cctld Zak Muscovitch for CIRA Directorship - SUPPORT ZAK!!!

[msn]

I had my entire family EACH, sign up, and show support with 3 votes. Zak will certainly be the one person on the panel that knows what we domainers need. I certainly hope that EVERYONE who has posted on this thread has signed up to vote. We need to give Zak our Commitment to VOTE!!!

He should already be at 20 now then.

 

[fwdtech]

Do not get this wrong, please, but CIRA has more than covered the operational costs and sees this excess of funds as a reason to increase salaries of all involved and expand staff, start small projects and hire various consultants at high costs.

When CIRA was created it was allowed a higher fee which was to be used in part to repay UBC for its costs of setting up and running the .ca structure up until the point it was transitioned to CIRA.

Not only are these costs long since paid and forgotten, but more importantly on the revenue side, CIRA has seen a surge in registration levels, and each additional registration has a marginal cost of close to zero. That means, as we say in business school, they are swimming in money.

I would suggest that if CIRA does not now take this opportunity to return to basics, lowered registration cost and complete transparency included, there will certainly soon be outside pressure put on CIRA and that will not be on their terms.

I was provided with the following info:

It seems that CIRA HAD followed an annual review of its revenues and costs and adjusted their wholesale price accordingly.

Original price - 20.00
Feb 1, 2002 - 15.00
May 1, 2003 - 12.50
July 1, 2004 - 10.00
July 1, 2005 - 8.50
2006 ?? (still 8.50)
2007 ?? (still 8.50)
2008 ?? (still 8.50)
2009 ?? (still 8.50)
2010 ?? (still 8.50)

Were there even 700,000 reg's in 2005?
That would mean that revenues have doubled, with no meaningful, legitimate offsetting expenses (and absolutely no price reduction).

CIRA HAD BEEN totally on the right track, and then, it would appear, that they started to get full of themselves.

This email was sent by Ed Toy to the registrars on January 16, 2006:

From: Ed Toy <[email protected]>
Date: Mon Jan 16 2006 - 15:35:23 EST

All Registrars,

Apologies for the incomplete email. This is the complete message.

CIRA was recently made aware of new statistical information on dot-ca usage.
CIRA is sharing this information with Registrars and Registrar staff. Please
go to http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=94.

Using this inormation, CIRA will be making an announcement on the CIRA
public website by the end of this week.

Regards,

Edward Toy

Manager - Registrations

CIRA/ACEI

613-237-5335

The above link is still active - showing .ca's AHEAD of .de's in Google results in January 2006.

site:.com 4,860,000,000
site:.ca 165,000,000
site:.de 145,000,000


Given CIRA's endorsement of the methodology in 2006, it should follow that CIRA should examine today's results.

Google shows:

site:.com 14,240,000,000 ( 293 % increase )
site:.ca 344,000,000 ( 208 % increase )
site:.de 544,000,000 ( 375 % increase )


Who has served their extension better -
.ca with their adopted freewheeling and travel junkets with OUR (yes, it is our) money, or
.de in staying the course ?

(Is CIRA subject to Auditor-General review?)

 

[Zak Muscovitch]

I just posted an Op-Ed piece on DomainNameWire.com about reforming the Canadian Presence Requirements.

How would people feel about adopting a combination of Germany and Australia's requirements?

I would support a combination of Australian and German requirements.

Foreign corporations and trademark owners may register .com.au provided they are involved in trade with Australia.

.de may be registered to individuals and corporations outside of Germany provided they have an administrative contact residing within Germany and have a postal address to serve documents, and the administrative contact must also be the person formally authorized by the domain holder to receive service of official or court documents.

This would seem to be a “Canadian Presence”, as opposed to what we have now, which actually requires an actual “Canadian” (corporation, trademark, Indian band, the queen, the government, etc.).

I have heard first hand of small companies from outside of Canada who want to have a .ca for their Canadian customers, but are not allowed to have one unless they undergo the expense and hassle of incorporating a Canadian/provincial company and filing for it every year.

For .ca owners, expanding the number of registrations should bring prices down and add value to .ca's by increasing demand.

 

[poing]

Today is the last day to sign up as a member for this year's show of support in the elections... https://member.cira.ca/en/member.html

 

[theinvestor]

Zak,

I signed up and still waiting to hear from CIRA. You have my vote, but you should know that.

Samer

 

[Zak Muscovitch]

Many thanks Samer!! Much appreciated

 

[theinvestor]

I just showed my support. Look forward to the vote on September 22nd.

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Signed up, man they take this stuff serious eh lol I got a call from a friend who said to me " CIRA just called ".

 

[msn]

I just posted an Op-Ed piece on DomainNameWire.com about reforming the Canadian Presence Requirements.

How would people feel about adopting a combination of Germany and Australia's requirements?

I would support a combination of Australian and German requirements.

