Domain Association - Part 1

Over the last few months I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on the topic of establishing a domain industry association for everyone. The domain industry is being rocked by forces that as individuals we have little control over but as a corporate body we could directly influence.

In the following series of articles I would like to tackle the topic in the following manner:
1.    The associations vision and overarching principles
2.    Constitution, board and elections
3.    Purpose of the executive
4.    Benefits to members

I welcome any and all feedback on the topic as I personally believe that it is critical that we work together to achieve a better outcome for us all. I should also state up front that I don’t believe that I have all of the answers but that I am prepared to kick the ball into play.

Principles and Vision

When you think of successful associations they have a number of guiding principles that underpin the ethos of how the organisation functions, makes decisions and interacts with members. The following are proposed as the principles that should be central to a domain association:
1.    Inclusive
2.    Representative
3.    Transparent

Inclusive
The association should embrace all stakeholders from within the domain industry. Everyone from the end-user wishing to protect their intellectual property rights through to registries, registrars and monetisation partners. Policies ratified by the board need to be for the betterment of the future of the majority of the stakeholders – note that this doesn’t necessary mean all stakeholders.

 

Being inclusive also means that the association must be truly global. Although the USA founded the Internet, amidst the pressures of the cold war, it has now become a global utility for all of humanity. The structure and foundation of the association needs to reflect this migration.

Representative
As much as the association is inclusive it must also be representative. This means that the board must reflect all the stakeholders from all the geographic regions and not just the members with the biggest pockets. A truly representative board would reflect the structure of the membership and also be a hotbed of innovation solutions to what are sometimes intractable problems.
A lot more on the board later.

Transparent
One of the major problems with the domain industry is the lack of transparency. The association needs to be transparent in the manner in which it operates and as a matter of policy work with the key stakeholders to help change the way the industry behaves so that the industry can grow.

Vision

So what is the vision for the association? First of all it needs to be something that all stakeholders can embrace to a greater or lesser degree. Something simple such as:

“The freedom to be innovative in the development of online destinations with domain names.”

Internet user:	Freedom to go where I want. Do you realise that apps create a walled garden etc.
Domain Owner:	Freedom to build my investment portfolio. I should be able to invest where I want to invest.
Registry & Registrar:	Freedom to have domains used. User’s should be able to stake their plot of land on the Internet with a domain name.
Monetisation:	Freedom to sell direct navigation. Investors should be able to sell their domain traffic to whomever they please.
Sales:	Freedom to sell (in some jurisdictions this is still very difficult) I should be able to sell or buy a domain if I want to.

         
A key word in the vision is innovation. One of the many problems in the domain monetisation industry is that Google has sought to block innovation through legal means, ultimately control of the pages themselves and a lack of transparency of payments. The stifling of innovative approaches to monetisation needs to be urgently addressed.

I initially had the word business rather than destination but I believe that the internet is bigger than business. It’s about places that people want to find and explore. It’s about people that help other people and where everyone can have a voice….therefore they are destinations.

As I said in the introductory article, this will be a series that I hope provokes a lot of discussion….so feel free to contribute!