Second level domain registration in.uk

Transcription

1 Second level domain registration in.uk Nominet Consultation Document 1 July 2013

2 Contents Introduction... 3 The proposal for second level domain registration... 3 Registration process for second level domain registration... 3 Release process for second level domain registration... 4 Reserved names policy... 5 Pricing... 5 What we have changed... 5 Next steps... 6 Questions for your consideration The proposal for second level domain registration Registration process for registering second level domains Release process for the launch of second level domain registration Reserved and protected names General views

3 Introduction The domain name landscape is rapidly changing. Consumers and registrants will soon be faced with an array of new domain extensions as part of the generic Top Level Domain expansion. At Nominet we are committed to exploring ways to support those businesses and individuals who are part of the.uk namespace and to ensuring that.uk remains relevant and can compete in this changing environment. It is our view that potentially allowing registration at the second level is an important component of how we innovate in this space moving forward. In October 2012 we launched a three month consultation seeking stakeholder feedback on a set of proposals that would underpin the potential release of second level domains. A summary of the feedback was published in February 2013 and can be accessed on our website. The consultation process was the largest ever carried out by Nominet with a substantial number of responses which helped us understand what was important to our stakeholders. It was clear from this feedback that there was support for registrations at the second level but that the original proposal could not proceed. We have made significant changes in order to try and address the concerns raised and strike a better balance between the needs of different stakeholders. The revised proposal forms the basis for this consultation. We are committed to the existing.uk registrants and believe that offering the opportunity to register a shorter domain name would help the.uk namespace remain competitive. This would attract registrants to a domain we are making trusted, safe and relevant. Therefore we intend to allow second level domain registration subject to stakeholder feedback to this consultation. This, together with the development of a new Security Road Map for the entire.uk namespace will help Nominet meet its objectives to: Maintain the relevance of the.uk name space in a rapidly developing market; Provide additional choice for registrants in the.uk space and meet market demand; Fulfil Nominet s public purpose by increasing security and trust in the.uk name space; and Progress Nominet s commercial development. We recognise that enabling second level domain registration would be a significant change to the.uk domain space. We are committed to working with all our stakeholders in order to deliver any proposed changes in the right way. The proposal for second level domain registration This consultation seeks stakeholder feedback on our proposal to introduce domain name registration at the second level in the.uk namespace e.g. internet.uk rather than internet.co.uk. Registration process for second level domain registration Nominet would electronically check contact data records against a third party database to validate the existence of and correlation between the registrant s name and address; for example, that there is an individual residing or the business is trading at the address provided. All details would be shown as validated and verified in the WHOIS and the date on which the validation and verification took place would be displayed. All registrants would be required to supply a UK address for service. Therefore registrants that are not UK-based would be required to provide their 3

4 non-uk address, together with a UK address for service and both would be validated as part of the registration process. In this case both addresses would be displayed in the WHOIS. We would activate (also known as delegate ) prior to completing the validation process. However, if good data is not supplied we would act promptly to suspend the domain name. We would validate and verify registrant data in the third level for a nominal fee. At this stage we intend to make this available on an optional basis. The validated and verified status will be shown in the WHOIS. Where a third level registrant has validated and verified their contact data as part of a second level registration, we would consider their data automatically validated and verified and they will not need to go through the process again. These details would be shown as validated in the WHOIS. In addition validation and verification would also be available to new third level registrants who do not register the equivalent second level domain. Release process for second level domain registration We recognise that there are stakeholders that consider they have a more legitimate right to secure a second level domain than others. Through the proposed release process we recognise the loyalty of existing registrants in the.uk space by offering them the opportunity to register a second level domain. In some cases there may be more than one person who would like to register the same domain string and this release process is one way of determining who should register first. We acknowledge that some existing registrants will not want to take this opportunity and will prefer to maintain their existing domain. Nominet is committed to supporting the existing.uk spaces and will continue to do so. We also want to be able to offer new registrants an opportunity to register in a new.uk space. We propose to grant registrants of existing third level domain names under Nominet s management (.co.uk,.org.uk,.me.uk,.ltd.uk,.plc.uk,.sch.uk,.net.uk) a six month period to exercise a right of first refusal to register the second level equivalent. Recognising the range of second levels that make up the register we propose to grant the right to the currently registered domain name string which has the earliest registration date. In developing a release process that balances the desire of the majority of respondents to prioritise the rights of third level registrants and ensures that the second level is open to all types of registrants, we have considered how we can manage competing rights. The modified release process would eliminate the need for detailed factual assessment of the merits of competing claims and the need for auctions to resolve tie-break situations. On balance, we believe it would be fair, simple to use, less expensive to operate and less costly for end users and remain in line with the principles of first-come, first-served. Where a domain string is not registered at the third level the equivalent second level domain would be available for registration on a first-come, first-served basis at the start of the six month period. At the end of this process, if the second level domain name is not taken up by a registrant of an equivalent third level domain it would be made available on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to meeting the registration rules on validation and verification set out. 4

