily see by simply scrolling down through all the rows (helps to have a large monitor, to see all 6 comments side-by-side without scrolling), these were not 6 independently-generated comments. Instead, they are essentially 1 submission that has been, for the most part duplicated (with minor variations in a few places) 6 times. Remember, the original spreadsheet did not allow downloads or copying and pasting of answers. This implies that those 6 companies likely coordinated their submissions via a separate (and presumably private) master document that they shared amongst each other, which was used to copy/paste submissions. <strong>This then allowed them to over-represent their comments, relative to other submissions, in an attempt to manipulate the outcome of this PDP by making their preferred outcomes seem more popular, while simultaneously diminishing the impact of opposing positions.</strong></p>
<p>The “Analysis 2” tab highlights the comments of Renee Fossen of Forum (National Arbitration Forum) and Richard Hill. As I <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/15/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-6/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">noted previously</a>, many of Mr. Hill’s comments simply supported Ms. Fossen’s.</p>
<p>Going back to the the Analysis 1 tab, this is not the only time some of those companies have submitted mostly duplicative coordinated comments to ICANN. Their comments to the <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/epdp-phase-2-addendum-2020-03-26-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WHOIS EPDP comment period</a> can be seen via the spreadsheet <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jN5ThNtmcVJ8txdAGw0ynl5vrGJOuEv8xeccvzjR9qM/edit#gid=2086811131" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>. While not downloadable, one can simply compare submissions in rows 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14 with each other and note the striking similarities.</p>
<p>The goal of these public comment periods is to get a sense of how the community feels about the various proposals. As such, it is important that those submissions be representative. When there is a small number of unrepresentative submissions, policy outcomes can be skewed by those over-represented participants or voices, like those 6 European brand owners.</p>
<p>Why does this matter? In the RPM PDP comment period, there were <strong>only 55 submissions that were counted</strong> (some of the obvious duplications were already eliminated, e.g. the multiple submissions from Hermes and the IPC that I had<a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/15/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-6/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> previously discussed</a>). If one eliminates 5 or 6 of the above comments as duplicative (let’s say 5, to be conservative), that reduces the total number to 50. That might not seem like a big difference, but it’s enormous, given that the superficial analysis performed by the working group members (remember, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2019/04/05/update-my-participation-rights-have-now-been-eliminated-at-icann-working-groups/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">I’m unfairly banned, and am unable to participate</a>, but have reviewed all the recordings) focused on just the “numbers” as to how many “votes” a proposal got from the community. Removing 10% or more of “votes” from specific proposals would shift the balance considerably, on <strong>nearly every issue</strong>.</p>
<p>Let’s look at a specific example, URS Individual Proposal #15, a deeply flawed proposal that <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/13/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">I’ve discussed in the past</a> and which you can see my own comments in cell C19 of the “<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QTt_m5qdzoalRDcIUED01ur-yJgODCex8bj_-aKO7fI/edit#gid=1311753169" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Public Comment Review Tool</a>” (in the URS Proposal15 tab). The public comments were reviewed on June 25, 2020, and one can <a href="https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/policy/2020/transcript/transcript-gnso-rpm-25jun20-en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">read the transcript</a> of that working group call (starting from page 7). Without adjusting the responses, 45.5% of respondents, i.e. 25 out of 55, did not support the proposal. That level of opposition alone should have been enough to kill the proposal outright. But, on the other side, UNIFAB, Colbert, Chanel, Moncler and Novartis all supported it with a “minor” change and Hermes supported it “as written”. “Support as written” and “support concept with minor change” had a combined 15 out of 55 responses (27%).</p>
<p>But, adjusting the responses to eliminate the over-representation of those European brand owners has 2 effects. First, the opposition becomes 25 out of 50 (i.e. the denominator changes from 55 to 50), and so that becomes 50% (instead of 45.5%). And, for those supporting it, it goes from 15 out of 55 to just 10 out of 50 (i.e. affects both the numerator and the denominator), and thus that becomes only 20% support.</p>
<p>Shockingly, and a sign of the <strong>true level of capture of the working group</strong>, that proposal continues to live to fight another day (see page 25 of the transcript), rather than being tossed in the scrap heap.</p>
<blockquote><p>Phil offered us an opportunity to live another day, to take the concept back, to rework it and reintroduce it to the working group. So I think that those of us who wanted the concept to survive should declare victory, retreat, and work on this together and then try again with introducing something to the working group that might be more acceptable to the working group at-large.</p></blockquote>
