Contract to run .eu domain-name registry is up for grabs as Brussels tries to avoid a .co-style debacle
- Reference: 1602568989
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/10/13/eu_internet_domain_contract/
- Source link:
The EC’s Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technologies [1]announced the rebid last week and its director of future networks, Pearse O’Donohue, has been [2]pushing the issue to the DNS industry – including personally contacting registry operators to encourage them to apply.
It is just the latest in a series of rebids for major internet address spaces in recent years – several of which have been shrouded in claims of corruption, backroom deals and legal threats, including Colombia’s .co, India’s .in and Australia’s .au domains.
In the worst example, Colombia’s technology minister was accused of cutting a secret deal with US corporation Afilias ahead of its retender: an accusation that gained credence when the Colombian government’s own documents contained [3]unexplained references to a different Afilias contract.
The government’s documents also showed it has used the wrong registration figures for its own internet space and had [4]skewed the process to favor Afilias. Afilias ended up [5]withdrawing from the bid and the contract was [6]re-awarded to US-based Neustar.
Exclusion
The EC has tried to avoid similar controversy by insisting all applicants be non-profit organizations based in Europe: criteria that appears designed to prevent Afilias and Neustar from applying.
But the criteria will also exclude pretty much everyone else in the relatively small registry market, unless those companies decide to set up non-profit subsidiaries in Europe solely to bid for the contract.
Barmy ban on businesses, Brits based in Blighty bearing or buying .eu domains is back: Cut-off date is Jan 1, 2021 [7]READ MORE
In addition, a key component of the .eu contract will be multilingualism, which would disadvantage the dominant English-speaking players in the registry market, including .uk operator Nominet and two UK-based registry operators, Centralnic and Minds+Machines.
Any operator would also have to deal with the EC’s growing tendency to interfere with the .eu registry, imposing top-down decisions with little or no discussion. That became a headache for current operator EURid last year when Brussels bureaucrats decided that, due to Brexit, all .eu domains attached to UK-based registrants [8]would be terminated when the UK exited the European Union.
The decision was seemingly intended as a kind of punishment on the UK government but caused a lengthy series of [9]policy back-and-forths as EURid tried to turn a diktat that went against industry best practice into workable policy. The registry lost millions of domains and saw its [10]reputation damaged as a result.
Interference
There is also the fact that registry operators tend to be left alone to run things so long as there are no technical problems, but with .eu, the EC has repeatedly added new reporting requirements, making registry operation just one more piece of the Brussels bureaucracy.
The rebid criteria also insist on EU-style governance structures. “The Contractor shall ensure that its internal governance respects the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, transparency and responsiveness,” reads just one part of the tendering documents. So that [11]probably rules out Nominet.
Unusually, the main driver for the rebid doesn’t appear to be an effort to force the current operator, EURid, to offer lower prices: the .eu registry’s €12.6m annual revenue is a drop in the bucket of the EU’s vast budget.
Instead, the .eu registry is viewed more as a prestige project for the European Union. “The purpose of the .eu TLD is to help enhance the Union identity and promote Union values online, such as multilingualism, respect for users’ privacy and security, respect for human rights, as well as specific Union priorities in the digital area,” the tendering document proudly states.
The normal assumption would be that EURid as the operator that has been running .eu since its inception 15 years ago would be will win the rebid but the EC has been unusually critical of EURid in recent months and even its marketing of the .eu rebid implies it is looking to move away from EURid: “The competition to become the next .eu TLD registry is now open.” Industry insiders wonder why the word “next.”
Given its complex requirements and tendency to over-involve itself in the registry’s operation, however, the EC may find that despite its active efforts to give the contract to someone else, the only company willing to put up with its demands is current operator EURid. ®
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[1] https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/call-selection-eu-registry
[2] http://www.circleid.com/posts/20201006-the-competition-to-become-the-next-eu-tld-registry-is-now-open/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/04/co_retender_afilias/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/15/colombia_dot_co_afilias/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/25/afilias_colombia_dot_co_registry/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/04/07/neustar_wins_colombia/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/04/eu_domain_ban/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2018/03/29/eu_dumps_300000_ukowned_domains_into_brexit_bin/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2019/07/20/brexit_eu_domains/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/10/25/eu_registry_brexit/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/06/nominet_refuses_to_accept_complaint/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Well..
We've kept our one registered, again solely to stop domain squatting, it's only other purpose (providing email that bypasses the main domains) has been moved to a .uk domain instead. If/when they try to take it away I'll either move the registration to our Polish subsidiary or drop it completely.
Instead, the .eu registry is viewed more as a prestige project for the European Union.
That's sad.
EU what?
The rebid criteria also insist on EU-style governance structures. “The Contractor shall ensure that its internal governance respects the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, transparency and responsiveness,” reads just one part of the tendering documents.
That rules out the EU itself, their own finances haven't passed an audit in over 20 years, and the words efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, transparency and responsiveness just aren't translatable in to eurocrat.
"a kind of punishment on the UK government"
Do we have to bring out the golf club analogy, again?
Re: "a kind of punishment on the UK government"
Do we have to bring out the golf club analogy, again?
You mean where we leave the club and offer to pay green fees to play occasionally, but the secretary prefers to change the locks on the doors rather than take our money?
"In addition, a key component of the .eu contract will be multilingualism, which would disadvantage the dominant English-speaking players in the registry market"
You don't say! So shocking! What could it have to do with English becoming a minor EU language, and also, actually respecting the rights of the peoples in 27 countries to use their own languages rather than usanian when buying a domain?
"Any operator would also have to deal with the EC’s growing tendency to interfere with the .eu registry, imposing top-down decisions with little or no discussion."
Luckily you Brits shows us how well non-interference works, what with Nominet doing so great, ElReg itself reports on it.
This article is really funny in its lack of self-awareness! I can imagine the stiff upper lip and Rule Britannia playing in the background :D
Have you not noticed that The Register publish an anti-Nominet article about twice a month? Or more, if there's occasion to. Which given the pisspoor state of Nominet's board is often the case. They even take a dig at Nominet in the bloody article.
So why the whiny defence of the admittedly less poor EU processes? There article is fully self-aware - the Register are simply doing their job of reporting poor practise where they find it. In this case the Commission's various bizarre gyrations on Brexit policy - when they could have just left things well alone and watied until it all blew over then if they really felt it was important start a policy of no longer registering domains from the UK sometime next year.
Which is still pretty silly, in my opinion, but it's perfectly reasonable to insist on .eu being an EU-only registry. Although deliberately limiting the number of domains that people can buy for a domain that's already not very popular, is hardly likely to attract many bidders.
My only slight complaint about the article is I'd be interested to know why the Commission have seemingly fallen out of love with EURid? But then I'm sure El Reg would have told us if they knew.
Reg, you mentioned the UK....
registries are profit-based, so not eligible.
I think you didn't get the note about Brexit.
Even if they were nonprofit, they still wouldn't be allowed to bid.
Re: Reg, you mentioned the UK....
Actually Nominet is (nominally and only really in a legal sense) a non-profit organisation. It acts very clearly as a for-profit organisation, but has somehow managed to hold on to its non-profit status.
So it could very clearly bid for this, although the lack of transparency and communication would probably rule it out...
Well..
I'm just glad we've already dropped our .eu domain(s). We simply waited for all of them to expire a couple of years ago when EU declared they would terminate them all for UK businesses.
Thankfully, for us they served only as a "stop domain squatters" domain. So it was no big loss for us, in fact it's a "profit" you could say because it saves us money.