Exec Dir Report (Sue Leader)

ANNUAL REPORT TO THE 2003 AGM OF INTERNETNZ

By Sue Leader, Executive Director to 31 December 2002

INTRODUCTION

InternetNZ entered the 2002-03 year with high expectations and an ambitious work plan, eagerly awaiting the realisation of many years' hard work through:

the introduction of a competitive Registrars market
establishment of a new Registry
creation of the Office of the Domain Name Commissioner
release of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Capability Study
revision of the Internet Code of Practice, and
the culmination of reform movements within the International Internet governance arena.

Despite limited resources, staff worked tirelessly to ensure our objectives were met, delivering not just 'business as usual' but also:

undertaking a full review of the Society's Office structure
providing administrative support for the new Office of the Domain Name Commissioner and new Registry, and
developing new processes and procedures to implement the extension of members' online participation at AGMs.

Detailed reports were made to all Council meetings and these can be found online.

NEXT GENERATION INTERNET (NGI) PROJECT

This year the NGI Capability Study moved into the implementation phase, with Laurence Zwimpfer engaged as Lead Consultant.

The major outcome of the Study was the establishment of the independent NGI Consortium, for which the Office provided interim bank account, administrative and financial services.

The Council of InternetNZ also agreed that InternetNZ would become a founding member of the Consortium.

LEGISLATION

Throughout 2002, the Office continued to support the work of the Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee.

Draft Telecommunications Information Privacy Code
InternetNZ made written submission, and was also represented at public consultations, on the Draft Telecommunications Information Privacy Code.

It is pleasing that Sections 9(b) and 9(c) of the Code (covering retention of traffic data) have been dropped - an outcome in line with our submission, and which means the law as it is stands.

Through our participation in the consultative process, an opportunity has arisen for InternetNZ to work with the Privacy Commission to promote privacy awareness on the Internet (an opportunity that will also enable us to raise our profile and provide leadership).

Inquiry into the Operation of the Films, Videos and Publications Act.
Written submission was made to the Inquiry into the Operation of the Films, Videos and Publications Act, and in October three representatives of InternetNZ made oral submission to the Government Administration Select Committee on this Act.

Follow-up on Consumer Protection (Definitions of Goods and Services) Bill
The Consumer Protection (Definitions of Goods and Services) Bill, on which InternetNZ made both written and oral submission, was reported to the House in November.

The Bill unanimously recommended deleting the section defining telecommunications signals as 'goods'.

Comment
As in the past, InternetNZ's Submissions (whether written or oral) are being treated with great respect by legislators.

We are valued not only for our in-depth knowledge, but also because we are a cross-sectorial organisation which clearly has no 'axe to grind'.

NEW SECOND LEVEL DOMAINS PROPOSALS

Responsibility for new Second Level Domain proposals moved to the Office of the Domain Name Commissioner (DNC) in mid-2002.

However, given the DNC's huge priority workload establishing a Competitive Registrars market, the Office of the Society continued the consultation processes begun for the .maori.nz proposal.

This proposal gained overwhelming support from the Internet community, and as a result .maori.nz (the first new second level domain in the .nz namespace since 1995) went live on September 5 2002, generating interest worldwide.

The final two proposals accepted by us during the year (before we handed the reins over to the DNC) were:

.bank.nz (proposed by the NZ Bankers Association) and
.geek.nz.

The .bank.nz proposal failed to gain sufficient community support, unlike .geek.nz which has subsequently gained huge support in the first round of consultations.

COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC PROFILE

To achieve the key goal of informing internal and external stakeholders about the Society's work, attention has been directed at various communication strategies, including:

implementing the Society's Open Documents Policy
extending online participation for members (see Membership Services section)
concluding our rebranding exercise (the InternetNZ trademarks have now been successfully registered, and our logo is consistently used in all media work)
taking up sponsorship opportunities to increase brand awareness.

The Society enjoyed a second year of positive media coverage, particularly in relation to issues such as:

new Second Level Domains proposals (.maori.nz, .bank.nz, .geek.nz)
the NGI Capability Study
severance of the final link with NASA (the origin of the Internet in New Zealand) when the new secondary nameservers came online.

Our input was also sought by the media on topical subjects such as Internet pornography, hacking, open systems, the definition of 'publishing' on the Internet and email and AUPs.

INTERNATIONAL WORK

International work continued to remain important, especially in light of major reform proposals for ICANN. During the year:

the Society was represented at the Shanghai APTLD, ccTLD, and ICANN meetings
Sue Leader stood in for the International Affairs Committee Chair, Peter Dengate Thrush
Andy Linton attended the Pacific-INET 2002 seminar in Nadi, to provide IPv6 training
progress was made in the ongoing battle with ICANN to get our listing in the IANA database updated (two of the three outstanding issues we had with ICANN have now been resolved)
administration contact details were finally updated on the ccTLD database, and secondary Nameserver updates were completed (the updating of technical contact details, however, remains unresolved - a major issue, as the database now needs updating to reflect the new Registry)
Sue Leader was appointed a member of the International Affairs Committee (after completing contract as InternetNZ Executive Director) and is now participating in the 'Review of International Affairs'.

