Showing posts with label Rightside. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rightside. Show all posts

2017-07-30

News Review: EFF Warns Registrants To Avoid New gTLD Domain Names

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-07-30) with analysis and opinion: Features •  1) EFF Warns Registrants To Avoid New gTLD Domain Names,  2) ICANN news: ICANN Chairman Tells GNSO new gTLDs' hucksters to stick it, 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: Cannabis Domainer has 7500 domain names, $20 million in losses, $199 in the bank, 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News, 5) Investing: Q2 2017 Results, R.I.P. Rightside $NAME: it wasn't supposed to end this way, 6) Most Read Posts This Past Week.

 1)  EFF is now encouraging registrants to avoid domain names that are subject to the TMCH (i.e., all the new gTLDs delegated by ICANN since 2012):
Read  How Threats Against Domain Names Are Used to Censor Content | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org July 27, 2017: "Today EFF and Public Knowledge are releasing a whitepaper titled Which Internet registries offer the best protection for domain owners? ..." (embedded below):

Excerpt from EFF's linked article above, also announced on an ICANN public mail list (emphasis added):
".... This probably means you'll want to think twice about registering in any of the newer global [generic] top-level domains ([new] gTLDs), which provide brand owners access to a privately-run Trademark Clearinghouse that gives them veto powers that go far beyond those they would receive under the trademark law of the United States or those of most other countries.
"For example, under U.S. trademark law, if a trademark applicant sought to register an ordinary word such as smart, forex, hotel, one, love, cloud, nyc, london, abc, or luxury, they would have to specify the category of goods or services they provide, and protection for the mark might only be extended to its use in a logo, rather than as a plain word. Yet each of the plain words above has been registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, to prevent them being used in any of the new gTLDs without triggering a warning to prospective registrants about possible infringement.
"This applies regardless of whether the planned usage covers the same category of goods or services as the original trademark—indeed there isn't even any way for the registrant to find out what that category was, or even which country accepted the mark for registration, because the contents of the Trademark Clearinghouse database are secret. And since 94% of prospective registrants abandon their attempted registration of a domain after receiving a trademark warning, this has a drastic chilling effect on speech.
"EFF is currently participating in an ICANN working group fighting to ensure that brand owners' veto rights aren't extended even further (for example to catch domains that include typos of brand names), and to prevent these outrageous rules being applied to older gTLDs such as .com, .net, and .org. But for now, you can minimize your exposure to trademark bullying by avoiding registering your website in one of the new domains that is subject to these unfair policies. Our whitepaper explains what to look for."-- Jeremy Malcolm, Senior Global Policy Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Also caveat emptor: The URS Also Applies to These Top-Level Domains (in addition to the new gTLDs).  [Editor's note: the Bottom Line? Stick with .COM domain names and "safe" ccTLDs, and leave the "garbage extensions" a/k/a new gTLDs for cybercriminals, spammers, cybersquatters, and those mostly ignorant speculators in China and elsewhere who are such easy prey for the con artists and hucksters of the new gTLDs domain name industry and its "partner" ICANN.]

2) ICANN news
•  ICANN Chairman a/k/a "old man Crocker" told (in a nice way) the new gTLDs' hucksters (members of the GNSO Registries Stakeholder Group a/k/a RySG), where to stick it--correspondence/crocker-to-diaz-26jul17-en.pdf:

•  Geographic Names: Final Paper – June 2017 | Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (pdf) Cross-Community Working Group - Framework for use of Country and Territory Names as TLDs: A substantial majority of the members recommend that the chartering organisations:
  • Close this CWG in accordance with and as foreseen in the charter.
  • Recommend that the ICANN community consolidate all policy efforts relating to geographic names (as that term has traditionally very broadly been defined in the ICANN environment to this point) to enable in-depth analyses and discussions on all aspects related to all geographic-related names. This is the only way, in our view, to determine whether a harmonized framework is truly achievable.
  • Recommend that future policy development work must facilitate an all-inclusive dialogue to ensure that all members of the community have the opportunity to participate. Again, we believe that this is the only way to determine whether a harmonized framework is truly achievable.
•  ICANN’s new Chief Data Protection Officer (CDPO) | ICANN.org: Daniel Halloran who "will take on this role, in addition to his current responsibilities as [ICANN] Deputy General Counsel."
•  Public Comment: GNSO Operating Procedures and ICANN Bylaws | ICANN.org: Close Date 10 Aug 2017 23:59 UTC.
•   Contracting Stats | ICANN New gTLDs | newgtlds.icann.org
•  ICANN Active Cooperative Engagement Process (CEP) Proceedings Status Update 18 July 2017 (pdf):
The Cooperative Engagement Process (CEP) is a process voluntarily invoked by a complainant prior to the filing of an Independent Review Process (IRP). More info here (pdf).
3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
•  Northsight Capital Makes Cannabis Stocks Look Bad | SeekingAlpha.com: "The company has recorded $20 million in losses and has $199 in the bank ... It's a media company that owns 7,500 domain names centered on the cannabis industry. The main platform is called The Marijuana Marketing Network and its biggest concept is WeedDepot.com."

