Federal Reserve FOMC Interest Rates Announcement & Press Conference

FOMC Press Conference December 13, 2017:

LIVE Wednesday, Dec 13, 2017: Fed Chair Janet Yellen's FOMC press conference scheduled for 2:30 pm EST. Her previous FOMC Press Conference was September 20, 2017 (pdf), video available here.

UPDATE: The U.S. central bank--the Federal Reserve (domain: federalreserve.gov) or "the Fed"--started its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and its FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) and on Wednesday made its announcement on interest rates:

"The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System voted unanimously to raise the interest rate paid on required and excess reserve balances to 1.50 percent, effective December 14, 2017 ... Effective December 14, 2017, the Federal Open Market Committee directs the Desk to undertake open market operations as necessary to maintain the federal funds rate in a target range of 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 percent, including overnight reverse repurchase operations (and reverse repurchase operations with maturities of more than one day when necessary to accommodate weekend, holiday, or similar trading conventions) at an offering rate of 1.25 percent, in amounts limited only by the value of Treasury securities held outright in the System Open Market Account that are available for such operations and by a per-counterparty limit of $30 billion per day."--source: Dec 13 Implementation Note

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were Janet L. Yellen, Chair; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Lael Brainard; Patrick Harker; Robert S. Kaplan; Jerome H. Powell; and Randal K. Quarles. Voting against the action were Charles L. Evans and Neel Kashkari, who preferred at this meeting to maintain the existing target range for the federal funds rate. Read more:
FOMC Statement: PDF | HTML; Implementation Note; Projection Materials PDF | HTML

Note: The Fed was expected to hike near-term interest rates, especially after last Friday's strong jobs report.

Roach: Fed Should Move Aggressively to Normalize Rates

Bloomberg.com video above published Dec 11, 2017: Stephen Roach, senior fellow at Yale University, discusses debt levels in Asia, including China, and his outlook for interest rate hikes from the Fed. He speaks on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."

President Trump's nominee, Jerome Powell, will take over as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System at the end of Janet Yellen's term, subject to confirmation by vote of the full U.S. Senate. On December 5, 2017, the Senate Banking Committee approved Powell's nomination to be Fed Chair in a 22-1 vote, with Senator Elizabeth Warren casting the lone dissenting vote, and therefore his nomination is expected to be confirmed before the next meeting of the FOMC.

See also:

• Fed Gets More Ammo for Rate Hikes | WolfStreet.com Dec 12, 2017: "Producer Price Index rises most in six years."
• Investors Told to Brace for Steepest Rate Hikes Since 2006 | Bloomberg.com: Fed, ECB, BOE and SNB set policy in 18-hour window this week--Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase predict average interest rates across advanced economies to increase to at least 1% next year, or the biggest rise since 2006.
• Federal Reserve Overlooks Technology’s Role in Limiting Inflation | WIRED.com: "... on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made a rather startling admission: The Fed may have “misspecified” its models for inflation and “misjudged” the strength of wages and the job market ..."
• Fed Functions: Promoting Financial System Stability (video): Federal Reserve Board video published Aug 29, 2017: The Federal Reserve performs five key economic functions in the public interest to help promote a healthy economy, including promoting the stability of a financial system that is crucial to the well-being of the U.S. and global economy.
• Fed FAQ: What is macroeconomics? (video): Federal Reserve Board video published Oct 19, 2017.

Fed Policy, Interest Rates and the FOMC:

"The term "monetary policy" refers to the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Federal Reserve responsibility for setting monetary policy.

"The Federal Reserve controls the three tools of monetary policy--open market operations, the discount rate, and reserve requirements. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is responsible for the discount rate and reserve requirements, and the Federal Open Market Committee is responsible for open market operations. Using the three tools, the Federal Reserve influences the demand for, and supply of, balances that depository institutions hold at Federal Reserve Banks and in this way alters the federal funds rate. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions overnight.

"Changes in the federal funds rate trigger a chain of events that affect other short-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, long-term interest rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables, including employment, output, and prices of goods and services."--source: federalreserve.gov.

Interactive guide to our weekly #BalanceSheet report: https://t.co/4TtoDYYANs #FedData

— Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) December 7, 2017

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News Review: ICANN Multistakeholder vs Multilateral Internet Governance

Domain Mondo's weekly review of internet domain news:

Features • 1. ICANN Multistakeholder vs Multilateral Internet Governance; 2. Why ICANN Multistakeholderism Is Failing; 3. Private Agreements and Antitrust Liability; 4. How ICANN threatens DNS Security & Stability; 5. Phishers shifting to ICANN's new gTLDs; 6. Bogus DMCA Take Down Notices; 7. TMCH Revised Report; 8. Internet Freedom Report: Malta, Cameroon, China; 9. A 'Digital Geneva Convention'; 10. Trump's Trademark in China; 11. Outlook email for your domain name; 12. SHA1 collision; 13. Hacked ICANN data still sells; 14. ICANN events May 9-15 in Madrid; 15. ICANN Public Comment Periods closing in March; 16. Most popular posts this past week.

1. ICANN Multistakeholder vs Multilateral Internet Governance

"I think if we get rid of that [IANA functions] contract we will be free of the pressures"--ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehade, February 10, 2015.

February 2017: "... The reformed [ICANN] multistakeholder internet governance approach faces significant challenges ... If the multistakeholder model is seen as ineffective in addressing the vulnerabilities that enable cybercrime, or being completely peripheral to the issue, developing economies could question its legitimacy and seek answers in the multilateral system .... "There are also worries that ICANN, the operator of the IANA functions, will abuse its authority and ignore the interests of internet users. In the past, ICANN has been accused of ignoring the views of governments, prioritizing private sector interests, and mismanaging its finances. ICANN recently implemented enhancements to address these and similar concerns. Nevertheless, ensuring that ICANN remains accountable will be critical to demonstrating that the multistakeholder approach works. It will also act as a bulwark against Russian and Chinese efforts at greater intergovernmental control over the internet."--Maintaining U.S. Leadership on Internet Governance | Council on Foreign Relations | cfr.org (emphasis added).

