Comreg Confirm "Functional Internet Access " is 0K for all .ie domains.

spongebob

......and as a reward for their trojan efforts to wreck the entire telecommunications market for everyone the entire Irish Web space has now been handed over to them to play with it, see Here

Next up from Comreg will be the Root Server with no Name and the Master Records with no IP addresses and the Dont Know Shit consultation documents where they won't listen to the advice they are given anyway, especially if it is correct and free. They would rather pay consultants so they can blame them for their own institutional ineptitude.

Ahern must be losing his marbles if he is handing the IEDR to that shower as they are currently constituted , talk about frying pans and fires I despair, I really really do.

"Minister Ahern said: “The .ie name is Ireland’s website address. As such it is in a sense a national resource."



M

zenith

originally posted to open@webnet.ie ...
Mods: please merge with Muck's post ...

---

Dublin, Tuesday, 13th April 2004
Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources,
today announced that regulation and control of Ireland’s domain name (.ie)
is to be transferred to the Commission for Communications Regulation
(Comreg).

Officials at the Minister’s Department are currently drafting legislation to
provide for the transfer of the .ie domain name registry (IEDR) to Comreg.
The latest domain name figures show almost 40,000 websites with .ie
registrations.

The Minister announced that a draft heads of a Bill has been prepared
providing for the regulation of the functions carried out by the IEDR in
relation to the management of the ie domain name be vested in Com Reg. It is
expected to go before the Cabinet shortly. The new Bill will provide also
for fines of up to €2,000 daily for non-compliance with regulations laid
down with the operation of the registry.


Minister Ahern said: “The .ie name is Ireland’s website address. As such it
is in a sense a national resource. I want to ensure that Ireland’s national
domain name registry is in a position to thrive and benefit business and
consumers alike. I believe the transfer of responsibility to an organisation
such as Comreg will immeasurably strengthen the operations of the registry.
In addition, increased regulatory sanctions will ensure that those in breach
of domain name regulations will be hit in their pockets.”


The new Bill also provides for the Minister to issue policy directions in
relation to the management of the domain name. Other aspects of the Bill
allows for administrative issues in relation to the management of the domain
name including authorising Com Reg to impose a levy on the registration
authority to fund their expenses in relation to the management of the
registration authority.

---

jmcc

Originally posted by Muck
Ahern must be losing his marbles if he is handing the IEDR to that shower as they are currently constituted , talk about frying pans and fires I despair, I really really do.

Better than the board of IEDR as it is currently constituted. At least this way IEDR is answerable for its actions.

Regards...jmcc

watty

Might be a good thing. Once Comreg figure it out. Some decent bods in there.

Moriarty

You couldn't make this sort of stuff up.

(threads merged)

spongebob

So far , the 'answerable entity' that is Comreg has given us (heres a snippet)

Functional Internet Access is legally defined as 0k
The Highest Line Rental on the Planet
Pairgain Heaven with no end in sight !
The most decrepit copper in the EU
The lowest Network Investment and Maintenance Budget of any Incumbent telco on the planet
The highest cross country leased line prices
A crumbling postal system

In brackets below you will see an even longer list of what they have done right

{}

M

Ripwave

Originally posted by Muck
So far , the 'answerable entity' that is Comreg has given us (heres a snippet)

Functional Internet Access is legally defined as 0k
The Highest Line Rental on the Planet
Pairgain Heaven with no end in sight !
The most decrepit copper in the EU
The lowest Network Investment and Maintenance Budget of any Incumbent telco on the planet
The highest cross country leased line prices
A crumbling postal system

Then they're eminiently qualified to run the .ie domain.

now that Comreg are authorised "to impose a levy on the registration authority to fund their expenses in relation to the management of the registration authority", expect the most expensive domains in the Eu to become even more expensive!

jmcc

Originally posted by Ripwave
expect the most expensive domains in the Eu to become even more expensive!

Either that or the fire the current management and use the money saved to facilitate an industry backed operation. Somehow I think that recent events may have provoked this. I'm still chasing up the stories on this aspect.

Regards...jmcc

spongebob

Originally posted by jmcc
Either that or the fire the current management.

One of the Comreg commissioners waddled off into the sunset to learn how to make movies. That was months ago , the job was not readvertised as I recall.

It has not been replaced yet and there is a vacancy in Comreg. Should we have a democratic poll as to whether we send JMCC or Dahamsta to Dublin to be the new commissioner

M

dahamsta

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. (I'm talking about Comreg V IEDR.) The IEDR was making interesting noises of late - now we know why - but failed to address the primary issue of price in this round, which should have been dropped heavily and consistently year-on-year (if not month on month). And they continue to rake in the green on renewals, which of course don't have the high cost of managed registration.

However Comreg has proved itself wholly capable of flushing green down the jacks too, with a Google-like penchant for employing as many degree holders as possible, mostly to manage the ever-growing, ever-wasteful Consultation Portfolio; when of course many of the decisions they make could have been decided by Homer Simpson with a Magic Eight Ball.

Probably better quality decisions too, since Homer's experience of running Compu Global Hyper MegaNet would would put him on a better footing than Doherty. And of course his Krusty the Klown Skool training would put him on a higher intellectual plane than Doyle.

Looks like more of the same ahead. Ho hum.

adam

For the record, I'm a reseller of IE domains. And I don't realy think Etain's thick. Just a waste of space.

monument

^
lol

Yeah, I was just thinking Comreg and 'answerable' don’t go together

watty

I think the very low investment is due to the "carpet baggers" that bought Eircom and asset stripped the mobile phone business. In theory de-regulation and privatization is a good idea, but the way our Gov. did it with telecom/Eircom ensured we got the worst a State Entity and private buisness can do instead of the best from both.

We was robbed.

jmcc

Originally posted by watty
I think the very low investment is due to the "carpet baggers" that bought Eircom and asset stripped the mobile phone business.

Yeah but .ie was supposed to be administered for the benefit of the Irish internet community. UCD dropped an ex Telecom Eireann /UCD academic (Scanlan) with no experience in the volume/retail domain name business in as chairman of the board. Scanlan and the other UCD appointees then brought in another ex Telecom Eireann/UCD academic - Bolger to the board of IEDR. Basically it was a complete mess and for the last few years IEDR has been a problem for the industry and the interests of the Irish internet community. The Irish internet industry or community had no say in the administration of the Irish domain.

UCD originally administered .ie but the spin-off to a separate entity went badly wrong. Instead of a board that was qualified to run a registry, it came up with a bunch who knew fsck all about the domain name business. They may have looked good on paper but in operational terms it was a complete disaster. The then CEO, Mike Fagan was having frequent run-ins with the board and the whole industry suffered. The whole Irish internet industry became distinctly anti .ie and favoured the standard .com/net/org registrations.

The price of the .ie domain is still the highest in Europe if not the world. At least Fagan managed to grow the .ie cctld but it was in the middle of the dot.com boom. But eventually Fagan was forced out of IEDR. And all the time the Irish owned com/net/org/biz/name figure continued to grow. The instability and musical finances and revolving Four Courts doors did nothing to help Ireland's image as the e-hub.

I for one am happy that the national domain has been wrenched from the claws of the IEDR board. The .ie domain is one of the most expensive domains in the world. People have always gone for .com/net/org domains. It is a no-brainer. The cost of a .com is about €15 - the cost of a .ie can be up to €150. These people on the board of IEDR just don't understand the market or the industry. And with .eu becoming available in November, the whole place/location argument for getting a .ie will be under even more threat.

Ideally the .ie ccltd should be administered by an industry backed operation with an elected board with ComReg representation.

At least with ComReg running the show in the short term, there will be public consultation. The board of IEDR Ltd ran .ie as their own toy asset.

With the immediate threat from .eu, the viability of .ie ccld may have been mortally wounded by the actions of the board of IEDR. My opinion is that by removing the policy and regulatory decision making process from IEDR Ltd, the government may have made the right move and have in the the process opened the whole process of how .ie is regulated.

However the government may go further and put the administration and technical operation of .ie cctld up for tender. This would provide the possibility for an industry backed operation to administer it for the Irish internet community.

IEDR has made some conciliatory noises in the last few months. It has been said that the prospect of imminent death can concentrate the mind wonderfully. Somehow I think that if the government gets any more progressive, the people in IEDR management should be dusting down their CVs.

Regards...jmcc