|
ccTLDs STRIKE BACK
28th November, 2002
In an official statement Nominet - the .uk domain name authority - has called for "a significant rethink of ICANN's mission and how it has interpreted its mission" and has attacked ICANN's management of the IANA function.
The statement notes that Nominet "fully supports the decision made by members of the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) … to withdraw from the Domain Name Supporting Organisation (DNSO) in order to explore alternative ways of managing the IANA function and, more generally, the interests of the ccTLD community."
The running of the domain name system is essentially divided into two major functions - one concerned with policy and governance and the other dealing in technical matters such as maintaining administrative contacts, updating name servers and other administrative tasks - this is the IANA function mentioned by Nominet. Operation of each element is awarded on a contractual basis by the US Department of Commerce and, in recent times, both functions have been carried out by ICANN. However, the contract for the IANA function is due for renewal in March, 2003 and there have been rumblings that some ccTLD operators may consider putting in a bid to run IANA. It is not known whether Nominet would support or take part in such a move.
In their statement Nominet suggest that ccTLD operators have become disgruntled partly because it has been perceived that ICANN has attempted to use its control of IANA to try to force through changes in policy that would give it more control in the country code space:
The ccTLDs are … disappointed that ICANN has attempted to withhold performing essential services such as management of changes to addresses, name servers etc in an attempt to enforce the party concerned into a contractual relationship which is unacceptable to almost all
ccTLDs.
More at: http://www.demys.net/news/02_nov_27_nominet.htm
|
