February 2021
Message from the Commissioner
Kia ora,
Welcome to our first newsletter to kick off the New Year. I hope you had an enjoyable time off spent with friends and family at some stage of the holiday season.
I’ve started the New Year off by joining with InternetNZ leaders to predict what might happen to .nz domains in 2021.
I’ve also been assisting InternetNZ with the release of its rewrite of .nz policies for community consultation which will be out mid-February. Watch out for announcements on our website and social media channels about ways to give feedback on the policy wording.
Here at the Commission, we are putting the finishing touches on our new website which is currently being user tested by various stakeholders.
To start the year off, the Commission will be supporting the work of our friends over at NetSafe and participating in Safer Internet Day on 9 February. It’s a chance for us to help our followers stay safe online.
Later this month our outreach efforts will encompass talking about emerging domain name trends and issues at the online meeting of the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Name Association.
Wishing you all the best for what is likely to be another eventful year.
Ngā mihi
Brent
Updates from the team
Appointment of new Assistant Commissioner
We are pleased to announce Isobel Egerton will be joining the team as our Assistant Domain Name Commissioner.
This is a new position that will lead our investigations, .nz policy enforcement, and data sharing functions.
Isobel is a lawyer, having previously worked as Legal Counsel at New Zealand Police for more than 15 years. She has also spent time at Crown Law and as a barrister in chambers specialising in commercial and disciplinary proceedings and privacy cases.
Dispute resolution
We have nearly finalised the selection of our new online dispute resolution vendor for .nz domain name disputes.
The successful vendor will be working with the Commission on a pilot for a cloud based negotiation service and algorithmic dispute resolution options.
We will be in a position to announce the successful vendor later in the month.
The new services are on track to be launched in the first quarter of the new financial year. More details will be provided in the coming months.
.nz policy review update
Last year a panel representing New Zealanders made recommendations on what changes InternetNZ should make to the .nz policies that govern how InternetNZ manages .nz.
InternetNZ has digested the panel’s recommendations and has re-written the rules and policies to reflect the panel’s thinking.
InternetNZ will be putting these out for consultation later this month. They will be seeking your feedback on:
- the draft rewrite of the .nz policies (the draft .nz rules),
- the proposed method of implementation of some of the .nz Advisory Panel’s recommendations,
- some proposed policy changes to support the development of our new registry for .nz.
Data verification and validation
In the last quarter of 2020 the Commission has suspended a total of 323 domains where registrants did not validate their registrant information when contacted. We verify .nz registrant information to ensure these do not breach .nz policies.
Fakewebshop reporting
In the lead up to Christmas, we ran our Shop safe NZ campaign. During the quarter ending in December, we suspended 39 domain names associated with fake webshops for invalid registration details. These websites were mostly related to potential scams relating to the sale of commercial goods.
Updates for registrars
Change of control
Has there been a change of control in the directorship or shareholding at your .nz authorised registrar? If so, you need to seek consent from the Commission for any such changes in directorship or ownership. It pays to do this early in the process to allow enough time for us to consider the impacts such changes have on the .nz market and to provide necessary consent for approval of such changes.
We do this to understand what groups own which registrars as well as who is in the .nz market.
If you have had a change and haven’t informed us get in contact with us at: [email protected].
The Commission call to .nz registrars to join the Registrar Advisory Group
The Commission’s Registrar Advisory Group has three current vacancies which we are seeking to fill.
We have received three nominations for the open positions with the nomination period closing on 9 February.
The three nominees are:
- Reuben Jackson, CEO at Web Widgets Ltd.
- Prudence Malinki, Senior Manager Global Industry Relations at MarkMonitor.
- Shaun Fisher, Operations Manager at Vetta Online Ltd.
Direct appointments will follow the close of the nomination period unless more than three nominees are received. If this happens an election will be held.
The group provides a forum for registrars to bring up issues that affect the .nz market and work with one another to offer possible solutions.
The RAG this year will be an important group providing input into shaping the .nz registry replacement and .nz policy review projects.
If you are interested in becoming a representative please find out more by emailing [email protected]
News