Foreign corporations and trademark owners may register .com.au provided they are involved in trade with Australia.

.de may be registered to individuals and corporations outside of Germany provided they have an administrative contact residing within Germany and have a postal address to serve documents, and the administrative contact must also be the person formally authorized by the domain holder to receive service of official or court documents.

This would seem to be a “Canadian Presence”, as opposed to what we have now, which actually requires an actual “Canadian” (corporation, trademark, Indian band, the queen, the government, etc.).

I have heard first hand of small companies from outside of Canada who want to have a .ca for their Canadian customers, but are not allowed to have one unless they undergo the expense and hassle of incorporating a Canadian/provincial company and filing for it every year.

For .ca owners, expanding the number of registrations should bring prices down and add value to .ca's by increasing demand.

We do business in Germany: the reason for the agent provision in Germany is related to the reverse onus aspect of the legal system there, as in many European countries, which do not share our common law system.

Along with this issue and some other aspects which are too arcane to discuss here, it is not at all advisable to use the German model in light of this difference.

I will say it again: if a foreign entity has enough scale to go to Canada as a new market, $300 is not going to be a deal killer for them at all.

If CIRA would consider enforcing their policy as it already stands and do so on a consistent basis, that could do more to help the .ca space than further 'cheapening' the access to .ca for more super-scale portfolios for a select few.

Open up the place, make everything public and lower the costs!

 

[poing]

How would people feel about adopting a combination of Germany and Australia's requirements?

I would support a combination of Australian and German requirements.

Foreign corporations and trademark owners may register .com.au provided they are involved in trade with Australia.

.de may be registered to individuals and corporations outside of Germany provided they have an administrative contact residing within Germany and have a postal address to serve documents, and the administrative contact must also be the person formally authorized by the domain holder to receive service of official or court documents.

While I am quite familiar with the German requirements - which basically do just mean that you need to provide a local address with some possible legal implications - I am not quite sure about Australia. As far as I understand you need to register your business in Australia for a (annual?) fee. I'm not quite sure if that means you also have to file taxes in Australia. Anyone here has gone through that before?

 

[Ilze]

Zak,
I personally am not a fan of diluting the dot ca. I see more companies using the dot ca now, more than ever,....more than the dot com. I know that the original mandate of the DOAC was to open up the .ca space to everyone, with the idea of all domainers being able to sell to anyone. I believe it is a bad Idea. As a Canadian, I know that Canadians are proud to be exactly that. Also, Canadians like doing business with Canadian Retailers, based in Canada..using Canadian dollars. This is just my opinion and my experience..., and it will not change. I have been selling and observing this market for ten years, and to dilute the dot ca would be a big mistake for current Investors. iIt is like diluting the BRAND... That being said, I doubt that CIRA will open up the ca space to outsiders. Perhaps loosening up a few loopholes
would happen, but I doubt that any real changes will happen. Canadians domains should be owned and operated by Canadians.

That being said, you will have my votes, regardless, as I believe that you will bring some new energy and ideas into an organization that needs to be
"dusted off".

 

[whitebark]

Canadians domains should be owned and operated by Canadians.

Could not agree more. It may make some of us more money over the short term but it is like a brand being diluted for the sake of a few more dollars now.

CIRA doesn't even enforce the rules that are in place so I don't see needing to open it up more as even an issue at this point.

I still voted for you regardless of this position though as having at least one domainer on the board is an important step forward for all of us. We are their bread and butter but have no representation. What other industry can claim that?

Most needed change that I would like to see is the whole transfer issue. It's archaic and fraught with problems. When seasoned domainers run into problems what chance does the average person have? I've spent hours trying to explain register, registrar and registrant to all end-users I have ever sold to. It's frustrating to say the least.

 

[fwdtech]

.

 

[Zak Muscovitch]

Cannot foreign entities simply start to USE a .ca name, which then constitutes a common-law trademark, and therefore the entity has rights in the domain?

From CIRA's CPR:

[Must have a]:

Trade-mark registered in Canada. A Person which does not meet any of the
foregoing conditions, but which is the owner of a trade-mark which is the subject
of a registration under the Trade-marks Act (Canada) R.S.C. 1985, c.T-13 as
amended from time to time, but in this case such permission is limited to an
application to register a .ca domain name consisting of or including the exact
word component of that registered trade-mark;

---------- Post added at 12:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 AM ----------

Zak,
I personally am not a fan of diluting the dot ca.

That being said, you will have my votes, regardless, as I believe that you will bring some new energy and ideas into an organization that needs to be
"dusted off".

I appreciate the support notwithstanding my expressed interest to reevaluate the Canadian Presence Requirements and the trust that this entails. I am seeing that a lot of people do not see a problem with the CPR, and that is important for me to know. I intend to represent domain name owners views at CIRA, even if they do not necessarily jibe with my own. Furthermore, I can be persuaded of other views, so I appreciate hearing when you have differing perspectives as it may result in me seeing things differently.

