Nominet announces programme for evolving the .uk domain name space

[Retired_Member38]

Agreed, but this is a massive problem for those that get affected. If you were a company that missed the opportunity to stop someone building on your brand (in potentially the more common uk extension in years to come) or cyber squatting on the .uk... Because the email went astray... That's very harsh IMO.

But its not a simple case of not seeing one email and you lose out. No doubt every domain registrar you've ever bought anything from will be emailing you too. And Nominet are running an 'awareness campaign', whatever that is.

Plus you'll get all of these business owners talking to each other - they'll be mentioning this, and if someone didn't know already, they do now. They have a full 6 months to find out about it.

 

[Retired_Member42]

I'm wondering how many .co.uk have been purchased on behalf of clients by web design agencies etc and how many of those agencies will either disregard the "warning" or simply take the domain for themselves in an attempt to hold the client ransom? Relationships with webmasters tend to go sour more often that not so I imagine there will be a lot of these instances.

 

[Stephen]

how do I get mine?

http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/pres...-new-policy-second-level-domain-registrations

If a decision to go ahead is taken, Nominet would notify existing registrants by email, and would run an awareness campaign to ensure that existing registrants have every opportunity to exercise their right of first refusal. Nominet would also offer existing .co.uk, .me.uk and .gov.uk registrants the opportunity to validate and verify their data for a nominal fee. However, this would not be mandatory.

Thank you.

Just a point againist my own stance of Nominet not doing enough to inform UK registrants if it went ahead.

As you can excerise the right to the .uk if you are the oldest registrant from the list of tld's stated
and show you have a valid UK address, you can take ownership of your bright new equivalent .uk straight away (not wait for the 6 months).

So from day 1, .uk will start appearing and so the profile of the new extension will be seen in real life and will therefore generate some questions of how do I get my .uk domain?

 

[Retired_Member42]

The above could lead to an influx in .co.uk sales also. If people are seeing the .uk in use, it might encourage them to find out how to get it and buy the .co.uk version in order to do so. There are going to be people who want a .uk domain and will take the .co.uk to make use of it before the 6 month window lapses. Assuming .uk is going to be perceived as somewhat more attractive, it could be a trigger for people considering purchasing the .co.uk prior to finally make the leap and do it.

 

[retired_member29]

I've said this before - better to take .UK now and put it to bed, than wait for it to rear it's head in a few years time.

Let's look at it another way - if Nominet announced they were going to shelve .UK for the moment and carry on as normal, would that really help the market?


I'll stick my neck out and say it - let's strip away the 'who gets what' scenario for the moment: the current extension .co.uk to me, is now becoming an antiquated, clunky piece of shite - .UK is cleaner, shorter, snappier - it's just better - it's the future - to deny it to the new generations would be wrong.

I know people are upset, I understand why - what is the answer...

If im being honest i agree with this. Much better to get .uk done and dusted when it seems probable its going ahead at some point in time. It sure is a headache though and my investment in domains is pennies.

 

[markb]

I was just wondering with nominets decision to reserve certain .uk domains for government use, how they can decide to only reserve certain .uk domains for governmental use and not other .uk domains. It doesn't really seem fair that they can say the oldest registrant gets first chance to register their .uk domain, but then they decide to change this rule for certain domain names.

What's to stop them changing their mind and broadening their reserve name policy in the future. Or even taking .uk domains off people in the future if the governments digital transformation programme changes and more domains have to migrate off the .gov.uk domain space.

Maybe nominet should reserve all generic .uk domains so that no-one can register them.

 

[foz]

They've dropped the "direct" bullshit title.

 

[Retired_Member38]

What's to stop them changing their mind and broadening their reserve name policy in the future. Or even taking .uk domains off people in the future if the governments digital transformation programme changes and more domains have to migrate off the .gov.uk domain space.

Its bizarre to go from someone not being given a .uk domain in the first place, to the idea that they might give out .uk domains to people and then steal them off them in the future.

Its ridiculous to even suggest it... never in a million years is that going to happen.

 

[Stephen]

Cut off?

The above could lead to an influx in .co.uk sales also. If people are seeing the .uk in use, it might encourage them to find out how to get it and buy the .co.uk version in order to do so. There are going to be people who want a .uk domain and will take the .co.uk to make use of it before the 6 month window lapses. Assuming .uk is going to be perceived as somewhat more attractive, it could be a trigger for people considering purchasing the .co.uk prior to finally make the leap and do it.

