Terms of Reference 16/02/00

REVIEW OF THE REGISTRY / REGISTRAR STRUCTURE FOR .NZ TERMS OF REFERENCE

INTRODUCTION

Recent years have seen considerable turmoil within the global Internet community with respect to the administration of Domain Names and Assigned Numbers.Control of these functions has passed from IANA, a US Government sponsored nonprofit organisation to ICANN, a non-profit corporation formed specifically to take responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions.

Within New Zealand responsibility for the .NZ domain name space rests with the Internet Society of New Zealand.The Objects of the Society include:

To promote the competitive provision of Internet access, services and facilities in an open and uncapturable environment;
To develop, maintain, evolve, and disseminate standards for the Internet and its inter-networking technologies and applications; and
To coordinate activities at a national level pertaining to good management of centralised systems and resources which facilitate the development of the Internet, including but not limited to the Domain Name System;

The initial development of the NZ Internet occurred in the University sector.The University of Waikato, and to a lesser extent Victoria University, held responsibility for the Domain Name System.In 1996 ISOCNZ established a wholly owned company, New Zealand Internet Registry Ltd., to take over the domain name services from the universities.NZIRL trades as Domainz.This transfer of services and responsibility is now nearing completion.

The international changes to Internet governance have required New Zealand to respond.A National Summit was held in April 1999 to develop New Zealand's position on governance and intellectual property issues, presented to subsequent ICANN meetings.In December, at ISOCNZ's AGM the following motion was carried:

THAT ISOCNZ Council set up an open working group to investigate a full proposal on possible shared registration systems and other registry models after consultation with Domainz.

The Society has now established a working group to carry through this motion and report to the June AGM.The remainder of this document sets out the membership of the working group, its terms of reference, its work plan and budget.

THE WORKING GROUP

John H. Hine, Victoria University (Chair)
David Farrar, Office of the Leader of the Opposition
Steven Heath, SeraNova
Rick Shera, Lowndes Jordan Barristers & Solicitors
Don Stokes, Consultant
Peter Dengate-Thrush (ex-officio) Chair of ISOCNZ
Sue Leader (ex-officio) Executive Director of ISOCNZ

EXISTING POLICY

Existing policy relating to the DNS and the operation of the Domain Name System is:

New Zealand Domain Name Structure (at Link) . Deals with the Role of Domainz, the structure of the .nz name space, the collection of personal information, the "first-come-first-served" principle for domain name allocation, use and moderation of second level domains within .nz and the reservation of names by ISOCNZ.
Future Development of the .nz Domain Name Space (at link). Sets the procedure for expanding the second level domain name space within .nz.

A discussion document from May 1997, "DNS Administration in New Zealand" is available at (link)

A positon paper prepared by Patrick O'Brien for ISOCNZ in March 1999, GOVERNANCE IN THE .NZ DNS, is at (link)

TERMS OF REFERENCE

ICANN has proposed a framework for a shared registry system for global top level domains (gTLDs).ICANN's framework has generated considerable debate and was designed for a context quite different from the .nz top level domain (ccTLD).Nevertheless the Working Group believes it is useful and appropriate to express its terms of reference employing the terminology and broad framework developed by ICANN and adopted for the .nz ccTLD.The following roles can be identified:

Registrant :

An entity with rights to the use of a domain name within the .nz name space.Current practice within New Zealand is to refer to the Registrant as the Name Holder.

Register :

The central database holding all information required by the Domain Name System, and possibly additional data, for .nz. The Register is the authoritative source for the creation of the primary zone files for .nz.

Registry :

The organisation holding and operating the Register.

Registrar :

An entity that registers names with the Registry on behalf of Registrants.

Within this context the terms of reference of the working group are:

Ascertain the requirements and views of the New Zealand Internet community with respect to the appropriate framework for a shared registration system including the rights, responsibilities and relationships among the Registry, Registrars and Registrants.
Determine any constraints placed on a shared registry system by any RFC or other national or international convention applicable to the .nz name space.
Recommend to the ISOCNZ membership new and/or revised policy on a shared registration system including:
Rights, responsibilities, obligations and duties of Registrants, Registrars and the Registry.
Any limitations that should be placed on the business or technical relationships between Registrant/Registry, Registrant/Registrar and Registrar/Registry.
Any quality of service performance requirements that should be placed on the Registrars, Registry and/or Registrants.

WORK PLAN

The following sets out the intended plan and deadlines for the working group.The exact date of the AGM is not yet known, but this determines the overall time available.

Publish terms of reference, 3 April.Initiate wide publicity of review ensuring coverage of all stakeholders and interested parties.Must include dates for face-to-face consultation in the publicity.
Submission period, 3 April through 17 April.This period will include full consultation days in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch the week of 10-14 April.
Draft 1 presented to Council, 27 April, and posted for discussion, 3 May.
Submissions on draft 1 through 17 May.
Draft 2 presented to Council, 26 May and posted for discussion 29 May.
Submissions on draft 2 through 31 May (or 6 June).
Final draft to ISOCNZ Office, 6 June (or 13 June).
Presented to AGM, 16 June (or 23 June).

BUDGET

Travel to support consultation in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Room rental Auckland.
Room rental Wellington (maybe ISOCNZ offices or VUW, its mid-term break and free).
Room rental in Christchurch (may have an offer).

Estimated budget: $3,000.

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