 

[katherine]

After 10 years of general availability to the public, I don't see the need to maintain restrictions on .ca.
That could have been justified back in 2000, at landrush, in order to favor Canadian registrants. But now it's 2010.

Here some very popular extensions that are open to foreigners, and not 'diluted':
.de .co.uk .nl

Actually many if not most ccTLDs tend to be unrestricted nowadays. The trend is toward lifting restrictions where they exist.
I don't know what people are afraid of.

It's one of those things, along with the arcane transfer process, that Cira never address or deemed worthy of evaluation in 10 years.
In fact, I have the feeling Cira don't innovate a lot, they are more concerned about just 'running' the extension, and avoid fixing what's broken

 

[msn]

After 10 years of general availability to the public, I don't see the need to maintain restrictions on .ca.
That could have been justified back in 2000, at landrush, in order to favor Canadian registrants. But now it's 2010.

Here some very popular extensions that are open to foreigners, and not 'diluted':
.de .co.uk .nl

Actually many if not most ccTLDs tend to be unrestricted nowadays. The trend is toward lifting restrictions where they exist.
I don't know what people are afraid of.

It's one of those things, along with the arcane transfer process, that Cira never address or deemed worthy of evaluation in 10 years.
In fact, I have the feeling Cira don't innovate a lot, they are more concerned about just 'running' the extension, and avoid fixing what's broken

I am quite sure the Czech Republic still checks passports when people arrive there off of the plane.

'Most' of the ccTLDs are from minor or under-developed nations, since most of the world could be described in that manner. Who owns a .cc domain? How about a .dm?

Naturally those countries will open the doors wide to just about anyone, provided that it brings cash, and there is no accounting for taste.

But Canada is a major industrialized nation, a G8 member, and is a country with a stable and functioning legal system.

We hear that CIRA wants to 'streamline' right out of existence provincial and territorial domains and perhaps this fits in with your world view, but it is not why smarter people than you and I designed a robust and intelligent structure for the needs of this country. We are a country with an enormous land mass, covering a handful of time zones, and boasting a federal system of government. When you do incredibly stupid things like dropping the provinces and territories from this structure you reject the notion of our confederated network.

And within our network of networks, we want and expect that the people behind .ca sites have a substantial link to Canada - not just a drop box address for someone who does not know how to find Saskatoon on a map, or what the exchange rate is today for the loonie versus the greenback.

So thanks for your input, but if you really want to have a good discussion of the situation make the trip and tell us in person.

 

[katherine]

'Most' of the ccTLDs are from minor or under-developed nations, since most of the world could be described in that manner. Who owns a .cc domain? How about a .dm?

For example, the majority of European extensions are open. Not just exotic ones.
In spite of that, the majority of domains are owned by local persons/companies, it's not like .co or .me that are pimped to foreigners - if that is what you mean by dilution.
In Europe national extensions often have higher penetration rate than .ca too.
So I think .ca can do better.

In the Czech Republic, .cz is the norm. Unlike in Canada, .com is not significant there.
PS: passports are not checked within the Schengen area


Also, I wanted to bump this:
http://www.dnforum.com/f510/cira-warning-all-ca-owners-thread-219515.html

It looks like it's dangerous to be on extended holiday when you own .ca domains
Suggestions anyone ?

 

[msn]

For example, the majority of European extensions are open. Not just exotic ones.
In spite of that, the majority of domains are owned by local persons/companies, it's not like .co or .me that are pimped to foreigners - if that is what you mean by dilution.
In Europe national extensions often have higher penetration rate than .ca too.
So I think .ca can do better.

In the Czech Republic, .cz is the norm. Unlike in Canada, .com is not significant there.
PS: passports are not checked within the Schengen area

You just helped make my point for me!

What if tomorrow the .EU nic announced all the European ccTLDs would be cancelled or phased out because you now have the lovely .eu system for all of Europe?

I would bet you would just love that.

We are in the situation where our provincial and territorial structures are being wiped out by fiat with no discussion at CIRA.

Of course Europe has successful smaller state ccTLDs: you do not have a neighbour ten times your size, on your border, broadcasting in the same language. This is why it all works for .cz, .es, .fr, .nl, .se and so on.

The political, cultural and social identities along with remarkable differences in legalities make all of Europe a patchwork for the Internet, and no one has called for all of the country-level workings to be subsumed by a broader .eu structure.

We have a confederation of provinces and each has its own approach to serving its population, along with a long history of recognizing and supporting these geographic and political subdivisions in a manner similar to what the EU is creating. Canada is different from many European nations where the distinction is generally Nation>City/Region while we have Nation>Province/Territory>City/County as the structure.

