Critics push through wide internet rejig

By ADAM GIFFORD

The way the internet industry is run in this country is set to change after critics of the Internet Society of New Zealand (Isocnz) used proxies from new members to vote through radical changes.

The opposing faction also voted in its full ticket of nine councillors.

Half the seats on the 18-member council come up for election each year.

Discontent with Isocnz was fomented by internet service providers (ISPs) unhappy with a new system for registering internet names in the .nz country code top-level domain.

Those ISPs won widespread support over the past month because of technical problems which plagued the roll-out of a new registry, which is in effect an online white pages telling which computer is attached to the www address.

The website and back end software was developed for Domainz, the company set up by Isocnz to manage the .nz registry, by Advantage Group subsidiary Glazier Systems for more than $500,000.

Complex interfaces, changes to the types of information sent to registrars and a large number of bugs in the new system have created extra work for ISPs and problems for their customers.

Some ISPs charged that the way Isocnz and Domainz were going about the task of taking over responsibility for the .nz domain job from Waikato University was restricting competition and creating high prices.

They pushed for a shared registry system, which would allow an unlimited number of registrars access to the registry database or register. This would create the potential for ISPs providing name registration services to make big money, if they could come up with the right interface and pricing structure.

It also brought the risk of those registrars capturing their name holders, creating obstacles to them moving their sites to other ISPs.

At the same time Glazier was building the Domainz registry, an Isocnz working group led by Victoria University professor John Hine was investigating whether another registry system should be adopted.

Friday's AGM in Wellington voted to adopt the recommendations in Professor Hine's report to stop the registry, the organisation holding and operating the register, from competing with registrars.

"The registry should focus on registrars as its customers. This change should create a level playing field that will foster competition in the registrar market and lead to a greater range of services and options for registrants," the working party report said.

Much of the existing Domainz system would have to be dumped.

The working party also recommended Isocnz change its charging policies and develop policies for the governance of the new system.

Most of its recommendations seemed to indicate the authors had rushed to complete the report in time for the AGM, and much work is still needed to define the mechanics of the new system.

Isocnz executive director Sue Leader said the society would hire a project manager to oversee the transition.

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