4 ms·

Reading the numbers is pretty damning. A little mini-ICANN level capture going on in the UK. They also seem to be squirming according to The Register (https://

by ohashi 6y ago

Reading the numbers is pretty damning. A little mini-ICANN level capture going on in the UK. They also seem to be squirming according to The Register (https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/nominet_vote_lawsuit/ https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/nominet_vote_lawsuit/) The votes seem to be there based on who is supporting it. Hope it gets more attention and better reform for the .UK registry.

teknopaul 6y ago
Defo needs support from all and any who can. Nominet is run by corrupt people. While those trying for change are not saying it in those terms, IMHO that what it is. They took a nonprofit and have been rinsing it for years. Personally profiting to the tune of millions of pounds in the process.
- mjw1007 6y ago
  I think there's some truth in that, but I think the bigger problem is that the people running it genuinely don't understand that Nominet's purpose is to do the best job it can of being the UK's NIC. Instead they believe that it has an overriding goal to grow and increase its surplus (although that's nowhere in the objects set out in its memorandum of association). You can see that in the annual reports, from what they describe as successes. Basically, as far as I can tell, the sort of people that end up running large nonprofits are so steeped in the culture of for-profit organisations that they adopt this profit-oriented worldview without even considering whether it's appropriate. The most obvious example in Nominet's case was its "diversification" into autonomous vehicles. I don't think that can remotely be justified in terms of the organisation's stated objects, and as far as I can tell the CEO didn't think he had any need to try to do so. (Of course it doesn't hurt that the larger Nominet's surplus is, and the more people it employs, the easier it is to justify large salaries for themselves, either.)
  - g_p 6y ago
    Nominet has been hell-bent on trying to get into lucrative side areas. They seem keen to heavily position themselves in anything they feel they can trade in their reputation as the UK's NIC. Anything involving a database or cyber-security, they're all over, trying to use their NIC status as a USP. When it started to get to things like autonomous vehicles, that's when it starts to get a bit murky and strange. Nominet surely ought to stick to what it does - it's a non-profit, and could focus its resources into its core goal, rather than constantly trying to turn a profit in other sectors.
    - mjw1007 6y ago
      Right. Though I think a certain amount of the current anger is coming from the fact that their expeditions into side areas have been the opposite of lucrative in practice. To the extent that the board's suggestion that adopting the EGM's resolutions « would have a critical destabilising impact, leaving the company leaderless » might look more like a positive than a negative to some members.
      - g_p 6y ago
        Agreed, consider lucrative in air-quotes. The ineptitude of the current leadership has meant they've been less than lucrative! Destabilising the current fiasco would certainly be an improvement in my view.

by ohashi 6y ago

teknopaul 6y ago

Defo needs support from all and any who can. Nominet is run by corrupt people. While those trying for change are not saying it in those terms, IMHO that what it is. They took a nonprofit and have been rinsing it for years. Personally profiting to the tune of millions of pounds in the process.

mjw1007 6y ago
I think there's some truth in that, but I think the bigger problem is that the people running it genuinely don't understand that Nominet's purpose is to do the best job it can of being the UK's NIC. Instead they believe that it has an overriding goal to grow and increase its surplus (although that's nowhere in the objects set out in its memorandum of association). You can see that in the annual reports, from what they describe as successes. Basically, as far as I can tell, the sort of people that end up running large nonprofits are so steeped in the culture of for-profit organisations that they adopt this profit-oriented worldview without even considering whether it's appropriate. The most obvious example in Nominet's case was its "diversification" into autonomous vehicles. I don't think that can remotely be justified in terms of the organisation's stated objects, and as far as I can tell the CEO didn't think he had any need to try to do so. (Of course it doesn't hurt that the larger Nominet's surplus is, and the more people it employs, the easier it is to justify large salaries for themselves, either.)
- g_p 6y ago
  Nominet has been hell-bent on trying to get into lucrative side areas. They seem keen to heavily position themselves in anything they feel they can trade in their reputation as the UK's NIC. Anything involving a database or cyber-security, they're all over, trying to use their NIC status as a USP. When it started to get to things like autonomous vehicles, that's when it starts to get a bit murky and strange. Nominet surely ought to stick to what it does - it's a non-profit, and could focus its resources into its core goal, rather than constantly trying to turn a profit in other sectors.
  - mjw1007 6y ago
    Right. Though I think a certain amount of the current anger is coming from the fact that their expeditions into side areas have been the opposite of lucrative in practice. To the extent that the board's suggestion that adopting the EGM's resolutions « would have a critical destabilising impact, leaving the company leaderless » might look more like a positive than a negative to some members.
    - g_p 6y ago
      Agreed, consider lucrative in air-quotes. The ineptitude of the current leadership has meant they've been less than lucrative! Destabilising the current fiasco would certainly be an improvement in my view.