2. Why ICANN multistakeholderism is failing--"industry self-regulation often fails to protect the public"--"lack of transparency, accountability, participation, and representation"--

source: Presentation on DNS and Content Regulation | Electronic Frontier Foundation

source: Presentation on DNS and Content Regulation | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Note re: Public Interest Registry's arbitration process--Systemic Copyright Infringement Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy (SCDRP) | Public Interest Registry | pir.org February 23, 2017--"Given certain concerns that have been recently raised in the public domain, Public Interest Registry is pausing its SCDRP development process to reflect on those concerns and consider forward steps. We will hold [i.e., stop] any further development of the SCDRP until further notice." (emphasis added)

UPDATE: Shadow Regulation Withers In The Sunlight | Electronic Frontier Foundation | eff.org: "... It’s not surprising that a plan developed in secret, without input from Internet users, would disregard users’ rights. As we’ve explained, truly “healthy” Internet governance requires inclusion, balance, and accountability, all of which were absent here. Public Interest Registry did the right thing by hitting the brakes on this proposal. Its brief announcement today acknowledges the importance of good policy-development processes ..."

ICANN's Commercial and Business Users Constituency (BC), Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC), ISPs and Connectivity Providers Constituency (ISPCP) complain about the NonCommercial Users Constituency (NCUC.org) session at ICANN57 "DNS and Content Regulation" (one leading participant was Electronic Frontier Foundation, EFF.org)--

15 Feb 2017 Letter from BC, IPC and ISPCP (pdf) to Göran Marby, Steve Crocker, and ICANN Board of Directors, published by ICANN on 21 February 2017:

"... for the Hyderabad meeting, a single sponsor group proposed a HIT (High Interest Topic) session on DNS and Content Regulation. Initially, the sponsoring group was allowed to select panelists and designate the moderator, who was also part of the sponsoring organization. Through persistence by other stakeholders, panel participation was broadened considerably. Still, during the HIT session, the sponsoring organization opened with a presentation of their position. In our view, this did not meet the level of broad participation of the ICANN community to warrant a high-interest session ..."

Response from Göran Marby, ICANN President & CEO (embedded below, highlighting added)--or how ICANN subtly shuts down free speech, participation, and representation that conflicts with powerful private profit-seeking corporate interests such as represented by BC, IPC, and ISPCP, and the other unelected non-governmental special interests that dominate ICANN--

3.  Private Agreements and Antitrust Liability--Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45 "(a)(1) Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful .... (4) (B) All remedies available to the Commission with respect to unfair and deceptive acts or practices shall be available for acts and practices described in this paragraph, including restitution to domestic or foreign victims." (emphasis added)--See Opinion and Order of the Federal Trade Commission (pdf) In the Matter of 1-800 Contacts, Inc., Docket No. 9372 (keyword advertising bidding agreements):

",,, Given that the Complaint alleges liability based only on private agreements that do not constitute government petitioning, 1-800 Contacts’ Third Defense fails .... Because the Complaint alleges that 1-800 Contacts violated Section 5 solely by entering into private bidding agreements, we hold that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine does not apply and 1-800 Contacts’ Third Defense fails as a matter of law. Similarly, because Complaint Counsel need not prove 1-800 Contacts’ lawsuits to be objectively and subjectively unreasonable to establish a Section 5 violation, 1-800 Contacts’ Second Defense also fails. We therefore grant Complaint Counsel’s motion." (emphasis added)

4.  How ICANN threatens Domain Name System Security & Stability:

"In 2015, ICANN's compliance department caused financial harm to a domain name registrant because of a minor, perceived inaccuracy in their domain name's WHOIS records. In this instance, the registrant had a mailing address in Virginia and a phone number with a Tennessee area code. While both details were valid, and the registrant was contactable, a "violent criminal” filed a complaint with ICANN alleging that the details were inaccurate. The complaint was accepted by ICANN and passed along to the domain name registrar. The registrar, fearing a non-compliance notice from ICANN, suspended the domain name without performing any investigation into the claim, resulting in the registrant losing access to their business email account and website."--source infra--

At the NCPH Intersessional, [ICANN] Compliance Concerns Take Centre Stage | circleid.com Feb 23, 2017: ".... as things stand at present, if a domain name can be repossessed from a registrant for any reason at all, without any due process being followed, and in direct violation of Article 1 of the organisation's bylaws, it might well be ICANN that is posing a threat to the security and stability of the Domain Name System" (emphasis added).  See also ICANN Compliance Lends a Hand to a Violent Criminal While Trashing a Legitimate Business | circleid.com.

Editor's note: never forget that among the real core values of ICANN, as established during the Fadi Chehade-Akram Atallah regime (2012-2016), are dishonesty, incompetence, and cronyism.

5. New study reveals phishers are shifting their sights to ICANN's new gTLDs and the cloud: "A study by cybersecurity firm PhishLabs indicates that the volume of phishing attacks grew by almost one-third last year, with cloud storage brands set to overtake financial services as the top targets. Researchers also found that phishing perpetrators are increasingly turning to new gTLDs to dupe internet users."--WorldTrademarkReview.com (emphasis and link added).

6. Bogus DMCA Take Down Notices: in a comment to the U.S. Copyright Office (pdf), Google reports that 99.95% of URLs it was asked to take down last month didn't even exist in its search indexes. "For example, in January 2017, the most prolific submitter submitted notices that Google honored for 16,457,433 URLs. But on further inspection, 16,450,129 (99.97%) of those URLs were not in our search index in the first place."

7. Trademark Clearinghouse Revised Report | ICANN.org: On 23 February 2017, ICANN published the Revised Report of the Independent Review of the Trademark Clearinghouse (pdf): "...  we find that although trademark holders value access to the Sunrise period and many submit proof of use to become eligible for Sunrise registrations, few trademark holders make [new gTLD] Sunrise registrations. This could be due in part to the expense of Sunrise registrations or because other protections of the TMCH services reduce the need for trademark holders to utilize Sunrise registrations." (emphasis added)

8. Internet Freedom Report: Malta, Cameroon, China:

• Maltese protest proposed internet news laws: Several thousands people took to the streets of the capital of Malta on Sunday to protest against a new bill that will force Internet news sites to register with the government.--Reuters.com
• Cameroon must urgently free the internet in Anglophone regions - UN expert | AfricaNews.com: "Cameroon should immediately reverse the ‘‘appalling violation of their (citizen’s) right to freedom of expression,” in its Anglophone regions by restoring internet access, a United Nations expert has said."
• China Ramps Up Control of Domain Names, Adds New Layer to Great Firewall | rfa.org: "The draft regulations, which were first released for public consultation in March 2016, would require any websites operating in China to register with a Chinese domain name, which is subject to state control and can be used to shut down entire websites within the country-level .cn top-level domain."

