the registry-registrar-registrant relationships in the cctlds giovanni seppia centr general manager...
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The registry-registrar-registrantrelationships in the ccTLDs
Giovanni Seppia
CENTR General Manager
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Introducing CENTR
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
What is CENTR?
Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries
Forum for TLD managers– Primarily ccTLDs
Also includes gTLDs
– Mainly European Membership from 5 continents Developed and emerging TLD markets, like .AF, .IR
Open to all Top Level Domain Registries in the world
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
CENTR’s Membership
3 Members categories– Full Members– Associate Members– Observers
Members vote on admission of new members
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
CENTR’s Membership AFGNIC Afghanistan (.af) STA Andorra (.ad) ISOC.AM Armenia (.am) NIC.AC Ascension Is. (.ac), Diego Garcia (.io), St
Helena (.sh) NIC.AT Austria (.at) DNS Belgium Belgium (.be) Digital Systems Bulgaria (.bg) CIRA Canada (.ca) CARNet Croatia (.hr) UCY-DNS Cyprus (.cy) CZ.NIC Czech Republic (.cz) DENIC Germany (.de) Dansk Internet Forum (.dk) FICORA Finland (.fi) AFNIC France (.fr), Mayotte (.yt), Reunion (.re), St.
Pierre & Miquelon (.pm), Wallis & Futuna Is. (.wf ) GibNet Gibraltar (.gi) GR-Hostmaster Greece (.gr) Island Networks Guernsey (.gg), Jersey (.je) CHIP Hungary (.hu) IEDR Ireland (.ie) IPM Iran (.ir) ISNIC Iceland (.is) ISOC-IL Israel (.il) IT-NIC Italy (.it) JPRS Japan (.jp)
•LITNET NOC Lithuania (.lt)•RESTENA DNS-LU Luxembourg (.lu)•NIC Malta Malta (.mt)•NIC-Mexico Mexico (.mx)•MoldData Moldova (.md)•SIDN Netherlands (.nl)•ISOCNZ New Zealand (.nz)•NORID Norway (.no), Bouvet Is. (.bv), Svalbard & Jan Mayen Is. (.sj)•Palestinian Registry Palestine (.ps)•NASK Poland (.pl)•FCCN Portugal (.pt)•RNC Romania (.ro)•Ros-NIIROS Russia (.ru)•RED.ES Spain (.es)•ARNES Slovenia (.si)•IIS Sweden (.se)•SWITCH Switzerland (.ch), Lichtenstein (.li)•SITA (.aero)•Vatican – Holy See (.va)•Nominet UK United Kingdom (.uk)•NeuStar United States of America (.us)•VeriSign (.com, .net)•Afilias (.info)•Public Interest Registry (.org)
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
CENTR’s structure
Executive Committee– 5 members, inclusive of Chairman and Treasurer – 2 year appointments – It steers the organisation in accordance with CENTR
members’ wishes
Secretariat– General Manager– Communication Officer– Technical Officer– Administrative Officer
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
CENTR’s output Newsletter, “Domain Wire”, 2 issues a year
Surveys– A-level survey, covering the registries management main aspects– B-survey, covering legal issues related to registries– Other surveys upon request of our members
Comments and positions on several topics that may have an impact on our members
Outreach programme, providing registries of developing countries with financial and technical support
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
CENTR’s in the international arena
The European Commission participates in CENTR as an observer
Regular contacts with ICANN-IANA staff Associate member of the European Internet
Foundation Participation within the WGIG-WSIS process Regular attendance of all the international
Internet fora and meetings
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Benefits of diverse participation
CENTR values participation from many different registries– Western and Eastern Europe, Americas, Asia, Oceania – Different regulatory regimes, Internet community expectations,
use of domain names etc.– Different challenges in ensuring stable DNS/Internet
Provides added value– Brings different perspectives to discussion– Helps to define guidelines and best practices that benefit
everyone– Comes to agreed opinions on certain aspects of the international
arena
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
CENTR’s long term vision Expanding the dialogue among registries,
governments and international bodies
Developing best practice by encouraging exchange amongst registries
Improving the reliability and stability of Internet through improved DNS practices
Working closely with other Internet organisations
Some basic concepts
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry“The wholesaler”
Database of– who owns what name– pointing names to the
servers responsible for them
Responsible for policy and procedures
– who is entitled to names, etc.
A registry is like the “bank vault” of the domain names registered under that top level domain
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registrar and registrant
Registrar (the retailer)– Agent of customers in dealing
with registry Like a retailer which then
contacts a wholesale supplier– Usually an ISP that is providing
others services to customer
Registrant (the customer)– The entity, organisation or
individual that uses the domain name
Registries: policies and figures
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry status* Registry set up depends on various reasons, even though
almost every registry was historically part of an academic network – today TLDs are highly competitive and there is a very dynamic market.
