[ga] PH: Domain name committee to start drafting oversight rules (fwd)
from http://itmatters.com.ph/news/news_11062003c.html
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Domain name committee to start drafting oversight rules
The Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (ITECC) and the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will start drafting the rules for
overseeing domain name registration in the Philippines.
Domain name registration issues ensued two years ago as clients of DotPH,
the only domain name administrator in the country, and other industry
stakeholders complained over the firm's alleged anti-competitive business
practices and arbitrary registration rules.
Government is usually involved in the administration and supervision of
domain name registration in other countries, which was not the case in the
Philippines.
The function of registering domain names is considered significant and of
public interest because it involves the allocation of Internet addresses to
enterprises, schools and other organizations.
ITECC executive director Virgilio L. Peña said in a phone interview
yesterday that the committee will begin formulation of the policies for
overseeing domain name registration in the country this month.
He explained that there were 14 candidates nominated from the private
sector to sit in the oversight committee. The candidates come from
academic, technology, Internet service provider, and e-commerce organizations.
According to the recommendation of a technical working group (TWG) formed
two years ago to address the issue, the domain name oversight committee
will be composed of three government representatives and four private
sector practitioners.
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) deputy commissioner Jorge V.
Sarmiento has been tapped to head the said committee. Representatives from
the ITECC legal sub-committee and the Department of Science and Technology
(DOST) will be named to the committee as well.
"We will just formalize the board, and notify the local and international
organizations concerned. After that we will proceed with policy
formulation," he added.
Among others, he said it will notify DotPH, the Philippine Domain Authority
Committee (PhilDAC), and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN).
Mr. Peña said that the agency will first determine whether DotPH is
"performing its appropriate role" before government goes further into
policy formulation. -- Eleanore C. Sanchez