Monthly Archives: June 2009

Governance Review

Posted on June 30, 2009 | Comments Off

Good morning,

Yesterday, I posted a bit “on-list” about my views on the results of the Nominet governance review so thought I’d include them here too.  I’ll update later with more – am working on some PAB stuff this morning and then have a few meetings; hope to be back online by early evening.
For me, the published results of Prof. Garratt’s Nominet governance review, while not surprising, have given us a valuable opportunity to hone in on some of the fundamental issues, (often bitter sources of contention!) which have seen Nominet and its Membership put a very difficult year behind it.  I believe that the review presents us with the potential to move forward with a new era of Nominet and .uk.  I think that the governance review is a really exciting opportunity for Nominet’s Membership to get involved in shaping the future of .uk and its registry, which for most Members, I’m sure, is something that we are committed to doing in a positive and constructive way.  Incidentally, for any Members reading this who were unable to attend a consultation event, or who have not yet completed the online questionnaire on Nominet’s homepage – I would really urge you to do so and “have your say”!

As to whether I support the proposed changes in the Garratt review -
The majority of them, yes.  And those that do not immediately fill me personally with delight, would be subjects for further discussion and analysis, with the Membership and if elected, with my Board colleagues.  Whether a NED agrees or disagrees with policy proposals, I feel it is imperative that the issue is broached and managed in a constructive way and the Director is able to put aside personal feelings to find a path that best fits the organization.  I feel that change is inevitable – the .uk landscape, the international domain name market, Nominet and its Membership have all changed dramatically since the organization’s inception.  Some Members are struggling with the proposed changes, and maybe some even with the concept of change itself at Nominet, while I get the impression that others are rearing to embrace the development or extension of Nominet’s remit.  Finding a balance in progress would be for me, as a candidate in this election, a priority and as a Non Exec, I would strive to manage that progress in a constructive way – channelling broad-spectrum Membership feedback to the Executive, providing specialist insight where required and working with the Board to implement viable solutions, with the overriding goal of the preservation of the self-regulating status of the space.

As ever, if you’d like to discuss further/have any questions, please do give me a call or drop me a line!

Best wishes and have a good Tuesday!

Nora

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When We Accept Our Limits….

Posted on June 29, 2009 | Comments Off

I’ve spoken before about the PAB sometimes being a receptacle for “difficult” issues – the political hot potatoes and revolving doors of Nominet’s policy process; e-crime, phishing, online fraud, child protection online, etc. – the questions to which there are no easy answers.  I sometimes feel that Nominet’s open-ended remit causes more than its fair share of these issues to pile up at the door.

When I work with Pilotlight as part of a consultancy group for UK charities, one of the first and most challenging tasks we undertake with an organization is the re-evaluation of its mission and vision.  Very often, these may have been written when the charity first was founded and may not have changed since!  As a consultant, I encourage organizations to re-evaluate these on an annual basis to reflect the realities of the evolving charity, its aims and changing trends in donor activity and funding allocation.  We just completed the first step of this process with a charity the week before last, and it got me thinking….

Does Nominet’s vision and mission provide clear insight into its objectives and how it plans to achieve them?

Its vision is a “world where the Internet is a trusted space, which everyone can be a part of and has a positive impact…” while its mission is “to make a positive difference to UK Internet users and to shape the development of the Internet”.  That seems quite open-ended and contrasts with some of the other ccTLD registries.  For example, DENIC identifies themselves as “the central registry for all domains under the Top Level Domain .de” and defines its responsibility as “the operation and the technical reliability of an important resource of the German Internet.   As one Member said to me earlier this month:

“With other registries, you know where you are – they manage the TLD, that’s it.  With Nominet, you never know quite where it ends…”

By positioning itself at the “heart” of the Internet in the UK, Nominet is identifiable by many as the go-to agency for all things “e-“.  Judging by parts of the Digital Britain report, the recent Nominet Governance Review, the BERR representative’s address at last year’s Nominet Registrar Day and the constant presence of broad-spectrum issues on for example, the PAB’s agenda, this certainly seems to be the case for Government and for Enterprise bodies.  However, the recent study I commented upon a few weeks ago seems to indicate that for everyone else, for wider stakeholders outside Government and for the average registrant – their registrar is at the “heart” of their experience of online.