The legal status can be classified as:– Private company– Part of academic network– Foundation– Association– Government agency– Telecom operator– Miscellaneous
*CENTR surveys data
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Categorising the policies of the ccTLDs*
*courtesy of UNINETT Norid
Two central aspects shapes the domain name policy:
– Requirements for the applicant
Provide documentation that he has a right to the name
Have a local presence in the area of the ccTLD
Be an organization– Number of domain names
allowed per applicant Limited/Unlimited
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
A mapping of the policies of some ccTLDs*
*courtesy of UNINETT Norid
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
A summary of the mapping*• Few of the respondents are currently in the strictly regulated
category. This reflects the general move towards more liberalized domain name policies that has taken place
• Most respondents prefer a domain name policy with no limits on the number of names an applicant may hold
• While the majority of the respondents allows an unlimited number of domains per applicant, the degree of requirements for the applicant varies.
• Some requires the applicant to document rights to the domain name (bureaucracy category)
• Majority in the unregulated category – does not require any documentation of rights. Some require either a local presence, or that the applicant is an organization (or both), hence the spreading within the category.
*courtesy of UNINETT Norid
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Number of employees within the registries*
*CENTR surveys data
Up to 10
11 to 50
Over 50
Essential to adjust to a dynamic market quickly and to satisfy customer needs efficiently.
Most Registries have just technical staff as a Registry is a technical function/service.
Registry-registrar relationship
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship: the accreditation
Usually, the relationship between a registry and a registrar is based on a contract.
Some registries require those company that like to become a registrar to follow an accreditation procedure.
Criteria to be accredited:– Technical stability– Corporate status– Financial stability– Organisational stability– Other
Less than 25% of registries reviews these criteria regularly
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Number of registrars*
*CENTR surveys data
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Under 300 301-1000 Over 1000
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship: some contractual aspects
When the relationship between the registry and the registrars is based on a contract, the registry should take into account some aspects:– Contract transfer and related domain names transfer– Rescue procedures for those registrants (and domain
names) whose registrars “disappeared” or went bankrupted
– Penalties in case the registrar is not up-to-date with the payments to the registry
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:the code of conduct
Code of conduct: In order to ensure that the domain name holder can
count on reliable information and a quality service, some registries have proposed a code of conduct to registrars
Eg. DNS.BE
Most code of conducts are based on voluntary principles, but help the users to trust the all process
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:the code of conduct
The new “eu” domain registrar are invited to participate in building a code of practice.
Those registrars who sign up to the code will be able to display the code of conduct logo and the list of accredited registrars published on EURid's web site will indicate which registrars have the code of conduct label.
EURid will facilitate elections from amongst the participating registrars to select a panel to assess complaints against participating registrars for alleged breaches in the code of conduct.
The panel will be empowered to remove the code of conduct label from a registrar for a fixed period or a permanent basis if they are found to be operating in contradiction with the code.
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:training activities
Training activities:
Most of the registries offer their registrars training activities on:– Technical aspects– Administrative issues– Legal matters
Usually these activities are free of charges
Moreover, certain regional organisations, like CENTR, provide training activities and workshops for registries on many topics such as IDNs, registry-registrars relationship,…
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:communication methods
Communication tools:
E-mail lists Regular meetings Help-desks Newsletter Dedicated web interfaces
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:the help-desk
Help-desk significant aspects:
Working hours Languages Time for processing requests Appropriate archiving procedures Customer satisfaction follow-up Different expertise of the operators
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:the web interfaces
Web interfaces:
Wide accessibility highly desirable– EU communication on web accessibility standards
Usually, divided in two sections:– Public information– Restricted information for registrars or ISP
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:shared secondary servers
Most large registries informally offer free secondarying services for smaller registries
Similar, some "well known hosts", RIPE etc, offer free secondaries also
Some - usually equally sized registries - do secondary swapping arrangements, where each will host each others servers. This principle relies on registries having similar requirements and having similar facilities to share
CENTR examines opportunities to locate secondaries via different agreements (at IXs, via Anycast networks) and presents these opportunities to its members
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:information sharing
Taking advantage of other registries experiences (the grass is greener…) via:– Discussion lists– Regional organisations– International meetings– Best practices doc
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar relationship:key complaints*
Price
Would like to have more influence on policy/contractual terms
Bureaucracy (in case of paper based models)
Liberalisation of policies
*CENTR surveys data
Registry-registrar-registrant relationship
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar-registrant relationship: some aspects
Some issues in this relationship should be considered from the beginning and carefully planned:– Privacy aspects (WHOIS)– Services among parties– Interaction with the Local Internet Community – Prices of domain names and of the operations on
them– Level of bureaucracy
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Registry-registrar-registrant relationship: the main problems in dealing directly with customers*
Lack of knowledge (more support needed)
Make mistakes, then blame the registry
Inaccurate information in the application forms
Delayed payments
Web browsers not compatible with registry system
*CENTR surveys data
ccTLD workshop
Nairobi, 14 September 2005
Questions?
Thanks for your attention
Giovanni [email protected]
www.centr.org