Also note: Internet Freedom Festival | 6 – 10 March 2017: The Global Unconference of the Internet Freedom Communities, March 6-10, 2017, Valencia, Spain.

9.  A 'Digital Geneva Convention': "... Just as the Fourth Geneva Convention has long protected civilians in times of war, we now need a Digital Geneva Convention that will commit governments to protecting civilians from nation-state attacks in times of peace. And just as the Fourth Geneva Convention recognized that the protection of civilians required the active involvement of the Red Cross, protection against nation-state cyberattacks requires the active assistance of technology companies. The tech sector plays a unique role as the internet’s first responders, and we therefore should commit ourselves to collective action that will make the internet a safer place, affirming a role as a neutral Digital Switzerland that assists customers everywhere and retains the world’s trust ..."--Brad Smith, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer, blogs.microsoft.com. See also Bruce Schneier: It's time for internet-of-things regulation | searchsecurity.techtarget.com.

10.  Names, Domains, Trademarks: President Trump wins trademark rights for his name in China | worldipreview.com.

11.  Outlook email for your domain name:

• Hands-On with Outlook.com Premium | Thurrott.com: "if you sign up now, “your subscriptions will auto-renew annually at $19.95 (Outlook.com Premium) .... This is an affordable option*, and it’s a nice way for a family to get a custom domain and not be stuck with an outlook.com or hotmail.com address."
• More info:  https://premium.outlook.com/#/Offer  "you can create personalized addresses for up to 5 people and sync everything to your existing Outlook.com mailbox."
• See also: "the $20 offer is still available, so if you’re looking to save some money, you might want to move quickly: This offer expires March 31, 2017. Note that you still need to pay for your custom domain. You can do that via an outside registrar or through Microsoft"--Thurrott.com

12. Announcing the first SHA1 collision | security.googleblog.com: "For the tech community, our findings emphasize the necessity of sunsetting SHA-1 usage. Google has advocated the deprecation of SHA-1 for many years, particularly when it comes to signing TLS certificates."

13. Hacked ICANN data still sells for hundreds of dollars years after breach | cyberscoop.com: "Three years after hackers used a spearphishing attack to successfully gain access to internal data at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the data is still being passed around and sold on black markets for $300, complete with claims that it’s never been leaked before."

14. ICANN events May 9-15 in Madrid: 1) ICANN GDD Industry Summit May 9-11, 2017; 2) 6th Registration Operations Workshop May 12, 2017; 3) ICANN DNS Symposium May 13, 2017; 4) OARC 26 May 14-15, 2017. Read more at InternetSociety.org.

15. ICANN Public Comment Periods that close in March, 2017:

• GNSO Initial Report on the IGO-INGO Access to Curative Rights Protection Mechanisms Policy Development Process: Close Date 1 Mar 2017 23:59 UTC
• Reference Japanese Label Generation Rules (LGR) for the Second Level: Close Date 8 Mar 2017 23:59 UTC
• Release of Country and Territory Names within the .IKANO, .SAXO, .SCOR, .SANDVIK, .WALTER, .SANDVIKCOROMANT, .VISTA, .VISTAPRINT, .BARCLAYS, .BARCLAYCARD and .HERMES TLDs:  Close Date 10 Mar 2017 23:59 UTC
• At-Large Review: Draft Report:  Close Date 24 Mar 2017 23:59 UTC

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

1. News Review: China Cyber Sovereignty vs ICANN Multistakeholderism
2. Three Business Lessons You Can Learn From Airbnb (video)
3. Splunk $SPLK Helping Companies Make Sense of Machine Data (video)
4. TechReview | Zuck's Facebook Letter and the Snapchat $SNAP IPO (video)

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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ICANN CDAR Internet Root Server System Stability Draft Report Comments

"Having already made the worst mistake in its organizational history in the way it implemented the new gTLDs program, ICANN appears content to continue in its misguided ways until it wrecks the internet and/or domain name system, global public resources over which ICANN is not, and never has been, a good steward."--Comment to ICANN's CDAR study (see below) (links and emphasis added).

The Continuous Data-Driven Analysis of Root (CDAR) Server System Stability Draft Report comment period has been extended to 15 Jan 2017 23:59 UTC.

Comments submitted by the original deadline 22 Dec 2016 23:59 UTC:

• CDAR Comment from John Poole, Editor, DomainMondo.com (full comment below*)
• ISPCP Comments on the Continuous Data-Driven Analysis of Root Server System Stability Draft Report (Chantelle Doerksen)
• CDAR comment (Rubens Kuhl)
• RSSAC Comment (Carlos Reyes)
• Business Constituency (BC) comment on Continuous Data-Driven Analysis of Root Server System Stability Draft Report (Steve DelBianco)
• ALAC Statement on the Continuous Data-Driven Analysis of Root Server System Stability Draft Report 

*Comment to ICANN from the Editor of Domain Mondo re: Continuous Data-Driven Analysis of Root Server System Stability Draft Report:

"The Draft Report is inadequate and fails to assure the global internet community of the Root Zone security and stability, nor does the report definitively answer the essential questions:

"The study’s primary research question is: Did the delegation of new gTLDs degrade the stability or security of the root DNS system? And based on the analysis carried out for this research question, our second research question is: Can we expect that the delegation of more new gTLDs will degrade the stability or security of the root DNS system in the future?" ("Draft Report" 27 Oct 2016, p.2).

"The ONLY thing the authors of the Draft Report can definitely state is: "We did not find any degradation of the stability or security of the root DNS system in this period that we could attribute to the new gTLDs." (Draft Report, p.2)

"That finding is hardly reassuring given the admission the authors of the Draft Report make on p. 3:

"our conclusion is limited to the results of the analyses that we designed and executed and is confined by the imperfections of the available measurement data."

"In addition, both ICANN and the authors of the Draft Report have been careless and negligent in failing to acknowledge and address the substance of the comments of Daniel Karrenberg Chief Scientist RIPE NCC, (speaking individually, not on behalf of the RIPE NCC)--CDAR Study Cannot Predict Stability of the Root Server System--https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-cdar-study-plan-02dec15/msg00001.html dated 26 Jan 2016, which stated in part:

"Our main comment and advice to ICANN is: do not expect the study to predict the absence of instabilities in the DNS root name server system including absence of instabilities that may be wholly or partly caused by root zone expansion. ICANN therefore must make proper contingency plans for the unpredictable cases where root zone expansion causes or contributes to instabilities in the DNS root server system." (emphasis added)

"ICANN has a long history of being foolish, careless, incompetent, and grossly negligent, when it comes to coordination and management of the internet, including root zone, in adding new generic top-level domains (new gTLDs)--see e.g., News Review: ICANN Used 'Junk Science' Firm to Justify New gTLDs.

