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2015-12-26

ICANN New gTLDs: Competition, Consumer Trust & Choice Review Team

UPDATE: Letters of motivation, Curricula vitae, Statements of Interest below

Seventeen individuals have been selected to serve on the team that will review ICANN's New gTLD Program (new generic top-level domains) in relation to competition, consumer trust and consumer choice (CCT). Review team members represent "an array of geographic regions and areas of expertise, and have demonstrated knowledge of the New gTLD Program or one of the review areas" according to ICANN.

Six review team members were endorsed by the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), two were endorsed by the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), and four members will serve as independent experts and bring deep knowledge of economics, consumer protection and intellectual property law, and Internet security to the team. Of the remaining five team members, two also belong to the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), two from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), and one represents ICANN's CEO. In accordance with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments (AoC), CCT review team members were selected by ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé and GAC Chair Thomas Schneider. The individuals selected are listed below:

Members Representing an ICANN Supporting Organization or Advisory Committee:
Member | Country | SO/AC

Drew Bagley USA
Letter of motivation
Curriculum vitae
Statement of interests
Stanley Besen USA
Curriculum vitae
Statement of interests
N. Ravi Shankar India
Letter of motivation
Curriculum vitae
Statement of interests
Fabro Steibel Brazil
Letter of motivation
Curriculum vitae
Statement of interests

*ICANN CEO representative: Jamie Hedlund - ICANN Vice President, Strategic Programs, Global Domain Division
*GAC Chair representative: Laureen Kapin - FTC Counsel for International Consumer Protection; (pdf) and (pdf)

*The Affirmation of Commitments allows the ICANN CEO (Fadi Chehadé) and GAC chair (Thomas Schneider) to serve on the review team or designate representatives. As shown above, the ICANN CEO will be represented by ICANN's Jamie Hedlund, and GAC Chair by Laureen Kapin, of the GAC Public Safety Working Group and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The CCT review team is expected to convene for its first meeting in January 2016 and complete a final draft of its report by December 2016. Periodic updates on the review will be made via icann.org and at ICANN public meetings. Further information on the review process and members of the review team may be found here.

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2015-12-05

Chinese Cybercrime Reshapes Geopolitics, US-China Joint Dialogue

Chinese Cybercrime Reshapes Geopolitics
Security firm IID* [internetidentity.com; twitter: @iidactivetrust] predicts that if the downturn in the Chinese economy continues, this could drive exponential growth of organized cybercriminal enterprises within China. IID expects that by 2017 “persistent criminal enterprises” in China will rival and ultimately surpass Eastern European organized cybercrime in scope, size and complexity. IID also predicts that the Russian Chinese Cyber Alliance will dissolve by 2019, after Chinese cybercriminal organizations begin targeting Eastern European citizens, companies and even rival cybercrime organizations. IID also predicts that by 2020, China will become a leading proponent of Internet security in response to its own citizens and banks being increasingly victimized by cyberattacks that threaten the Chinese economy.

US-China Joint Dialogue
The United States Department of Justice announced that on December. 1, 2015, in Washington, D.C., Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, together with Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun, co-chaired the first U.S.-China High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues. Pursuant to the commitments made by U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the state visit in September 2015, the primary objectives of the dialogue were to review the timeliness and quality of responses to requests for information and assistance with respect to cybercrime or other malicious cyber activities and to enhance cooperation between the United States and China.

In addition to members of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, representatives from the Department of State, National Security Council and Intelligence Community participated for the United States, while the Chinese delegation included representatives from the Committee of Political and Legal Affairs of CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Justice and the State Internet Information Office.

Discussions included ways to enhance cooperation within the bounds of each nation’s legal framework and assessments of progress made on cases identified during their discussions in September 2015. Specific outcomes:

1. Guidelines for Combatting Cybercrime and Related Issues. Attorney General Lynch, Secretary Johnson and State Councilor Guo reached agreement on a document establishing guidelines for requesting assistance on cybercrime or other malicious cyber activities and for responding to such requests. These guidelines will establish common understanding and expectations regarding the information to be included in such requests and the timeliness of responses.

2.Tabletop Exercise. Both sides decided to conduct a tabletop exercise in the spring of 2016 on agreed-upon cybercrime, malicious cyber activity and network protection scenarios to increase mutual understanding regarding their respective authorities, processes and procedures. During the tabletop exercise, both sides will assess China’s proposal for a seminar on combatting terrorist misuse of technology and communications, and will consider the U.S.’s proposal on inviting experts to conduct network protection exchanges.

3. Hotline Mechanism. Both sides decided to develop the scope, goals and procedures for use of the hotline before the next High-Level Dialogue.

4. Enhance Cooperation on Combatting Cyber-Enabled Crime and Related Issues. Both sides decided to further develop case cooperation on combatting cyber-enabled crimes, including child exploitation, theft of trade secrets, fraud and misuse of technology and communications for terrorist activities, and to enhance exchanges on network protection. Both sides decided to improve cooperation among the relevant agencies, within the framework of the high-level dialogue, on network protection issues. U.S. and Chinese cyber incident and network protection experts will meet on Dec. 3, 2015, and will continue to meet regularly during future dialogues.