5 Reserved names policy Some stakeholders responding to our previous consultation told us that they would prefer a more restrictive second level space than is reflected in the current rules in the second level registries administered by Nominet (.co.uk,.org.uk etc). Organisations including those representing consumer interests considered that reserving names for official purposes could play an important role in protecting consumer interests. Some stakeholders indicated that they would expect public authorities to be afforded higher reservation rights in order to reduce the likelihood of this type of confusion. In addition there was not insignificant support for restricting sensitive names as designated by Companies House. Others argued that implementing a stricter reserved names policy could penalise legitimate.co.uk registrants. We believe it would be appropriate to maintain our existing open registration policy subject to a minor modification that would be in the public interest. We propose to reserve for those bodies that have been granted an exemption through the Government s Digital Transformation programme, the matching domain string of their.gov.uk domain (in existence as at 1 July 2013) in the second level as they are exempt from migrating to gov.uk. We have published on our website a list of those domains that we understand would fall under this exception. We would also propose that the restriction could be lifted with the authority from the.gov.uk registrant. Other third level domains in gov.uk would not fall under this exception, as they would continue to exist in the gov.uk space. In light of the Government s current programme referenced above, if we do not proceed with enabling second level domain registrations it would be our intention to allow those organisations that are no longer able to use a.gov.uk to register directly within the second level. We would welcome your views on this approach. Reflecting the limited restrictions currently in force in the.uk space the only further restrictions we propose would be on the registration of <uk.uk> and <com.uk>. Pricing We anticipate that the wholesale registration fee would be set at 4.50 per year for multiple year registrations (i.e for a two year registration) and 5.50 for single year registrations. This pricing is competitive with gtlds such as.com, recognises the desirability of a shorter domain and covers Nominet s costs in relation to managing the domain. What we have changed The proposal we are now consulting on is significantly different to the proposed approach set out in our earlier consultation. To assist with understanding the major changes these are summarised below: We have changed the proposed method for validation and verification; We have removed the proposed requirement for a UK presence and replaced this with a proposed requirement to provide a UK address for service; In addition the opportunity to validate and verify contact details would be available for all third level registrants; 5

6 We have replaced the phases from the proposed release process with a revised release mechanism that prioritises existing.uk registrations in the current space. This removes the need for an auction to determine between competing rights; We are proposing a registration fee that is competitive with other gtlds such as.com; and We have removed the proposed requirement for mandatory DNSSEC, malware monitoring and the trustmark. We will now focus on developing a Security Road Map that improves security across the entire.uk namespace. Next steps How to give us your feedback: We would welcome your views on our revised proposal before 23 September We would recommend that you read the background paper available on our website where you can find more details on the proposal. 1. The quickest and simplest way is to submit your response online via our website. You will be able to provide either general comments or specific comments on any of the sections. 2. You can download a pdf version of the consultation that you can complete and return to us. This will be made available from our website soon after launch of this consultation. For your convenience, we have the consultation questions below for your consideration. When completing the consultation, you will be free to answer any questions that you feel are relevant to you and can also simply provide any general comments. There will be a number of other means by which you can also engage with us to provide feedback including roundtables and webinars. Please see our website for dates and to register. What will happen at the end of this consultation? The feedback we receive will inform our decision making on the way forward. We will publish all formal stakeholder responses (subject to their consent) once this decision has been made along with a summary. You can choose whether you would like us to publish your response or not. If we move ahead, any changes to our policy would be notified to our stakeholders with at least 30 days notice prior to implementation. In any event, no changes would take place prior to

