Trends in ccTLD’s and models of operation

ICANN/ITU meeting, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaJuly 24, 2004

Points to discuss?

• Who is CENTR• Domain Market information and what

are ccTLDs• Streamlined domain management.• All issues are local – User needs and

compliance with National laws, (Privacy rights, data protection, consumer rights etc)

What is CENTR?

• Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries

• Forum for TLD managers– Primarily ccTLDs (but gTLDs ) 46 Registry

members– Mainly European (but members from 5

continents)– European Commission, invited

Governments, RIPE and ICANN observers.

CENTR’s Membership• AFGNIC Afghanistan (.af)• STA Andorra (.ad)• ISOC.AM Armenia (.am)• NIC.AC Ascension Is. (.ac), Diego Garcia (.io), St

Helena (.sh)• NIC.AT Austria (.at)• DNS Belgium Belgium (.be)• Digital Systems Bulgaria (.bg)• CIRA Canada (.ca)• CARNet Croatia (.hr)• UCY-DNS Cyprus (.cy)• CZ.NIC Czech Republic (.cz)• DENIC Germany (.de)• FICORA Finland (.fi)• AFNIC France (.fr), Mayotte (.yt), Reunion (.re),

St. Pierre & Miquelon (.pm), Wallis & Futuna Is. (.wf )

• GibNet Gibraltar (.gi)• GR-Hostmaster Greece (.gr)• Island Networks Guernsey (.gg), Jersey (.je)• CHIP Hungary (.hu)• IEDR Ireland (.ie)• IPM Iran (.ir);• ISNIC Iceland (.is)• ISOC-IL Israel (.il)• IT-NIC Italy (.it)• JPRS Japan (.jp);• NIC.LY Libya (.ly)

•LITNET NOC Lithuania (.lt)•RESTENA DNS-LU Luxembourg (.lu)•NIC Malta Malta (.mt)•NIC-Mexico Mexico (.mx)•MoldData Moldova (.md)•SIDN Netherlands (.nl)•ISOCNZ New Zealand (.nz)•NORID Norway (.no), Bouvet Is. (.bv), Svalbard & Jan Mayen Is. (.sj)•Palestinian Registry Palestine (.ps)•NASK Poland (.pl)•FCCNPortugal (.pt)•RNC Romania (.ro)•Ros-NIIROS Russia (.ru)•RED.ES Spain (.es);•ARNES Slovenia (.si)•IIS Sweden (.se)•SWITCH Switzerland (.ch), Lichtenstein (.li)•SITA (.aero)•Nominet UK United Kingdom (.uk)•NeuStar United States of America (.us)•VeriSign (.com, .net)•Afilias (.info)•Public Interest Registry (.org)

Benefits of diverse participation

• CENTR values participation from many different registries– Western and Eastern Europe, Americas, Asia, Oceania – Different regulatory regimes, Internet community

expectations, use of domain names etc.– Different challenges is ensuring stable DNS/Internet

• Provides diverse viewpoints– Brings different perspectives to discussion of issues– Helps CENTR define policies that benefit everyone– Comes to agreed opinions based on this dialogue within

CENTR, so there is a unified opinion to the global arena

Internet users and Domain Names

All Users have choice

• gTLDs (outside jurisdiction) compete with ccTLDs (inside jurisdiction)

• Regulation of ccTLDs in addition to normal business practice reduces attractiveness of ccTLDs – so users buy domains elsewhere.

• Global market, global pressure – satisfying local culture, local needs, local environment – stimulate success.

Domain Name market

Source: Verisign

ccTLDs make up 39% of the market

ccTLD Registry Models

Historically Internet was used and developed by academic community

Many ccTLD registries were operated by academic institutions or government research department.

Many academic institutions or Government research department do not want the liability/responsibility of running a registry – create separate body to operate Registry

Other cases internet communities invite private companies to operate on a cost recovery basis.

Some Government research departments have handed over function to the regulator and the regulator has handed responsibility to private sector cost recovery companies.

Some were delegated directly to Private Sector companies.

Management Models

Streamlining Domain Management

gTLDs in competition with ccTLDs

• Chile 0.09• Poland 0.20• Germany 0.33• Malaysia 0.76• Turkey 2.89 • Spain 7.07• India 39.49

• France went from 5.30 to 3.83 in one month.

Source: nic.IR

Policy decisions are local

• Users – which includes Government, determine policy of Domain Registration.

• Technical issues handled by technical community

• Policy issues dealt with by users having regard for the legal framework of the country where the Registry is located.

• Internationalised Domain Names are a local issues – policies need to be in local script and local dispute resolution important.

Controlling ccTLD Registry does not give power over

Internet• Industry and Government working together to

satisfy user demand will bring success to the Internet community

• Internet is not like telephony – it has intelligence at the edges - it has been made by design to avoid central points of “failure” – packets (like users) circumvent areas of restriction.

• Public / Private partnership with all control divested to the local community makes for a solid foundation.

Government / Industry ModelsDialogue and responsibility

Some governments specifically exclude Internet Naming and Addressing issues from Telecommunications Regulations – placing a duty on Industry to act appropriately.Government still controls the general framework for conducting business and providing (non-discriminatory) services.

Market failure unlikely as industry and users have most to loose. Policy Boards and Registry fast to respond.

Some Governments manage Internet Naming and Addressing Policy.

Industry will be unable to rescue in a timely manner, as management is controlled by policy and process.

Summary

Industry can help Government, we say to Governments“Internet Management is a problem you don’t want…

… you don’t need…… we’ve solved it…

… tell us if there are issues.”

Dialogue is good and we are all here to assist.

Together we will satisfy local demand, promote local diversity, recognise different cultures, languages and frameworks.

Future Meetings

• General Assemblies 2004– Yerevan AM (Sept), Zürich CH (Dec)

• Technical, Administrative, Legal workshops throughout the year.

CENTR newsletterwww.centr.org/domainwire/

Thank you

Paul M KaneCENTR Chairman

Paul.Kane@CENTR.org