Nominet

Nominet’s PR agency sends out .uk branded beer to journalists ahead of 10th June launch

A nice delivery to the office on a Friday night! pic.twitter.com/dJdkYbv3Eo

— Will Sargent (@SkyWillSarge) May 30, 2014

More PRs should send beer to journalists. Thanks NOMINET & BRANDS2LIFE! #ethics #incorruptible pic.twitter.com/2FUecMFCc4

— Martin Veitch (@Martin_V) May 30, 2014

@brands2life Thanks for the empty box & empty bag you sent while I was on my hols. I assume they contained something! pic.twitter.com/jJd5GHeS4P

— Duncan MacRae (@DDMacRae) June 3, 2014

Nominet Direct .uk Proposals Compared

We have now compared all three Nominet proposals in an easy to read format:

Download our summary here (213 KB)

Nominet has at last added direct .uk to their “A Great Place To Be” campaign website.

However instead of mentioning the consultation the SLD is introduced as a new member of the existing .co.uk .org.uk .me.uk ‘family’!

See: http://www.agreatplacetobe.co.uk/introducing-dot-uk/

Edwin Hayward of MyDomainNames.co.uk has kindly produced a diagram of how to fill in Nominet’s second direct .uk consultation:

In an email sent to registrars today Nominet has detailed  it’s plans to take “.co.uk on the road” for the rest of 2013.

Please note the use of the word “trusted” in their email:

.co.uk remains the number one relevant and trusted domain for doing business in the UK and the .co.uk brand team will be reaching out to our target audiences and spreading the word through branded exhibition presence and presentation workshops at the following events:

The Liverpool Business Fair – 19th March 2013

Business Startup Show – 6th – 7th June 2013

Email: http://info.nominet.org.uk/go.asp?/bNOM001/m9DMH9/u8NOW4/xIHVZ9

Dates: http://registrars.nominet.org.uk/marketing-tools-and-events/events/co-uk-events

Following the Nominet Board meeting on 26th February, Nominet are NOT now proceeding with their original proposal on ‘direct.uk’ but we will respond to feedback by looking at whether a revised proposal will address issues raised in the recent consultation.

Over the coming months, this work will explore:

• A revised phased release mechanism based largely on the prior registrations of domains in existing third levels within .uk and in which contention between different applicants for the same domain name should be reduced or eliminated.

• Measures to improve security across the whole of the .uk namespace. This would include increased focus on encouraging the adoption of DNSSEC.

• A firm focus on registrant verification and some form of UK presence.

• Further investigations into the impact on the SME sector.

• An appropriate pricing model.

Read more here: Nominet – Update on Direct.uk 27/02/2013

Credit: Names.co.uk 21/02/2013

Despite the current Nominet consultation on direct.uk second level domain names more large Nominet registrars have joined in promoting .co.uk in recent weeks.

Names.co.uk for example now has a slider on the homepage promoting .co.uk as “a great place to be”.

We believe Names.co.uk to be one of six registrars chosen by Nominet to take part in their .co.uk campaign 2013 which they announced in January.

Despite the current consultation on .uk 2nd level domains…..

Nominet’s new 2013 .co.uk brand campaign launched on 30th January targeting small business and start ups.

The campaign will include:

• Digital Banner Campaign: 30th Jan – end June
• Radio Campaign: 8 weeks, starting 30th January
• @dotuk Twitter: Launching 30th January onwards

More details here: Nominet Registrars – .co.uk Campaign 2013

Chris Williams writes in the Telegraph:

A children’s charities coalition, internet activists and businesses have lined up to criticise the plans by Nominet, the quango in charge of web addresses, to create a new “secure” area online for British businesses. Nominet wants to create a new class of web addresses ending in just “.uk”, to be sold alongside those with the more familiar “.co.uk” suffix. It says websites with one of new addresses will be more secure for people browsing the web, because it will check their operators are based in Britain and have supplied real contact details.

Read more: 15/01/13 – Telegraph: Childrens charities oppose Nominet plan for ‘secure’ .uk web addresses

On Tuesday 8th January 2013 Stephen McPartland MP asked a Parliamentary question regarding .uk:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she plans to take to ensure that small businesses with .co.uk addresses are not put at a disadvantage by the creation of the .uk domain name.

The response by the Minister Ed Vaizey MP was:

Nominet is recognised by the Government as the registry with responsibility for oversight of the “.uk” top level internet domain. It is a private sector, not for profit, public purpose company. Its day-to-day operations are not subject to regulation by the Government. Nominet welcomes suggestions about “.uk” policy development. It is currently carrying out a public consultation on proposals to create a new shorter “.uk” domain with enhanced security features which would allow for the first time registrations at the second level immediately before the dot (e.g. “culture.uk”).

Nominet has informed Government that its consultation is gathering perspectives from a broad range of stakeholders—including small businesses and their representatives—to inform their decision-making. Nominet has stated that it will be carefully considering that feedback in line with the company’s public purpose.

Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 8 January 2013, c213W)