As I’ve written before, my view is that Nominet does substantial work with, and uses a lot of resources in, engaging with global entities such as IGF, ICANN and IANA.  This work is vital and while I believe that broad-spectrum topics such as phishing and e-crime should continue to be addressed by Nominet, and cooperation with international policy drivers must continue, I believe that focus should also be placed on issues relating to Nominet’s CORE BUSINESS – i.e. continuing to function as a stable upstream provider for its Members.  I think a bit more clarity and purpose in its mission and vision could help here – perhaps it would be valuable to include boundaries to its remit or detail in its overriding objectives?

Ultimately, I think a vision and mission should explain WHAT the organization’s goal is, and HOW they’re going to achieve it.  Looking at Nominet’s “about us” section, I feel that some additional detail might be helpful in moving forward.  I know many people are skeptical about “visions and mission” but I think words can be pretty powerful and in my experience of working with NFP organizations, I have seen relatively small changes to their mission statement reap wide rewards in terms of clarity, scope and remit.

I believe that by doing so, Nominet could effectively ensure that on top of its responsibilities as a registry, it is not lumbered with the dubious accolade of People’s Choice for policing the web.  By setting limits to its objectives,  providing clarity in how it plans to reach them and evaluating/updating them regularly, Nominet could, in my opinion, strenthen its position as a distinct, respected and impartial voice in shaping the future of .uk.  As Einstein once said, “once we accept our limits, we go beyond them”.

With the dawn of Digital Britain, I think it’s important that Nominet define its role more clearly, communicate its responsibilities more openly and provide guidelines as to its role in the UK’s online! future  What do you think?  What do you think Nominet’s role in Digital Britain should be?  What should Nominet NOT do?  Should they limit themselves to being “just” a registry?  Or embrace the wider responsibilities of managing a key piece of UK digital infrastructure?  As ever, would be delighted to hear from you!

Best wishes,

Nora

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ICANN Chief Executive

Posted on June 26, 2009 | Comments Off

Hello everyone,

Reading through the domain name news this morning, I see that ICANN has just announced their new chief exec, Rod Beckstrom.  He was, apparently, the cyber-security “czar” at the US Homeland Security.  His appointment is said to reflect ICANN’s growing focus on security issues, which is somewhat ironic, given Rod’s WHOIS inaccuracies!

You can read more about him in the FT here and see his WHOIS record at Domain Name Wire here.  Ah, if he’d plumped for a .uk with a Nominet WHOIS opt-out as a UK individual, he wouldn’t be in this pickle….

Best wishes,

Nora

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Price ‘Em High, Price ‘Em Low

Posted on June 24, 2009 | Comments Off

Good morning!

I’m on holidays at the moment in East Cork, where it is freakishly warm!  So apologies for the lack of update, but I have to say that broadband access is a bit hard to come by here!  So, I’ve been trying to keep up to date with goings-ons on “list” and thought, rather than laboriously typing responses on the blackberry, I’d type up some stuff here and reply “on-list” later.  Hopefully, the thoughts below will offer a “different” viewpoint and maybe provide a basis for further discussion – let me know what you think!

In regards to pricing – here are my thoughts, as a candidate for the non executive director election at Nominet.

1.  What is the goal of a price change?

From reading the list, I am struggling to decipher the objective of a price change?  Is it to decrease Nominet surplus?  Is it to stem the domain secondary market success?  Is it to make domains more/less available to wider members?  If I were elected, I would first seek to work with the Executive Board to clarify the objective of a price change and then to conduct analysis, centring on:

1.  The impact of a price change on .uk renewal rates

2.  The impact of a price change on Nominet revenue

3.  The impact of a price change on the key stakeholder groups (for the sake of argument, those used in the outreach and consultation rounds for Prof. Garratt’s review – primary market, secondary market, corporate members (non-registrar/domain investor), private members and NFPs (?).  Also, I would propose examining the effects of price changes in domain names on advertising, search engines and IP management companies and webhosting businesses.

