Well if that was the case Ben, then the Government would be right to remove the mandate to operate the namespace, and I would be the first to call for that. But I don't want to believe that, and I think a clear explanation is needed. People are owed that, and it's not some optional extra, because harm has been done. For vital UK infrastructure, accountability must always be required. Who are Nominet accountable to? GoDaddy? Namesco? No, of course not. They are accountable to their members collectively, and equally, and beyond that they are accountable to the nation and its representatives. This is not ice-pops or baked beans we are talking about. It's the UK's namespace, which almost the whole nation relies on - in education, in healthcare, in business, in communities, in recreation, in families. It has to be run on secure, resilient, and orderly systems, transparent, honest, fair. Or else someone else has to run it instead. Unless the UK namespace just becomes a jungle where anything goes, and big tech companies cash in, and accountability is by choice and not by compulsion, answers to concerns like these have to be provided.
So keep asking. Who pointed out the flaw? When? Were they correct? How long did it take for Nominet to respond? How long did it take for Nominet to act? How long had the flaw been existing before it was called out to Nominet? What technical problems prevented the flaw being dealt with sooner? Could those solutions have been outsourced? Are there protocols set in place when events like this happen? Will someone provide the answers?
I don't presuppose anything about this specific issue, but there are issues of culture and mindset that have been raised again and again, not only in the UK but elsewhere in the DNS-related industries, about openness and accountability, not least to the people for whom the namespace exists.
This is the start of a debate, and not the end of it. I personally think Nominet needs reform, and greater accountability and oversight.
