Jonathan Make

When ICANN's board meets in coming days, Mozilla wants directors to scrutinize the Internet Society's sale of the Public Interest Registry to Ethos Capital. Board members should devise criteria Friday, said a Mozilla blog post Thursday. It said a stewardship charter, B corporation registration with public charter, and public feedback on the first two criteria "should be in place before ICANN considers approving the sale." Mozilla sought a charter giving a PIR stewardship council of .org stakeholders "broad scope, meaningful independence, and practical authority to ensure PIR continues to serve the public benefit." It would guarantee Ethos and PIR "keep their promises regarding price increases, and steer any additional revenue from higher prices back into the dot org ecosystem." PIR won't change because of its "indirect transfer of ownership," an Ethos spokesperson emailed. "ICANN has a clear and specific mandate" here, she added. "ICANN’s exclusive responsibility in reviewing any transfer of control is to ensure that it does not adversely impact the stability, reliability, or security of the registry." PIR post-deal will meet those criteria, she said. "Should ICANN base its decision about this transaction on opinions that have been circulating in public discussion that are unrelated to these criteria, it would set a dangerous precedent. It would put ICANN in the business of subjectively deciding who should own registries based on issues other than the stability, reliability and security of the registry. This becomes a very gray area." It would "create a slippery slope for ICANN, cause significant uncertainty for any company in the future seeking to purchase or sell a domain name registry, create an uncertain and unpredictable business environment for registries and raise serious doubts about whether ICANN is expanding its role far beyond its limited mandate. The enforceability and value of the ICANN contract itself would be called into question." ICANN didn't comment now. It last week extended the time to review PIR's purchase to next month (see 2001210034). ISOC and PIR noted the deal won't change the nonprofit website registrar that's being transferred nor .org. "It’s important all sides of this debate are heard, including ours," emailed a spokesperson on behalf of ISOC and PIR. "PIR will retain the same management team that is in place today, and will continue to operate the .ORG registry in the same way that it has successfully operated the registry for the past 16 years."

ICANN extended to Feb. 17 the time to review Public Interest Registry submissions on the Internet Society selling PIR to Ethos Capital. ICANN will seek more information, it announced Friday. That won't delay the original Feb. 17 deadline to OK or turn down the deal, wrote ICANN Senior Vice President-Global Domains Division Cyrus Namazi to PIR CEO Jon Nevett. PIR has shown a "desire to act in the spirit of cooperation so that ICANN has a full understanding," Namazi wrote. The three parties to the transaction back the extra time, a spokesperson responded on their behalf Tuesday. Ethos, ISOC and PIR "stand firmly behind the merits of this transaction" that represent "immense opportunities" for ISOC and PIR "to advance their important work for the public benefit and the Internet at large," the spokesperson emailed. "Ethos investment in PIR will further strengthen .ORG." Over 21,000 people, 660 organizations and six members of Congress (see 2001160061) ask ICANN to halt the $1.135 billion takeover, noted the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The speed of the deal and the dangerous lack of transparency" worry EFF, wrote Senior Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz. EFF is "encouraged that ICANN is taking the time to review the deal more closely and ask more questions," Stoltz emailed us Tuesday. "It remains to be seen whether ICANN will listen to the concerns of .ORG users and address the obvious conflicts of interest that the Ethos deal raises."

Six Democratic lawmakers asked ICANN to block the Internet Society's sale of the .org registrar to a private equity firm (see 2001150013). Information from parties to the deal "raise significant questions about the new arrangement, and fail to provide assurances that" buyer "Ethos Capital will be a responsible steward of the .ORG registry, or that the registry will be operated under meaningful oversight," the lawmakers wrote Thursday. A contract gives the Public Interest Registry that ISOC is selling "nearly free rein to regulate the content of websites in the name of implementing 'protections of the legal rights of third parties," wrote Massachusetts Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, the latter also a 2020 candidate for president, and the others. "Ethos Capital has stated that the new parent entity of PIR would act in the public benefit, but it has not proposed a structure of governance and accountability that would bind this commitment in a meaningful way." Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Reps. Anna Eshoo of California and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin also signed the letter. ICANN didn't comment. The three parties to the deal disagree with views in the letter, believing it doesn't "acknowledge the strong merits of this transaction -- namely the immense opportunity it will create for both PIR and the Internet Society to advance their important work for the public benefit and the Internet at large." The deal "serves the public interest," contend Ethos, ISOC and PIR, emailed a spokesperson on their behalf. It would let PIR "expand its work and the services it provides to the nonprofit community and other .ORG users" and give ISOC "essential support" via "a substantial endowment that will ensure its ability to continue its efforts to build a more accessible, inclusive and secure Internet around the world," the representative said. "PIR and Ethos will provide the resources to grow .ORG and develop innovative products and services that will strengthen the ability of mission-driven organizations and others."