As most of you have contacted me asking about my feelings on a price hike, here are my initial feelings:

Impact of a price hike on the Primary Market

A price hike, or a fluctuating pricing model, would render .uk internationally uncompetitive

It wold negatively impact the .uk brand

It would increase the barrier to entry for SoHo’s and SMEs who are seeking to go online

It would ultimately make “online” less accessible

Registrars will concentrate their marketing efforts on more viable TLDs (and those where they get marketing support from registries, but that’s another story)

And new registrations plus renewals of .uk will fall, thus

Ensuring that Nominet’s revenues decrease and

Ensure that any further development of Nominet’s remit would be severely stunted

 Impact of a price hike on the secondary market

In my opinion, a price hike would result in .uk domains increasingly consolidated into portfolios of large pure-play domain investors, as these would be the only ones with the cashflow and revenue buffers to withstand fluctuations in registration and renewal prices, as they have always run their domain investing as a traditional business (in contrast to some smaller investors, or those that do it “part time”). 

Domains will increasingly be owned by international domain investors, whose risk is diversified by their involvement with other TLDs.  This, IMHO, would take business and revenue out of the UK and ultimately stunt national online entrepreneurship.

Domain prices on the secondary market would rise and

Sales volume would fall and

Fluidity in the marketpalce would be negatively impacted by a price hike .

Ultimately, the secondary market would continue to thrive but would do so at an increasingly inaccessible level for the average consumer.  It would be a sellers’ market, with prospective buyers suffering low supply and high prices with negotiations taking longer and transfers becoming more problematic.

The convergence of primary and secondary domain markets is already well underway; as someone on list (Alex?) has already pointed out, most of Nominet’s top twenty members have some form of secondary market interests already and this is on the increase – both internationally and at home.

To conclude, if a price change is the proposed solution to the perceived “problem” of domain investing, I feel it is overly simplistic and likely to be futile, if not counterproductive.  If we are to truly seek to make domains more accessible to all .uk stakeholders, I would rather support the following measures:

1.  Keep prices as they are (depending on analysis)

2.  Encourage fluidity by working on ease of domain transfers (e.g. Auth codes)

3.  Support registrars’ efforts to add value to their product offering

However, as stated, this is simply one perspective – and one that I feel would be of value at Board level, when considered as one proposal among others, which would enable the Executive to benefit from a rounded and balanced perspective.  Putting forward a variety of proposals, possible solutions and viable alternatives, would give the Board and its membership a range of options to choose from, as they seek to build a strong, competitive and realistic strategy for the future of .uk

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Declaring Interests

Posted on June 23, 2009 | Comments Off

Since announcing my candidacy for the Non-Executive Director position at Nominet, several supporters have asked me to clarify how I will deal with potential conflicts of interest.

Let me start by saying that of course, I am willing to declare all potential conflicts of interest and am a firm believer in full disclosure.

Constructive communication with stakeholders and positive team work with the Nominet Board can only function against a backdrop of declared interests .  During my time on the PAB my background in online advertising and domain sales was never an issue – once declared, expertise in certain areas can be real boons to the discussion but it has to be remembered that board directors have a legal duty to uphold the best interests of Nominet.

I am fully prepared to do that, and think that my time on the PAB has demonstrated my ability to distance myself from my operational pursuits when developing policy recommendations for Nominet.  I submitted a declaration of interests for the PAB and have also provided one as part of my application for the Non Exec Director Election.  Ultimately, it is the Members that elect PAB and Nominet Board members – and it is my role as a PAB member, and would be my responsibility as a Non Executive Director, to fulfil my duty to the Members and to Nominet.

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Meeting the key responsibilities of a Nominet Non Executive Director

Posted on June 20, 2009 | Comments Off

Hello,

Thought I’d blog today about the key responsibilities of the NED role, as many of you are asking me about my stance on particular issues etc.

