.nz news & views

	Friday, 31 October 2003

Herald opinion piece on domain names NZ Herald has an opinion piece today that in summary is 'own domain name good, Xtra domain name charges bad'. 10:35:32 AM      Like to comment? []

	Thursday, 30 October 2003

.nz joins ccNSO but was it an informed decision Couple of weeks ago .nz applied to join the ccNSO. From what I can tell the 'opposing view' of why a ccTLD should not join the ccNSO was barely, if at all, presented to InternetNZ members or council. Did council vote on joining the ccNSO based on a fully informed decision? I am doing some research on this and the process that the application was submitted as I have found some interesting anomalies. 9:15:33 AM      Like to comment? []

Media on Domain Names NZ and working toll free number NZ Herald and IDG have stories on Domain Names NZ. Josh Rowe has placed a copy online of one of the 'letters'. Also if you check out this link you will find a working toll free number for Domain Names NZ. I am sure Domain Names NZ will welcome your call for information :-) 8:52:23 AM      Like to comment? []

	Wednesday, 29 October 2003

.nz stats by DNC office The DNC recently announced a new .nz statistics area of the website. They have more stats than you can shake a stick at and say they are more then willing to add more if it will be of value to others. Check 'em out if you have a slow afternoon :-) 1:15:20 PM      Like to comment? []

Domain Names NZ scams again It appears that Domain Names NZ has sent another scam renewal notice out. The DNC issued a warning this morning about it. So far all of these scammers have come from Australia where this type of activity is rampant. 11:32:48 AM      Like to comment? []

	Wednesday, 22 October 2003

2LD WG still taking submissions The 2LD Review working group is still taking submissions on the discussion paper released several weeks ago. Take 20 minutes out from your day and read the paper and use the online form (or the other submission means) and provide some feedback. 10:08:27 AM      Like to comment? []

	Tuesday, 21 October 2003

NZ Herald on InternetNZ and membership woes NZ Herald has a very interesting opinion piece on InternetNZ today. I fully agree with this article and might as well announce now that I have no plans to renew my InternetNZ membership. David Zanetti has recently resigned as well. I see no point in my further involvement in InternetNZ and I think I can provide greater ability to change it by not being a member. On a side note if you are one of the remaining 147 paid up members and would like a membership wide vote on the CyberLaw proposal I only need 2 more members to sign up to the e-GM request. 8:11:59 AM      Like to comment? []

	Friday, 17 October 2003

PAG finds a winner with Patent Watch proposal Looks like the Patent Advisory Group (a WG of InternetNZ) has got a winner of an idea with the Patent Watch system. They have got a proposal to track patents at a very attractive price from a law firm for only $300 a month. This would .nz registrants money well spent in my opinion, it has a clear role, a clear benefit and a very good price. Maybe we should get Jim Higgins (chair of PAG) to talk to VUW about the CyberLaw proposal :-) 11:02:20 AM      Like to comment? []

	Thursday, 9 October 2003

Updated registrar list Have done the full monthly update to the Registrar's pricing list. The mean price has dropped just over $1 to $44.29 plus GST. This is from some new registrars coming on board as well as several that did not have prices listed until now. I am expecting some of the 'cheaper' prices to come up $3-$6 as the DNC registrant mail out is now over. I am forecasting that the 'street price' of a domain name will move to just under $40 including GST over the next few months. 2:38:53 PM      Like to comment? []

	Wednesday, 8 October 2003

ComCom warns Domain Names NZ Stuff and NZ Herald each have a story about ComCom formally warning Domain Names NZ about their scam mail out a few months ago. Stories are nearly identical to the ComCom press release. 10:12:14 PM      Like to comment? []

	Friday, 3 October 2003

APTLD to meet in Wellington in November APTLD is to have its next meeting in Wellington 21 to 23 of November. A detailed posting has more information on this meeting. 11:42:30 AM      Like to comment? []

	Thursday, 2 October 2003

Glad I am not an Ocker... The Aussie DNS 'space' has be quiet of late, not so the other week, when about every other post to a DNS policy list was 'apologise or I will sue!' type post. Amusing if you not involved, kinda of like a 3 year old having a tantrum in a store... noisy and meaningless and eventually they stop after a lot of embarrassment all round. Opps, the point of this post, oh yeah, AUDA announced that .com.au and .net.au have reached 350,000 name combined and thus resulting in a 10% drop in wholesale prices (from $50 to $45 AUD). Not bad eh, .nz has 140,000 odd names and charges $24 NZ... oh hang on... NZ is less than half the size and is less than half the price. Maybe I will compare AUDA/.au costs to DNC/.nz costs. Throw in Nominet/.uk for kicks are well. Correction: I have just been reminded that the AusRegistry $50 fee is for 2 years not one year as I have stated. However, still makes .nz cheaper with less names... 11:30:48 AM      Like to comment? []

IDG on 2LD WG paper IDG has a story on the release of the 2LD WG discussion document. It is time to retire Paul, I can't see any obvious mistakes in the story! :-) 9:38:02 AM      Like to comment? []

	Wednesday, 1 October 2003

2LD WG consultation paper released The 2LD WG (which I am a member of) has finally released its background and consultation paper. I would strongly advise everyone to read the background paper and give some thought to the issues in it and the questions at the end. Then either use the online from or email comments to the WG. 2:54:40 PM      Like to comment? []

$300k plan to host ICANN meeting? The minutes of the last InternetNZ council meeting (which now seem to be placed online without informing members) has an interesting snippet about proposed hosting of a future  ICANN meeting. "Discussion held on holding 2005 ICANN meeting in New Zealand. Costs involved in holding meeting in New Zealand circa $300,000 (not including delegates own travel costs which are paid for by the delegates). These costs included projection equipment, screens, security and administrative support for delegates. Holding the meeting in New Zealand allows InternetNZ to set agenda and have significant input to issues raised." That's right... $300k... I have yet to see any benefit of hosting a meeting, any ability to influence the agenda (which is naive I feel) is meaningless as almost always ICANN releases some important document 5 days before the meeting and the meeting spends most of its time on this new item. The outcome in the minutes is a motion calling for the Int. Affairs Committee to come up with a business plan. On the up side it will be fun reviewing that document when it is released :-) 9:33:27 AM      Like to comment? []

Melbourneit.co.nz and domainz.co.nz Melbourne IT advises to make sure you get all the names in can in the different 'name spaces'. I find it amusing then if you whois on melbourneit.co.nz. Then do a whois on melbourneit.net.nz and look at the different dates between these two records. Also while on the subject when is Domainz going to fix their bR0k3n DRS system as when do a check on domainz in any 2LD it states you must provide a valid name. 8:23:23 AM      Like to comment? []