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Verisign Releases Domain Name Industry Brief

2016 ended with just under 330M domain name registrations across all top level domains (TLDs). That’s about a 2.3 million name increase over the previous quarter. Domains grew at a rate of 6.8 percent year over year from 2015 to 2016. Country-codes grew at a rate of 3.1 percent. .Com and .net grew at a rate of 1.7 percent. Of course, .com remains the largest TLD in terms of numbers, ending the year at 126.9 million domains registered. .Com is trailed by .cn, .de, and .net with 21.1M, 16.1M and 15.3M respectively (I don’t count .tk since it is a free, ad-sponsored TLD). New gTLDs now represent a total of 7.8 percent of total domain name registrations.

Verisign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide Internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry.

You can get a copy of the full report here.

Read the story… | Source:Verisign | Date posted: 3/1/2017

Research Shows Spike In Online Fraud

ThreatMetrix, a California-based company that analyzes and blocks cybercrime attacks in real-time, said it detected 122 million fraud attempts worldwide in the final three months of 2016, representing a 35 percent spike over the previous year.

Read the story… | Source: The Hill | Date posted: 3/1/2017

Net Neutrality and the New FCC Chair

I’m a fan of net neutrality in the true sense of the term. It means that ISPs, cable companies, and Telcos must offer the same access to all users. It also means that they stay on the path of equal peer access. It is the reason that small entrepreneurs have been able to build huge businesses. They had access to the same pipes at reasonable costs.

The Obama administration supported this concept but they seriously changed the original idea by applying the idea that old fashioned telco rules should apply to the Internet. The truth is that when they advocated the idea of “net neutrality” a couple of years ago, I was really unsure of it meaning what I always thought it meant. My thoughts have always been more aligned with the principals espoused here: https://www.eff.org/issues/net-neutrality.

So now we have a new FCC Chairman who is indicating a shift away from “net neutrality”. To be honest, I can’t begin to comprehend what that can mean. If it means that ISPs can now throttle Internet access speeds based on how much you pay, that is bad news for the majority of people and businesses in this country. especially small businesses. Just imagine the ill effects and damage to your business if you had to compete with Amazon or Walmart based on the amount you paid to your ISP. Their sites would work two or three times faster than yours theoretically (because they could afford to pay for those higher speeds). That would be damaging to all small entrepreneurs.

We have all benefited by equal access to bandwidth on the Internet. This equal access has given rise to the most exciting companies in the world today. It is the thing that really makes the Internet “the great equalizer”. I just hope that the Trump administration and the new FCC Chair understand what net neutrality really means.

I do advocate removing old telecom rules from the Internet however. They don’t apply and give the government too much power over an Internet that needs to continue to be free to prosper.

Today Reuters did a story on the new FCC Chair’s approach. I hope things go in the right direction.

Read the story… | Source: Reuters | Date posted: 3/1/2017

George Kirikos Asking Domain Registrants to Weigh in on ICANN

George Kirikos is an advocate for the domain registrant who regularly comments on issues protecting the rights of registrants. ICANN is always on the move, seeking ideas and changes in programs. That doesn’t mean that they go in the best direction. Domain registrants need to weigh in to protect their interests.

Recently, Mr. Kirikos asked for interested parties to comment on an issue where Interngovernmental Organizations (IGOs) are seeking more control over short domain names.

TheDomains.com wrote more about it here. If you hold valuable domain names in your portfolio, it would be wise to weigh in on the matter.

Read the story… | Source: TheDomains.com | Date posted: 3/1/2017

Book Idea – AntiFragile – Things that Gain From Disorder

I read a summary of this and it sounds interesting. What I took from it is that we should sometimes embrace rather than disdain a little disorder because good things can come from it. When we are challenged and survive, we usually become better people. Stress, in the right measure, can make us higher performers.

What I really liked about the book is that it points out that, often, what we assume to be true, really isn’t. An example it made is that big industrialists are often called the creators of the industrial society when, in fact, it was many small tinkerers and inventors that created the ideas that changed our world. I liked hearing that. I’ve seen this to be true in my own life. Some of my best times followed what I thought were my worst.

Anyway, here’s a link to the book if you are interested:

Get the book… | Source: Blinkist | Date posted: 3/1/2017