Published on the 04/05/2016 | Written by Newsdesk
InternetNZ enters into Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment…
A new agreement between InternetNZ and the MBIE clarifies the respective roles of the two organisations in the management of ‘dot enzed’, or (more prosaically, perhaps) .nz, one of the several domain names unique to New Zealand. It sets clear rules about how InternetNZ manages the .nz domain name space on behalf of the internet community, and explains how any issues or problems that might arise would be resolved.
In a statement InternetNZ CE Jordan Carter said the MoU sets out in clear language how the .nz domain is run. “This MoU is part of giving the public confidence that the management of .nz will always be expected to serve the best interests of all internet users in New Zealand. It sets high standards about the roles and responsibilities involved in governing and managing a country code domain, consistent with global best practice.”
As part of that best practice, Carter said InternetNZ acknowledges it manages .nz on behalf of New Zealanders. “We do not own .nz – we are its stewards – responsible for its effective and reliable management.”
Communications Minister Amy Adams welcomed the development, noting that a stable, reliable, and responsive domain name system is a key part of a modern communications infrastructure. “The success of the .nz domain name lies in consulting with, and being accountable to, New Zealand internet users,” she said in a statement.
In his usual style of getting to the guts of the issue, Kiwiblog’s David Farrar noted the significance of this development: “That accountability is key. In many countries Governments run the country code top level domain or have passed laws dictating how it should be run. In New Zealand, we have an open multi stakeholder approach to Internet policy.”
Farrar added, “It is almost unique in the world to have a Government sign an agreement recognising that the country code top level domain should be run in accordance with RFC1591 [the standard for the creation of and delegation of country code top level domain names].”
As well as giving a clear sense of how .nz operates, Carter said the MoU sets out a new commitment by InternetNZ to test the views of the internet community on various policy issues and to share these results back with that community. “This will strengthen InternetNZ’s work, and will help the internet community learn more about their views on a range of issues.”
The MoU is itself an illustration of global best practice, as alluded to by Farrar. “The framework set out in this MoU is an example to share globally and one that will hopefully be taken up by other countries that share a similar ‘community control’ model for their country code top-level domain,” said Carter.
InternetNZ has managed for the .nz domain name for 20 years. As New Zealanders’ use of the internet has grown, .nz registrations have also grown – from around 8,000 names in 1997 to over 650,000 names today.
A copy of the MoU is available here.
