Council Minutes 03/12/97

MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INTERNET SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND INC Ministry of Commerce Building, 33 Bowen Street, Wellington, 3 December 1997, 9:00 am to 3:10 pm

Status: Minutes adopted at Council Meeting 5 March 1998

PRESENT:

• Jim Higgins (Chair), Stephen Bell, Mark Davies, Liam Greenwood, Mark Harris, John Hine, Don Hollander, Colin Jackson, Neil James, Andy Linton, Frank March, Prashanta Mukherjee, Jenny Shearer, Bruce Sim, John Vorstermans, Steve Withers

APOLOGIES:

• Roger de Sallis, Rodney Prescott, Mimi Recker, Jim Shaw

OBSERVERS

• Roger Hicks, Donald Neal, Patrick O'Brien

Moved (Chair): "that the Secretary be empowered to employ a short-hand secretary for note-taking at future Council meetings"

Agreed

1. OBSERVERS

Moved (Chair): "that the presence of the observers be acknowledged."

Agreed

2. APLOLGIES

Moved (Chair): "that the apologies be accepted."

Agreed

3. MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL METING OF 21 AUGUST 1997

It was noted that a section of the meeting involving discussion of the moderation of Domain Names was omitted from the minutes.

Moved (Chair): "that, subject to noting the omission of some discussion on moderation of Domain Names, the minutes of the meeting of 21 August 1997 be accepted as a true and accurate record."

Agreed

4. MATTERS ARISING

There were no matters arising.

5 ELECTON OF OFFICERS

Chairperson

• Jim Higgins was nominated by Liam Greenwood. There being no other nominations, Jim Higgins was declared duly elected as Chairperson.

Secretary

• Frank March was nominated by Liam Greenwood There being no other nominations, Frank March was declared duly elected as Secretary.

Treasurer

• Colin Jackson was nominated by John Hine. There being no other nominations, Colin Jackson was declared duly elected as Treasurer.

6. FORMATION OF COMMITTEES

Jim Higgins presented a paper (Attachment 1) proposing four committees, with each Councillor being involved with at least one committee.

Discussion point: How should publicity be handled?

Points made:

• Research and Education would normally deal with public information;
• Publicity is a major concern and could require a committee of its own;
• All committees should be working to ensure that their work is recognised; -
• There have been problems in the past with concerns over consistency with publicity which has tended to stifle good initiatives;
• Different types of papers need different procedures to ensure they get to the right audiences and to avoid bottlenecks, eg research papers are differentfrom Chairperson's statements.

There was some discussion of lessons learned from the problems in 1996 over publicity involving DNS policies. It was noted that when policies are clearly stated in writing, committee chairpersons (in the case of the DNS, the chair of the Technical Committee) should be able to respond immediately. Committee chairs need to be selected on the basis that they will be comfortable with handling public statements if required.

It was noted that the names of some committees might need to be amended slightly.

Moved (Vostermans): "that the Chairman's paper be adopted".

Agreed

Discussion point: Membership of Committees.

Moved (Chair): "that the following procedures be followed:

1. Councillors to notify the Chairman of their committee preferences;
2. The Chairman to approach Councillors to act as committee chairpeople;
3. Committees may confirm such appointments if they wish;
4. Committees (through their chairpeople) may co-opt non-members of Council if they wish."

Agreed

Discussion point: Council and Committee Meeting Procedures

Moved (Chair): "that the following procedures be followed:

1. Committees to meet face-to-face immediately prior to Council meetings, the aim being to report on committee decisions to Council rather than have all matters discussed by the full Council;
2. That 45 minutes would allow for a brief second meeting following Council so that the action could be decided in the light of Council decisions;
3. That, in general, councillors would be involved with only one committee therefore notification of preferences should be via the Council email list rather than to the Chairman."

Agreed

6a Vote of Thanks to Out-going Secretary

Moved (Chair): "that a vote of thanks be accorded to Donald Neal".

