CHAIRMAN'S REPORT TO THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Status: Report submitted for the AGM 29 June 2002

This report covers the activities of the Society's business between July 2001 and June 2002.

• There have been 10 Council meetings since last years AGM, including one meeting held in Auckland. There was also an SGM on 27 October 2001.

• The primary focus of Council has been working towards the rollout of the Shared Registry System (SRS), and concomitant restructuring of our governance structure.

• The past year has been one of considerable "go forward" momentum for a large number of Society activities, and a year of considerable consolidation and comparative harmony. Robust debate continues over many issues, but I am pleased that there has been a noticeable change towards "playing the ball, not the man".

Notable progress during the year included the following items.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL

At the SGM last October, it was resolved that subsequent to the resignation of auditors Martin Jarvie, that Grant Thornton be appointed auditor for the Society.

Council introduced an Interests Register requiring Councillors to declare any interests, as per the Companies Act, primarily to seek to avoid conflicts of interest arising.

A large number of policies have been introduced or modernized during the year, including but not limited to a new travel policy, election guidelines, expenses policy and a documents policy.

Following on from the Constitutional Working Groups efforts, the Society adopted its new constitution by SGM on 27 October 2001, having updated its bylaws by Council resolution. The new constitution and bylaws give us a more robust and relevant set of rules to operate with.

DOMAINZ

Following my election as President and subsequent resignation as a director of Domainz, two directors, Donna Hiser and Liz Longworth were appointed to the Domainz board.

Domainz published the DRS review earlier this year, which appears to have largely drawn little public comment. The recommendations of this review have been considered and accounted for in the design and structure of the SRS.

The Court found for Patrick O'Brien against Alan Brown in the notorious defamation case last year, and it appears this matter is now fortunately behind us.

Domainz will hold it's AGM prior to the Society AGM. Review of the draft accounts received at the time of preparing this report indicate a solid financial performance by the company for the year, although somewhat lower than the previous years profit. Some domain name fee structures were altered.

In recent months Council established the 'Liaison Task Force', comprising of Councillors and Directors and Management of Domainz. This interim group has resolved a number of issues in Domainz's preparation for the SRS rollout, and Domainz's role as Stabilising Registrar, and is still working on issues relating to the long term options for Domainz future.

Domainz has taken swift action on occasions this year concerning ING groups dubious marketing tactics, and should be commended for their efforts.

INTERNATIONAL

ICANN continues to be the primary focus in the international forum, with InternetNZ have attended all meetings, and our representatives continue to be a dominant force in terms of rational approaches to international Internet governance. The main issues currently include the formation of a Country Code Support Organisation, either within or outside the auspices of ICANN, which appears to be gathering strong support, and the ICANN CEO's paper on reformation of ICANN, which has had little support from the international Internet community.

Peter Dengate-Thrush was re-elected to the APTLD Board earlier this year. Our support for the APTLD has been strong this year, and we remain an influential force in our region, and indeed globally.

INTERNET2

A working group has been established to consider and promote the "next generation Internet" concept for New Zealand.

ISP FORUM

The Internet Industry Forum held in Auckland in November last year was well attended and well received by participants. There was little support for legislative changes from those present, with the preference being toward industry self regulation. InternetNZ was empowered to progress a number of these issues by Service Providers, of which the most crucial is the Internet Code of Practice, which is in need of updating for applicability in today's world.

A good working relationship was formed with the Internet Safety Group, and this relationship should be fostered as a complimentary adjunct to the overall work of our Society.

LEGAL, REGULATORY AND POLITICAL

Legislative changes including the Crimes Amendment Bill #6, the Telecommunications Bill, the Electronic Transactions Act and the Digital Copyright Act all included aspects of concern to Council. It has become obvious that reaction from InternetNZ at Select Committee stages is relatively ineffective in terms of modifying proposed legislative changes, and Council has worked hard to establish and foster political relationships that tend to allow us to be participative at legislative drafting stages, where we are sometimes able to assert some influence.

This should be an area of considerable focus for the Society in future, if we are to avoid potentially draconian legislation and if we are to promote industry self regulation.

REBRANDING

Prior to last years AGM we had decided on renaming ourselves as InternetNZ, and an early task in the current year was the creation of a new logo, which was completed as part of our re-branding exercise. We are grateful to 2Day Internet for sponsoring a prize for the logo competition, and to Tracy Woollett of Auckland for her successful entry.

Our new name provides a distinct demarcation from The Internet Society, and has assisted us to move forward with a distinct image.