•  Cannabis Industry FAQ | Pepper Hamilton LLP | JDSupra.com: "Can marijuana businesses receive federal trademark registrations? No. Because marijuana is still illegal under the Controlled Substances Act, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will deny applications for trademarks for marijuana retailers or marijuana products because they are not used in "lawful commerce.""

•  What's the Best Domain Name Registrar? | lifehacker.com: Namecheap or _____?

•  Do You Even Trademark, Bro? | Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. | JDSupra.com: "... According to the Complaint ... Defendants have . . . recently resorted to ... using a trademark eatketobro and domain name, EATKETOBRO.COM, that are confusingly similar to Plaintiffs’ EAT CLEAN BRO Trademarks and Plaintiffs’ EATCLEANBRO.COM domain name.” Giovinazzo alleges both trademark infringement and dilution. What do you think? Is Eat Keto Bro confusingly similar to Eat Clean Bro?  What about these other bro-related food services? DoYouEvenEatBro.com ... CookingForBros.com ... MuscleBrothersPerformance.com ... SuperMealBros.com ..."

•  Amazon Tips Its Hand With New Trademark Application | Weintraub Tobin | JDSupra.com: The trademark that Amazon.com, Inc., seeks to register is WE DO THE PREP.  YOU BE THE CHEF. Does this concept sound familiar? Perhaps even a bit like Blue Apron? If so, that’s probably because it is exactly like Blue Apron [domain: BlueApron.com]."

 •  New gTLD domain name registrations continue to decline:
nTLDStats.com
Source: ntldstats.com/tld
And remember, reportedly millions of those new gTLD domain names shown as "registered" above, are actually held by ICANN's new gTLD registry operators and their affiliates. How many millions? ICANN has no interest in finding out and doesn't want you to know. ICANN calls that operating in the "global public interest" with transparency and accountability, in order to foster a free, fair, open and competitive domain names market. LOL!

4) ICYMI Internet Domain News 
•   Internet Shutdowns: India shut down internet 29 times in 2017 | IndiaTimes.com: A list of internet shutdowns that have taken place at India in 2017 so far.

•  Court rules FBI can continue to request data in secret | CNET.com: "The US government can issue surveillance orders to tech companies without having to make them public."

•  Apple has removed all major VPN apps from its App Store in China which allowed users to bypass China's internet censorship.--TechCrunch.com

 •  In Cuba, Growing Numbers Of Bloggers Manage To Operate In A Vulnerable Gray Area | WBUR.org

•  Liu Xiaobo: A Voice of Freedom | cato.org: "Denying China’s 1.4 billion people a free market in ideas has led to one of the lowest rankings in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters without Borders."  See also Globe editorial: Liu Xiaobo’s death is one more reminder of who rules China | TheGlobeandMail.com: "Mr. Liu’s ... death at age 61, in a Chinese hospital with guards at the doors, stand as a reminder of exactly who runs things in Beijing, and what kind of a regime the Trudeau government is so eager to be friends with. The Communist Party of China has joined ignominious company; the only other Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody was imprisoned by Nazi Germany."

5) Investing
  • Apple $AAPL (principal domain: Apple.com) conference call to discuss third fiscal quarter results is scheduled for Tuesday, August 1, 2017, at 5:00 p.m. EDT (US).
Rightside was a new gTLDs "true believer" until near the end--it wasn't supposed to end this way--
Rightside $NAME (2014-2017 R.I.P.)
6) Most read posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
1. News Review: ICANN Accountability, FY16 IRS Form 990 Redux
2. Alphabet $GOOG $GOOGL Q2 2017 Results LIVE Video July 24 5pm EDT
3. Facebook $FB Q2 2017 Earnings LIVE Webcast July 26 5pm EDT

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


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2017-07-16

News Review: ICANN Chairman and ICANN Accountability & Transparency

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-07-16):
Features •  1) Holding ICANN Accountable: IRS Form 990 and ICANN Accountability & Transparency--Disclosure of compensation paid to ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker and/or his personal corporation Shinkuro, Inc.  2)Other ICANN news, 3) ICYMI: Fragmented ‘Splinternet’, 4) Investing: Q2 2017 Earnings Webcasts, Rightside $NAME Class Action, 5) Most Read Posts.