Agreed by acclamation

7. DNS POLICY REVISION

It was noted that:

• The policy already decided is that choice of a second level domain is up to the applicant, except where the SLD is moderated;
• Moderated domains at present are restricted to govt.nz, mil.nz, cri.nz and iwi.nz;
• Moderation has been delegated for all but iwi.nz where it has been difficult to find a moderator.

Discussion point: Moderation of ac.nz.

Concern has been expressed about the openness of .ac.nz and the possibility of undesirable names being sought.

Moved (Jackson): "that the .ac.nz and schools.nz second level domains be moderated and that a suitable person from the education sector be approached to undertake these tasks".

In discussion it emerged that there is doubt as to whether .ac.nz and schools.nz represent a well defined communities of interest. Points noted:

• The Association of University Teachers (AUT) is included already in .ac.nz;
• Education is becoming much more commercially influenced with private providers being encouraged to establish more of an education 'marketplace' than has previously existed;
• It is open to the universities to establish as new moderated SLD if they wish;
• There are licensing or 'listing' procedures for schools and early childhood learning centres;
• There could be problems if someone tries to register paedophile.school.nz;
• The experience with Domainz is that, in general, people have a strong wish to be listed in the appropriate domain and will usually take advice about taking an appropriate name;
• There are many 'marginal' areas, eg, 'school of music', school of dance', 'piano school';
• In the end it is "just a name";
• Comparisons with .edu and edu.au are inappropriate since these have a long history of careful moderation;
• If people disagree with policies for .nz they will go for international DNs.

In recognition of the lack of a consensus emerging the motion was:

Moved (Chair): "that the Research and Education Committee be asked to draft a statement of the policy on moderation of DNs."

Agreed

8. NZIR OPERATING AGREEMENT

The operating agreement has been formulated and is now in place.

9. "CLOSED" DOMAINZ

Delegated moderation procedures are in place for .govt (Helen Meehan as Chair of the Interdepartmental Committee on IT), .cri (Frank Edwards of MORST) and .mil (Jason Tidswell, NZ Defence Forces). However, .iwi has yet to be delegated as no suitable authority has been identified.

There is a problem with performance with some moderated domains, particularly with .govt in dealing with local authority DNs. This becomes a serious problem for Domainz who have to deal with numerous phone calls in an area where they cannot be accountable.

Points made:

• There is a need for clearly defined performance measures and a policy under which delegation of domain moderation should operate;
• A letter should be sent to Helen Meehan outlining the problems and requesting a performance standard (one week turn-around) and suggesting that otherwise the delegation would be removed;
• Policy needs to be defined according to the needs of the community of interest; at present because of the lack of such policy and someone to undertake the task of moderation, .iwi is not delegated and is effectively not moderated at present;
• Delegation should carry with it a contract which outlines the ISOCNZ policy to be followed for the domain;
• For each moderated domain there needs to be a performance agreement in place;
• The .govt DNs have to carry some authority; bypassing the moderation procedures to overcome bottlenecks would create problems in itself;
• The procedures followed should ensure that client discontent reflects on the moderator, not on Domainz.

It was noted that:

• There is a need for a written agreement to accompany any delegation from ISOCNZ to a moderator of a domain;
• A mechanism is needed to break the current blockages with .govt;
• Policies need to be set in place for (priority order): .govt, .mil, .cri;
• .iwi remains a problem because of the lack of an obvious candidate to handle moderation.

Moved (Chair): "that Jim Higgins and Patrick O'Brien write a proposal for handling the current problems with the .govt domain."

Agreed

10. REPORT ON DOMAINZ FROM PATRICK 'BRIEN

Patrick gave an extensive presentation on the performance of Domainz since October 1996.

Key issues identified include:

• Debt collection procedures and control systems are in place with billing now retrieved from Waikato;
• Billing procedures are being brought in line with registration procedures so that the two are synchronised;
• New accommodation has been secured so that Jim will soon have his office back;
• Processing of customer enquiries is now better than 98% within 24 hours, the residual largely being due to delays with moderation procedures in the moderated domains;
• The new Web site is in operation;
• A new agreement is being negotiated with the University of Waikato;
• New arrangements for the DNS servers, involving inter alia a move from ns1 to ns99 and other regularisation proceeding in December;
• Governance issues have now been sorted out.