"Having already made the worst mistake in its organizational history in the way it implemented the new gTLDs program, ICANN appears content to continue in its misguided ways until it wrecks the internet and/or domain name system, global public resources over which ICANN is not, and never has been, a good steward."

See also on Domain Mondo:

• Did ICANN Just Break the Internet? No, But It Could Have, and May Yet
• ICANN New gTLD Program Plays Roulette With Internet Root Zone Stability
• Internet DNS Root Stability, New gTLD Domains, ICANN Study RFP
• Verisign, ICANN, Internet Root Zone, Risk Factors to the Root Domain
• ICANN, IANA Functions, Internet DNS Root, Root Server Operators

For more information:

• New top-level domains a money grab and a mistake: Paul Vixie | ZDNet.com
• How DNS Works In Six Steps | Verisign.com
• http://a.root-servers.org/index.html
• https://www.iana.org/domains/root/servers
• http://www.root-servers.org/

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UPDATE: ICANN enjoined from delegating .AFRICA by California State Superior Court Judge

Did ICANN Just Break the Internet? No, But It Could Have, and May Yet

ICANN.org: "ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation and a community with participants from all over the world. ICANN and its community help keep the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It also promotes competition and develops policy for the top-level of the Internet's naming system and facilitates the use of other unique Internet identifiers."

If you live in the U.S., you may have noticed or been affected by the internet outage on Friday caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack:

• Fusion.net: WTF is happening to the internet today? Internet down after DDOS attack. 
• Bloomberg.com: Possible Vendetta Behind the East Coast Web Slowdown: "Millions of internet users temporarily lost access to some of the world’s most popular websites Friday, as hackers hammered servers along the U.S. East Coast with phony traffic until they crashed, then moved westward. In what is believed to be a coordinated attack on one particular Domain Name Server provider, the hack took down sites including Twitter, Spotify, Reddit, CNN, Etsy and The New York Times for long stretches of time, from New York to Los Angeles ..."

Coincidentally (or maybe not), this attack came only a day after ICANN, global coordinator of the DNS including the internet Root Zone file (via subsidiary PTI), announced that pursuant to the Obama administration's IANA Stewardship Transition, "Verisign [NASDAQ: VRSN] will now perform the root zone maintainer services for ICANN under the Root Zone Maintainer Service Agreement (RZMA). ICANN and Verisign are in the process of switching to the root zone management systems that do not include NTIA’s [U.S. government] authorization role." 

Unfortunately for internet users around the world, incompetent ICANN has for several years been so obsessed with its new gTLDs program, seeing itself as a 'marketing agency' for new generic top-level domains from .PORN to .SUCKS, to now "over 1000 new gTLDs," that it has been lax in its primary duty of ensuring the security and stability of the domain name system (DNS). See, for example, on DomainMondo.com:

• Verisign, ICANN, Internet Root Zone, Risk Factors to the Root Domain 26 October 2015
• Internet DNS Root Stability, New gTLD Domains, ICANN Study RFP 08 June 2015

In the most recent Verisign 10-Q filing with the SEC (Q2 2016), Verisign warns (as it has for several years) under "Risk Factors":

"Under its New gTLD Program, ICANN has recommended delegations into the root zone of a large number of new gTLDs. In view of our role as the Root Zone Maintainer, and as a root server operator, we face increased risks should ICANN’s delegation of these new gTLDs, which represent unprecedented changes to the root zone in volume and frequency, cause security and stability problems within the DNS and/or for parties who rely on the DNS. Such risks include potential instability of the DNS including potential fragmentation of the DNS should ICANN’s delegations create sufficient instability, and potential claims based on our role in the root zone provisioning and delegation process. These risks, alone or in the aggregate, have the potential to cause serious harm to our Registry Services business. Further, our business could also be harmed through security, stability and resiliency degradation if the delegation of new gTLDs into the root zone causes problems to certain components of the DNS ecosystem or other aspects of the global DNS, or other relying parties are negatively impacted as a result of domain name collisions or other new gTLD security issues, such as exposure or other leakage of private or sensitive information."

For a reference to many of the risk factors about which ICANN has been warned, repeatedly, read the attachment included with this letter (pdf), from ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker to Patrik Fältström, Chair, ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), embedded below (highlighting added):

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News Review: Threats to the Open Internet and ICANN Culpability

Domain Mondo's weekly review of the news and look ahead [pdf]: 

Feature • Threats to the Open Internet: A Random Survey

"... The brilliance of the Web is that you don’t need the digital equivalent of local planning permission to put up a new site. Can you imagine how much innovation would be stifled if we had millions of local councils deciding whether a new web site could be built?"--Eric Meyer, August 4, 2016, The Web at 25 | Oxford Internet Institute | oii.ox.ac.uk

"An Open Internet means consumers can go where they want, when they want. This principle is [also] often referred to as Net Neutrality. It means innovators can develop products and services without asking for permission."--Open Internet | FCC.gov

"I believe that the future of the web is under threat from some governments that may abuse their powers, some businesses that may try to undermine the open market, and from criminal activity."--Tim Berners-Lee | wired.co.uk: 23 August 2014

"The initial investigations following the Nice and Munich attacks pointed towards the different ways in which the Internet was used by terrorists for the organisation of their attacks. The Munich attacker fueled his intentions through the Internet and bought his weapon from the DarkWeb. In Turkey, at the height of the recent attempted coup d’état, President Erdogan communicated to the outside world through a video message. In the aftermath, Turkish authorities limited access to the Internet and social media, and banned WikiLeaks after it released a series of emails concerning Turkish officials."--DigitalWatch newsletter (pdf) no.13: July/August 2016

"This terrorist network is referred to as “NetWar,” where conflict and crime are now being organized through small groups who communicate and coordinate through “internetted” manner and without a specific central command."--Cyber-Security: The Threat of the Internet (pdf)

“It's one of the key elements of the Chinese censorship system, a proactive effort to induce a chilling effect, self-censorship.”--How China Keeps Tibet and Xinjiang Silent | DailyDot.com. See also: China’s internet users are increasingly jumping the Great Firewall—to launch epic trolling campaigns | Quartz | qz.com and Xi’s China: Smothering dissent | FT.com.