1) Holding ICANN Accountable: IRS Form 990 and ICANN Accountability & Transparency--Disclosure of compensation paid to ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker and/or his personal corporation Shinkuro, Inc.

ICANN filed its Form 990 (pdf, 5.54 MB) for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2016 (FY16) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on 12 May 2017:
excerpts from ICANN's FY16 IRS Form 990
Above: excerpts from ICANN's FY16 IRS Form 990
Excerpt from Domain Mondo's post of May 21, 2017 (highlighting added):

My email to ICANN (pdf) on May 28, 2017, and the initial response from ICANN is here (pdf). The substantive response from ICANN (pdf), dated July 13, 2017, received this past week is embedded in full below following this excerpt:
"The ICANN Chairman’s Corporation, Shinkuro, Inc. was paid a total of $114,203.24 in the fiscal year 2016. The total amount comprised of $75,000.00 for compensation and $39,203.24 for office rent ... ICANN will be publishing a revision to the FY16 Annual Report of Expense Reimbursement and Other Payments to or on behalf of ICANN Board members, with the objective to clarify all the amounts that have been paid to Shinkuro, Inc., and/or Steve Crocker in relation to Steve Crocker’s role as Chair of the Board (or as Board member, prior to his appointment as Chair)."--Xavier Calvez, ICANN CFO, letter to John Poole, Editor of Domain Mondo, July 13, 2017, embed below (highlighting added). 


While I will leave to others, including the IRS, to judge ICANN's interpretation of relevant tax provisions, including ICANN's treatment and classification of funds paid to individuals and their "personal corporations," unfortunately, Mr. Calvez did not address the following questions (highlighted below) in my email of May 28, 2017 (pdf), which will require a follow-up email this coming week to Mr. Calvez (w/ copy to the ICANN Ombudsman):

2) Other ICANN news
a. Reader's comment (received via email) to last week's News Review: ICANN's Extortionate .BRAND Scam Failing:
".brand raised $123M for ICANN to pay for the lucrative salaries and conferences."  (Editor's note: $185,000 application fee x 664 .BRAND TLD applications= $122.84M.) 
For a glimpse of the future 'global DNS nightmare' ICANN is foolishly creating for itself and the global internet community (via a new gTLDs program and policies driven by greed, incompetence, cronyism, and conflicts of interest), read Could the next new gTLD round last 25 years? Or 70 years? | DomainIncite.com: "Will the next new gTLD round see 25,000 applications? If so, how long will it take for them all to go live?"

 Perhaps the answer is to build a new internet (and new internet root zone) coordinated by an entity other than ICANN which is proving itself too inept or corrupt to fulfill its purported mission.

 b. Post-ICANN59 Policy Report | ICANN.org (pdf)

c. ICANN Data Protection and Privacy Issues | ICANN.org: a current listing of ongoing projects at the ICANN organization related to data protection and privacy matters including (a) GNSO Policy Development Processes and Implementation, (b) WHOIS Conflicts Procedure, and (c) European Union General Data Protection Regulation.


3) ICYMI Internet Domain News
  • The World May Be Headed for a Fragmented ‘Splinternet’ | WIRED.com: "... The trend of courts applying country-specific social media laws worldwide could radically change what is allowed to be on the internet, setting a troubling precedent. What happens to the global internet when countries with different cultures have sharply diverging definitions of what is acceptable online speech? What happens when one country's idea of acceptable speech clashes with another's idea of hate speech? ..."
  • Venezuela: Citizens know the 'news' "isn’t matching the reality they are living."--CSMonitor.com

