[governance] privatising ccTLDs

Wed Apr 7 19:37:10 EDT 2010

Carlos,

Any registrar that registers .DE domain names can provide an address, even if for registrars outside Germany this can be a headache. Nominet has no restrictions I am aware of. AuDA has restrictions that say for com.au addresses the person or organisation must have an Australian business number from the tax office and the name must have some relationship with their work.

And when there are over 13 million domains, such as .DE and over 8 million (.UK) it *IS* much harder to get your preferred domain name than say, if there are over one million (.AU and .CA).

Regards
David

----- Original Message ----
From: Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca>
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; David Goldstein <goldstein_david at yahoo.com.au>
Sent: Wed, 7 April, 2010 10:58:41 PM
Subject: Re: [governance] privatising ccTLDs

David, some additional comments below.

--c.a.

David Goldstein wrote:
> Carlos et al,
[...]
> Some have a requirement for a local contact as part of the
> registration process, but this is often easily provided by a
> registrar. And given that the world's number one ccTLD and probably
> number 2 ccTLD, .DE and .UK respectively, allow people from around
> the world to register domain names in their ccTLDs and the world
> hasn't fallen in, then it's not too big a problem.

Not sure about any restrictions in Nominet (could not find specific
policy requirements in their Web site), but DENIC requires a legal
German address: "It is possible for individuals or institutions (that
have legal capacity) not located in Germany to register .de domains.
There is, however, a condition, namely that they must appoint an
administrative contact who is resident in Germany and who has a postal
address at which it is possible to serve documents (i.e. not a mere P.O.
box). The administrative contact is then also the person formally
authorized by the domain holder to receive service of official or court
documents (Zustellungsbevollmächtigter) within the meaning of the German
Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung) and the German Code of
Criminal Procedure (Strafprozessordnung). The reason for this measure is
to ensure that if any party has a legal claim to pursue, it is not made
more difficult for them by having to serve official or court documents
in another country, which is often a long, drawn-out process."

Not sure about AuDA either, but CIRA (Canada) does require proof of
Canadian citizenship or a legal address in Canada.

> The main issue I see is that by opening up the ccTLD means it is
> harder for residents to get their own ccTLD domain.

Not sure about this. I think it might even become easier, although they
will have to compete for certain addresses with global registrants. My
point is that this "internationalization" just to make money defeats the
original purpose of having ccTLDs as the realm of national identities in
the domain name system. Otherwise, let us all join GNSO :)

cheers

--c.a.

> 
> Cheers David
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ---- From: Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca> 
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; McTim <dogwallah at gmail.com> Sent: Wed,
> 7 April, 2010 9:11:35 PM Subject: Re: [governance] privatising ccTLDs
> 
> 
> Hi McTim, I can start by saying: cheap and quick way to get a gTLD...
> :) There is a business group which convinces a community (or their 
> government, as I think Colombians have not had the opportunity to 
> properly and widely debate this) that their national identity on the 
> Internet is no longer relevant and let you take over and convert
> their ccTLD into a commodity for the international domain market.
> 
> In the case of Colombia, it is quite strange. It is a country with 44
>  million people, relatively high HDI and the third largest South
> American economy -- hard to see how this is going to generate any
> significant amount of money to benefit Colombia -- this is far from
> being Tuvalu. On the other hand, given the size of the economy and
> Internet penetration in the country, it is hard to see how a
> non-profit self-sustainable operation to keep their ccTLD in the
> national commons would not succeed.
> 
> But this is my view and I am not a Colombian (just a Latin American),
>  so... But it makes me sad to know that xyz.co no longer points to a 
> Colombian Internet space.
> 
> frt rgds
> 
> --c.a.
> 
> McTim wrote:
>> http://www.cointernet.co/
>> 
>> Do we have any thing to say on this?
>> 
>> This type of thing would be a fruitful workshop topic IMO.
>> 
> 

-- 

Carlos A. Afonso
CGI.br (www.cgi.br)
Nupef (www.nupef.org.br)
====================================
new/nuevo/novo e-mail: ca at cafonso.ca
====================================

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