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Domain name policy welcomed

Paul Vecchiatto
By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent
Cape Town, 29 May 2007

The .za Domain Name Authority (.zaDNA) and the Internet Society of SA (ISOC-ZA) have welcomed communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri's directive that SA should have a single registry model for .za domain names.

"This announcement came as a surprise to me and it is very exciting as it will bring the country in line with practices around the world," says ISOC-ZA chairman Alan Levin.

Hasmukh Gajjar, .zaDNA chairman, says the authority had been contemplating how to formalise the country's domain name registration process for some time and presented several options, with the Department of Communications opting for the single registry model.

"SA's domain name registration has grown very informally since the Internet made its first appearance in the country in the 1980s. However, our registration process has not kept pace with developments and it is time to formalise it," he says.

In her budget speech last week, Matsepe-Casaburri said a single registry model would be adopted and role players would be invited to apply for licences as registry operators and registrars.

She said .zaDNA, established in terms of the Electronic Communications Transactions Act, had over a period focused its efforts on developing suitable policies and procedures for improved management of the .za domain space.

New entrants

"Consultation, including a public discussion document that took into account stability and growth of the domain name system, adoption of best global practices, promotion of new entrants as users and entrepreneurs, has informed the authority's proposal to my department," Matsepe-Casaburri said.

Levin says several organisations are administrating the various .za domain names. For instance, .co.za was administered by UniForum and Internet Solutions administered the .org.za suffix. Other domain names such as .alt.za, .mil.za, and .gov.za were administered by other organisations, such as the SA National Defence Force, the State IT Agency, or even private individuals who do not have infrastructure to support public domain names.

Gajjar says the new model would remove the guesswork when trying to find a second tier domain name. A first tier domain name is the .za suffix. A .co, or a .mil is the second tier domain name.

"It will also make it easier for a person, or organisation, to get the closest domain name, if their first choice has already been taken," Levin says.

The promulgation of the .za Domain Name Authority, which gives it its legal status, appeared in the Government Gazette on 18 May, more than four years after Parliament passed the governing legislation.

Gajjar says this was because the Department of Communications was formalising its own process and that, while the authority falls under Section 21 of the country's constitution, it does not have the same statutory protection as the Independent Communications Authority of SA.

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