4) Investing
•  Notable Q2 2017 earnings webcast dates already announced:
  • T-Mobile $TMUS July 19 4:30pm EDT 
  • Qualcomm $QCOM July 19 4:45pm EDT
  • Alphabet $GOOG $GOOGL July 24 5pm EDT
  • Facebook $FB July 26 5pm EDT
  • Twitter NYSE: $TWTR July 27 7am EDT
  • Verisign $VRSN July 27 4:30pm EDT 
  • Amazon $AMZN July 27 5:30pm EDT
  • Apple $AAPL Aug 1 5pm EDT
  • GoDaddy $GDDY Aug 8 5pm EDT
•  Rightside $NAME & Donuts: A class action lawsuit has been filed  in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington against Rightside Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: NAME) for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty in connection with the proposed sale of the company to Donuts Inc.--Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman Class Action | bgandg.com: "The complaint alleges that on June 13, 2017, Rightside’s Board of Directors (the “Board” or “Individual Defendants”) caused Rightside to enter into an agreement and plan of merger (the “Merger Agreement”). Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, Donuts commenced a tender offer, set to expire on July 26, 2017, and stockholders of Rightside will receive $10.60 per share in cash. On June 27, 2017, defendants filed a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the Proposed Transaction. The Complaint alleges the Solicitation Statement omits material information about the Proposed Transaction."

5) Most read posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 
1. News Review: ICANN's Extortionate .BRAND Scam Failing
2. Evolution of Starbucks $SBUX & Coffee (video)
3. a16z VC Marc Andreessen On Tech Valuations and More (podcast)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


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2017-06-18

News Review | New gTLD .AFRICA: ICANN Motion for Summary Judgment

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-06-18):

 Features •  1) .AFRICA: ICANN Motion for Summary Judgment, 2) Other ICANN news: a. Cure for ICANN Dysfunction, b. Realm of the Absurd, c. Who was arrested at ICANN? d. Public Comment Reports: .NET, new gTLDs, e. Fake Profiles at ICANN, f. ICANN Dept of Dysfunction, g. ICANN jurisdiction "coup from the top", h. Holding ICANN Accountable (IRS Form 990), i. ICANN Board Public Session,  3) Names, Domains & Trademarks, 4) ICYMI, 5) Investing: Donuts & Rightside $NAME, Neustar $NSR, 6) Most Popular.

 1) DotConnectAfrica Trust v. ICANN et al
“… DCA and Ruby Glen [Donuts affiliate] breached their agreement not to file a lawsuit against ICANN arising out of their [new gTLD] applications, as set forth in the Covenant [Covenant Not to Sue in the Applicant Guidebook].  The district court in Ruby Glen dismissed Ruby Glen’s complaint [re: .WEB] at the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) stage because of the Covenant. Likewise, because DCA’s claims all pertain to the “processing and consideration of” a new gTLD [.AFRICA] application, DCA’s lawsuit is barred under the Covenant …”--ICANN's motion for summary judgment, p. 23, set for a hearing on August 9, 2017.

2) Other ICANN news
a. Cure for ICANN Dysfunction:
Sheryl Sandberg on Organizational Failure
 Sheryl Sandberg on Organizational Failure
b. Realm of the Absurd
"Any Charter that recognizes GoDaddy as a closed brand, rather than a Registrar, has truly ventured into the Realm of the Absurd."--James Bladel, GoDaddy V.P., Global Policy, and Chair of the GNSO Council.
[council] FW: [RrSG-Members] GoDaddy Status and Resignation: "I’ve recently been notified that GoDaddy is not eligible to hold office under the current RrSG [ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group] Charter, due to our having executed Specification 13 for the [new gTLD] .GODADDY Registry Agreement. While Specification 13 is not explicitly listed as a disqualification in our Charter, it contains provisions that are equivalent to Specification 9, which is called out as a disqualification under Section 4.3.6. I was not aware that our adoption of Spec 13 would also encompass Spec 9, and thus make GoDaddy (and by extension, me) ineligible to hold office. We have no immediate plans to launch .GODADDY, and the only active registration currently is NIC.GODADDY, and any Charter that recognizes GoDaddy as a closed brand, rather than a Registrar, has truly ventured into the realm of the Absurd. But rules are rules, so… I’m hereby offering my resignation from the GNSO Council for the remainder of my term (ending at ICANN 60 Abu Dhabi in November). Should the ExCom & Members wish to retain me in office until the conclusion my term, I would be happy to do so on an interim basis, and stand for a special vote, as described under Section 4.3.7. Additionally, GoDaddy will not nominate or run any candidates for office under the existing Charter, and will not cast votes for any pending elections, or on the FY2018 RrSG Budget, or any other votes until our new Charter is adopted."--James Bladel, June 13, 2017. Postscript: "I (Bladel) have resigned my elected office as Councilor, but have been appointed by the Registrar ExCom to continue to serve in an interim basis until a Special Election can be held. On the whole, the net impact of all of this on the Council is….not much. My status changes from “elected” Councilor to “appointed” Councilor for the next few months, but I don’t see that this change necessarily affects the Council, or its work, or our upcoming election calendar."