Along as they check which tld is oldest.

Surprised nobody has set up a website to do who gets .uk check?

If Nominet had thought this through they would have added a new
feature "who gets .uk" you enter your domain string and it lists registration date and shows list of all eligible UK tld's and their registration dates and expiry dates.
It would also have note when all FTR, that if .co.uk registered now, it would be entitled to the equivalent .uk if it went ahead.

So pleased they did not add the date cut off as that would have created another 6 months of paralysis in the UK namespace, and lets hope they don't bring it back on the table.

 

[Stephen]

would it be right?

Its bizarre to go from someone not being given a .uk domain in the first place, to the idea that they might give out .uk domains to people and then steal them off them in the future.

Its ridiculous to even suggest it... never in a million years is that going to happen.

Agree it is highly unlikely they will not do more for changes in .gov.uk as that has already happened and the departments effected are all known.

However Nominet would have set a precedent and there may a change in web structure, trend or security that Nominet believes it to be in the public interest to have that specific .uk.

As long as the reason is justified and the owners are compensated, I think it would be the right thing to do in principle, as long as it was not abused and was limited and last resort action.

 

[Edwin]

However Nominet would have set a precedent and there may a change in web structure, trend or security that Nominet believes it to be in the public interest to have that specific .uk.

As long as the reason is justified and the owners are compensated, I think it would be the right thing to do in principle, as long as it was not abused and was limited and last resort action.

I guess what you're talking about falls under eminent domain or compulsory purchase law. AFAIK you would have to BE the government (local or national) to do something like that - private firms don't get to play in that pond.

And I can't imagine any government would want the negative press for such a tiny gain.

 

[Stephen]

Questions to Nominet

Now the details, as far as it goes are here from Nominet on V2.0 .uk and people have slept on it.

What questions would you like to see Nominet answer, which would clarify the situation for you.

Here are some to get started with:

1. what are the benefits of .uk?
2. why not use alternative solutions such as opening up .net.uk to increase availability of new Uk domains?
3. will there be a cut off date?
4. what about the artificial earlier registration of .me.uk at the recent 2 letter Nominet auctions?
5. what will be done about confusion between .uk and .co.uk?
6. what will be done about security issues that arise between .uk and .co.uk being different owners?
7. what will the new advert for "a great place to be" look like showing .uk as a choice?
8. why not email all registrants about the consultation advising them of how there domain currently stands as to whether they would obtain the equivalent .uk? (this would act as a good try run and .uk is important)
9. why not operate an opt out of your rights to the .uk rather than an opt in?
10. why did Nominet not start a proper debate on the future of the UK namespace, rather than use a limited viewpoint for .uk consultation as the basis for moving forward?
11. why 6 months and not a year as a grace period?
12. will compensation be paid to those domain holders that will not get the .uk equivalent due to government bodies been given them?
13. how many emails do Nominet intend to send to each registrant?
14. will emails be sent to each registrant with a list of there domain or a separate email for each domain owned?
15. which email address held will be used?
16. will any domains apart from .com.uk be held back for potential use of a new 3rd level UK domain by Nominet in the future?
17. the new charge for .uk is stated as covering costs, can Nominet provide the figures to support this?
18. if the email bounces will Nominet write to the domain owner or call them on the phone?
19. what is the budget for the .uk awareness campaign?
20. will Nominet be holding meet Nominet round table meetings as they did with .uk Version 1, consultation?.

Please add more "Questions to Nominet about .uk".

 

[Edwin]

• will Nominet be holding meet Nominet round table meetings as they did with .uk Version 1, consultation?.

They've already announced the round table dates. See the bottom of
http://www.nominet.org.uk/how-parti...ussions-and-consultations/registration-second

Here's a question...
Will address verification requirement be capped per unique legal entity? In other words, if 10,000 domains are owned by the same entity, is verification process required 1x or 10,000x?

 

[markb]

Agree it is highly unlikely they will not do more for changes in .gov.uk as that has already happened and the departments effected are all known.

However Nominet would have set a precedent and there may a change in web structure, trend or security that Nominet believes it to be in the public interest to have that specific .uk.

As long as the reason is justified and the owners are compensated, I think it would be the right thing to do in principle, as long as it was not abused and was limited and last resort action.

