Hi, I'm standing for the Nominet elected Non Executive Director role this year

Whois-Search · Jul 7, 2019

I’m supporting @Anne Taylor in the NED election

The Nominet executive run the company and make all the financial decisions. On pricing issues the elected NEDs are often conflicted out anyway.

The NED role (at Nominet) is more about sitting on the different board committees here: https://www.nominet.uk/corporate-governance/board-documents/

Usually when you are first elected you are stuck on Nominations and Audit & Governance. The Chair doesn’t even let you on Remuneration until you have past your probation (see NED contract).

All we can hope is a strong “smaller member” voice is heard at the board room table. This year Anne is the only option to do that.

To Vote:

Search for an email from 27th June from “OnlineVoting” there is a unique link in there:

Subject: Nominet UK - AGM and Election of non-executive director 2019
From: [email protected]
Sent: 27th June 2019
Voting closes: at noon on Monday 15 July 2019.

Find out your voting rights here: https://media.nominet.uk/wp-content.../Nominet-Voting-Rights-2019-NED-elections.pdf

dig bick · Jul 7, 2019

lazarus said:
And spending millions abroad on vanity/charity projects. Have you seen the obscene salaries some of the board are on? not mid.. but high £xxx,xxx. why should these people get paid 4 - 5 times more than a Prime Minister?

I hadn't. I knew it would be a healthy salary but had no idea it was this much!

Thankfully Haworth didn't have to survive on his £383,000 and just made ends meet with his £306,000 bonus. Likewise Bradley just managed to avoid the food bank with her £491,000 over 18 months. No wonder they can't afford to donate to Charity projects any more!

lazarus · Jul 7, 2019

Yep, Its truly obscene.

dig bick · Jul 7, 2019

I'm guessing he left. He got £31k the previous 12 months and must have left part way through the following year.

domainscot · Jul 8, 2019

It was time bail out away from .co.uk namespace when they just increased the cost about 100% if they done it once they will do it again. So happy made choice to focus on .com and drop 99% .co.uk domains.

Sam · Jul 8, 2019

domainscot said:
It was time bail out away from .co.uk namespace when they just increased the cost about 100% if they done it once they will do it again. So happy made choice to focus on .com and drop 99% .co.uk domains.

Yes .com as we know is far better and always will be they will ramp up the price of uk soon its coming...

Whois-Search · Jul 15, 2019

Voting closes at noon today.

Please use your vote even if you don’t agree with everything at Nominet.

If the turnout falls below 10% they can pass anything they like

Siusaidh · Jul 15, 2019

This is ludicrous. I had no idea of the scale of the entitlement.

How did it ever come to this?

Am I wrong, or was Nominet originally a public body accountable to Parliament like other functions of state?

Shouldn't the UK's namespace be protected and overseen by... the UK?

Who precisely is Nominet accountable to?

lazarus · Jul 15, 2019

Siusaidh said:
Who precisely is Nominet accountable to?

I have no idea...

Siusaidh · Jul 15, 2019

Well I'm simply a nurse, not part of the domain industry. Does anyone know how this floats? Has Nominet always been profit-making rather than non-profit? Who is Nominet accountable to?

Even ICANN, ultimately, is accountable to the Department of Commerce. Should politicians be lobbied to bring the UK namespace under UK control and oversight and accountability, even if day-to-day administration is delegated to them?

The UK namespace should not just be a private business to be used to cream off profit for its directors. It is part of national infrastructure.

Anyone know the accountabilities?

dig bick · Jul 15, 2019

This gives a little insight into who they are accountable to -

Sir Michael Lyons tells .uk registry Nominet: Time to grow up

tl;dr - no one

Whois-Search · Jul 15, 2019

Siusaidh said:
How did it ever come to this?

.uk was delegated in 1985 by IANA:
https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/uk.html

Nominet wasn’t formed until 1996 by a guy called Dr Willie Black:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominet_UK

Siusaidh said:
Am I wrong, or was Nominet originally a public body accountable to Parliament like other functions of state?

No it’s always been a private company limited by guarantee (no share holders):

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03203859/filing-history

Siusaidh said:
Shouldn't the UK's namespace be protected and overseen by... the UK?

Since 2010 (Digital Economy Bill) the Secretary of State has the power to regulate any internet registry in the UK:

http://domainincite.com/466-nominet-bill-set-for-uk-law

If that registry fails...

Siusaidh said:
Who precisely is Nominet accountable to?

Technically the members of the company own the company and the board is accountable to the members who vote at an AGM or call an EGM.

However obviously some members are bigger than other members due to the voting rights policy: https://media.nominet.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/58367_votingrightspolicy17052012.pdf

So even if you called an EGM (with 5%) then you wouldn’t be able to pass a special resolution (75% majority) due to the voting rights. At that point the Government would most likely also activate its emergency powers.

Siusaidh · Jul 15, 2019

Thank you for that - and in the three years since that article... has Nominet shown any signs of "growing up"... and into what?

Let me give you an example of the way the general public and ordinary internet users are frankly given reduced status in accessing uk namespace details.

If I want to search uk namespace by domain name, then I can do that through the basic WHOIS.

But if I want to search by registrar - to see what names a registrar has registered, I have to pay £400 for that advanced search. Why?

Why can't ordinary users and the public get easy access to simple searches like that, and access to information about what is, after all, this country's namespace?

I feel happy if day-to-day executive freedom is delegated to the Nominet executive and board and members. But I still think, as guardians and custodians of the country's namespace, they should remain accountable to the people of this country, as represented by Parliament.

Otherwise we will probably end up paying £50 a year per domain, with premium domains being raised to £500 a year.

We need namespace/domains to be as cheap as possible, because that empowers the most people. The other thing that's important is to improve the access ordinary members of the public can get to domains they want to use. Domains should primarily be for use.