5. Second U.S.-China High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues. Attorney General Lynch, Secretary Johnson and State Councilor Guo decided to schedule the second U.S.-China High-Level Dialogue on Combatting Cybercrime and Related Issues in June 2016. The dialogue will take place in Beijing, China. Source: OPA | Department of Justice

*See also on Domain Mondo: Cybersecurity Firm IID Predicts New gTLD Websites Will 'Go Dark'

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2015-10-22

VeriSign, $VRSN, Q3 2015 Earnings Call, LIVE, 4:30pm ET

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the global leader in domain names and Internet security, and the internet's sole Root Zone Maintainer pursuant to an exclusive agreement with the United States government, will hold its earnings call for the third quarter 2015 on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, at 4:30 p.m. (EDT) (US). VeriSign is the world's Registry operator for .COM and .NET gTLDs.

.COM ranks #1 among all TLDs (top-level domains) in total domain names registrations globally, with more than 120 million .COM domain names registered. .NET, with more than 15 million domain names registered, is the #4 TLD in the world (after .tk and .de) (source:pdf).

Principal domain name: verisign.com
Stock Exchange: Symbol - NASDAQ: VRSN
VeriSign, Inc. investor relations: investor.verisign.com

Q3 2015 Verisign Earnings Conference Call info and links:
Oct 22, 2015 - 4:30 PM ET (US)

Listen to webcast
Q3 2015 Earnings Results (pdf)
Earnings Presentation (pdf)
VeriSign (VRSN) D. James Bidzos on Q3 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | Seeking Alpha
All Quarterly Results - VeriSign, Inc
Quarterly VRSN Convertible Debenture Dilution Q3- 2015 (pdf) 86.3 KB
Conference Call Announcement (pdf) 33.2 KB

Financial Highlights
• Verisign ended the third quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.9 billion, an increase of $466 million as compared with year-end 2014.
• Cash flow from operations was $155 million for the third quarter of 2015, compared with $168 million for the same quarter in 2014.
• Deferred revenues on Sept. 30, 2015, totaled $940 million, an increase of $50 million from year-end 2014. • Capital expenditures were $7 million in the third quarter of 2015.
• During the third quarter, Verisign repurchased 2.3 million shares of its common stock for $156 million. At Sept. 30, 2015, $605 million remained available and authorized under the current share repurchase program which has no expiration.
• For purposes of calculating diluted EPS, the third quarter diluted share count included 18.0 million shares related to subordinated convertible debentures, compared with 13.2 million shares for the same quarter in 2014. These represent diluted shares and not shares that have been issued.

Business Highlights
• Verisign Registry Services added 1.68 million net new names during the third quarter, ending with 135.2 million .com and .net domain names in the domain name base, which represents a 3.4 percent increase over the base at the end of the third quarter in 2014, as calculated including domain names on hold for both periods.
• In the third quarter, Verisign processed 9.2 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.7 million for the same quarter in 2014.
• The final .com and .net renewal rate for the second quarter of 2015 was 72.7 percent compared with 71.8 percent for the same quarter in 2014. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.

Third Quarter GAAP Financial Results:
VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries ("Verisign") reported revenue of $266 million for the third quarter of 2015, up 4.2 percent from the same quarter in 2014. Verisign reported net income of $92 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.70 for the third quarter of 2015, compared to net income of $95 million and diluted EPS of $0.69 for the same quarter in 2014. The operating margin was 58.1 percent for the third quarter of 2015 compared to 54.7 percent for the same quarter in 2014.

Third Quarter Non-GAAP Financial Results:
Verisign reported, on a non-GAAP basis, net income of $103 million and diluted EPS of $0.78 for the third quarter of 2015, compared to net income of $97 million and diluted EPS of $0.70 for the same quarter in 2014. The non-GAAP operating margin was 62.7 percent for the third quarter of 2015 compared to 60.6 percent for the same quarter in 2014. A table reconciling the GAAP to the non-GAAP results (which excludes certain items) is appended to the release.

"Our quarterly results demonstrate the ongoing strength of our business and our execution discipline, which continue to produce value for our shareholders," commented Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

About VeriSign, Inc.--"Verisign, a global leader in domain names and Internet security, enables Internet navigation for many of the world’s most recognized domain names and provides protection for websites and enterprises around the world. Verisign ensures the security, stability and resiliency of key Internet infrastructure and services, including the .com and .net domains and two of the Internet’s root servers, as well as performs the root-zone maintainer functions for the core of the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS). Verisign’s Security Services include intelligence-driven Distributed Denial of Service Protection, iDefense Security Intelligence and Managed DNS." (source: verisign.com).

