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:
2) Other ICANN news
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
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)
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued its decision in Elliott v. Google, Inc., No. 15-15809 (9th Cir. May 16, 2017), affirming the District of Arizona’s ruling granting Google’s motion for summary judgment that its GOOGLE trademark is not subject to cancellation as generic.
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
- FCC Proposes Ending Utility-Style Regulation of the Internet | Federal Communications Commission | fcc.gov and How One Little Cable Company Exposed Telecom’s Achilles’ Heel | backchannel.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
• 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