In August 2023, the UK Chapter submitted a response to a UK Government consultation on Powers in relation to UK-related domain name registries.
The Internet Society UK Chapter had responded to the Consultation on the Digital Economy Act 2010, criticizing the consultation deadline during the summer holidays for hindering inclusive stakeholder engagement. They urged further consultations to ensure broad stakeholder involvement in managing UK Internet resources. They highlighted several concerns:
- The Act was outdated, given the significant changes in the Internet since 2010, making the drafting of powers potentially inappropriate.
- The powers granted to the Secretary of State were overreaching, advocating for an independent body to oversee their use.
- Content regulation should not have been the responsibility of Top Level Domain operators and should have involved judicial oversight to protect freedom of speech.
- Requiring registries to police Domain Name Use was beyond their scope.
- Dispute resolution should have been managed by the UK’s legal system, not registries.
- The proposed powers could have negatively impacted the UK’s attractiveness for the Internet Domain Name Industry.
The Chapter recommended reviewing the Act and broader engagement for evidence-based policymaking.
Thanks to regular ongoing correspondence between the Chapter and the people in charge of this process at the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), we have been informed that this power is now in force as of 12 November 2024. The powers now have a new name – The Internet Domain Registry (Prescribed Practices and Prescribed Requirements) Regulations 2024 and can be found at the link below: