cctld best practices

01/05/2023 1

ccTLD Management and Local Internet Community (LIC)

Presented by Eric Akumiah

….Let your business standout with a .gh Domain

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..Let your business stand out with a .gh Domain

Agenda

Introduction DNS Introduction History of ccTLD ccTLD Basics

Role of ccTLD Manager ccTLD and Community ccTLD and National Law Conclusion

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Introduction

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DefinitionsccTLD - A country code top level domain in the top level of the global domain name system, assigned according to the two-letter codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard codes for the representation of names of countries or territories.

ccTLD Registry - The entity which records names as domain names in a register of domain names for the country-code top level domain name, according to policies and rules, and following procedures, established with the Local Internet Community (see below).

ccTLD Manager - A company, organisation or individual managing a ccTLD Registry.

DNS The Domain Name System (see RFCs 1031 and 1035)

Registrant - A company, organisation or individual for whom a name has been registered as a domain name in the ccTLD domain name register. ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (incorporated into ICANN in 1999).

Local Internet Community - The Internet industry and users and the government and authorities of the state or territory with which the ccTLD is associated. The definition of the Local Internet Community may vary from one country/territory to another, and is essentially a matter for the community in the country/territory


What is DNS?

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ROOT (.)

Country Code Domain Name

B - ISOC.GH.GH

.ISOC

ORG

ISOC

B

A

Generic Domain Name

A - ISOC.ORG

Top Level Domains

Domain Name System (DNS)

wwwMail


TLD & ccTLD TLDs are divided into two main classes

gTLD – generic TLDs .com, .org, .net …. Sponsored ones : .mobi, .museum, .travel New gtlds - .marketing

ccTLD – country code TLDs Assign to – used and reserved for use by a country or territory ..mu, .za, .ke.

IDN – To address language issues on the Internet need for major rethink of classification

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ccTLD NamingFlat Vrs Hierarchical Flat

Registrations directly on the TLD .tg, .ci

Hierarchical Registrations at the second level of TLD Three types of naming

Two letter (.co.za. .ac.ke)Three letter (.com.gh, .edu.ng)Mixed ( .co.uk, .org.uk)

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History of ccTLD Conceived by Jon Postel in the 80s Aim was to assist in organizing Internet addressing Chose to use two letter code ISO- 3166 ISO 3166-1:based on UN lists of territories ccTLDs: Not originally intended to be official First come – to manage ccTLD – first served ICANN/IANA – does not create ccTLDs Most early ccTLD in Academia

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Establishment of ccTLDs

.uk - First ccTLD operational Now ~ 245 ccTLDs - global Political changes cause sunrise and sunsets for

ccTLDs Zaire - .zr – sunset Congo-DRC - .cd – sunrise Others: USSR, Yugoslavia, …

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ccTLD Basic

ccTLD: geographic, country, national, community Two letter coded TLD Based on country codes in ISO 3166-1 Represents national, territorial interests Internet identity Flagship of country’s Internet participation ?? Owned by a country ?? Trademark ?? DNS – ccTLD is operationally just another TLD

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ccTLD Basics

The Internet is part of a Country’s Virtual Real Estate

The ccTLD is one of the virtual real estate’s inherent natural resource

The resource should be developed for the benefit of all

As with any natural resource, governance issues are paramount

Therefore the right approach is fundamental in overcoming the issues and challenges


ccTLD Setup

Manager – sponsoring organization Recognized by root ~ ICANN/IANA Contacts: Admin, Tech Registry – registrar (s) – whois Nameservers – entered in root Policy – local – national law applies Serves national Internet community + global Maintains global interoperability

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Role of the ccTLD Manager

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Role of ccTLD Managers Primary duty of the ccTLD Manager

is one of Public Service, to manage and operate the ccTLD Registry in the interest of and in

consultation with the Local Internet Community ccTLD Registry

trustee for delegated ccTLD Duty to serve local community

Performing domain allocation function in term of DNS Duty to serve global community

ccTLD registry Role Two core functions

Entering and maintaining data into database (Data Entry Function) Maintenaining and ensuring upkeep of name-server for the ccTLD

(namae server function)

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Duties of ccTLD Managers ccTLD Managers must:

register domain names in an efficient and timely manner and follow policies, rules and procedures that have been established and published in a transparent manner in consultation with the Local Internet Community;

must collect the necessary information to ensure that the Registrant can be authoritatively identified.

ccTLD Managers should: have a standard contract with Registrants; recognise that a ccTLD Registry is a special function and,

resulting from this, has a special position which should not be abused.

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What constitutes a registry?

Source: AusRegistry: APTLD Kuala Lumpur, 2008

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ccTLD and the Community

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Representation & Roles

Is the ccTLD an independent entity and how is it structured.

Is the ccTLD representative of its local Internet community (LIC)

Is the LIC involved in the ccTLD policy development process

What roles are the LIC and stakeholders play in the ccTLDs structure

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Neutrality & Autonomy

Neutrality is key to a ccTLDs success ccTLDs neutrality yields autonomy Autonomy promotes acceptance and Ownership The ccTLDs location is a critical factor of

neutrality The management and governance structure

should been seen as neutral and balanced

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Policy development

The ccTLD registry model A registry/Registrar, Open Registry or Hybrid

registry Model The dispute resolution, Whois Policy etc

The sustainability model Costing per Domain name Other Revenue Streams i.e Membership support

and contributions ccTLD location during infancy stages

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Technical Resources

Technical Skills & Capacity Acquiring relevant skills Sufficient staffing Developing and maintaining technical

capacities Technical infrastructure

Access to stable and reliable infrastructure Access to local Internet Exchange Building redundancy and resilience Implementing registry automation (Registry

software)

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Should ccTLDs be recognized under National ICT

Policies?• Yes, since ccTLDs:• are a public/national resource;• represent the country’s identity in the

Internet space;• form an important aspect in the

management of (DNS) cybersecurity /cybercrime, among other reasons.