Don't ban facial recognition technology due to privacy concerns (see 2001140063), said one witness for Wednesday's House Oversight Committee hearing. Industry "has taken many steps to ensure the safe and responsible deployment," testified Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro. "Congress should focus on steps to improve oversight and accountability of commercial use of facial recognition technology." Castro said "even narrow bans can have unintended consequences, given the widespread integration of facial recognition technology." Committee staff noted such tech is "increasingly in home security systems, social media sites, shopping malls, and elsewhere for advertising, security, access, photo and video data identification, and accessibility." Committee members of both parties hope to have a bipartisan bill. Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., expects one to be introduced and marked up “in the very near future.” Facial identification tech is "just not ready for prime time," said Maloney. “Despite these concerns, we see facial recognition technology being used more and more.” It's "completely unregulated at the federal level,” she noted. Ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, appreciates "your willingness to work with us on this legislation," he told Maloney at the start of his opening remarks (see 21-minute mark). “All sides are trying to work together." It's a “powerful technology,” with a market of some $9 billion expected by 2022: “We understand and appreciate the great promise that this technology holds.” For him, "the urgent issue” to “tackle ... is reining in the government's unchecked use of this technology when it impairs our freedoms and our liberties.” He cited the First and Fourth amendments. “This issue transcends politics,” Jordan said. He fears a “patchwork of laws” arising from localities. Studies find "significant variance" between facial recognition algorithms, said National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Technology Laboratory Director Charles Romine. "Some produce significantly fewer errors than others." Don't "think of facial recognition as either always accurate or always error prone," he said. The staff memo said the committee held two 2019 hearings on the subject.

At times over about the past week, the FCC's primary document filing and public access system didn't always appear fully operational. At some points last week, the electronic comment filing system wouldn't allow some filings to be searched for and/or accessed. Through early this week, pleadings that would have normally been publicly accessible on a particular day because they were filed in time for that didn't appear until a subsequent day.

Controversy over the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee flared again. In April, questions arose about whether applicants were fairly picked. Many nonprofits that say they represent consumers were turned down for CAC membership, after previously belonging. Now, those who were rejected and transparency experts think the commission under Chairman Ajit Pai is wrongly withholding CAC documents, they said in interviews after reviewing the case.

FCC staff is talking with officials in California, Oregon and Texas on agreements to check eligibility of those states' low-income subsidized telecom service subscribers, Chairman Ajit Pai told us after Thursday's commissioners' meeting. "I expect those agreements will be reached and [the] verifier stood up in those states by the end of the year. We are making progress." FCC employees are working with other agencies so the national verifier can "ping," or check with, other databases to confirm subscriber eligibility, he said.

FCC staff, announcing the next states to get soft rollouts of a national verifier of Lifeline eligibility, appeared to some stakeholders to have given more time than the agency had previously planned for the move. States and others had been calling for that for many months. The NV rollout will start Monday in Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, said a Wireline Bureau public notice. Earlier Monday, an FCC enforcement advisory said it emphasized eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) getting government money for the broadband and phone service program "remain responsible for claiming Lifeline support only for eligible low-income consumers."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants to spend some $9 billion from the USF over about 10 years for fifth-generation wireless services. At least $1 billion would be for precision agriculture, the agency announced this afternoon.

FCC staff approved about $3.5 billion worth of broadcast deals, over opposition from some opponents of media consolidation. A company affiliated with Apollo Global Management is buying what stakeholders have said are all of Cox Enterprises' TV stations and most of its radio stations. Also being purchased are apparently all of Northwest's TV stations (see 1910180027).