Nora Nanayakkara

I fully support and share Nominet’s vision of shaping the internet to ensure it has a positive impact on its end-users. Internet self regulation is a realistic target as, ultimately, the needs of end users should be at the heart of the .uk industry. A great step towards this is to ensure any regulatory board includes members who can understand and engage with all end users, ensuring other industry voices are heard in addiiton to government and small business. If Nominet’s vision is to be successfully met, it will be important to ensure registrar and other key-contributor-members are not isolated as they are so integral to the domain application process!

Nominet does substantial work with, and uses a lot of resources engaging with global entities such as IGF, ICANN and IANA.  This work is vital and while such international policy dialogue is good in theory, it will need to be broken down and reapplied locally here in the UK so that it successfully engages with the demands of the members.  Registrar members and other Nominet members can really measure the effect of internationally-driven policies on end users and will be able to provide valuable feedback on how to best review current process. I believe this would be best achieved at Nominet through more registrar meetings, more senior-level feedback sessions with large members and the inclusion of board members who understand the pressures that registrars and end users face online.

Prof. Garrett’s recent governance review pointed out skills gaps in the current Nominet board.  My work with Pilotlight, United Internet and my MBA studies, have shown me that this is a common but surmountable obstacle faced by many, particularly not-for-profit /cost recovery organizations.  It is imperative for strategic growth that these gaps are filled and more importantly in my opinion, that the newly appointed non-exec directors enable the board to appreciate a 360 degree view of the .uk space.  It is my experience of Nominet that the Board does excellent work with government bodies, small business groups and political entities, but falls somewhat short on the “real” drivers of the Internet in 2009 – advertising, media, social networking, online retail and of course, domain registration/webhosting.

I ultimately feel that Nominet currently struggles to connect in a meaningful way with its Members (particularly with the top segment, most of whom have interests in the areas mentioned above) and this has in the past, been reflected by difficulties in carrying motions that are vital for the strategic development of the organization.  If elected to the Board, I will do my utmost to balance the attention paid to global issues with a focus on local Member issues, which have real impact on the businesses and bottom lines of Nominet’s membership.

I believe that while broad-spectrum topics such as phishing and e-crime should continue to be addressed by Nominet, and cooperation with international policy drivers must continue, focus should also be placed on issues such as ever-tightening registrar margins, reductions in renewal rates, ever less profitable web hosting and constricting online adpsend. Alongside tackling some challenging governance issues, addressing these key areas in a meaningful way will help all Nominet members and tagholders, and in turn, the end users to harness the power of .uk.