Part of what really is holding back the success of the .ca system, if you want to see it that way, is the fact CIRA is essential de-emphasizing the lower provincial and territorial tier when it in fact should be encouraging it.

I have already stated in another post that CIRA should go to a 'deemed approval procedure' where you can register in any province without the approval of the other provincial level holders, but allowing the existing registrants 30 days to register these tiers themselves: use it or lose it style.

The .ca pool would then be up to 14x larger based on the top .ca and 13 provincial and territorial options.

 

[katherine]

What if tomorrow the .EU nic announced all the European ccTLDs would be cancelled or phased out because you now have the lovely .eu system for all of Europe?

The thought is so absurd that I have never even though about that
Not going to happen, you cannot possibly imagine the uproar there.

Of course Europe has successful smaller state ccTLDs: you do not have a neighbour ten times your size, on your border, broadcasting in the same language. This is why it all works for .cz, .es, .fr, .nl, .se and so on.

Yet .be (Belgium) has higher a penetration rate than neighboring France, and there are more .nl per capita than in Germany
Perhaps it's the Canadian identity that is diluted.

We are in the situation where our provincial and territorial structures are being wiped out by fiat with no discussion at CIRA.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in my view the provincial level has been dead for a long time.
New registrations at the provincial level are effectively discouraged.
For example if I want to register one provincial domain at namespro or myid it looks like the only way is to use the bulk feature. Registrars tend to suggest .ca only.
I think the writing has been on the wall for a long time.
Also, you're saying you don't want 'dilution' of .ca, but isn't the present structure a kind of dilution ?
Not allowing new registrations is one thing, wiping out the existing registrations would be unfair, that I agree with. But is there a serious proposal on the table or is it just hear-say ?

 

[msn]

The thought is so absurd that I have never even though about that
Not going to happen, you cannot possibly imagine the uproar there.

Precisely!

Yet .be (Belgium) has higher a penetration rate than neighboring France, and there are more .nl per capita than in Germany
Perhaps it's the Canadian identity that is diluted.

Yes, but you need to recall two factors:

1 - the .be space offered free domains a few years ago, and a large number of them stuck

2 - many companies in Benelux register in .be .nl and .lu even if they are active in only one part of this region, perhaps as a marketing best practice.

As for .nl, they are about the highest, anywhere!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in my view the provincial level has been dead for a long time.
New registrations at the provincial level are effectively discouraged.

That is on point, exactly. CIRA makes it harder to register these domains instead of easier. The result is clearly going to be a lower number of such domains, thus creating the self-fulfilling 'no demand' scenario.

For example if I want to register one provincial domain at namespro or myid it looks like the only way is to use the bulk feature. Registrars tend to suggest .ca only.

For other registrars it is much easier. Find a new registrar.

I think the writing has been on the wall for a long time.
Also, you're saying you don't want 'dilution' of .ca, but isn't the present structure a kind of dilution ?
Not allowing new registrations is one thing, wiping out the existing registrations would be unfair, that I agree with. But is there a serious proposal on the table or is it just hear-say ?

There are many ways to clarify the economics of it, but some mistaken folks believe the concept of scarcity of supply of domains will raise prices. It will not.

Here is the example:

Someone owns pizza.ca - and it happens to be parked.

They are sitting on it, and nothing will ever happen.

Now look at pizza.de - they make 10% off the top of every order made on that site, and they sell more than just pizza.

Under the concept I proposed, you could register pizza.bc.ca and CIRA would tell the holders of pizza.ca that the registration will be made.

If pizza.on.ca happened to already exist, the registrant there would be notified and be given 30 days to register it for their own use, otherwise you will get that pizza.bc.ca registration you requested.

Being a the smart cookie you are, you then proceed to build a site like pizza.de and start doing business, making money and registering more sites.

The folks at pizza.ca eventually either sell to you - since you now make so much money you can offer a large sum from your pizza profits - or they will build their own site.

So either through your competition, big offer or their decision to finally build a site, the valuation for pizza.ca increases markedly. This also increases the valuation of your pizza.bc.ca domain, and over time, the competing food site values rise, and then all .ca domains rise due to use.

It is just like when a run-down neighbourhood begins to gentrify: values go up.

On the flip side, if the houses are boarded up - like parking a domain - the valuations of the remaining occupied houses goes down.

Instead of West Palm Beach you then have Detroit.

Get it?

Now the massive portfolio holders essentially sit on their registrations, which limits innovation and compelling use, which limits values. Their business model only works for these people because they have such a large group of registrations they can wait for a greater fool or more desperate buyer, but even these large groups are now under pressure.

If the innovators - small businesses are key - in the towns and villages start making good use of domains - then that will create competition to the large and lazy parkers and competition is good to get things moving.

I think pizza.toronto.on.ca would be great site, and pizza.lethbridge.ab.ca would be as well!