Namespace ZA has three options for its future contribution to the government`s efforts to set up a new administrator for the .za domain name system, it emerged at its AGM held last Friday: capitulate, negotiate or litigate. It has opted to negotiate.
The ECT Act mandates the government to consult the body, established by Mike Lawrie, the current .za domain name administrator, and other representatives of the Internet community.
"We can capitulate, close up shop, and go home," says Michael Silber, shortly before being re-elected as chairman of Namespace ZA. "Equally offensive is to litigate. We can take this opportunity for growth and turn it into a political bunfight. This will not serve the interests of the Internet community. We`ll win some battles, for example on the issue of expropriation of property, but if we choose this route, I won`t stand for nomination [as Namespace ZA board member]."
The body resolved unanimously to continue negotiating with the Department of Communications to ensure that a competent, representative administrator for the .za namespace on the Internet is established.
The body will also publicly restate its view that it supports the objectives of the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act with respect to a domain name authority (DNA), but that it does not believe the wording of the Act achieves these objectives.
It will declare its intention to engage government in a non-confrontational manner to resolve issues of concern over implementation.
Stability or collapse?
A representative from the South African Chamber of Business pointed out that business would be "horrified" should the domain name system collapse. This possibility, said several members, is not as remote as one might think. The famous .com domain in the US has crashed before, as has Zimbabwe`s domain. According to Lawrie, .za has yet to crash.
I need to work with the DOC to find a workable solution. If it doesn`t work, I`ll dig my heels in.
Mike Lawrie, current .za domain name administrator,
Lawrie says he has several problems with the DNA as contemplated in the Act - all of which ultimately relate to a concern for the stability of the administration. The manner in which its board is indirectly appointed by the minister of communications "doesn`t make it a section 21 company by a long shot".
He is also concerned that every issue relating to finances requires ministerial approval, and that the authority will not be in a position to make policy, unless requested to do so by the minister.
"My belief is that there is an enormous amount of common ground in discussions with Andile [Ncgaba, Communications Department director-general] and the government in making it usable, affordable and extending it. But if you read the Act, it doesn`t convey the same goals. I need to work with the department to find a workable solution. If it doesn`t work, I`ll dig my heels in. Right now, I cannot see a way forward," he says.
William St"ucke, a prominent Internet campaigner and Namespace member, proposed that Namespace contribute by ensuring that the new DNA is properly constituted.
"We can help draft memoranda and articles of incorporation that ensure it has to do the right job, irrespective of the people appointed to sit on its board. Namespace can also go out and find people in various sectors who have the interest and skills to stand as nominees, and convince others in their sector to support these nominees."
Other proposals included canvassing the support and involvement of other affected government departments, such as the Departments of Trade and Industry, Public Enterprises and Arts, Culture, Science and Technology.
Warnings aren`t threats
Lawrie, speaking before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, presented the administration of .za under his watch, noting that he had embarked on a process in 1998 to establish a representative administrator to take over his responsibility upon retirement. Responsibility to administer so-called "country-code top-level domains" is delegated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which administers the global domain naming system.
There is little precedent to justify public ownership of any aspect of the Internet. Even the Chinese government, whose laws regulating the type of content its citizens may access are among the most restrictive in the world, leaves domain name administration up to an independent academic body.
We can help draft memoranda and articles of incorporation that ensure it has to do the right job, irrespective of the people appointed to sit on its board.
William St"ucke, member, Namespace
Though the Namespace constitution provided for government involvement in the administrating body by establishing a board seat for a Department of Communications representative, this seat, offered to Ncgaba, was never filled.
In return for recognising the need for government to be involved, Namespace drew up a list of issues that its members felt needed to be addressed to achieve a compromise.
However, Silber says the ECT Act does not accept all of these points, so it does not constitute an agreed compromise.
Support not lacking
Esther Dyson, ex-chair of ICANN and a member of president Thabo Mbeki`s International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development, has said that the government`s attempt to gain control of the .za domain is an error borne from misconception.
However, she is also reported to believe that ICANN would accede to the government`s demands if pressed - contrary to its stated policy on redelegation. This policy requires that redelegation serves "the Internet community", documentary evidence of the skills of the new administrator be presented, and that "the appropriate government official be informed".
But, counters Silber: "We still feel comfortable that redelegation [to a new, government-established DNA] won`t happen without Mike Lawrie and the Internet community`s consent."
Meanwhile, Namespace hopes that a non-confrontational approach to negotiations will mitigate the potential harm the ECT Act could cause to the .za domain name system.
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