c. Security Update - Los Angeles Office | ICANN.org: "On Tuesday, June 13, 2017, a person was taken into custody on ICANN’s premises in Los Angeles, CA, unrelated to ICANN’s operations. We are aware and are investigating.  We will provide an update as we learn more and as appropriate." [Editor's note: The police arrested someone at ICANN headquarters in L.A.]

d.  Public Comment Reports: 
(1) Report of Public Comment Proceeding (pdf) on Proposed Renewal of .NET Registry Agreement: "As a next step, ICANN organization intends to consider the proposed renewal of the .NET Registry Agreement taking into account the comments added to the forum. Following the completion of the public comment process, the proposed renewal of the .NET Registry Agreement will be considered by ICANN's Board of Directors."
(2) Staff Report (pdf) of Public Comment Proceeding GNSO Community Comment 2 (CC2) on New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process;

 e.  Fighting Fake Profiles on icann.org | ICANN.org: "... To ensure the integrity of content on icann.org, and to mitigate the risks from fake or spam profiles, we have decided that the best short-term solution is to turn off the public aspect of profiles. This change will take effect on 23 June 2017. This temporary fix will afford us the time to work on a better solution, while ridding the site of inappropriate and obscene content. We have already deleted 6,000 of the most egregious and obvious fake profiles." See ICANN Profiles.

f.  From the ICANN Department of Dysfunction: 09 June 2017 unsigned letter from anonymous "members" of RySG [Registry Stakeholder Group] to Steve Crocker and Göran Marby (pdf) [published 12 June 2017] requesting the ICANN Board set a date certain now (before prerequisite reviews and planning are even near completion) for the "next round" of new gTLDs.

g. ICANN Jurisdiction (WS2)--from the CCWG WS2 public mail list--"It gives me no pleasure to report that a coup from the top was achieved at yesterday's call based meeting of the jurisdiction sub-group. The CCWG and sub group chairs together simply decided that the CCWG jurisdiction sub-group will no longer discuss the jurisdiction question, however paradoxical and comical it sounds. What they actually proclaimed was of course more circuitously worded -- something like, people can discuss the jurisdiction question as long as it is not, even by any distant implication, about any change in the jurisdictional status quo!! Wonder, what really then is the jurisdiction issue that they can discuss, but then Orwell did tell us a lot about such political speak ..." (emphasis added). Read more of the thread here:
CCWG Accountability Mail List Thread re Jurisdiction

h. Holding ICANN accountable re: FY16 Form 990: Still no response from ICANN since the June 1, 2017, acknowledgement:
Dear Sir,  As the signatory of the ICANN Form 990, I have been provided with your question on this document. I hereby acknowledge receipt of your email and question, and thank you for your time and effort in reviewing this document and inquiring about it. Your question and its upcoming response further enhance the transparency on this document. I will submit your email and question for publication on the “Correspondence” page of our website. Our response will also be published on this page, and you will be notified of such publication as soon as it will have occurred.--Xavier Calvez, ICANN CFO, 12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90094
i.  ICANN Board to Hold Public Session During Johannesburg Workshop | ICANN.org: "The session, Board Review of the FY18 Final Budget, will be held on Friday, 23 June, from 15:15 – 16:45 (13:15 – 14:45 UTC)." More info at link above.

3) Names, Domains & Trademarks


 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News Quick Takes 

 5) Investing
•  Form 8-K EX-99.1: "Rightside and Donuts Announce Definitive Merger Agreement Donuts to Acquire Rightside for $10.60 Per Share in Cash Transaction Valued at Approximately $213 Million ... The transaction ... is currently expected to close during the third quarter of 2017. Following the transaction, Rightside will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Donuts, a privately-held company, and Rightside’s common shares will no longer be listed on any public market."
NASDAQ: NAME (June 14, 2017 chart below: note share price: (a) $15.85 August 1, 2014, right after spinoff of Rightside from Demand Media; (b) Closing price $12.09 July 27, 2016; and (c) $10.60 all cash tender offer via Donuts June 13, 2017, shares closed up Wednesday, June 14, 2017.
$NAME stock chart June 14, 2017

•  Neustar (NYSE: NSR) Form 8-K June 12, 2017: "As previously reported, on December 14, 2016, NeuStar, Inc. (“Neustar”) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Aerial Topco, L.P. (“Parent”) and Aerial Merger Sub, Inc. (“Merger Sub”) ... On June 12, 2017, and in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, Neustar extended the Outside Date from June 14, 2017 to September 14, 2017. On June 12, 2017, Neustar received written notification from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) that it will not take action to prevent the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement from being consummated. Receipt of the written notification from CFIUS satisfies one of the conditions to the closing of the Merger, which remains subject to the receipt of approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions. Neustar continues to expect the Merger to be completed no later than the extended Outside Date."