SECOND LEVEL DOMAIN NAMES

The Maori Internet Society re-applied for .maori.nz as a 2^nd level name in the .nz namespace, and this application is progressing as my report is published. It will be interesting to see if the first new 2^nd level domain since 1995 can succeed.

SHARED REGISTRY SYSTEM

The SRS is progressing well and is on target to roll-out on 1 October. Rose Percival is to be complimented for her efforts in the implementation process, as is Doug Mercer for his efforts in the technical design and development of the registry software.

Governance structural changes have seen the establishment of a company to operate the .nz registry, the appointment of a registry board, and a new committee, the .nz Oversight Committee. The newly appointed Domain Name Commissioner, Debbie Monahan will report to the .nz Oversight Committee.

Public consultation has been a strong focal point for all stages of evolution and development of the SRS and the Registrar community appear fairly unanimous in their support for this project.

STAFF AT INTERNETNZ

Our Executive Director Sue Leader, Administration Manager Bev Irvine and Technical Manager John Vorstemans are to be complimented for their efforts and progress during the year.

TECHNICAL

Last year Council approved a policy change allowing ISO 3166-1 country codes to be registered as 3^rd level domain names in the .nz registry.

PLANNING DAY

A planning day was held for Councillors earlier this year, evaluating the priority and validity of various projects for Council to pursue. The outcomes from the planning day are with Council, and will be circulated to the incoming Council for further action.

SUMMARY

The Society has made significant progress during the year. The dominant issue throughout the year has been preparation for the SRS, and this will remain the major issue at least for the first 6 months of the new year. Council, staff and Domainz have worked extremely hard to try and foresee anything that might disrupt a smooth transition. While it would be unlikely that a transition of this magnitude could occur without hiccups, the paramount concern will be to ensure the .nz registry enjoys uninterrupted operation with minimal disruption to nameholders and registrars.

There have been many other Internet issues and projects advanced by the Society during the year, and most of these will require significant efforts in the future.

On behalf of members, I would like to thank all Councillors, our staff, our contractors, the Board, management and staff of Domainz and contributing members for their outstanding efforts in solidly progressing the objectives of our Society during the past year. Deserving special acknowloedgement for their services are the retiring Councillors, including David Archibald, Simon Blake, Bob Gray, John Russell and David Zanetti. Also retiring this year is Treasurer Steven Heath. I'd like to extend my thanks for the valuable contributions made by this group. In particular, I'd like to thank Bob Gray for his efforts during his term as SRS IOC Chair, a very difficult role, and I believe much of the progress of the SRS has been due to Bob's initial enthusiasm for this project. Bob continues as Chair, and therefore chief steward of our subsidiary Domainz, so we will retain close contact with him. I also believe special thanks are due to Steven Heath in his revolutionising the Treasury function, and shifting the professional nature of this function up by several notches. Steven has also made significant contributions in many areas, most notably to the 2^nd Level Domain applications, and the appointment of the Registry Board. Of the remaining Council, I would also like to especially thank Rick Shera for his massive input into many areas, including his formidable chairmanship of the Liaison Task Force. And finally, my thanks to David Farrar in the roles of Secretary and Admin Committee Chair, for his ongoing sterling efforts and workload.

It is often a thankless task, as volunteers, giving so many hours of our precious spare time, and it is a tribute to the perseverance and passion of so many individuals that enable our Society to function and progress.

THE FUTURE

Later this year the SRS will role out, and this will continue to be a time consuming aspect of our operations, within Council and Domainz, and for our staff. There will undoubtedly be hiccups and teething problems, as there are with any change, but I have confidence that we are poised to enter the SRS arena successfully. There are implications for the staff of InternetNZ and Domainz, and staff are included in consultation in the preparation for the changes ahead.

The Registry Board for the SRS have been formed, and have been meeting. Earlier this week they made their appointment of the Registry Manager.

The .nz Oversight Committee have been appointed and will hold their inaugural meeting in early July. The Domain Name Commissioner has her feet firmly under the desk, but is in need of her governance structure to commence its activities.

With these new structures in place, and new staff appointments, the incoming Council will as a matter of high priority, need to evaluate the structure and reporting responsibilities of all its standing committees, working groups and task forces.

And thirdly, the new Council will need to evaluate the outcomes of the planning day, to assess the priorities for all other activities of Council for the forthcoming year.

© 2002 The Internet Society of New Zealand
Last updated 28 June 2002