THE UK INTERNET NAMES ORGANISATION

Proposed NOMINETPolicy Advisory Board

Keith Mitchell

NOMINET AGM

6th June 1998

THE UK INTERNET NAMES ORGANISATION

Policy Advisory Board (PAB)

IntroductionBackgroundProposed structureWork plan Implementation

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Outline

15 members– majority elected by membership– plus some appointees

Communication channel between:– Council of Management– Steering Committee/Members– Public policy makers

Defines policies & rules

THE UK INTERNET NAMES ORGANISATION

Disclaimer

The proposals in this presentation are suggestions for discussion

The CoM is not trying to jam anything down anyone’s throat

We agree the existing system is not perfect

This is an attempt to improve on it

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Background

Shortcomings of:– Steering Committee /

nom-steer

– Rules sub-Committee

– Charges sub-Committee and changes

Lessons from elsewhere

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Steering Committee Issues

Lack of meetings apart from AGM can be unwieldy

But diverse and large NOMINET membership makes physical meetings difficult

Low signal-to-noise ratio on <nom-steer> means specific ideas and issues can be hard to extract

Demand and need for member forum is nonetheless clear

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Rules Sub-Committee Issues

S/C chair and some others worked hard on this

Was tasked with producing rules for creating new UK SLDs and policies

But got bogged down considering individual SLD cases

Various requests for new SLDs still outstanding

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Charges Sub-Committee Issues

Effectively did its work, recommended reduction

But implementation delayed by CoM requiring due diligence on finances last minute announcement :-(

Charges remains major area of concern for members, need better change control mechanism

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Internet Governance Lessons

Many other bodies have Advisory Boards:– CORE et al, Internet Society, ARIN,

Internet Watch– Seem to work

“Two Chambers” common democratic model– often use different election mechanisms

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PAB Proposed Structure

15 members– 8 elected by membership– 2 appointed from elected CoM members– 5 appointed from external bodies

selected by above 10Elects own ChairQuorum of 8

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Elected PAB Members

Voting for elected PAB members by one s/c member one vote– complements existing voting rights– single transferable vote

Individuals rather than representatives

Chance for members to get actively involved

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Appointed PAB Members

Individuals appointed by organisations invited to do so by 10 elected PAB members

Appointees represent organisations Intended to be from external bodies e.g. Government:

– DTI, Oftel, Companies House, EU Commission

and Industry:– ISPA, CSSA, BECTa, CICI, Law Society

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PAB Meetings

Regular physical or teleconferences At least 4 times a year Reports back to membership by e-mail Minutes published on web Admin support from NOMINET staff Important issues and elected positions

should ensure high degree of commitment

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PAB Powers

Suggest informal composition initially– via bye-law– if it is improvement, formally incorporate into

company structure

Replacement for Rules, Charging, and other potential sub-committees

Complementary to Steering Committee

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PAB Remit

Defining:– .uk namespace policies– Operational rules and procedures– Member service requirements

Reviewing charging levels Wider DNS governance issues Ensure CoM accountability Harness member enthusiasm for

NOMINET !

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Possible PAB Work Areas (1)

New .uk SLD creation rulesReview voting rulesReview CoM Director composition

– number of execs vs non-execs– financial / legal / operations / technical ?

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Possible PAB Work Areas (2)

Review charges, e.g.– promote .ltd.uk & .plc.uk via lower

charges ?– free registrations for charities ?

Lame delegation policyNew/no rules for .net.uk domains ?

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PAB Implementation

Approve bye-lawsNominations by end JulyElections by end September Initial terms until end

– September 99/March 2k (4 each)Regular meetingsSubsequent terms one year

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EU Commission MeetingBrussels 7th July

http://www.ispo.cec.be/eif/dns/wpmeet.html