6) Most popular post (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: 

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


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2017-05-21

News Review: A Red Flag in ICANN Financial Disclosures? | NR 2017-05-21

News Review | ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Domain Mondo's weekly internet domain news review (NR 2017-04-30):

 Features •  1) A Red Flag in ICANN Financial Disclosures? 2) Other ICANN news--New gTLDs a Legal Racket or Consumer Scam? 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks: .AFRICA, 4) ICYMI: Trump's NTIA Administrator, 5) Q1 2017 Earnings Season, 6) Most Popular.

1)  A Red Flag in ICANN Financial Disclosures?
ICANN filed its Form 990 [PDF, 5.54 MB] for its FY16 fiscal year (ending 30 June 2016), with the Internal Revenue Service on 12 May 2017 in compliance with the extended due date of 15 May 2017. Form 990 is ICANN's annual disclosure (a year after) of who's been a "domain hog"-- the highest paid contractors and employees at ICANN as well as directors' compensation -- no real surprises except one potential "red flag." How much was paid by ICANN to the ICANN Chairman's corporation Shinkuro, Inc.? That amount appears to be completely missing and unreported. For example, unless you read the entire Form 990 closely (reproduced below), one would think ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker was not taking any compensation or remuneration as a Director:
Not reportable? Is Shinkuro Inc., also a contractor for ICANN? How much has Shinkuro been paid each fiscal year since Crocker joined the ICANN Board in 2008?
"No part of the net earnings of the Corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to its directors, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the Corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article II hereof."--ICANN Articles of Incorporation 2. IV. d.
Is this setting a bad precedent for a corporation (ICANN) that claims to be transparent and accountable? What if every ICANN director decided to have their ICANN compensation paid to their personal corporation--would that also become unreportable? Is Shinkuro only being paid $75,000 (ICANN Chair's authorized compensation), something less, something more?  ICANN needs to disclose.

2) Other ICANN news
a. New gTLDs a Legal Racket or Consumer Scam? (see page 6 of my comment below)--CCT-RT: Comments closed Friday on Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice Review Team Draft Report of Recommendations for New gTLDs. I submitted a comment which you can read here (pdf) or embed below. All the other comments may be be read here. I tried to give honest feedback, incorporating quotes and links from many sources, even many of the recent prolific tweets by @DomainKing:


b.  Oops! -- 16 May 2017 Letter from Christine Willett to Shaul Jolles [Published 17 May 2017] excerpt:

c.  Clarifying the Roles of the ICANN Complaints Office and Ombudsman | ICANN.org: "we have noticed some confusion about the difference between the scope of the Complaints Office and the Office of the Ombudsman"--

 d.  ICANN Registration System Email Validation | ICANN.org: "As part of an ongoing process to improve the security of our web applications, the ICANN Registration website will now require that all potential meeting participants verify their email address to complete the registration process ..."

 e. CCWG-Accountability-WS2 Request to Chartering Organizations for an Extension of Its Work for All of FY18: ccwg-acct-ws2-chartering-org-fy18-extension-request-18may17-en.pdf (pdf) 18 May 2017.

 3) Names, Domains & Trademarks
  • Why .AFRICA will succeed where others [new gTLDs] have failed | Inventa.com: "It is increasingly becoming clear that many of the newTLD’s launched since 2013 are not viable as a business. While there are some notable exceptions such as .xyz, most have struggled to report positive numbers and are currently operating at a loss. A staggering 70% of all these domains don’t have any content whatsoever, which helps to explain why renewal rates for these domains also seem to be lower than the industry average. However, I am confident that .africa will succeed ..." (emphasis added)