"In its eagerness to move every Windows user to Windows 10, Microsoft has ignored two of the keystones of modern computing: user choice and privacy. The company has used tactics that have essentially amounted to tricking users into making the upgrade. That’s particularly troubling when Windows 10 sends an unprecedented amount of user data to Microsoft servers."--Electronic Frontier Foundation | EFF.org

"WhatsApp’s privacy policy overhaul raises concerns about potential legal challenges. Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy advocacy group in Washington, said it would file a complaint on Monday with the Federal Trade Commission to stop WhatsApp from sharing users’ data with Facebook. The group filed a similar case in 2014, citing promises that WhatsApp had made to protect individuals’ privacy."--Relaxing Privacy Vow, WhatsApp Will Share Some Data With Facebook | NYTimes.com

ICANN culpability: "With the TMCH, ICANN built a layer of domain name procedures on top of existing trademark registration systems which are not well designed for the purpose for which they are being used, and so those trademark registration systems are being exploited in a way that ICANN has practically defined."--John Berryhill, Attorney, in WorldTrademarkReview.com

More ICANN culpability: “People thought there’d be a need for lots of  generic domains [new gTLDs], but there’s no need for them at all, it’s only good news for bad guys who can get them for free and pretend to be anyone”--Rob Cotton, NCC Group CEO (emphasis added) (read more below).

Even more ICANN culpability: "The primary goal appears to be swift approval of whatever string is proposed by an applicant, rather than conservative evaluation of the security and stability consequences to the global DNS root and its users—not just the applicant’s national or linguistic community—of approving the string as a top-level domain name label. The SSAC finds this to be diametrically opposed to ICANN’s mission to “facilitate the openness, interoperability, resilience, security and stability of the DNS. Recommendation: The SSAC recommends that the ICANN Board not accept the proposed guidelines for the EPSRP, as those guidelines represent a threat to the security and stability of the DNS. The Board should request a review of the EPSRP to determine why its proposed guidelines do not respect the principles of conservativism, inclusion,and stability.”--SSAC comment (pdf); see also Proposed Guidelines for the Second String Similarity Review Process | ICANN.org.

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ICANN, Internet Governance, and Domain Name News:

•  Singing the New gTLD Blues:  The web's domain name revolution has been a missed opportunity | telegraph.co.uk: "... few major websites have adopted the new domain names ... Now, some who invested in the idea are already giving up. NCC Group, a British IT company, said last month it would exit its domain name business, which helped companies manage the transition to new domains, four years after it was set up. “People thought there’d be a need for lots of generic domains, but there’s no need for them at all, it’s only good news for bad guys who can get them for free and pretend to be anyone,” says Rob Cotton, NCC’s chief executive (emphasis added).

•  Gov’t Missed Major Threat to Internet Independence | freebeacon.com: "There is no indication that the agency [NTIA] has conducted legal or policy analysis related to ICANN antitrust issues, according to the documents obtained by Americans for Limited Government. “... The irony is that this negligence could lead ICANN to explore a relationship with the UN or the ITU, which the NTIA says that it strongly opposes and most in the ICANN community agree would be the worst possible outcome because it would create greater opportunity for governments to control Internet content.”"

•  DOJ Responded to Senator Cruz et al letter (pdf) re: proposed extension of Verisign .COM RA:

"We note that the current extension proposal contemplated by ICANN and Verisign does not change the price cap contained in the 2012 .com Registry Agreement, which will remain in effect through November 30, 2018. Nor does the current extension proposal alter the price cap in Amendment 32 of the Cooperative Agreement. Moreover, if NTIA were to approve an extension of the .com Registry Agreement, it would have the right in its sole discretion to extend the term of the Cooperative Agreement with the current price cap in place until 2024 at any time prior to November 30, 2018, the date on which the Cooperative Agreement is currently scheduled to expire. If this occurs, the $7.85 fee cap would be extended another six years to 2024."--US Department of Justice (DOJ) Letter (pdf) of August 31, 2016.

NASDAQ: VRSN

•  Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), registry operator of .COM and .NET gTLDs, on Friday, September 2, saw its shares close up almost 6% (see chart above) from Thursday's close, on heavy volume of almost 5 million shares as compared to its 50-day average daily volume of about one million shares. Earlier in the week, a hedge fund holding short positions in $VRSN, contacted me specifically to discuss Verisign and ICANN. Verisign is considered a long-term hold by, e.g., Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, which is a major Verisign stockholder. The move Friday was attributed in the financial press to the DOJ letter (see above) and a report from Cowen, see Why Verisign (VRSN) Stock Is Soaring Today | TheStreet.com and VeriSign rises after DoJ responds to senators on extension VRSN | TheFly.com and Ted Cruz and his weird relationship with .COM | CNBC.com.

•  Amazon.com, Inc: Amazon.in is now the 5th most visited site in India, behind only Google.co.in, Google.com, YouTube.com, and Facebook.com.--SeekingAlpha.com

•  Speaking of India, ICANN57 will be held in Hyderabad, India, 3-9 Nov 2016. If you are going, you should be diligent in following the information available on the ICANN website here and here. Also note: Female tourists should not wear skirts in India, says tourism minister | World news | TheGuardian.com: "Foreign arrivals issued with welcome kit including safety advice for women, after high-profile assaults ..." See also: 180 million workers have gone on strike in India | Quartz | qz.com.

•  Cuba calls Miami internet freedom conference an act of ‘subversion’ | InCubaToday.com: "... the Cuba Internet Freedom conference to be held in Miami Sept. 12-13, which is being organized by the U.S.-funded Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB). Cubadebate characterized the event as “the first conference on internet use in Cuba, as part of subversion programs by the U.S. government against the island that have been maintained during the administration of Barack Obama ...”

•  NTIA gave formal notice to ICANN (pdf) of intent to exercise option and extend the IANA functions contract should there be a 'change in circumstance' meaning the IANA transition will proceed and become effective October 1, 2016, barring something unforeseen between now and then.

•  Melbourne IT: "... impacted by the sale of its International Domain Name Registration (IDNR) business for AU$7.8 million, but it was offset by its greater product offering due to Melbourne IT's acquisition of Uber Global."--ZDNet.com

•  ICANN now has until September 26, 2016, to respond to the amended complaint of Ruby Glen (Donuts affiliate). See New gTLD WEB Loser, Ruby Glen, Files Amended Complaint vs ICANN.

