WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has issued a demand to several of the top American internet domain registrars to clamp down on the abuse of their services by Russian disinformation actors who he alleged are attempting to interfere with and influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. Warner sent a letter earlier in October to several well-known companies in the web domain registering and hosting … [Read more...]
Q3 Domain Report: Slight “.COM” Reg Decline, New GTLDs Enjoy 10% Increase
RESTON, VA - Verisign, the company that is the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains (TLDs) and the .cc country-code top-level domain, released their 3rd quarter 2023 Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) this week that reveals by the end of the latest quarter, total domain registrations across all TLDs worldwide have reached 359.3 million. That number represents a 2.4 percent increase year over year, amounting to an … [Read more...]
VeriSign Says “.COM” Registrations Up, “NGTLDS” Up, Legacy “.NET” Down
RESTON, VA - VeriSign Inc., a global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure, announced that their total number of Top-Level Domain (TLD) registrations worldwide have reached 356.6 million as of the end of the second quarter of 2023, as per the company’s latest quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB). Verisign, based out of Reston, Virginia, operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen … [Read more...]
Prices of .Com Domain Name Registrations, Renewals Set to Increase in September
RESTON, VA - Verisign Inc., the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc country-code top-level domains, recently announced that August is the last month to register or renew your .com domain name and save some money before prices are increased this upcoming September. Once September 1 hits, Verisign stated they will increase the wholesale price of annual .com registration and renewals from $8.97 to $9.59, an … [Read more...]
ICANN Moves Forward With 20 Million Deal While World Preoccupied with Epidemic
PALM BEACH, FL – Rahm Emanuel once said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” I’d bet that’s been on the mind of ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, these last couple weeks, as President and CEO, Göran Marby, announced the organization has decided to move forward with its controversial twenty-million-dollar deal, many feel is nothing short of a bribe, with its latest renewal of the .com Registry Agreement with Verisign. The … [Read more...]
With Price Caps Removed, Dot Org Domain Name Registry Acquired by Ethos Capital
PALM BEACH, FL – In a move that surprises few industry experts, Public Interest Registry (PIR), the Reston, Virginia-based not-for-profit created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the “.org” top-level domain name has been acquired by private equity management firm Ethos Capital. The acquisition comes shortly after ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, permitted the removal of price caps on “.org” domain name registrations on June 30, … [Read more...]
VeriSign Quarterly Reports Indicate Legacy “.net” and “.org” Future Not So Wonderful
PALM BEACH, FL – Each quarter, VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN), releases its “THE DOMAIN NAME INDUSTRY BRIEF” market report, highlighting the growth of the domain name system as well as the individual growth of name registration, in numbers, for various extensions including their own “.com”, and “.net” domain names. These reports also include other legacy extensions such as Public Interest Registry's “.org” and leading country-code “ccTLDs.” Not surprisingly, ccTLDs continue to grow … [Read more...]
Why Verisign ‘NASDAQ:VRSN’ Will Inevitably Get Its .COM Domain Price Increase Sought
PALM BEACH – There has been a lot of talk in tech and domain circles lately about the company “Verisign” (NASDAQ:VRSN), its obvious monopoly in the .com domain game, and it’s long list of subsidiaries, but things really started to heat-up back in October 2018 when the company managed to renew its “cooperative agreement” with the United States Government through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), minus long-standing pricing caps on one of … [Read more...]
ICA Lays Ground for Compelling Argument Even the Most Bias of Opinion Cannot Deny
NEW YORK, NY – Two things happened on November 1, 2018, when the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced it would renew its Cooperative Agreement with Verisign while removing price caps on fees it charges registries: Verisign’s stock (VRSN) shot up $25 per share in a single day (then levelling off at still a healthy gain), Verisign came out blasting domain industry participants, calling them “Domain Scalpers” near suggesting that … [Read more...]
Verisign Warns Industry: Far Greater Worry Then Their Minuscule Rate Increase
NEW YORK, NY – They say that when you mess with the bull, you get the horns. Yesterday, Verisign, the company behind all issuing of .com domain names to ICANN approved registries, came out blasting attempts by industry insiders trying to control a price cap that was set by something called the Cooperative Agreement, an agreement between the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) and Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), which for years, prevented any increase … [Read more...]
Verisign Receives Regulatory Approval to Raise .COM Prices; Restrictions Deleted
NEW YORK, NY – Although many had hoped it wouldn’t happen, Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN), the company behind the registration and creation of .COM domain names, has been given the virtual green light by the US Government to raise the price of .com domain names by 7% in each of the last four years of a six-year incremental contract. Late Thursday, news broke that the “Cooperative Agreement”, an agreement between the National Telecommunications and Information Administration … [Read more...]
Domain Sherpa Welcomes ICA with Segment on Groups’ Important Work
NEW YORK, NY - The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) joined Domain Sherpa this week to let viewers know about the organization and exactly what it is, what it collectively does and who’s involved. The segment stated out with Kamila Sekiewicz, Executive Director, who introduced the board of directors and a little about the organization basically stating that it is an “essential organization” for the domain industry, which seems well put and accurate if you ask me. The mic … [Read more...]
Will .COM Domains Get More Expensive with Expiration of “Cooperative Agreement”?
LONG ISLAND, NY – The “Cooperative Agreement” between NTIA (The National Telecommunications and Information Administration ) and Verisign includes a price-cap on .com domain names, however, this agreement must be renewed by November 30, 2018. This means that sometime very soon the price you pay for all of your .com domain registrations and their renewals may be raised, and there is no telling how much this increase might be. The NTIA, an agency of the U.S. Department of … [Read more...]
Uh Oh: 400,000 Less gTLD Registrations First Quarter of 2018, Vs Previous Quarter
NEW YORK – New gTLD proponents will be less than excited to learn that according to the latest Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief, new gTLD domain registrations, despite there being more awareness :) and more names available for registration, such extensions experienced a decline of 400,000 registrations or loss of 2% within the first Quarter of 2018 (Q1) when compared to the last Quarter of 2017 (Q4). Verisign creates these industry briefs to include quarter-over-quarter … [Read more...]
Verisign Releases 2017 Second Quarter Industry Brief on Domain Name Market
NEW YORK, NY – In an endless sea of opinions (I admit, including my own) it is great to look at meaningful data when it comes to where our industry is going as far as growth, innovation and trends. If you would like to read-over the Verisign’s 2017 Second Quarter Industry report, it is online here (PDF). Some key takeaways: .com registrations are up to 129.2 million. .net and .org are still major players, but in number of registrations, far behind ccTLDs such as … [Read more...]