I think nominet should consider creating another extension which cold be used for the domains migrating from .gov, Ie. gov2.uk or some better name, as once they have released all the .uk names there's no going back. Why should a handful of government departments get the opportunity to grab their .uk domains off the deserving owners, when no other departments will get the chance?

I think I will discuss my issue with the editors of the independent newspaper, as they are in the same position as myself, and see if we can get a story out about this in the press.

 

[Stephen]

all qualifying UK tld's strings?

I think nominet should consider creating another extension which cold be used for the domains migrating from .gov, Ie. gov2.uk or some better name, as once they have released all the .uk names there's no going back. Why should a handful of government departments get the opportunity to grab their .uk domains off the deserving owners, when no other departments will get the chance?

I think I will discuss my issue with the editors of the independent newspaper, as they are in the same position as myself, and see if we can get a story out about this in the press.

Good luck.

Originally I thought, if it went ahead and no alternative solutions found,
only the "oldest equivalent UK domain" would be entitled to compensation.

However on reflection, all qualifying UK tld's strings should get some form of compensation as the oldest may not have taken up their rights to the .uk.

Also I think if Nominet don't address the issue, it would not reflect well on them that they could effectively steal rights they have provided to owners of 10,000,000 UK domains.

What sort of standards and ethics are Nominet promoting in the UK domain industry?

 

[domainseller200]

I think Julian is right also. The sooner .uk is released the better, as it will only be put on the shelf again and rear its head again in the future anyway. It will never go away no matter how much we fight it, and it isn't a case of 'not giving up', it is more the case of the inevitable taking too long to have happened in the first place.

I stand to lose quite a few of my names to the 'oldest registrant first' rule, but I also gain some nice ones too using the same rules.

I am also seeing this as an opportunity to possibly get some nice .uk names which I would never have the opportunity otherwise.

Don't forget that just because it is the oldest registrant registrant who gets first refusal, doesn't mean they will actually go for the name. How many times have we received spam emails from companies (usually in China) saying that someone else is trying to secure a .sx domain of our 'brand' name in the hope that we will buy it instead ?

There will be 10,000's who don't buy the .uk name as either a. they don't want it, b. they don't see the importance or understand it or c. they think it is another one of those spam emails

So changes = opportunites. I am going to make sure that I go for every single one of my generic top names, even if I am not the oldest registrant as I think there is a good chance I will get quite a few of them.

 

[Nigel]

I think nominet should consider creating another extension which cold be used for the domains migrating from .gov, Ie. gov2.uk or some better name, as once they have released all the .uk names there's no going back. Why should a handful of government departments get the opportunity to grab their .uk domains off the deserving owners, when no other departments will get the chance?

I think I will discuss my issue with the editors of the independent newspaper, as they are in the same position as myself, and see if we can get a story out about this in the press.

Good idea - isn't it amazing how they go out of their way to come up with this grossly unfair solution for their friends in government - yet no mention of what to do with the short domain auction winners who paid over £3m to nominet less than two years ago.

 

[Edwin]

Good idea - isn't it amazing how they go out of their way to come up with this grossly unfair solution for their friends in government - yet no mention of what to do with the short domain auction winners who paid over £3m to nominet less than two years ago.

Not strictly true. They are explicitly mentioned in question 3b:

3.b Are there any categories of domain names already currently registered which should be released differently, e.g. domains registered on the same day, pre-Nominet domains (where the first registration date may not be identified with certainty) and domains released in the 2011 short domains project?

Of course, that's only the feedback gathering stage, but it shows that Nominet hasn't forgotten/ignored the issue entirely.

 

[Nigel]

Not strictly true. They are explicitly mentioned in question 3b:



Of course, that's only the feedback gathering stage, but it shows that Nominet hasn't forgotten/ignored the issue entirely.

thanks Edwin - I hadn't seen that.

 

[Edwin]

BTW, it's vital to read BOTH consultation documents thoroughly - the consultation itself, AND the "background documents" PDF that accompanies it. When both are considered in tandem, some of the things that look like open questions may well turn out not to be.

CONSULTATION: http://www.nominet.org.uk/sites/default/files/ConsultationOnSecondLevelDomainRegistrationInUK_0.pdf

BACKGROUND DOCS: http://www.nominet.org.uk/sites/def...egistrationInUKBackgroundAndFurtherDetail.pdf