• As such, they should be recognized under relevant national laws/policies.

• In Ghana dot Gh is recognized by law.

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Should ccTLDs have a commercial or not-for-profit

approach?• Generally the ccTLD management

model should be agreed upon by the ‘local Internet community’.

• However, for a ccTLD registry to be self-sustaining, it has to have a financial sustainability aspect/plan/objective.

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Should ccTLDs receive government

subsidies?o Yes, being a public/national resource,

it should receive government subsidies.

o This would be one way of reducing the cost of the domain names, and ensuring universal access.

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ccTLD and National Law

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• Initiated by the Regional Organisations AfTLD, APTLD, CENTR & LACTLD

• Background: RO meeting in Brazil early 2014 and discussion on how ccTLDs are treated by National Legislation/Government and their legal structures

• Survey Timing: July – September 2014• 76 responses from ccTLDs across the 4

Regional Organisations

Global Survey on ccTLD and National Legislature

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Overview of the Survey.af .de .is .nl .tg.al .dk .it .no .th.am .do .jo .nu .tj.ar .ee .jp .nz .tt.as .eg .kr .om .tw.at .es .lt .pl .ua.au .eu .lu .pt .uk.be .fi .lv .py .uy.br .fr .me .rs .ve.ca .gt .mg .ru .vn.ch .hk .ml .rw .wf.ci .hn .mo .sb .zm.cl .ht .mw .se.co .hu .mx .sg.cr .id .my .si.cz .in .ng .sv

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The Legal Structure of ccTLD operators

State-owned Org.

Regulator

Private company

Government dept

Foundation or Coop

Association

Academic inst.

1%

9%

30%

9%

18%

20%

12%A majority of ccTLDs operate in

private sector

• 68% of ccTLDs are either a private company, Association, Foundation or Cooperative

• 20% of ccTLDs are either in a Government department, the Regulator or are state-owned

• 12% of ccTLDs are an part of an academic institution (could be private or public)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Pub-lic

Pri-vate

Aca-demi

c

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Local Presence Requirements of ccTLDs

• 45% of ccTLDs have some form of Local Presence requirements.

• The most common requirement for local presence is a postal address of one of the admin/billing/tech contacts

All ccTLDs45% CENTR

39%

APTLD62%

AFTLD50%

LACTLD31%

% ccTLDs with at least one req. for local presence

Brand registered in country; 21%

Physical presence in country; 36%

Company registered in country; 36%

Postal address of contact

(admin/billing etc); 42%

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Basis for carrying out the ccTLD

Most ccTLDs consider they have a formal basis by

which they operate their ccTLD

• 63% of ccTLDs base (at least in part) on National Legislation, contract with Government or Ministerial Directive – or combination of these.

• 78% stated they base (at least in part) on either an ICANN contract, MOU or Accountability framework

• Others did not mention any particular basis for carrying out the ccTLD other than historic reasons (eg given by IANA)

National Legislation,

contract with Government or

Ministerial Directive

ICANN contract, MOU

or Accountability

framework

Governmental (Hard Law)

ICANN related

54%

69%

% ccTLDs with element included as one of their 'basis for operating the

ccTLD'

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Combination (27%)

• National Legislation

• Government Contract

• Ministerial Directive/Decree

• ICANN Contract• ICANN MOU• Accountability

Framework

Government27% ccTLDs

ICANN related 42% ccTLDs

6 ccTLDs (8%) stated the Letter/Email from John Postel as a basis for carrying out the ccTLD

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• National Legislation

• Government Contract

• Ministerial Directive/Decree

Scope of legislation/contract/directive

Financial status

Tender

Accountability

Reporting

Service policy

11%

17%

23%

31%

46%

Government27% ccTLDs

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How are ccTLDs communicating with Government

Private sector ccTLDs % ccTLDs

1. Informal meetings and or/calls 78%2. Attend Gov committees on national Internet issues 59%3. Invite Gov Reps to join committee/advisory board 39%

Public sector ccTLDs

1. Informal meetings and or/calls 77%2. Attend Gov committees on national Internet issues 46%3. Invite Gov Reps to join committee/advisory board 38%

• Most ccTLDs whether in private or public sector interact with Government by organising meetings and/or calls with Government Authorities

• 47% of ccTLDs stated they interact with their GAC representative ‘frequently’ and a further 22% stated ‘sometimes’

• 26% of ccTLDs have an Internet Caucus in their country (group of politicians with keen interest in Internet issues). Most ccTLDs do not have a group like this (or at least do not know of one)

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Summary of Survey

• Most ccTLDs are working in the private sector• Most (55%) ccTLDs do not have any local

presence requirements on registrations• 54% of ccTLDs have some form of Government

hard law as their basis for carrying out the ccTLD however only 27% define this as their sole basis

• 70% of ccTLDs are explicitly mentioned in some form of operating agreement, directive, enabling legislation or other.

• Most ccTLDs, whether private or public, interact with Government in an informal basis (meetings and calls)

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Conclusion

ccTLD is a critical Resource for the country Management requires particiaption of Local Internet

Community (LIC) ccTLDs must be run in a sustainable manner with

support from Government