<p>Truly disgusting, and I’ll have more to say about the repeated double-standards evident throughout the superficial “review” of the public comments in future blog posts.</p>
<p>Similar swings in relative support levels would happen on other proposals and recommendations, once the proper adjustments are made.</p>
<p>It’s clear that the working group must now go back and redo the analysis of the past 2 months, to remove the effects of those attempting to manipulate the apparent popularity of their positions. That’s for starters. The blame for this falls squarely on ICANN staff and the co-chairs, for (1) not providing a downloadable version of the comments 2 months ago, when multiple people asked for it, (2) designing a purposely-flawed comment period that created enormous burdens for those wishing to make comments, and (3) not doing widespread outreach to get a large representative sample of the views of affected stakeholders.</p>
<p>You’ll recall that ICANN dismissed and denigrated the thousands of comments that were submitted in the <a href="https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/comments-org-renewal-18mar19/2019q2/date.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dot-org</a> and <a href="https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20/2020q1/date.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dot-com</a> contract comment periods. They were dismissed as <a href="https://www.internetcommerce.org/1660-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spam</a>, for example. Verisign themselves <a href="https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/comments-com-amendment-3-03jan20/2020q1/008989.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The Internet Commerce Association (“ICA”) and other allies in the domain name speculation business including registrars like Namecheap and Dynadot, have made a concerted effort to distort this public comment period. They have distorted the facts in a campaign-style effort to flood ICANN with public comments created by form-letter generators and templates created for the sole purpose of protecting their own financial stake in the speculation business.</p></blockquote>
<p>Verisign went on to write about attempts to “hijack the legitimate public comment period”. Those are strong words. If Verisign is to be consistent, then the distortion caused by those European brand owners, the attempt to “hijack the legitimate comment period” must be addressed.</p>
<p>This failure caused by ICANN staff and the co-chairs can also be addressed by having a <strong>second public comment period</strong>. This should be by the traditional email interface, rather than the flawed Google Forms that has been repeatedly and roundly criticized by multiple stakeholders.</p>
<p>In conclusion, this new evidence reinforces the conclusion that the RPM PDP is a captured and sham working group, that needs a complete overhaul, if it’s even worth salvaging in any form. Their work product, upon any serious examination, has been complete garbage. While some may “hold their nose” and live with it, the stakes are too high for the public (and domain name registrants in particular) to allow this fiasco to continue.</p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/07/14/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-7/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2020-07-14T14:31:49-04:00">July 14, 2020</time><time class="updated" datetime="2020-07-14T19:07:57-04:00">July 14, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/udrp/" rel="tag">UDRP</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/verisign/" rel="tag">Verisign</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-452" class="post-452 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-uncategorized tag-domain-transactions">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/07/11/delta-com-domain-name-was-acquired-in-july-2000-for-2125000-heres-how-to-discover-more-big-deals/" rel="bookmark">Delta.com domain name was acquired in July 2000 for $2,125,000. Here’s how to discover more big deals!</a></h2> </header>
<div class="entry-content">
<p><a href="https://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">EDGAR</a>, the SEC’s electronic database of securities filings, has <a href="https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">revamped its full text search</a>, now allowing searches of filings since 2000. The <a href="https://searchwww.sec.gov/EDGARFSClient/jsp/EDGAR_MainAccess.jsp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">legacy full text search</a> (which will only be available until September 2020) only indexed the previous 4 years (although I’ve been checking weekly for new filings for longer than that).</p>
<p>Due to this new capability, I discovered that the Delta.com domain name was acquired in July 2000 by Delta Airlines, for <strong>$2,125,000</strong>. This was reported on <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1021848/000102184800000007/0001021848-00-000007-0001.txt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">page 5 of the SEC filing of Delta Financial</a>, its prior owner:</p>
<blockquote><p>In July 2000, the Company also sold a domain name for $2.125 million.</p></blockquote>
<p>AdAge had <a href="https://adage.com/article/news/delta-flies-1-billion-web-sales/1348" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported about the transaction in September 2000</a>, but the exact price had gone unreported. They wrote:</p>
<blockquote><p>In a move that shows how important the Internet has become in the travel industry, Delta Air Lines has shifted its Web address to the easy-to-remember (delta.com) and launched an ad campaign trumpeting the new URL.</p>