•  ICANN 2016 Nominating Committee Announces Selections | ICANN.org: ICANN Board of Directors:  Maarten Botterman (Europe);  Cherine Chalaby (Africa);  Khaled Koubaa (Africa); terms begin at the end of ICANN's Annual General Meeting during ICANN57, 3-9 November 2016, in Hyderabad, India.

•  Comments close this coming week at ICANN on:

• gTLD Marketplace Health Index (Beta): Close Date 6 extended to 9 Sep 2016 23:59 UTC
• IANA Naming Function Agreement: Close Date 9 Sep 2016 23:59 UTC

Tech News:

1. Tim Cook Says Apple Could Send Cash Back to U.S. Next Year | WSJ.com in the wake of $14.5 billion tax ruling by European Commission. Apple holds about $215 billion in cash and other liquid investments offshore. See also EU Nixes Apple's $AAPL $14.5B+ Tax Avoidance Scheme in Ireland (video) and Lefsetz.com:"I don’t know why everybody keeps pontificating that Apple is a beloved enterprise whose customers will follow it like lemmings no matter where it goes ... the lion’s share of the dough comes from you and me. And we’re starting not to like these people. Cook is bland, Jony Ive has disappeared, and Eddy Cue was lambasted in the “Wall Street Journal” for overreaching" and The Transatlantic Squabble Over Apple's Taxes | Bloomberg.com: "... other U.S. companies could soon be hit with retrospective demands for tax running into the billions of dollars." 
2. The New Apple iPhones event has been confirmed for Wednesday, September 7th at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco at 10 a.m. Pacific. Watch live at apple.com or via twit.tv/live.  See also Buyers May Flock to New Apple iPhones After Samsung Note 7 Recall | fortune.com, on the other hand why wouldn't they just go, e.g., to Moto and get a great Android phone for a lot less $$$?
3. SpaceX explosion destroyed Facebook's AMOS-6 satellite | BusinessInsider.com.
4. Alphabet and Google’s very bad no good summer | TheVerge/com: "Is Alphabet flailing or just cleaning house?" See also Google will announce Pixel phones, 4K Chromecast, Google Home, Daydream VR viewer on October 4th | AndroidPolice.com.
5. Twitch Could Be a $20 Billion Dollar Company Inside Amazon | Backchannel.com: "This year, the number of people who regularly watch online gaming videos will likely exceed half a billion, according to the market research firm Newzoo." See also: "The audience is moving to [video] streaming faster than the money ..."--TheVerge.com
6. Being a Successful Entrepreneur Isn’t Only About Having the Best Ideas | hbr.og: "... without the capacity to execute an idea — to take an idea and turn it into a living, breathing, viable organization — you’re doomed to fail ..." 
7. G20 summit Sept 4-5, 2016--China’s innovation drive | UniversityWorldNews.com: Beyond the usual G20 summit themes of finance and trade, China has set out the main theme of the G20, “towards an innovated, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world.” Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi.“What we advocate is innovation in the broad sense. We call for innovation in science and technology and, beyond that, in development concepts, institutions and mechanisms, business models and a whole range of areas.” More at g20.org and g20.utoronto.ca. See also on Trade: Theresa May tells pro-EU civil servants to get on with the job of delivering Brexit | telegraph.co.uk and France Seeks to End U.S.-EU Trade Talks | WSJ.com, and EU-US free-trade talks have failed, says German minister | IrishTimes.com: Negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have made little progress in recent years. Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s vice-chancellor, said: “In my opinion the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it." 
8. Why can't I get on the Internet with Windows 10? | The Tech Guy | techguylabs.com: "... updated to Windows 10 and then couldn't get on the Internet. So she downgraded back to Windows 8 and still can't get on the Internet. Leo says something is messed up. And it's why most people should just use a Chromebook. it's way easier ... really, get a chromebook." See also: Can I use a Chromebook with an Ethernet connection? | techguylabs.com: "... all USB to Ethernet adapters are compatible to Chromebook [BobJGear.com USB to RJ45 adapter under $20]. What about security? Leo says that Chromebooks are more secure than any other computer out there." See also new Acer Chromebook R 13 with a large 13.3-inch touchscreen display and innovative 360-degree hinge design (four versatile usage modes), up to 12 hours of battery life and planned support for Android Apps--Acer.com.

Four most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this past week on DomainMondo.com:

1. News Review [28Aug]: Fear Campaigns; Dot Registry Challenges ICANN Monopoly
2. China & Its Internet Are Different, Why U.S. Companies Can't Compete
3. More Than Half The World’s Population Still Not Using The Internet
4. EU Nixes Apple's $AAPL $14.5B+ Tax Avoidance Scheme in Ireland (video)

4 Other Reading Recommendations:

1.  Brexit is actually boosting the UK economy | NYPost.com: "Two months ago, the world’s wise men were warning that if UK voters decided to “Brexit” from the European Union, they’d rain down economic crisis. Guess what? Today, Britain is fine — and has even seen a boost from its “Leave” vote." See also: Pound spikes above $1.33 as IMF admits financial market turmoil triggered by shock Brexit vote has subsided: "UK manufacturing posts biggest rise in 25 years ..." and British Pound Rockets vs Euro and US Dollar on Blowout Manufacturing PMI as Financial Commentators are Wrong-Footed Again.
2. Global central bankers, stuck at zero, unite in plea for help from governments | yahoo.com: "... hunting for ways to jolt the economy out of its doldrums, and a fiscal push is a possible tool. In a lunch address by Princeton University economist Christopher Sims, policymakers were told that it may take a massive program, large enough even to shock taxpayers into a different, inflationary view of the future. "Fiscal expansion can replace ineffective monetary policy at the zero lower bound," Sims said. "It requires deficits aimed at, and conditioned on, generating inflation. The deficits must be seen as financed by future inflation, not future taxes or spending cuts.""
3. The Fundamental Reason Buffett Beats the Market | Bloomberg.com: Fundamental Analysis Works "... a couple of financial economists have a new paper showing that a very simple, general fundamental analysis technique -- perhaps even more universal than Graham and Dodd’s -- consistently predicts the way that a stock’s price will change during the next two years ..."
4. 'Freaks on the peaks'--the lonely lives of the last remaining forest fire lookouts: "... an embrace of nature, solitude and disconnectedness ... For some, inhabiting a sanctuary of contemplation far from modernity’s noise is a spiritual experience ..."--TheGuardian.com

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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DISCLAIMER

Domain Names, New gTLDs, DNS Abuse, ICANN as Chief Abuser

Why New gTLDs + IANA Transition May Be The Undoing of ICANN

Comments are now scheduled to close 20 May 2016 23:59 UTC (extended from May 13) on ICANN's Draft Report: New gTLD Program Safeguards to Mitigate DNS Abuse.You can read all comments submitted here.

