Govt tells 'shadowy` Namespace to butt out

Johannesburg, 10 Jun 2002

Government this weekend launched a scathing attack on Namespace ZA after the body said it would continue to oppose the domain name section of the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Bill.

On Friday, Namespace said it could not accept a proposed compromise on chapter 10 of the Bill as was hoped.

The chapter led government to be accused of trying to wrestle control of the domain from the Internet community, at great cost to taxpayers and at the threat of destabilising the crucial domain name system.

A last-minute proposal by government last week was seen as a potentially acceptable compromise. But Namespace rejected it.

"Namespace ZA does not perceive the current draft of chapter 10 to constitute a meaningful departure from the overbearing 'Governance` provisions of the original chapter 10, which continues to indicate a management infrastructure in conflict with democratically acceptable administration systems," the body said on Friday.

The rejection triggered an attack by the ministry of communications: "Clearly the statement issued by this organisation [Namespace] suggests that instead of looking at the interests of all South Africans, Parliament should only address the views of the rich few, lest its credibility is questioned," the ministry said in a statement.

"At worst the refusal by Namespace ZA - which is not even representative of the country`s demographics - to share resources with other South Africans represents a desire by the owners of this organisation to go back to an era where a tiny minority controlled the wealth of the country."

Namespace, the ministry said, functions only "in boosting the unfettered egos" of a few individuals, at the expense of the entire country.

'Inaccuracies` and politics

Namespace and opposition politicians point to two inaccuracies in the ministry`s statement, the first of which is the claim that the Parliament`s National Assembly unanimously passed the Bill.

The official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), begs to differ.

"Definitely not,` says DA member of Parliament Vincent Gore. "This is definitely not the case. We voted against chapter 9 and chapter 10 in [the Portfolio Committee on Communications] and we were left no option but to vote against the Bill in the National Assembly."

The Freedom Front abstained from the vote, but the Bill was supported by all other parties.

The second claimed inaccuracy is the passage in the ministry`s statement which says the activities of Namespace were "shrouded in secrecy" until "unearthed" by the Parliamentary process.

Namespace finds this strange.

"We were trying to open up the administration of the .za ccTLD [country code top level domain] and invited government to talk about it long before they started with the draft of the e-commerce Bill," says spokesman Ryk Meiring.

As reported by ITWeb at the time, Namespace was formed with free membership for any person or company that had a registered domain in the .za space. It also allowed membership by any interested party without a domain name at a nominal R20 fee.

Department of Communications director-general Andile Ngcaba was personally invited to take part in the process of forming the organisation, but did not do so. However, Department of Communications employee Envir Fraser was selected to the organisation`s board, and accepted in his private capacity.

"Government was long ago asked to participate in the oversight of the domain name function but declined to do so," says official .za administrator Mike Lawrie.

Officials at the Department of Communications could not immediately be reached for comment.

Namespace still wants compromise

Despite increasingly harsh, and personal, attacks on Namespace and Lawrie, both are still calling for a compromise.

"Despite statements from the director-general [of the Department of Communications] and the minister of communications, which only serve to heighten the adversarial nature of this debate, Namespace is still willing to sit down with government representatives in order to ensure the continued successful and world-class management of the .za ccTLD," says Namespace`s Meiring.

The Bill must still be passed by the National Council of Provinces, a process that is expected to start within two weeks, and signed into law by the president, scheduled for early July. Changes are possible at both stages, and the DA has called for heavy lobbying.

"I have taken the liberty of obtaining the e-mail addresses of the honourable president of SA, president@po.gov.za, the speaker of the National Assembly, ancmp@anc.org.a and the chairperson of the NCOP, npandor@parliament.gov.za, and ask all Internet users within SA and beyond to petition the South African government to come to their senses before SA no longer has the use of the Internet," the DA`s Gore told Parliament last week.