I have personal views on many of the issues you’ve asked me about, such as multi-year registrations, the DRS, marketing support for registrars, WHOIS privacy, last year’s Nominet elections, credit control issues, etc.  The registrars that are part of the UI Group and the registrars I work with at Sedo most definitely have individual opinions on specific policies.  The domain investors that I work with as part of my work with Sedo and the PAB also hold individual and collective opinions in regards to specific Nominet policies.  The one thing I can be sure about is that while some of those views will overlap, many of the opinions will be as divergent as Nominet’s own Membership.

The role of NED requires that candidates put aside personal viewpoints and regard issues strategically – considering them from the point of view of the multi-stakeholder community.  So, for example, while I feel that WHOIS privacy is a very important part of data protection safeguarding for private individuals, there are other considerations – registrars lose out on vital revenue generation they could otherwise generate by providing bespoke WHOIS privacy services, the system is open to manipulation as trading entities pose as private individuals, consumers may be denied access to information they need to follow up on trade transactions, IP lawyers and brands waste resources on researching the correct owner details of infringing domains whose ownership is screened, potential domain buyers find it difficult to contact the owner directly, domain owners must be protected from data theft/mining; there are legal, governance and political considerations etc. etc.; and that is just one example.

The Board, including NEDs, must be independent and objective in considering policy and strategic issues – something I will do my utmost to uphold should you elect me.  It is important that we all remember that it is not the remit of non-exec directors to micromanage Nominet’s operations and it is definitely not part of the job to pursue personal views or affiliations.

If elected, I will work to represent all Members’ feedback on issues such as those mentioned above and the multitude of other key topics that are part of all of our daily interaction with Nominet.  I will, however, if elected, endeavour to especially provide feedback from the viewpoint of registrars, domainers or domain investors, international Members, New Media and the advertising industry.  My overriding objective will be to regard issues strategically, with the ultimate goal of providing more rounded Membership feedback,  as the recent governance review has pointed out is necessary, so that the .uk namespace can continue to benefit from effective self-regulation and a strong and stable .uk infrastructure.

I’ve included the key considerations of the job spec below from Nominet’s website with a description of how I feel my application meets them.  Do you disagree?  Would you like to see statements from me/other candidates about specific issues?as always, would be delighted to hear from you by email, phone or leave a comment here.

1.  Contribution to Nominet strategy

As a Non-executive director, my MBA and experience in developing and implementing a highly successful strategy for Sedo in the UK would allow me to fill this responsibility very effectively.  My experience with other TLDs (including ccTLDs), ICANN and other industry bodies gives me great insight into the external environment, which affects Nominet.  As part of my role with Sedo and my volunteer role with Pilotlight, I am responsible with coming up with creative but effective strategic solutions to barriers to development and to “think outside the box”, or outside typically corporate limits.

2. Oversight

My background in operations and strategy development, as well as my formal MBA training enables me to work with key performance indicators in evaluating executive performance.  If elected, I will fulfill this part of my role by working with the performance evaluation structure selected to support Nominet’s executive management in achieving the company’s vision and strategic objectives.

3. Networking

I have a large and varied network of contacts in the domain space – both in the UK and abroad.  I speak fluent German as well as basic Spanish, Italian and French, which proves useful when networking at international events like ICANN and trade shows.  I really enjoy meeting stakeholders as part of my role as Nominet PAB member and have attended many registrar lunches, member events and AGMs both in a private capacity and as PAB member, in order to connect with stakeholders of all backgrounds, to help me in providing rounded and well informed feedback to Nominet.

4. Audit

Part of the non-exec directors’ role is to ensure that the company’s accounts are a true and fair reflection of its actions and financial performance, that appropriate internal controls are put into place and are monitored satisfactorily. I am well equipped to carry out this duty – financial modelling was part of my MBA and I completed a brush-up course in strategic financial modelling in January, through Helmsley Fraser.  These skills are used in my work at Sedo and in my not-for-profit work with Pilotlight – so I have experience of both corporate and NFP financial reporting.

5. Declaration of interests

Nominet maintains a register of directors’ interests, which is reviewed by the company’s auditors annually.  As stated, I am of course, willing to declare all interests, not only in the register, but also on an ongoing basis at Board meetings, when and if, a potential conflict arises, as I do in my work with Nominet’s PAB.