7 Questions for your consideration In providing your feedback we would be grateful if you would consider whether the revised proposal to allow second level domain registration would meet our objectives to ensure.uk remains trusted, relevant and competitive. We would also be interested in your views on whether there would be an improved, fairer, or more cost effective way of achieving these objectives. Please feel free to omit any questions that are not relevant to you or that you do not wish to answer. The final question asks for your general views on the consultation. 1. The proposal for second level domain registration This proposal seeks to strike a better balance between the differing needs of our stakeholders and respond to the concerns and feedback raised to the initial consultation. We have decoupled the security features from the proposal to address concerns regarding the potential creation of a two tier domain space and compulsion to register in the second level. We have set out a more efficient registration process to enhance trust in the data and put forward an equitable, cost effective release mechanism. 1.a Do you agree with the proposal to enable second level domain registration in the way we have outlined? 1.b Please tell us your reasons why. 2. Registration process for registering second level domains We believe that validated address information and a UK address for service would promote a higher degree of consumer confidence as well as ensure that we are in a better position to enforce the terms of our Registrant Contract. We propose that registrant contact details of registrations in the second level would be validated and verified and we would also make this an option available in the third levels that we manage. 2.a Please tell us whether you agree or disagree with the proposed registration requirements we have outlined, and your reasons why. In particular, we welcome views on whether the requirements represent a fair, simple, practical, approach that would help achieve our objective of enhancing trust in the registration process and the data on record. 3. Release process for the launch of second level domain registration The release process prioritises existing.uk registrations in the current space by offering a six month window where registrants could exercise a right of first refusal. We believe this approach would be, the most equitable way to release registrations at the second level. Where a domain string is not registered at the third level it would be available for registration on a first-come, first-served basis at the start of the six month period or at the end of this process, if the right of first refusal has not been taken up. 7

8 3.a Please tell us your views on the methodology we have proposed for the potential release of second level domains. We would be particularly interested in your suggestions as to whether this could be done in a fairer, more practical or more cost-effective way. 3.b Are there any categories of domain names already currently registered which should be released differently, e.g. domains registered on the same day, pre-nominet domains (where the first registration date may not be identified with certainty) and domains released in the 2011 short domains project? 3.c We recognise that some businesses and consumers will want to consider carefully whether to take on any potential additional costs in relation to registering a second level domain. Therefore we are seeking views on: Whether the registrant of a third level domain who registers the equivalent second level should receive a discount on the second level registration fee; Developing a discount structure for registrants of multiple second-level.uk domains; Offering registrants with a right of first refusal the option to reserve (for a reduced fee) the equivalent second level name for a period of time, during which the name would be registered but not delegated. Please tell us your views on these options, or whether there are any other steps we could take to minimise the financial impact on existing registrants who would wish to exercise their right of first refusal and register at the second level. 4. Reserved and protected names We propose to restrict the registration of <uk.uk> and <.com.uk> in the second level to reflect the very limited restrictions currently in force in the second level registries administered by Nominet. In addition, we would propose to reserve for those bodies granted an exemption through the Government s Digital Transformation programme, the matching domain string of their.gov.uk domain in the second level. 4.a Please give us your views on whether our proposed approach strikes an appropriate balance between protecting internet users in the UK and the expectations of our stakeholders regarding domain name registration. Can you foresee any unintended complications arising from the policy we have proposed? 5. General views 5.a Are there any other points you would like to raise in relation to the proposal to allow second level domain registration? 5.b Are there any points you would like to raise in relation to this consultation? 8