Domain name takeover foiled

The lone administrator of the South African .za domain has moved it offshore in a bid to prevent the government's proposed takeover of the country's internet administration.

Mike Lawrie, voluntary administrator of the South African domain for the past 10 years, said that he moved it to ensure its continued stability.

South Africa's parliament recently approved a proposed law that will allow the government to take control of the country's internet address administration.

The Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill is designed to give legal status to internet trades and contracts, but also allows the state to nationalise the .za domain without consulting global naming body the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

The South African government has argued that the country's domain name structure cannot be left in the hands of an individual administrator and must be "protected" by the state.

But those in opposition, such as the Free Market Foundation, have made it clear that they are "frustrated with the thought of having to deal with a bureaucracy, when the privately run organisation has done exceptionally well, at no charge, for the past 10 years".

Following his decision to move the domain's primary zonefile to an offshore host, effectively routing the .za domain out of the reach of the state, Lawrie has been branded a "hero".

Neil Emerick, council member of the Free Market Foundation, said that the domain will remain off shore "until such time as government will negotiate reasonably with [Lawrie] and the industry".

"This government faces for the first time a situation whereby assets they intended to take control of have instantly and virtually moved beyond their geographic borders into the realm of internet space, and there's nothing they can do about it," he said.

Lawrie explained that he has taken the steps to ensure the utmost stability in the technical operation of the .za domain. The transfer to the offshore site is invisible to users and has not affected the domain's operation.

He added: "Under the present circumstances, it would be irresponsible of me not to take appropriate steps in order to avoid the possibility of a disruption.

"The internet was designed to be an unbombable network, and I have used some of its design features that ensure this.

"In due course, when the dust has settled on what has become a political football over a technical function of the internet, the file will no doubt be moved back to South Africa by whoever will and must succeed me as administrator of this domain."