<p>The campaign from Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, launched last week and includes TV, print and radio. Print tells customers the simpler URL will save them “an extra 0.73 seconds,” TV features the delta-air.com URL morphing into the new delta.com, while radio asks, “Why oh why wasn’t delta.com our Web address all along?”</p></blockquote>
<p>That’s probably a campaign slogan that could be emulated by numerous other companies who’ve upgraded their domain names. <strong>“Why oh why wasn’t ________ our Web address all along?”</strong></p>
<h2><strong>Help Discover More Big Deals</strong></h2>
<p>For those who are keen to help uncover other unreported domain name transactions, feel free to search at EDGAR using terms such as:</p>
<p>“domain name”<br />
“domain names”<br />
“bought the domain”<br />
“sold the domain”<br />
“acquired the domain”<br />
“bought a domain”<br />
“sold a domain”<br />
“acquired a domain”<br />
etc.</p>
<p>In my experience, variations such as “web address” or “URL” are sometimes used, too, by companies reporting domain name transactions.</p>
<p>The legacy search engine produced results in reverse chronological order, which was very convenient. It also featured “<a href="https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/edgarfulltextfaq.htm#q26" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stemming</a>” (see FAQ #26) which automatically captured variations of terms. I hope the new search engine will prove equally powerful. The new search engine limits the results to 10,000, but one can change the date range to get fewer results. For example, if one is checking every week like I’ve been doing, one need only search the past 7 days, as one would have already researched the prior results. [of course, this strategy doesn’t apply now to the much older results, that I’d never poured through]</p>
<p>Going through the individual matching results can be time-consuming if you don’t know what you’re doing. <strong>Ctrl-F</strong> is definitely your friend, to “<strong>find</strong>” words in the document (e.g. “domain”), rather than reading the entire filing. I’d say only about 1 in 500 matches actually results in anything worth reporting (i.e. many companies mention the term “domain name” somewhere in their filings, but nearly all of those are not reporting a domain name transaction – it’s often just boilerplate text in the intellectual property section, for example). Even if one does discover a domain name transaction, often the exact domain name won’t be mentioned (for example, in the Delta Financial SEC filing noted above, it merely said “a domain name”), so one will have to do further research using tools such as <a href="https://www.domaintools.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DomainTools.com</a> and/or <a href="https://archive.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Archive.org</a> before being able to narrow things down. Redacted WHOIS is definitely making things harder for researchers and journalists.</p>
<p>Once you’re confident about your research, do blog or tweet about it, and send it off to Ron Jackson at <a href="http://dnjournal.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DNJournal</a>. Of course, make sure that the transaction hasn’t already been reported, e.g. by checking <a href="https://namebio.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NameBio.com</a>, searching in Google for other reports, or searching DNJournal specifically for that domain name, e.g. a search in Google of</p>
<p><strong>site:dnjournal.com “example.com”</strong></p>
<p>(changing “example.com” to the relevant domain name, <strong>but retaining the quotation marks</strong>)</p>
<h2>Additional Discoveries</h2>
<p>Since I first published the article earlier today (morning of July 11, 2020), I’ve already uncovered additional previously unreported transactions, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>gold.ca – CAD $15,000 in 2008, as per the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000920543/000113717108000699/cdg6k072308.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SEC filing</a></li>
<li>weekend.com – USD $200,000 in December 2000, as per the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1133311/000095013801000034/0000950138-01-000034.txt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SEC filing</a></li>
<li>passwords.com – USD $115,900 in 2000, as per footnote 4 on page 4 of the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000870227/000115895708000186/f10qsb123101.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SEC filing</a></li>
<li>elections.com – USD $100,000 in July 2000, as per the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001094231/000091205700037465/a10-q.txt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SEC filing</a></li>
<li>headhunter.com – USD $35,000 in July 1998, as per the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001065984/000095014400008922/e10-ka.txt" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SEC filing</a></li>
</ul>
<p>There are likely many other previously unreported domain name transactions just waiting to be found….</p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/07/11/delta-com-domain-name-was-acquired-in-july-2000-for-2125000-heres-how-to-discover-more-big-deals/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2020-07-11T09:46:24-04:00">July 11, 2020</time><time class="updated" datetime="2020-07-11T15:33:44-04:00">July 11, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/domain-transactions/" rel="tag">domain transactions</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-443" class="post-443 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/06/30/scotus-on-domain-names/" rel="bookmark">SCOTUS on domain names</a></h2> </header>
