.nz news & views

List of all DNC authorised registrars is available with .nz domain name pricing and other details. Please be advised that the list is out of date but it will be updated in future.

	Thursday, 23 March 2006

So long and thanks for all the fish
With the appointment of the .nz Experts (the lawyers sitting on the disputes panel) the final part of the puzzle is in place for .nz. I have spent hundreds and maybe thousands of hours of blood sweat and tears into breaking the Domainz behemoth and putting in place a flexible and successful .nz system. For no personal gain or for any other reason than 'it was the right thing to do'. I think I will get off my butt and update the .nz registrar page, and keep it updated, and leave this policy stuff to those many people now employed by InternetNZ.

I guess it is a good thing that this now does not attract my interest. It means it is running well and working as it should. I would give the current .nz system a 9 out of 10. I will post in the up coming weeks about what changes I would put on my wish list.
10:54:46 AM Like to comment? []

Does it really matter?
It is with some amusement I find myself very busy for next week. However my next week is not related to the first, and hopefully only, ICANN meeting in Wellington. I am off to LinuxWorld in Sydney something that actually has a technical focus, unlike ICANN.

I commented after finding out that we had ~~lost~~ won the 'right' to host the ICANN meeting that whatever was planned would mean nothing and it would just be hijacked by what other crisis event was occurring at the time. Much like every other ICANN meeting. The more things change the more they remain the same. This meeting like all ICANN meetings is much ado about nothing. Those that 'talk it up' are just those that gain their power by being involved in this process. Wouldn't be great if a ICANN meeting was held and no one showed up and would anyone care?

In my opinion the only part of ICANN that really impacts the ccTLD's is IANA. This is also not part of ICANN, ICANN just performs those duties on behalf of the US Government. Now with the Verisign agreement providing ICANN with millions of dollars direct from the monolopy agreement then ICANN can drop the final pretence of 'consulting' the community in these side shows called 'ICANN meetings'.

Enough of this ramble. I wanted to get if off my chest. Anyone want to take bets on how many press releases come out that actually say nothing, both during and after the meeting?
10:47:15 AM Like to comment? []

	Thursday, 8 December 2005

Behold the future!
I have been mulling the future of this site from some time.

The reason is simple, .nz, in general, has its shit together. Things are not falling apart or lawsuits being threatened (or in some cases filed) and multi million dollar projects run by inept management are not occurring any more.

I created this blog back in July 2002 in the days of the formation of the SRS to highlight what was going to those people that did not ‘live the SRS’.

While I do not think .nz is perfect it is one of the best ccTLD’s. I think that for instance NZOC should be more transparent and broader process for appointments and full registrar stats being made public.

The last part of the jigsaw is the .nz disputes process. Once that is implemented I will cover any initial cases and then I think I will turn out the lights. I plan to keep the site online for all those amusing Google searches I get.

Other options were to turn it into a ‘personal blog’ but then again I would rather give myself a lobotomy with a spork than do that. For a brief moment I had thought about running the Unofficial DPF Fan Site (UDPFFS) but I think some 8 year old girl called Sarah is already planning on doing that so I wont steal her thunder :-)

I plan to refocus my attention on the registrar survey that I was half way through doing before a hard drive crash and being a reference site for the .nz ccTLD.

Of course if I’m lucky .nz could all fall apart and I could have a ‘target rich environment’ again and things will be back to the ‘good old days’. Here’s hoping!
10:02:28 AM Like to comment? []

	Tuesday, 22 November 2005

Chesley Rafferty's luck runs out
I meant to post about this a few weeks ago but it slipped my mind. Chesley Rafferty Director and Head Scumbag of Domain Names Australia has been declared bankrupt after two creditors filed petitions against him. The amusing part is the petitions were from the ACCC and Auda. The Age has a short write up on the Chesely Rafferty bankruptcy. I like the use of the word 'shonky'.

In a 'final parting shot' Chesley posted to the Australian DNS mail list with this comment. Please note that the content may not pass any web filtering software that you or your employer may be using.
1:52:48 PM Like to comment? []

	Friday, 18 November 2005

.nz disputes process
Last week the DNC issued the draft policy for the Disputes Resolution Service for .nz. I have not had a good read of it yet but after talking to several people on the working group it seems to follow all the things they have been talking about for the last 6 months. I do find it ironic that this is being referred to as 'DRS'. Lets hope they are not tempting fate and it does not go as disastrous as the previous DRS project.
2:17:49 PM Like to comment? []

WSIS round up
As the publishing issue took so long to fix I have not blogged on the WSIS issue. The following is a round up of stories that I think cover the issue:

2:10:41 PM Like to comment? []

	Thursday, 17 November 2005

kiwiblog has text of agreement
David Farrar has the text of the draft agreement. I only looked on his site after I saw the BBC headline.
12:11:24 AM Like to comment? []

Agreement reached pre Tunis meeting
BBC is reporting that an agreement has been reached before the Tunis WSIS meeting regarding the recent Internet Governance 'issue'. Have to wait for more detail but do you really think David Gross said "anything that will create any problems for the private sector"?

Further information at Dutch site called ComputerPartner. Looks like this is just hitting the news wires now. In the morning should be lots of coverage.
12:00:26 AM Like to comment? []

	Thursday, 13 October 2005

Twomey quoted in The Guardian
The Guardian has a story on titled EU says internet could fall apart. Thanks to Bret Faustt I was alerted to a quote from Paul Twomey, ICANN CEO. It is:

"We expect to evolve, we expect to keep changing. We are concerned about stability [of the internet] and we think it's best to evolve existing institutions. Our present corporate structure is a matter of history, not of any particular design."

Bret outlines some of the recent changes to ICANN in his post but I would like to point out that ICANN was created in the manner it was to get 'the nod' from the USA government. Others were also trying to 'win the prize' but ICANN got it, partly based on the corporate structure and that Jon Postel was going to be the CTO. But hey, if you repeat a lie often enough its becomes fact right?
11:42:05 AM Like to comment? []

	Tuesday, 11 October 2005

The Economist and Karl Auerbach
Bret Fausett has links to a story in The Economist regarding ICANN and the UN. As it is subscriber only he posted the story for all to read. I guess lawyers in the US don't have to worry about copyright! :-)

Bret also links to Karl Auerbach's followup which he titled "Clueless Editorial". I actually read Karls followup before reading The Economist article. Karl is one of the three former At Large directors elected onto the ICANN board and is by far the most well known. He also has sued ICANN, and won, about access to company documents as a director.
2:46:12 PM Like to comment? []

	Sunday, 9 October 2005

Kieren McCarthy has an article called Breaking America's grip on the net on The Guardian. The best summary of this story is:

After troubled negotiations in Geneva, the US may be forced to relinquish control of the internet to a coalition of governments.

Things are happening faster than I expected.
10:02:41 PM Like to comment? []