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Registrars – The Unsung Heroes of .uk?

Posted on June 18, 2009 | Comments Off

Reading through Nominet’s annual reports, I am struck by the role that registrars play in the success of .uk.  Let’s take a look at some of the key value-adds that registrars provide for the .uk space.

1.  Registrars operate at the coalface of the domain industry.  They interact daily with endusers and enable them to acquire free-to-register domains for a lower price than if they registered directly with Nominet.

2.  Registrars drive and then deal with the practicalities of a 71.3% domain renewal rate

3.  Registrars contributed a massive portion of Nominet’s £18.2 million income.  Nominet’s 2008 report does not give any details of the percentage generated by the registrar members, nor any breakdown of how the revenue correlates to the membership and its representation at Nominet.

4.  Nominet registrars’ support is vital if ENUM is to be a success.  ENUM was officially launched over 6 months ago.

5.  Registrars in the UK have been subject to a round of consolidations, restructuring and downsizing, but the UK’s registrars, webhosts and IT services industry are massive employers in the UK.

6.  Registrars and webhosts help the “wider stakeholder community” to find a voice on the web – many of them specialize in low cost registrations, or in packages that include hosting/websites/SEO.  Without these important services, thousands of SoHos, SMEs, and sole traders would be without an online presence.

7.  Registrars are the first point of contact for law enforcement agencies when illegal activity is spotted online – their cooperation in this regard is invaluable in ensuring the security and safety of the .uk namespace

8.  Registrars’ marketing and PR teams play a key role in the popularity of the .uk extension.  Their creativity, publicity and effective online marketing campaigns have been one of the most forceful drivers of .uk’s continued growth.

9.  Registrars keep .uk moving – they handle nameserver changes, ownership changes, deletions, renewals, WHOIS updates, email forwarding services, etc. for the vast majority of .uk users who do not have a direct relationship with the registry

10.  Registrars contributed the vast majority of the revenue that made the £5 million donation to the Nominet Foundation possible.

And yet it could be argued that….

UK registrars gain no direct or fiscal benefit from best practice challenges, employer awards or Nominet trust donations.  They don’t see much of the 17p in every £1 spent online.  Even as “key channel to market for .uk”, their margin and operating profit is not positively impacted by the work that Nominet does with UK IGF, IANA, ccNSO, ICANN and working groups at international debates.

Much is being done to develop the interaction between Nominet and registrars – the registry held their first .uk registrar conference this year, which was very successful and unveiled new backoffice tools that allow registrars to include their brand and CI on renewal notifications.  However, as registrars struggle with consolidation, squeezing margins and a slowdown in primary registrations, how can Nominet, limited as it is by its current constitution, work out a way to reward its main revenue generators in some way and support their key income providers through meaningful financial measures?

How do you feel about the role of registrars in the success of .uk?  Have you ideas or proposals on how registries can share reward with registrars?  As always, would love to hear your feedback…

Best wishes,

Nora

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Digital Britain

Posted on June 17, 2009 | Comments Off

Yesterday, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its Digital Britain report.  You can view a copy of it at the BBC here.  There are few surprises, but pages 193-194 contain specific references to the .uk domain space.  I’ll be reading it in full today and commenting here later today – would be, as always, glad to hear from you with your comments and thoughts on the Digitial Britain report.

See you later!

Nora

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Adding Value as a Non Executive Director at Nominet

Posted on June 16, 2009 | Comments Off

The role of Nominet director, whether executive or non-executive, is to bring broad perspective to business and company matters.  Non executives are typically selected for their personal qualities, range of experience, exposure to different facets of the core business and often for their relevant specialist knowledge and contacts with relevant stakeholders.

As a Nominet non-executive director, I would fufill all of these requirements –  my network of contacts in the .uk community and in the international domain space is very large and I have very positive relationships with hundreds of key stakeholders from UK-based online sole traders to MNCs, from domain investors to online marketers.  My work in PR and marketing has allowed me to develop excellent communication and outreach skills, which would prove invaluable in achieving stakeholder buy-in for Nominet, so that they may develop out the changes needed to prove long term sustainability.