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<p>The Supreme Court of the United States issued its <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-46_8n59.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">decision</a> today in the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19-46.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United States Patent and Trademark Office, et al., v. Booking.com B.V.</a> case. By an 8-1 margin, the court ruled that Booking.com could register a federal trademark for the mark “booking.com” despite the term “booking” (without the dot-com) being generic for the same goods and/or services. I expected this result (although not by an 8-1 margin; I thought it would be 6-3), so it was a positive outcome, in my opinion.</p>
<p> <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/06/30/scotus-on-domain-names/#more-443" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “SCOTUS on domain names”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/06/30/scotus-on-domain-names/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2020-06-30T12:46:02-04:00">June 30, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-431" class="post-431 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann tag-verisign">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/24/original-cooperative-agreement-that-laid-the-foundation-of-verisigns-monopoly/" rel="bookmark">Original Cooperative Agreement That Laid The Foundation of Verisign’s Monopoly</a></h2> </header>
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<p>To understand Verisign’s anti-competitive monopoly for dot-com domain name registration services, it is important to analyze its agreements with the US government. NTIA has a page on their website documenting aspects of their <a href="https://www.ntia.doc.gov/page/verisign-cooperative-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cooperative agreement with Verisign</a>. However, that page is incomplete, as it only lists Amendments 10 through 35. The original agreement (between the National Science Foundation and Network Solutions) and the first 9 amendments are not published.</p>
<p>A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request <a href="https://www.ntia.doc.gov/page/2011/foia-information" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">was made to NTIA</a> to obtain those additional historical records. I’m happy to report that NTIA responded to that request and sent <strong>all</strong> the requested documents. [NB: the US government takes FOIA requests seriously, unlike ICANN’s broken <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/governance/transparency-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Documentary Information Disclosure Policy</a>, which pretends to be like the FOIA but is far inferior to it]</p>
<p> <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/24/original-cooperative-agreement-that-laid-the-foundation-of-verisigns-monopoly/#more-431" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “Original Cooperative Agreement That Laid The Foundation of Verisign’s Monopoly”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/24/original-cooperative-agreement-that-laid-the-foundation-of-verisigns-monopoly/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2020-05-24T10:14:31-04:00">May 24, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/verisign/" rel="tag">Verisign</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-412" class="post-412 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann tag-udrp tag-verisign">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/15/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-6/" rel="bookmark">ICANN RPM PDP Phase 1 Comment Period is another sham, part 6</a></h2> </header>
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<p>More and more people are coming to the realization that the ICANN comment periods are a sham, open to manipulation by ICANN insiders and staff. The comment period for the <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/rpm-initial-report-2020-03-18-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Phase 1 Initial Report of the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs Policy Development Process</a> ended on May 4, 2020, <strong>eleven days ago</strong>. I have previously written about it (see my prior blog posts <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/13/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/16/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/17/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/27/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/02/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-5/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>). Rather than diving in and actually doing the work of analyzing the public comments, ICANN staff are actively <strong>preventing</strong> working group members from having easy access to those submissions.</p>
<p> <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/15/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-6/#more-412" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “ICANN RPM PDP Phase 1 Comment Period is another sham, part 6”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/15/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-6/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2020-05-15T11:27:42-04:00">May 15, 2020</time><time class="updated" datetime="2020-05-15T12:16:19-04:00">May 15, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/udrp/" rel="tag">UDRP</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/verisign/" rel="tag">Verisign</a></span> </footer>
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<article id="post-396" class="post-396 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-domain-names category-icann tag-icann tag-udrp tag-verisign">
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/03/urgent-last-call-to-submit-comments-on-rpm-pdp-initial-report/" rel="bookmark">URGENT: Last call to submit comments on RPM PDP Initial Report</a></h2> </header>