Below is the comment submitted by the Editor of Domain Mondo, which is also here (pdf).

May 13, 2016

To ICANN:

As a domain name registrant, and editor of DomainMondo.com, I am submitting this comment to Draft Report: New gTLD Program Safeguards to Mitigate DNS Abuse.

For the new gTLDs mania, we are now entering the repudiation phase – a moment where “all the lies that had been built up alongside the excess are aired out in public.”

Your “draft report” misses the mark.

You claim your purported purpose was, and is, “to examine the potential for increases in abusive, malicious, and criminal activity in an expanded DNS and to make recommendations to pre-emptively mitigate those activities through a number of safeguards.”

Abusive, malicious, and criminal activity in an expanded DNS happens most frequently at the second level or registrant level, not at the first level or TLD which is controlled by the registry operator. Exceptions may be extortionate or other abusive practices, pricing, etc., by registry operators, which ICANN’s own Business Constituency and IPC can, and have, well advised you concerning, and which may be remediated through contractual terms and conditions, and effective Contract Compliance, which has been lacking at ICANN.

When ICANN unwisely decided to expand the global internet DNS and add more than 1000 new gTLDs (from just 22 gTLDs and 200+ ccTLDs), you exponentially increased the potential and actual opportunities for “abusive, malicious, and criminal activity“ in the global DNS without any safeguards for the global internet community which has suffered as a result, just so ICANN, and the domain name industry, could “make money.” You have not been a good steward of the global DNS.

In the absence of responsible stewardship of the global DNS by ICANN, you have left it to others, from sovereign nations like China (which essentially is now running its own DNS inside China via the ‘Great Firewall’ and legal requirements imposed upon registry operators, registrars, and registrants), to companies and individual consumers which are deploying TLD blockers on their own networks.

Contrary to what you apparently believe, less is often more, and excessive competition can be destructive, to markets, to companies, and to individual consumers.

Even worse, you have adopted the extortionate business model in-house at ICANN, by, in effect, forcing established trademark owners, to pay $185,000 plus annual fees, plus operating expenses, for a gTLD used primarily for defensive blocking, at the top-level, their trademark in the global DNS:

“ … closed and predominantly defensive .Brand TLDs account for roughly one-third of all new gTLD applications. Put another way, it would appear that .Brand TLDs are being disproportionately relied upon for ICANN revenue, even though they represent a tiny proportion of second-level domain names under management. For example, .Brand TLD registry operators, such as Apple Inc. or Yahoo! Inc. have activated only a mandatory minimum number of second-level domain names, yet they pay ICANN precisely the same fixed quarterly fees as certain open TLD registry operators, such as Vox Populi, which currently has over seven-thousand domain names under management.² It is the latter category of TLD registry operators that are more likely to be controversial and thus ultimately more costly to ICANN in terms of political, administrative, compliance and legal resources.³…” --IPC Comment on Draft ICANN FY17 Operating Plan & Budget and Five-Year OperatingPlan Update, p.2 (pdf)

Accordingly, the hard truth is that ICANN, itself, is today probably the chief “abuser” of the global DNS. Now that ICANN is irrevocably committed to this ever downward spiral of irresponsible management and stewardship of the global DNS, I, like many others, have pretty much given up on ICANN. As a registrant, I am now in a defensive mode in response to ICANN’s failed stewardship, and have little confidence that ICANN will survive long-term once the IANA transition is complete. Most likely, the model proposed by China and others, of a government-led multistakeholder institution to replace ICANN, will eventually prevail due to demands of the global internet community for safety, stability, and security of the internet, and responsible stewardship in the global public interest, of a global public resource.

Respectfully submitted,

John Poole

Domain Name Registrant, and Editor, DomainMondo.com

References:

• Usage Trumps Registrations: Why Past TLDs Failed and Why Many Will Follow in Their Path (CircleID.com)
• News Review [May 8, 2016]: ICANN, IANA, AFRICA, WSIS, XYZ, Chinese Speculators
• Blocking New gTLDs, ICANN's 'Shadiest' Top-level Domains, 'Wholesale'
• ICANN Damaged a Competitive Domain Name Market With Its New gTLDs
• Housing Bubble Like New gTLDs Mania? The Big Short Trailer (video)
• Tim Berners-Lee on ICANN, new gTLDs, public interest
• ICANN Insiders On New gTLDs: Mistakes, Fiascos, Horrible Implementation
• ICANN, DNS Abuse, New gTLDs: Bad Policy, Horribly Implemented
• News Review [May 1, 2016]: New gTLDs 'Nobody Cares About' - ICANN's Trash Problem
• ICANN, Esther Dyson, Becky Burr: The Historical Perspective
• Esther Dyson Told ICANN new gTLDs were a mistake in 2011 (video)
• ICANN's Boondoggle (MIT Technology Review | technologyreview.com)

UPDATE: see also Lack of Trust in Internet Privacy and Security May Deter Economic and Other Online Activities | Department of Commerce - NTIA: "NTIA’s initial analysis only scratches the surface of this important area, but it is clear that policymakers need to develop a better understanding of mistrust in the privacy and security of the Internet and the resulting chilling effects."

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DISCLAIMER

Verisign $VRSN Q4 2015 Financial Results, LIVE Webcast Replay

Verisign 1-year stock chart (source: google.com) - VRSN Down 22% since December 4

VRSN closed UP today: $74.16USD 0.37 (0.50%)

Earnings conference call and LIVE webcast for the fourth quarter and full year 2015 of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN):  Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, at 4:30 p.m. ET (prior to the earnings call, the earnings news release will be distributed via wire services at approximately 4:05 p.m. and also be available directly from the company's website at investor.verisign.com).

How to attend Q4 2015 Verisign Earnings Conference Call, Feb. 11, 2016, 4:30 p.m. ET:

• LIVE webcast (listen-only)-- Listen to webcast;
• Teleconference call , which will be accessible by direct dial at (888) 676-VRSN (U.S.) or (913) 312-1460 (international), conference ID: Verisign. 

An audio archive of the call will be available at investor.verisign.com/events.cfm. More info: investor.verisign.com.