Non-executive directors at Nominet should be independent and objective in Board discussions, and provide supportive oversight of Nominet’s executive management.  My time on the PAB has demonstrated my ability to ensure impartiality and objectivity in strategic discussions and in providing appropriate advice and feedback on key issues.  I firmly agree that it is not the responsibility of PAB members, nor of non-exec directors to try to micromanage Nominet’s operations.  I am strongly of the opinion, especially in light of recent issues, that it is imperative that we remain focused on high level and strategic objectives, with the goal of implementing the changes suggested in the recent governance review, so that the .uk namespace can continue to benefit from effective self-regulation and a strong and stable .uk infrastructure.

As a candidate for the Non-Executive Director position, I bring fresh perspective and will work to represent the wide and complex needs of Nominet’s divergent Membership through ongoing outreach and feasible and constructive input.

I share a desire for ongoing policy adjustment and improvement with many other Nominet members and believe that the way to achieve such development is through greater participation and positive cooperation with the Board and with the active progression of policies, which meet the diverse needs of the Membership through cohesive involvement, documented research, professional representation and informed discussions.

I support the current Nominet leadership and hope to work together with them in a constructive and positive way in the role of Non Executive Director to develop a balanced and viable approach to stakeholder involvement, increased support and assistance for the registrar community, continued education and awareness generation of the .uk namespace to the wider business and individual user communities and the continued championing of the .uk as a brand and as a high quality, trustworthy and valuable TLD.

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Standing for Election: Nominet Non Executive Director 2009

Posted on June 15, 2009 | Comments Off

Evening everyone!

Many thanks for all your support and encouragement – I have decided to formally stand for election as a Non Executive Director at Nominet.  If you are a Nominet Member, I’d be very grateful for your support.  If elected on your votes, I’ll work with the Board to ensure Nominet is equipped with a viable, realistic and competitive strategy that ensures continued, self-regulating success in the .uk namespace.

As a Non Executive Director, I will fulfill the requirements to bring broad perspective, a range of experience and personal qualities, specialist knowledge of the digital space, and a very large network of contacts in the .uk stakeholder community.

My pledge to Members is that I will focus on:

  • Developing a Nominet strategy that reflects the realities of the .uk namespace
  • Ensuring  further reaching stakeholder outreach and greater member involvement, to provide the Board with rounded exposure to the “wider stakeholder community” and informed feedback for policy development.
  • Working with the performance evaluation structure selected to support Nominet’s executive management in achieving the company’s vision and strategic objectives
  • Being a positive, constructive and balanced catalyst for change so Nominet can develop a corporate governance structure that is capable of handling change and is equipped with a competitive and viable strategy that reflects the realities of the .uk namespace.
  • Professional, impartial and objective input with full disclosure of potential interests, as required by Nominet
  • Implementing the governance changes needed to ensure that our .uk namespace remains a self-regulated, thriving and dynamic hub for Digital Britain.

My time on Nominet’s PAB has demonstrated my ability to ensure impartiality and objectivity in strategic discussions and in providing appropriate advice and feedback on key issues.  I believe, especially in light of recent issues that Board members must remain focused on high level and strategic objectives, with the goal of implementing the changes suggested in the recent governance review, so that the .uk namespace can continue to benefit from effective self-regulation and a strong and stable .uk infrastructure.

I bring a unique blend of experience in online business, digital media and international domain markets along with in-depth knowledge and strong experience of working within both new media (Sedo/Adlink), not-for-profit organizations (Pilotlight Member) and Nominet’s own policy advisory body so I am uniquely positioned to help Nominet achieve long term sustainability and sound governance.

I would be very grateful for your support in considering me for a Non Executive Director role so the needs and feedback of the .uk community can be effectively communicated to Nominet.  By voting for me, you can help Nominet prepare to meet the challenges raised by the changing online landscape and governance structures and to leverage the potential unlocked by digital business, both in the UK and internationally.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss my candidacy in more detail, please do drop me a line or post a comment here.

Learn about voting at Nominet here – voting papers will be distributed after nominations close on June 23rd, and voting closes at noon on July 8th.

Very best wishes,
Nora

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