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<p>The comment period for the <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/rpm-initial-report-2020-03-18-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Phase 1 Initial Report of the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs Policy Development Process</a> ends 23:39 UTC on May 4, 2020, just a day from now (which is not sufficient time to do a thorough analysis). I have previously written about it (see my prior blog posts <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/13/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/16/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/17/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/27/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>).</p>
<p>[<strong>Update</strong>: I finished my final comments at 1:30 am Toronto time on May 4, so I’ve updated the article below with links to the newer PDF; the changes were relatively minor since the earlier draft, with just some tweaks on the TMCH comments, and stylistic changes, typos, etc.]</p>
<p>To help those who wish to submit public comments, or who wish to refine their own, I’m posting <del>a draft</del> the final version of my extensive comments <a href="https://freespeech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/FINAL-George-Kirikos-rpm-initial-report-public-comment2020May4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>. My answers are all in <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>RED text</strong></span>. I’m unable to use the <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/27/icanns-garbage-public-comment-system/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">broken online forms</a>, so I’ll need to submit via a DOCX file by tomorrow instead.</p>
<p> <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/03/urgent-last-call-to-submit-comments-on-rpm-pdp-initial-report/#more-396" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “URGENT: Last call to submit comments on RPM PDP Initial Report”</span></a></p>
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<h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/02/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-5/" rel="bookmark">ICANN RPM PDP Phase 1 Comment Period is another sham, part 5</a></h2> </header>
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<p>The comment period for the <a href="https://www.icann.org/public-comments/rpm-initial-report-2020-03-18-en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Phase 1 Initial Report of the Review of All Rights Protection Mechanisms in All gTLDs Policy Development Process</a> ends on May 4, 2020, less than 2 days from now (which is not sufficient time to do a thorough analysis). I have previously written about it (see my prior blog posts <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/13/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/16/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/17/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/04/27/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>). However, it continues to be fraught with problems. <a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/02/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-5/#more-392" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> “ICANN RPM PDP Phase 1 Comment Period is another sham, part 5”</span></a></p>
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<span class="byline"><span class="author vcard"><img alt src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g" class="avatar avatar-49 photo jetpack-lazy-image" height="49" width="49" loading="lazy" data-lazy-srcset="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x" data-lazy-src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&is-pending-load=1#038;d=mm&r=g" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"><noscript><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=49&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/920b82456ced476dc0a3c9ffc8885e82?s=98&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-49 photo' height='49' width='49' loading='lazy'/></noscript><span class="screen-reader-text">Author </span> <a class="url fn n" href="https://freespeech.com/author/fspeech/">George Kirikos</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted on </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/2020/05/02/icann-rpm-pdp-phase-1-comment-period-is-another-sham-part-5/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2020-05-02T22:50:52-04:00">May 2, 2020</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Categories </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/category/domain-names/" rel="category tag">domain names</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/category/icann/" rel="category tag">ICANN</a></span><span class="tags-links"><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags </span><a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/icann/" rel="tag">ICANN</a>, <a href="https://freespeech.com/tag/udrp/" rel="tag">UDRP</a></span> </footer>
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windowOpen = window.open( el.getAttribute( 'href' ), 'wpcomfacebook', 'menubar=1,resizable=1,width=600,height=400' );
return false;
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var windowOpen;
( function () {
function matches( el, sel ) {
return !! (
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}
document.body.addEventListener( 'click', function ( event ) {
if ( ! event.target ) {
return;
}
var el;
if ( matches( event.target, 'a.share-linkedin' ) ) {
el = event.target;
} else if ( event.target.parentNode && matches( event.target.parentNode, 'a.share-linkedin' ) ) {
el = event.target.parentNode;
}
if ( el ) {
event.preventDefault();
// If there's another sharing window open, close it.