UPDATE: Earnings Press Release -- VeriSign Q4 EPS of $0.79 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $272.62M (+6.5% Y/Y) beats by $2.42M. 2016 guidance: revenue of $1.11B-$1.135B (+5-7% Y/Y) vs. a $1.14B consensus; operating margin expected to rise to 62.5%-63.5% from 2015's 61.5%.

Noted during the call was the surge in Chinese .COM registrations in Q4 2015, and corresponding possible negative impact on Q4 2016 registrations (including renewals) anticipated. Also, ICANN and VeriSign are negotiating a 10-year Root Zone Maintainer contract which would run concurrently with a  new 10-year extension of the current .COM registry agreement, with no material changes in pricing terms of dot COM domain names from the present agreement. This new agreement for Root Zone Maintainer and extension of the .COM registry agreement would require approval of NTIA, and the ICANN and VeriSign Boards of Directors. Finally, looking forward, it was noted that Verisign would consider acquiring some new gTLDs as the expected industry consolidation occurs (due in part to the disappointing registration numbers in new gTLDs).

UPDATE: Verisign Conference Call transcript | Seeking Alpha: Verisign Chairman D. James Bidzos: "... we expect the first three quarters of the year to have roughly a similar pattern of quarterly net additions to the domain name base as we saw during 2015. However, we expect the fourth quarter of 2016 to be somewhat unique, as the expiring domain name base in that quarter will have the largest percentage of first-time renewing names that we've seen as a result of the strong Q4 2015 performance. While it's difficult to assess what the renewal characteristics of these new names will be due to the unusually large upcoming Q4 2016 expiring base, we expect fourth quarter deletions to be elevated. Accordingly, deletions could exceed additions in the fourth quarter of 2016. Based on these and other factors, we expect the first quarter 2016 net change to the domain name base to be an increase of between 1.5 million and 2 million names. And we are forecasting the full-year 2016 domain name base growth rate to be between 0.5% and 2%.  .... we're not actually changing the terms of the .com Registry Agreement. And this is not a renewal. This is an extension. We are negotiating entering into a 10-year contract with ICANN to perform commercial services as the Root Zone Maintainer ... we are discussing – the extension of the .com Registry Agreement for 10 years. So at that point, should all of these conditions that I described earlier, for example, approval of ICANN's Board of Directors and VeriSign's Board of Directors, no changes whatsoever can be made to the .com Registry Agreement without the consent of the NTIA ... Amendment 32 is a separate part of the Cooperative Agreement [which expires Nov.2018] that addresses pricing with respect to our ability to seek a price change [.COM] if we think it's justified by market conditions. So I certainly don't anticipate that that would change. That would remain. So VeriSign's right to seek relief from price controls based on market conditions that would warrant it would remain ... the new gTLD program could present some inorganic opportunities in our core business. And that's certainly still true. In fact, just recently, a group of observers of that marketplace, who are heavily involved in, all sort of opined that 2016 could be the year of consolidation in that business. And certainly those opportunities to acquire growth in our core business would be something we'd look at ..."

• Earnings Result 114.2 KB (pdf)
• Verisign Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2015 Results 45.1 KB (pdf)
• Quarterly VRSN Convertible Debenture Dilution Q4-2015 (pdf)

Financial Highlights

• Verisign ended 2015 with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.9 billion, an increase of $491 million as compared with year-end 2014.
• Cash flow from operations was $189 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 and $651 million for the full year 2015 compared with $170 million for the same quarter in 2014 and $601 million for the full year 2014.
• Deferred revenues on Dec. 31, 2015, totaled $961 million, an increase of $71 million from year-end 2014.
• Capital expenditures were $12 million in the fourth quarter and $41 million for the full year 2015.
• During the fourth quarter, Verisign repurchased 1.8 million shares of its common stock for $150 million. During the full year 2015, Verisignrepurchased 9.3 million shares of its common stock for $622 million.
• Effective Feb. 11, 2016, the Board of Directors approved an additional authorization for share repurchases of approximately $611 million of common stock, which brings the total amount to $1 billion authorized and available under Verisign's share buyback program, which has no expiration.
• For purposes of calculating diluted EPS, the fourth quarter diluted share count included 21.4 million shares related to subordinated convertible debentures, compared with 14.7 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 4.6 million net new names during the fourth quarter, ending with 139.8 million .com and .net domain names in the domain name base, which represents a 6.3 percent increase over the base at the end of the fourth quarter in 2014, as calculated including domain names on hold for both periods.
• In the fourth quarter, Verisign processed 12.2 million new domain name registrations for .com and .net, as compared to 8.2 million for the same quarter in 2014.
• The final .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2015 was 71.9 percent compared with 72.0 percent for the same quarter in 2014. Renewal rates are not fully measurable until 45 days after the end of the quarter.

Verisign (verisign.com) is a global leader in domain names as registry operator of .COM and .NET top-level domains, provider of registry services and internet security, and also serving as the world's internet root zone maintainer under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. government.

Zone Files For Top-Level Domains (TLDs) - Verisign: Domain name base as of February 11, 2016:

.com 124,979,064 domain names

.net 15,811,181 domain names

Total: 140,790,245 domain names

The active zone as of 02/11/2016 contains 124,038,522 .com domain names and 15,602,017 .net domains totaling 139,640,539 domain names.

Worldwide Status and Growth in Top-Level Domains as of Q4 2015 (source: Centr Q4 2015 Global TLD Report): As of December, 2015, there were 311.5 million domains combined across all top-level domains (TLDs) globally – an increase of 4.4% over Q4 2015. In absolute terms, most growth came from legacy gTLDs, largely .COM, which grew higher than average due to sales in China.  ccTLDs grew a combined 3.2% over Q4 2015 – similar to the average observed for the fourth quarter over the past few years. Around 800 New gTLDs grew from 7.6 to almost 11 million domains--ICANN's new gTLDs represent a small share--3.5%--of the global TLD market share. According to Centr, the median growth rate of new gTLDs is declining: 

Median Growth Rate of New gTLD Domains Declining

All Top-Level Domains as of Q4 2015 - source: Centr

See also: VRSN Stock News - VeriSign, Inc. Stock | Seeking Alpha

Note the Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on February 10, 2016, disclosing Blackrock (domain: blackrock.com) increased its ownership to 5.8% of the outstanding shares of Verisign. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (domain: berkshirehathaway.com) is also one of the largest stockholders in Verisign, owning 12,985,000 shares, or 11.46% of VRSN.

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." (Source: Verisign.com).


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DISCLAIMER