In answer to a question about the need for more publicity of the obvious success of the DNS operation, Patrick commented that he would prefer the performance of Domainz to speak for itself. There are a number of issues which will not be resolved until the middle of 1998. It was further noted that the real success story would come if it proves possible to reduce fees late in 1998.

Tendering of services (after the August meeting this was restricted to DNS server services only) may not proceed at all.

Moved (Chair): "that Council thank Patrick for his report, noting that there had been a great deal of progress over the past 12 months since the DNS company had been set up."

Agreed

11. REPORTS ON VARIOUS ISSUES FROM ROGER HICKS

Roger Hicks reported that there are a number of issues for national domains, including .nz arising from the work of the Internet Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC) on generic domains. The present system of delegation (Jon Postel/IANA => national authorities) is not likely to change but the central role of IANA/ISOC in the governance structure is being examined. Both the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) are taking an interest in the DNS, inter alia because they consider that there is a link between the domain names and trademarks.

Issues include the way the IAHC was set up, the lack of consultation, the large cost involved in establishing a Registry, and the overall issue of accountability for the running and quality of service offered by the Internet. Specific issues of relevance to New Zealand are the lack of representation on decision-making committees and the equation of DNs with trademarks internationally. There is no international trademark law (TMs have to be separately registered in every applicable jurisdiction). An international agreement could be overridden by local law leading to conflicts with country registries. There is a possibility of a split in the DNS with some new domains not being recognised in some parts of the DNS.

These issues will be discussed at the NSI meeting. Also the contract with Networking Systems for administration of the existing TLDs will be renegotiated in April 1998. There is a suggestion that disputes between entities be taken up by WIPO.

Roger is a member of the Asia Pacific Internet Association (APIA) which is a grouping of 'heavy weight' commercial concerns in the AP area. APIA has commented on a WIPO recommendation that, as a means of resolving disputes over DNs, there should be a 30 or 60 day delay before issuing a DN to allow for the receipt of objections and is opposed to aligning trademarks with the DNS. APIA has been offered NGO status at the ITU.

ISOCNZ may want to support APIA work (The Internet Association of Japan is an affiliate). Roger offered to act as liaison between APIA and ISOCNZ and to report on the NSI meeting.

[Andy Linton noted that he was the technical contact for six Pacific Islands registries as well as Nepal.]

Summary points:

• There are important issues being discussed internationally (at NSI) which effect the status of the New Zealand domain space;
• A stable, predicable Internet environment is required for e-commerce to prosper;
• APIA has been asked to take on NGO status at the ITU;
• There is a need to ensure that a split is maintained between trademarks and the DNs;
• It may be advantageous for ISOCNZ to informally support APIA work.

It was noted that:

• Patrick O'Brien has reported that other national Registries are facing similar problems;
• It would be useful to have a regional contact group;
• Jon Postel has created a list of international Registry contacts;
• If a suitable commercial arrangement could be put in place, Domainz might be able to support Pacific Island and other regional domains.
• The APRICOT conference in Manila (mid-February) might provide a good opportunity to discuss these issues.

MOVED (Chair): "that:

1. The Policy Committee be asked to consider how ISOCNZ and APIA might work together;
2. Patrick O'Brien be asked to investigate the possibility of organising a regional Registries conference and report to the next Council meeting;
3. The formation of a Pacific Islands Registry group be left until the question of formation of a New Zealand chapter of ISOC is resolved."

Agreed

Moved (Linton): "that Domainz be invited, through the Technical Committee, to consider providing a registration service for some Pacific Islands domains.

Agreed

12. REPORT ON THE AGM

Don Hollander reported that the AGM took place as scheduled. Although it made a financial loss, 40 new members were signed up.

It was noted by other members of Council that the AGM was well organised, presentations were professional, the sponsorship was well managed, the 'flyer' was well done. Other comments were that the only problem was that there was not enough advance publicity, and the fee could have been higher ($200), given the quality of the content.