if ( typeof windowOpen !== 'undefined' ) {
windowOpen.close();
}
windowOpen = window.open( el.getAttribute( 'href' ), 'wpcomlinkedin', 'menubar=1,resizable=1,width=580,height=450' );
return false;
}
} );
} )();
</script>
<script src='https://stats.wp.com/e-202119.js' defer></script>
<script>
_stq = window._stq || [];
_stq.push([ 'view', {v:'ext',j:'1:9.7',blog:'4884533',post:'0',tz:'-4',srv:'freespeech.com'} ]);
_stq.push([ 'clickTrackerInit', '4884533', '0' ]);
</script>
</body>
</html>
URL
GET https://www.freespeech.com/
Response Headers
Cf-Cache-Status:DYNAMICCf-Ray:64d475af3ecf0742-FRACf-Request-Id:09f8a7e184000007428e0f4000000001Content-Type:text/html; charset=UTF-8Date:Mon, 10 May 2021 16:14:18 GMTExpect-Ct:max-age=604800, report-uri="https://report-uri.cloudflare.com/cdn-cgi/beacon/expect-ct"Location:https://freespeech.com/Nel:{"report_to":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}Report-To:{"endpoints":[{"url":"https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report?s=SeAFIEUm1j9EL22NwQ%2FgpHPKzSR4JxZ8awId03LLzw7rV7BRy3dOLCHhpcPsg4snunf2uGn8lroCkriY1F6Wvo6%2BrK%2FFoGABh4LE%2F8SRxVXHSUg%3D"}],"group":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}Server:cloudflareVary:User-AgentX-Redirect-By:WordPress
Response Body
Empty body
URL
GET http://www.freespeech.com/
Response Headers
Cache-Control:max-age=3600Cf-Ray:64d475addb97073e-FRACf-Request-Id:09f8a7e0a70000073e533bb000000001Connection:keep-aliveDate:Mon, 10 May 2021 16:14:17 GMTExpires:Mon, 10 May 2021 17:14:17 GMTLocation:https://www.freespeech.com/Nel:{"report_to":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}Report-To:{"endpoints":[{"url":"https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report?s=PhDaqM%2F%2BHJvdukXjTQFdbu0DASiA86ftlK0qaP6X%2FVxuyTau6oSEFGNmRQ5fo7pexTFohW7OVPKu24DZ%2F823VCXAXeEzDD9214HEkKbx%2F0XB2rg%3D"}],"group":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}Server:cloudflare
Response Body
Empty body
Resolver
Resolver ASN
AS6866
Resolver IP
195.14.154.101
Resolver Network Name
Cyprus Telecommunications Authority
Measurement UID
20210510161422.420348_CY_webconnectivity_c7494f1eee4294a5
Report ID
20210510T161336Z_webconnectivity_CY_6866_n1_DmpvuO0tWCBvoMko
Platform
macos
Software Name
ooniprobe-desktop (3.4.0)
Measurement Engine
ooniprobe-engine (3.9.2)