In an earlier post we had informed you about the proposed changes in the South African domain name space. After shortlisting registrars, .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) had announced several changes in the infrastructure of Country’s domain. The changes have raised concerns from several registrar companies providing services in these domain names.
The major concern has been regarding the obtaining of a license under the new regulations. Registrars would now have to get a license and they fear that this would be problematic for them. They worry that behind the garb of license allotment, hefty registration fees would be debited from them.
Another major concern regarding the new changes is its privacy invading section. In the name of ‘compliance’ the authority has asked for unrestricted access to a Registrar’s environment. Yes, unrestricted access.
Not only this the changes also require that Registrars collect Personal Details of the registrants and also share the data with ZADNA. This change should be looked at through the view that the South African domain names are not exclusively registered by the nationals only. International players also invest in these domain names. The changes sought to hand personal details of those individuals to ZADNA too.
However, the biggest worry for the industry players is the demand for unrestricted access to a company’s environment by a government authority. The companies have clearly stated that they won’t allow any third party to intervene into the company-consumer relationship.
It is also claimed that additional restrictions on the domain name, instead of making it secure, would make it deeply unpopular. People around have a whole spectrum of different domain names to choose from. Difficulties incurred in getting a domain name would directly impact its registration rates.
The policy changes are open to public comments. We hope the authorities pay heed to the concerns of all the stakeholders of the industry involved and takes a collective and inclusive decision.
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