Moved (Chair): ""that Council record a vote of thanks to Don Hollander and the other members of the organising committee."

Agreed by acclamation

There was some discussion about offering a similar conference in Auckland, at a time other than the AGM, with similar content. It was noted that such a conference could be held in association with the Registries conference, using the same overseas visiting speakers.

Moved (Chair): "that the Education Committee be asked to investigate organising an Auckland conference with similar content and funding arrangements around the middle of 1998."

Agreed

ADMINISTRATION

13. CORRESPONDENCE

The letter to the Ministry of Commerce expressing disappointment over the lack of New Zealand representation at WIPO was not sent and the opportunity has now lapsed.

There was no official correspondence since the 21 August Council meeting.

14. MEMBERSHIP

Currently there are about 150 members, with additional members recruited at the AGM.

Membership benefits are being investigated. [See Item 17, Membership Package]

15. FINANCIAL REPORT

The report is as presented by the Treasurer at the AGM. There was no discussion.

16. DEPUTY CHAIPERSON

Jim Higgins reported on behalf of the Administration Committee that, as requested by Council it has considered the work required to create a position of Deputy Chairperson to act as a stand-in for the Chairperson as necessary. Two alternative amendments to the bye-laws are proposed, depending on the role for the position, should it be created:

Moved (Administration Committee): "that a section be added to the Bye-laws of the Society as follows:
Either (a)

16 DELEGATION OF CHAIRPERSON'S DUTIES

The Chairperson of the Council may at any time delegate all of the Chairperson's duties to another of the Officers of the Society, and may resume those duties at a later date. The Council shall be advised in advance of such delegation and resumption.
Or (b)

16 DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON

The Council may from time to time elect a Deputy Chairperson of the Council. The Chairperson of the Council may at any time delegate all of the Chairperson's duties to the Deputy Chairperson, and may resume those duties at a later date. The Council shall be advised in advance of such delegation and resumption. A Deputy Chairperson's term shall end no later than the end of the then-current term of the Officers."

In discussion it was noted that it is desirable to have maximum flexibility, given that a designated Deputy Chairperson may also be absent at any time. The above motion was replaced by the following motion.

Moved (Mukherjee): "that the Bye-laws be amended to include the following:
16 DELEGATION OF CHAIRPERSON'S DUTIES

Should the Chairperson of the Council at any time be unavailable or indisposed, the Secretary shall assume the Chairperson's duties. Should both the Chairperson and Secretary be unavailable or indisposed, the Treasurer shall assume the Chairperson's duties. Should all three Officers be unavailable or indisposed, Council shall decide on the appropriate delegation of duties."

Agreed

MEMBERS

17. MEMBERSHIP PACKAGE

Jim Higgins reported on behalf of Don Hollander that Communications Trumps have been commissioned to investigate and report to the Administration Committee on ideas for a package for members.

It was noted that the AGM Conference mug was a good idea.

Moved (Chair): " that the Administration Committee look at these issues."

Agreed

18. FELLOWSHIPS

It was agreed at the Council meeting of 21 August for the group considering memberships benefits also to consider the establishment of Fellowship status for ISOCNZ members to show earned recognition.

Points made:

• Awarding fellowships is a good public relations opportunity and would divert public focus on the DNS functions;
• The Society may not have been around long enough for this idea to 'mature', the Society needs credibility as an organisation first;
• It is over to the Society to 'claim the ground'; establishment of a Fellowship system is visionary;
• Some consideration should be given to short-term or one-off achievement (an award) as opposed to a long-term contribution over many years.

Moved (Chair): that the Administration Committee report back to the next Council meeting on an appropriate award structure, recognising appropriately both career and one-off achievements."

Agreed

PROJECTS

19. PUBLIC KEY REGISTRY

The Council Meeting of 21 August resolved that a working group, co-ordinated by Rodney Prescott, would investigate the options for a Key Registry pilot.

