Internetnz Opens Vote On .Bank.NZ Proposal

Internetnz Opens Vote On .Bank.NZ Proposal

InternetNZ invites all interested people to participate in an online poll on the proposal to create a new second level domain - ".bank.nz". The poll opens near midnight on November 3 and is open to all New Zealand residents - for full details go to http://vote.internetnz.net.nz/

The poll is the second stage of a process which, if successful, would allow domain names such as abc.bank.nz to work on the Internet in the same way as existing addresses such as internetnz.net.nz and dnc.org.nz.

All New Zealand residents are eligible to vote in the straw poll. Voters must supply their name, residential address, and a working email address for the vote to be valid. The details provided via either voting method will not be seen by anyone other than the four Voting Officials. InternetNZ publishes the results of the vote which includes the voters' names but no other details - neither voters' addresses, nor the actual vote.

Once the voting is over and the results have been published, all information other than that which was published with the overall result, will be destroyed. For voting details see http://www.internetnz.net.nz/dns/2nd-level-domains/2ld021103-voting_details.html

The proposal to create the new Second Level Domain .bank.nz was made by The New Zealand Bankers' Association. If successful, .bank.nz, a moderated (restricted) second level domain under the .nz country code top level would join the current eleven second level domains in New Zealand – co.nz, org.nz, net.nz, gen.nz, school.nz, ac.nz, govt.nz, iwi.nz, cri.nz, mil.nz and .maori.nz. A recent proposal to create .maori.nz was successful and the new second level domain went live on September 5 2002.

A moderated second level domain is one which restricts registrations to a clearly defined "community of interest", and a representative of the community of interest undertakes to moderate or assess all potential registrations for suitability. If successful, the New Zealand Bankers' Association would act as the moderator, and registrations would be restricted to banks registered under the Reserve Bank Act of 1989. There are currently four moderated second level domains in .nz - .cri.nz, .govt.nz, .mil.nz, and .iwi.nz.

The first stage of the process to create a new second level domain is public consultation and this has taken place over the last two months. The second stage is the public poll and the proposal has to receive at least 70% support to proceed. The poll starts at 2359 on November 3 and closes at 2359 on November 17.

If the proposal does proceed then a further process of formal submissions will commence prior to a provisional decision and then after further consultation a final decision by the InternetNZ Council.

InternetNZ is responsible for setting policy for the .nz domain and is consulting the Internet community on the proposal. The proposal can be read at http://www.internetnz.net.nz/dns/2nd-level-domains/banknz02/ or by following the link from "What's Hot" on http://www.internetnz.net.nz/

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