On Twitter: @VERISIGN
$VRSN on Twitter:
Tweets about $VRSN

Recent posts about Verisign on Domain Mondo:

VeriSign $VRSN Reports Domain Name Registrations Increase 6% YOY: 16 Sept 2015
Dot COM Domain Name Registry Verisign Shares Hit 52-week High: 31 July 2015
Verisign Q2 2015 Earnings Results, Conference Call, July 23, 4:30 ET: 23 July 2015
Will the IETF, RIRs, ccTLDs + Verisign Just Walk Away From ICANN?: 22 June 2015

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2015-07-23

Verisign Q2 2015 Earnings Results, Conference Call, July 23, 4:30 ET

"Well, I think if you just look at the numbers for dot-com and the net adds, you'll see that being the powerful brand that it is, it's still growing quite briskly. So I think those numbers speak for themselves. Dot-com is the reliable brand and people are choosing great names in it and the registration numbers are strong. It's in demand and people are registering dot-coms and, of course, needless to say, all of the global brands are on dot-com and I don't expect that to change."--D. James Bidzos - Executive Chairman, President & CEO, Verisign, Inc. VeriSign (VRSN) Q2 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript | Seeking Alpha (emphasis added)

Slide from Verisign Q2 2015 Earnings Call

Verisign Inc. VRSN 5-year stock chart (source: google.com)

Verisign hosted a live teleconference call on July 23, 2015, at 4:30 p.m. (EDT). An audio archive of the call is available at https://investor.verisign.com/events.cfm.

Q2 2015 Verisign NASDAQ: VRSN Earnings Conference Call

Principal Domain name: verisigninc.com

Second Quarter GAAP Financial Results
VeriSign, Inc. and subsidiaries ("Verisign") reported revenue of $263 million for the second quarter of 2015, up 4.9 percent from the same quarter in 2014. Verisign reported net income of$93 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.70 for the second quarter of 2015, compared to net income of $100 million and diluted EPS of $0.71 in the same quarter in 2014. The operating margin was 56.7 percent for the second quarter of 2015 compared to 57.2 percent for the same quarter in 2014.

Second Quarter Non-GAAP Financial Results
Verisign reported, on a non-GAAP basis, net income of $99 million and diluted EPS of $0.74 for the second quarter of 2015, compared to net income of $96 million and diluted EPS of $0.68 for the same quarter in 2014. The non-GAAP operating margin was 61.3 percent for the second quarter of 2015 compared to 60.9 percent for the same quarter in 2014. A table reconciling the GAAP to the non-GAAP results (which excludes items described below) is appended to this release.

"I am pleased to report another quarter in which we have created and delivered value for our shareholders," commented Jim Bidzos, Executive Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Financial Highlights

Verisign ended the second quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.9 billion, an increase of $460 million as compared with year-end 2014.
Cash flow from operations was $175 million for the second quarter of 2015, compared with $121 million for the same quarter in 2014.
Deferred revenues on June 30, 2015, totaled $932 million, an increase of $41 million from year-end 2014.
Capital expenditures were $9 million in the second quarter of 2015.
During the second quarter, Verisign repurchased 2.5 million shares of its common stock for $156 million. At June 30, 2015, $761 million remained available and authorized under the current share repurchase program which has no expiration.
For purposes of calculating diluted EPS, the second quarter diluted share count included 17 million shares related to subordinated convertible debentures, compared with 11.3 million shares in the same quarter in 2014. These represent diluted shares and not shares that have been issued.

Business Highlights

Verisign Registry Services added 0.52 million net new names during the second quarter, ending with 133.5 million .com [118.5 million] and .net [15 million] domain names in the domain name base, which represents a 3.1 percent increase over the base at the end of the second quarter in 2014, as calculated including domain names on hold for both periods.
In the second quarter, Verisign processed 8.7 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.5 million for the same period in 2014.
The final .com and .net renewal rate for the first quarter of 2015 was 73.4 percent compared with 72.6 percent for the same quarter in 2014. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.
Verisign announces an increase in the annual fee for a .net domain name registration from$6.79 to $7.46, effective Feb. 1, 2016, per its agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. (ICANN).

Non-GAAP Items
Non-GAAP financial results exclude the following items that are included under GAAP: stock-based compensation, unrealized gain/loss on contingent interest derivative on subordinated convertible debentures, and non-cash interest expense. Non-GAAP net income is decreased by amounts accrued, if any, during the period for contingent interest payable resulting from upside or downside triggers related to the subordinated convertible debentures and is adjusted for an income tax rate of 26 percent for 2015 and 28 percent for 2014, both of which differ from the GAAP income tax rate. A table reconciling the GAAP to non-GAAP operating income and net income is appended to the earnings release.

Verisign investor website: investor.verisign.com
Events & Presentations - VeriSign, Inc.

"About Verisign: Verisign, a global leader in domain names and Internet security, enables Internet navigation for many of the world's most recognized domain names and provides protection for websites and enterprises around the world. Verisign ensures the security, stability and resiliency of key Internet infrastructure and services, including the .com and .net domains and two of the Internet's root servers, as well as performs the root-zone maintainer functions for the core of the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS). Verisign's Security Services include intelligence-driven Distributed Denial of Service Protection, iDefense Security Intelligence and Managed DNS. To learn more about what it means to be Powered by Verisign, please visit VerisignInc.com." (source Verisign)

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