It was noted that:

• Nothing has happened and, with a new position, Rodney Prescott may no longer have the same interests and opportunities;
• There is a need for leadership in the e-commerce area and a key registry would be a good start;
• There are other interested parties (eg TUANZ and ITANZ have e-commerce subcommittees);
• A key registry is low risk, unlike certificate authentication; ISOCNZ role should be to provide a knowledge base, the Society cannot incur a liability.

Moved (Chair): that the Technical Committee take over implementation of the proposal to establish a Public Key Registry."

Agreed

It was noted that any such registry would need to inter-relate with the MIT Registry.

20. NEW ZEALAND NETWORK OPERATIONS GROUP

The 21 August Council meeting asked John Houlker to report back to the Council mailing list, but this did not happen.

Moved (Chair): "that the Technical Committee contact John Houlker and then assess the proposal to establish a NOG."

Agreed

21. INTERNET "HOW TO" DOCUMENTS

Jim Higgins reported that document outlining the ISOCNZ 12 'Commandments' has been prepared by the NZ Internet Institute and will be included with the new ISOCNZ Web pages. There has been some development of ideas for technical documentation. The priority is for a 'road map' of active and important RFCs.

Points made in discussion:

• There is a need for lay persons' documentation on how public key encryption works (aimed at the 'sales manager' level of comprehension);
• GCSB has produced technical documentation, what is needed is a 'meta document' pointing to other available documentation;
• It would be useful to monitor the readership of Web pages;
• It would be useful to have documentation for the 'non-wired' readership.

Moved (Chair): "that the Administration Committee ask NZII to produce a document on encryption and public key registration issues."

Agreed

22. TELECONFERENCING

Both the Council members tasked with investigating Council meeting by teleconference have left their former positions. It was noted that IBM may be able to provide out-of-hours use of teleconferencing facilities.

Moved (Chair): "that the Administration Committee liaise with Steve Withers over establishing a teleconferencing capability for conducting Council business."

Agreed

23. YEAR 2000 ISSUES

There was no report.

Moved (Chair): "that the Technical Committee report to Council on any relevant issues relating to Y2K".

Agreed

EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS

24. ISOC CHAPTER STATUS

Jim Higgins reported that, as a result of discussions with the President of ISOC (Don Heath), there do not appear to be any insuperable obstacles to ISOCNZ becoming a chapter of ISOC. The Society does not have anything to lose, basically ISOC wants a New Zealand chapter. It was noted that ISOC Australia are constituted as a chapter and their experience of issues such as financial and other relationship issues should be investigated.

Moved (Chair): "that the Policy Committee be asked to prepare a paper for Council on the issues involved with establishing ISOCNZ as a Chapter of ISOC."

Agreed

25. RELATIONSHIPS WITH RELATED NEW ZEALAND ORGANISATIONS

Jim Higgins noted that the appropriate level for negotiation is with the President or Chairperson. He will contact the following organisations in order to establish formal relations and explore options for co-operation and joint activities:

Moved (Chair): "that external relationship issues be a responsibility of the Administration Committee."

Agreed

26. PACIFIC VISION

Prashanta Mukherjee raised the issue of establishing a Pacific Islands Internet Society using ISOCNZ as an umbrella organisation. Points made in discussion:

• It might be possible to form a Pacific chapter of ISOC with ISOCNZ as parent;
• A name change would be necessary;
• It would be preferable to offer secretarial help and advice; unless the groups do the work for themselves, nothing useful will result;
• It would be biting off more than ISOCNZ can chew, the idea of a Pacific organisation is good and developing relationships with Pacific Internet users should be undertaken but New Zealand should not attempt to lead the Islands; a good start would be to ask them what they need and work from there.

OTHER MATTERS

27. CO-OPTING ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF COUNCIL

There was a general discussion of the desirability of co-opting onto Council or onto Council committees.

Moved (Chair): "thatthe three candidates for Council who were not elected at the AGM be asked to be co-opted onto appropriate Council committees and to attend Council meetings as "contributing observers."

Agreed

©1997 The Internet Society of New Zealand