Gandi Bar - UK government theatens domain name industry, 'Get your house in order or we'll step in and take over'! - Comments

UK government theatens domain name industry, 'Get your house in order or we'll step in and take over'! - DoctorDee

DoctorDee — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:41:34 +0100

I would welcome any move that wrested control of the UK TLD from Nominet. As an organisation they have historically done a terrible job of managing .uk while pocketing huge profits from their bungling. They are autocratic, old fashioned and high handed.

They have lucked into a monopoly situation which they have used as a licence to print money while delivering barely acceptable service. The way they used to allow domains to sit in limbo for ages if someone failed to renew their registration was scandalous. This may still happen - but I have not had exprience with it recently. But even if this is fixed, the fact that it was allowed to happen for so long is unforgiveable.

The fact that they routinely use fear tactics to try and trick registrants who have placed a domain with another registrar into re-registering through them is sharp business bordering on fraud.

Someone should take the TLD from them, or competition should be introduced.

Any government "domain tax" could barely be more punitive than Nominet's pricing.

UK government theatens domain name industry, 'Get your house in order or we'll step in and take over'! - joe90d

joe90d — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:59:52 +0100

Do not worry its just an ideal threat... They will be too busy running our banking sector, watching CCTV cameras just in case I drive into an offensive parking spot!

However should the government get there hands on the control of internet domain space, I shudder to think what next... A domain tax, domain censorship. Consider a situation where a whistle-blower puts up his own blog on the net, or look at how the Obama campaign was run. I am sure that the powers that be are worried, and quite rightly so. Someone may actually get to say something they dont like about their policies, and just use the net effectively as a political tool.

I think though that more realistic management of domain space is a good thing. So many domains so little time. It would be so much easier to determine the content of domains by a more structured domain system.

UK government theatens domain name industry, 'Get your house in order or we'll step in and take over'! - Wendy (Gandi)

Wendy (Gandi) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:39:04 +0100

Hi Scott

Thanks for your input.

Yes Nominet's process is outdated. To be fair to Nominet they are aware of this and are addressing their paper based processes. In Feb 2009 they are changing their renewal process to an email only system rather than old fashioned posted forms! I would hope they'll address their transfer process shortly.

UK government theatens domain name industry, 'Get your house in order or we'll step in and take over'! - Scott Barnham

Scott Barnham — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:31:54 +0100

Much as I dislike government regulation of anything Internet related, I think Nominet is doing a lousy job.

I've had to transfer some .co.uk domains from other people recently and it is far more difficult and bureaucratic than transferring a .com. Nominet requires paper forms and an admin fee of GBP10 + VAT to change the whois details. Changing the IPS tag - i.e. transferring to another registrar - is not enough.

As an organisation, Nominet seems very bureaucratic and old-world. Their online system is weak. They require printed forms and company letterhead instead of simple emailed confirmation links.

I don't necessarily want to see the government step in, but I do want Nominet to get its act together.