 4) ICYMI Internet Domain News Quick Takes 
  • NTIA Administrator: President Trump will nominate David Redl to be the next administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) ... He currently serves as the chief counsel at the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce and is the principal legal adviser to Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Republicans on the committee regarding communications and technology matters.--TheHill.com
  • WHOIS and Free Speech, Privacy & Anonymity: "Anonymous pamphlets, leaflets, brochures and even books have played an important role in the progress of mankind." Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60, 64 (1960) ... an author generally is free to decide whether or not to disclose her true identity. The decision in favor of anonymity may be motivated by fear of economic or official retaliation, by concern about social ostracism, or merely by a desire to preserve as much of one's privacy as possible ... the interest in having anonymous works enter the marketplace of ideas unquestionably outweighs any public interest in requiring disclosure as a condition of entry ..."--Comment #2 | circleid.com  
  • Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia | Vox.com: "... a fake news bubble for liberals, something I’ve dubbed the Russiasphere. The mirror image of Breitbart and InfoWars on the right, it focuses nearly exclusively on real and imagined connections between Trump and Russia. The tone is breathless: full of unnamed intelligence sources, certainty that Trump will soon be imprisoned, and fever dream factual assertions that no reputable media outlet has managed to confirm ..."

5) Q1 2017 Earnings Season
•  The Q1 2017 Earnings Season concluded this week on DomainMondo.com with Alibaba Group $BABA FY17 Results LIVE Webcast May 18.

•  GoDaddy Inc.  (NYSE: GDDY) To Present At The 45th Annual JP Morgan Technology Media And Telecom Conference: Scott Wagner, Chief Operating Officer, and Ray Winborne, Chief Financial Officer, will present at the 45 [th] Annual J.P Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in Boston on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. A live audio webcast of the event will be available on GoDaddy's investor relations website at https://investors.godaddy.net. Following the presentation an audio replay will be available on the investor relations website.

•  Rightside Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: NAME), announced that the Company's CEO, Taryn Naidu, and CFO, Tracy Knox, are scheduled to present at the 18th Annual B. Riley Co. Investor Conference at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Santa Monica, CA on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 2:30 p.m. PDT. Rightside management will also be conducting one-on-one institutional investor meetings at the conference. The presentation will be available through a live audio webcast accessible from the Investors section of Rightside's website at investors.rightside.co. An archived replay of the webcast will also be available for 90 days following the live presentation.

 6) Most popular post (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com: ICANN New gTLDs' Domain Name Registrations Implode | NR 2017-05-14.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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2017-05-09

Q1 2017 Results LIVE Webcasts May 9: Rightside $NAME & Tucows $TCX

Q1 2017 Financial Results LIVE Webcasts May 9: Rightside $NAME 4:30pm EDT (below); and Tucows $TCX 5:00pm EDT:
TCX
Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX) (TSX:TC) Q1 2017 financial results via news release on Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at approximately 4:05 p.m. EDT. Tucows management will host a conference call on the same day at 5:00 p.m. EDT to discuss the results and the outlook for the company.
UPDATE: News Release & Financial Statement:
Net income for the first quarter of 2017 decreased to $2.4 million, or $0.23 per share, from $4.4 million, or $0.42 per share, for the first quarter of 2016. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2017 decreased to $6.2 million from $7.3 million for the first quarter of 2016. The first quarter of 2017 was impacted by the effect of the purchase price accounting adjustment related to the fair value write down of deferred revenue from the Enom acquisition which lowered adjusted EBITDA by $1.4 million and is a portion of the $4.8 million net deferred revenue change noted above. The first quarter of 2016 benefited from $0.4 million reversal of an overachievement bonus accrual for 2015 that was no longer required and a foreign exchange gain of $0.4 million that was not repeated. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter of 2017 decreased slightly to $15.0 million compared with $15.1 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016 and $10.0 million at the end of the first quarter of 2016.--Tucows Q1 2017 release
The conference call LIVE webcast  is via tucows.com/investors or by dialing 1-888-231-8191 or 647-427-7450.

The conference call will be archived for replay both by telephone and via the internet beginning approximately one hour following completion of the call. To access the archived conference call by telephone, dial 1-855-859-2056 or 416-849-0833 and enter the pass code 16809774 followed by the pound key. The telephone replay will be available until Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at midnight. To access the archived conference call as an MP3 via the Internet, go to http://www.tucows.com/investors.

