[ga] PH: Domain name committee to start drafting oversight rules (fwd)
from http://itmatters.com.ph/news/news_11062003c.html ------------------- 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 |