Representatives from 17 APTLD ccTLDs and observers from 7 other organizations met in Bali, Indonesia from 25 to 27 February 2007, for APTLD’s Annual General Meeting, a Members Meeting, and two days of non-technical training - all held in conjunction with APRICOT 2007.
The members’ meeting engaged in presentations and discussions on six key agenda items:
In addition, at the AGM, the meeting ratified the recent online election of APTLD Directors, and the Board elected new Officers for the organisation for the coming year.
ICT in Indonesia
Indonesia’s large geographic area encompassing more than 6,500 inhabited islands and more than 200 million population present unique challenges. We learned that the government has a strategy through to 2025 to develop ICT in Indonesia as a key enabling tool to build a knowledge society. The strategy is broken down into shorter term blocks with a current focus on backbone infrastructure development, and ensuring effective coordination of government investments and efforts in the ICT area.
The .id domain is now managed by a non-profit organisation mandated by the Indonesian government. The management of .id has been through a number of changes since it first started. The current managers are expecting a period of settling in, stability and very strong growth. Domain registration is currently free; though a charging policy is being planned. This will allow the current arrangement based on volunteers to shift to a more professional operation.
DNS security matters
Danny McPherson outlined the scale and changing nature of DDoS attacks on DNS and other services. He also highlighted the risk that ccTLD managers and the Internet in general have from potential involvement by organised crime. Bill Manning considered the advantages and disadvantages of implementing DLV while waiting for full availability of DNSSEC. Adrian Kinderis discussed reasonable levels of diversity for a DNS system and how greater diversity can deliver incrementally more reliable services – but at a cost.
The common picture is that while the DNS at the global level is a very strong system (though frequently under attack), ccTLD registries do need to consider how best to protect their security, as they do not typically maintain the resources the global root has at its disposal. Members were advised to review their infrastructure and monitoring facilities to ensure that they can deal with potential threats. The issue of trust, and the high cost of not having trust (something that developing economies experience frequently) was also highlighted.
ccTLDs & ICANN & Governments
The meeting heard from speakers on three issues relating to ICANN: the development of an Asia Pacific RALO (Regional At Large Organisation), the relationship between ccTLDs, the GAC and in turn national governments, and the issue of ICANN regions.
RALOs are aimed at providing a voice into ICANN for the ‘end users’. The APRALO proposal is being progressed at meetings at APRICOT and seems to be heading towards the formal recognition of an organisation for the region. It was suggested that member consider the opportunities that RALO may provide to their local constituencies.
An informative discussion about ccTLD views of GAC and the reverse was well informed by comments from Sharil Tarmizi, the outgoing Chair of GAC. It was clear that all ccTLD’s should have an active, if not formal, dialogue operating with their national governments.
ICANN’s regions remain an issue in the ccNSO and while APTLD members did not feel any changes would impact on the APTLD membership, the meeting did recognise that the current regions may need to change. Members also noted that different parts of ICANN can operate with different regions – as is currently the case with the RIRs, whose regions do not coincide with those recognised by GAC or the ccNSO. Members will reconsider the issue at their next meeting and, if necessary, provide APTLD’s collective view to the ccNSO and ICANN.
Panels on Members Issues
There were three panel discussions on issues that had captured members’ interest. The first considered relationships between ccTLDs and their national governments with a particular focus on information sharing. A wide range of formal and informal arrangements are in place across the region, with different methods of information sharing, and differing levels of trust or cooperation, clearly evident. This discussion reinforced the need for members to have active dialogue with their national governments.
Our second panel considered the role of ccTLDs in dealing with phishing and spam. A recurring theme is that cooperation with authorities at some level is always considered; but that different ccTLDs require different levels of authority before making any changes to a domain name, and have different policy frameworks allowing different responses. None of the ccTLDs represented by the panelists proactively monitor the use of domain names; they respond to complaints.
Our third panel considered the enforcement of policies and what happens when a registration is made that is inconsistent with the criteria applicable to the name. Members told of very different requirements, from very open systems requiring no verification that rely on registrants’ warranty of compliance (.nz) to requirements of submission of documentary proof of adherence to policies before a name is registered (.th). Others put the onus on the registrars (.sg). The implications of these different approaches were discussed in some depth, particularly the impact on growth and speed of processing.
IDN Update
Tina Dam from ICANN gave an overview on where ICANN is at in the IDN space. The presentation covered:
She made a number of recommendations for ccTLDs in the region to consider, including:
Chris Disspain as chair of the ccNSO outlined the ccNSO’s work on IDN matters, and asked members to please participate in this at the upcoming ICANN meeting in Lisbon. Hong Xue1 (Rainbow) highlighted the importance of IDN implementation to make the Internet accessible to the billions of people who are not literate in English.
Annual General Meeting 2007
Members elected one new Board member – Keith Davidson from .nz – and returned three Board members, these being Ai-chin Lu (.tw), Yumi Ohashi (.jp) and Richard St Clair (.nu). Peter Dengate-Thrush (.nz) retired.
Shariya Haniz Zulkifli from .my was elected by the Board to be Chair, replacing the outgoing chair Peter Dengate Thrush (.nz). Jonathan Shea (.hk) was elected Vice Chair; Yumi Ohashi (.jp) was elected Secretary and Jaeyoun Kim (.kr) was returned as Treasurer.
Members thanked Peter Dengate Thrush for his long and meritorious service as Chairman of APTLD. Peter’s contribution has been enormous and while he will now focus on his work as a director of ICANN, he hopes to remain engaged with the Asia Pacific community through APTLD.
APTLD Administrative Matters
The members received accounts 2006 at the AGM, and made some technical changes to APTLD’s constitution in a Special General Meeting. As noted above, Board members were elected and officers chosen.
A new administrative support arrangement has been agreed by the General Manager with InternetNZ, which formerly hosted the APTLD Secretariat.
Summary
The meeting was deemed a success with interesting and useful information exchanged, new opportunities identified and new skills learned.
Next Meeting
APTLD’s next Members and Board Meeting will be held at Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 3-4 June 2007.
Don Hollander
General Manager