Tucows is a provider of network access, domain names and other Internet services. Ting (ting.com) delivers mobile phone service and fixed Internet access with outstanding customer support. OpenSRS (opensrs.com) and Enom (enom.com) manage a combined 29 million domain names and millions of value-added services through a global reseller network of over 40,000 web hosts and ISPs. Hover (hover.com) makes it easy for individuals and small businesses to manage their domain names and email addresses. More information can be found on Tucows’ corporate website (tucows.com). Tucows, Ting, OpenSRS, Enom and Hover are registered trademarks of Tucows Inc. or its subsidiaries.

Tucows Announces $40 Million Stock Buyback Program | Tucows Inc.: "The new $40 million buyback program will commence March 1, 2017 and will terminate on or before February 28, 2018. Purchases for the new $40 million buyback program will be made exclusively through the facilities of the NASDAQ Capital Market."

See also on Domain Mondo: Tucows $TCX Q4 2016 Earnings LIVE Webcast Feb 7 and Tucows Acquires eNom & Becomes World's 2nd Largest Domain Registrar (Jan 20, 2017).
_____________________

NAME
Rightside Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: NAME), a new gTLDs (new generic top-level domains) registry services provider (Rightside.co/registry/) and registrar (Name.com), will announce first quarter 2017 financial results after market close on May 9, 2017.

The Rightside $NAME Q1 2017 Results LIVE Webcast will be May 9, 4:30pm EDT
  • LIVE and archived webcast at $NAME investor relations page: http://investors.rightside.co/
  • Live conference call: (844) 413-1777 (domestic) or (716) 247-5761 (international)
  • Conference call replay available through May 14, 2017: (855) 859-2056 (domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (international) 
  • Conference ID: 13639154
Q1 2017 Results: Net income was $69.8 million inclusive of a $75.6 million gain from the sale of eNom. Registrar services revenue increased to $7.3 million compared to $7.0 million. Registry services revenue increased 20% to $3.2 million compared to $2.6 million . Aftermarket and other revenue was $4.3 million compared to $7.3 million as a result of challenges in the lower margin third party syndication business. Total revenue decreased to $14.4 million compared to $16.6 million. For the full year ending December 31, 2017, Rightside reiterates guidance of the following:
  • Total revenue of $58 to $62 million. 
  • Adjusted EBITDA of around break-even for the full year with a return to positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter.
Earnings Press Release (pdf) and Earnings Call script (pdf) and Form 10-Q

Note also:
  • Year-to-date, Rightside repurchased approximately 320,000 shares of its common stock for approximately $3.0 million. Rightside currently has approximately $47 million available and authorized under the current share repurchase program.
  • As of March 31, 2017, cash, cash equivalents and available for sale securities was $83 million, compared to $32 million as of December 31, 2016.
List of Rightside's currently available new gTLDs
Above: Rightside's currently available new gTLDs
Data on Rightside new gTLDs available from ntldstats.com.

Also note Rightside activist investor Carlo Cannell has recently been busy:
April 20, 2017 EDGAR Filing Documents for 0001058854-17-000015--EX-99 2 exhibit_99.htm EXHIBIT 99 excerpt--"Cannell Capital LLC (“Cannell”) announces today that it intends to vote “No” on the Board’s recommendations at the Annual General Meeting of Rightside Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: NAME) shareholders to be held on June 2, 2017 at the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland, Washington at 1:30PM PT. Cannell intends to withhold votes from all incumbent directors of NAME ... Clients advised by Cannell own more than 8.5% of shares outstanding of NAME. When the behavior of an incumbent board is egregious, self-serving and contrary to the best interests of all shareholders, Cannell feels compelled to take on the responsibilities of an activist investor ... Shareholders of Rightside who want to learn more about how a “Vote No” campaign can unlock value and benefit ALL shareholders are encouraged to explore the web sites created for the “Vote No” campaign at Envivio and TSYS. 
http://www.concernedenvivioshareholders.com/  and http://www.concernedtsysshareholders.com/...."
April 17, 2017 Preliminary Proxy Statement — Subject To Completion For 2017 Annual Meeting Of Stockholders | sec.gov:  ".... On March 30, 2017, Mr. [Carlo] Cannell called Ms. Knox to offer the Company [Rightside] one last chance to appoint directors nominated by Mr. Cannell in the 2017 Stockholder Notice to the Board before Cannell Capital would take additional action.  In response, Ms. Knox invited Mr. Cannell to speak with Mr. Naidu or Mr. Panos; Mr. Cannell indicated he did not wish to do so ..." (read more at the SEC.gov links above)(emphasis added).
See also on Domain Mondo:  Rightside $NAME Q4 2016 Results, LIVE Webcast Feb 28

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