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

Improvements to Membership Services were primarily focused around Constitutional changes, and new processes for online AGMs.

The Constitution now comprises a range of timelines that vary according to circumstance, eg, whether there are sufficient nominations to run a purely online vote prior to the AGM, or whether nominations must be re-opened from the floor.

Modification of the online voting system now allows for automated preferential vote counting, with computers provided at the venue for online voting from the floor.

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT AND NETWORKING

The Executive Director remains the nexus for communications with:

internal and external stakeholders
sibling organisations
community and professional organisations
government.

Examples of these who we have worked with this year include:

Internal and External Stakeholders
InternetNZ Council and membership; the Domain Name Commissioner; New Zealand Registry Services Ltd; Domainz Ltd; APTLD; APNIC; ccTLD; ICANN; PAC-NET; print, radio, television, and Internet Media; the general public.

Sibling Organisations
UniForum; TUANZ; NZ Computer Society; The NZ Internet Safety Group; Te Whanau Ipurangi/NZ Maori Internet Society; NGI-NZ; GOVIS.

Community and Professional Organisations
UNESCO; The Risk Management Society of NZ; The International Institute for Research; The New Zealand Bankers Association; The New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women; Shakti (Asian Women's Refuge).

Government
Ministry of Economic Development; Industry NZ; E-government Unit; Ministry of Justice; Privacy Commission; ECAT; ICT Taskforce.

SUPPORTING THE WORK OF COUNCIL

Administration
Full administrative support for Council was provided, and other specific tasks undertaken, including:

compilation of the now compulsory Register of Interests5
negotiation of a new Directors and Officers Insurance Policy, to replace the old cover provided jointly with Domainz
providing of assistance to the new Auditors
negotiation of the transfer of the block of IP addresses which Domainz (as the first New Zealand Registry) held on behalf of InternetNZ, into the Society's name.

Financial
Enhanced reports were developed by the new Treasurer (Chris Streatfield) and the Executive Director, to provide a more useful depiction of the Society's finances. It was also agreed that greater use would be made of accountants in the areas of financial management and reporting.

STRATEGIC PLANNING FOLLOW-UP

The eleven candidate projects emanating from our 2002 Strategic Planning Session were transformed into a workable Business Plan.

Draft Business Cases were then presented to Council, who created a 'Strategic Planning Taskforce' to further extend the planning process.

During this process, the 'business as usual' work of the Society was clearly defined for the first time, and our key targets (Area 1) now comprise 23 deliverables under the following subsections:

Financial
Council Support
Event Management
Membership Services
Communications
Public Profile
Administration.

OFFICE AND ADMINISTRATION

Significant computer network and phone system upgrades have recently been implemented. The computer-related enhancements include:

substantial upgrade of the office network in 2002, to accommodate the new Office of the Domain Name Commissioner (DNC)
addition of a new stand-alone firewall, plus installation of anti-virus and anti-spam software, after upgrading of the two existing servers' software
purchase of two new machines for the DNC office (one of which is running solely on Red Hat) and integration of these machines and new printer/scanner/fax into the network
bringing the final outsourced system in-house with the installation of a Secure Server - the core network remains Linux based (Debian)
setting up IMAP for all staff.

The Office plans to migrate entirely to Linux and desktop environments are being investigated. We may have to retain a Windows box for membership databases and accounting software, but even so, Microsoft licensing costs will drop sharply.

INTERNAL REVIEW AND RESTRUCTURING

Recognising that the Office of the Society was under-resourced, Council has decided to increase its capacity to include the Executive Director plus two staff members and a half-time contractor.

Accordingly, Zofia Krawczyk has been employed as our new Office Administrator, and John Vorstermanns, who has provided excellent service as our part-time Technical Manager, is now employed on a Technical Services Contract.

The Executive Director's role has also been restructured to distinguish more clearly between policy and operational matters, and to more clearly define InternetNZ's relationship with the local internet community (from whom InternetNZ derives its mandate).

CONCLUSION

I wish to congratulate InternetNZ on the achievements of the 2002 year, which are the result of much hard work by many dedicated people.

The restructuring implemented during the year was a positive move which reflects the evolving nature of our organization, and recognises the important work the Society does.

I chose not to apply for the restructured Executive Director role, believing I have completed the job I began in August 1998 - that of managing the transition of the Society from a completely volunteer organization, to one with a small number of professional paid staff.

A big thank you to the Officers, Councillors, members, staff, and colleagues for all your support over the years, and best wishes to the new Executive Director and Council for the future.

Sue Leader
Outgoing Executive Director

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