Mandelson to get Nominet reform powers

Ministers have revealed new legislation that will allow the government to take over and reform Nominet, following a boardroom battle over the .uk registry's future. The reserve powers are included in the Digital Economy Bill, published today by Lord Mandelson's Department for Business. Officials said they believed it is …

[Anonymous Coward]

Go Mandy!

Gubmint include "reserve powers" which they claim "will never be used". Next they are used.

In other news; birds sing and fishes swim. Yawn.

Mandelson might be crook with a posh suit, but you have to hand it to him; he knows how to emipre build.

[irish donkey]

You don't know the power of the dark side!

"Today will be a day long remembered. It has seen the death of (innocent until proven guilty), and soon the fall of the rebellion."

The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force................

[AndrueC]

For frak's sake!

This is ridiculous. Time for another letter to my MP I think.

[Anonymous Coward]

I sincerely hope that this bill is blocked

It seems to be a blueprint for Mandelson to apply the law as he sees fit and to change it on the fly without the bothersome need to put it before parliament.

It's a shame we can't vote this dangerous moron out of the House of Lords.

[ShaggyDoggy]

Huh ?

"and instances where foreign owned (and hosted) websiteswith a .uk domain dupe people into believing they are British"

so that's most of the .gov.uk stuff scuppered then LOL

[Stef 2]

"Trust us"

"Officials said they believed it is unlikely the powers will be used"

Just like the sweeping Draconian anti-terrorism powers that wouldn't ever be abused.

They'll also leave the door open for Dave and his chums to attack the internet's paid-for-by-advertising model (Google) so that they can suck up to Rupert Murdoch.

[Christopher Rogers]

Please, make it stop

Don't give this bunch of Labour tossers any more powers. The have royally fucked the UK and they'll do the same on the internets.

"Officials said they believed it is unlikely the powers will be used, but they were necessary to ensure Nominet took account of the interests of wider public and business interests, and not just those of its members." - Bullshit. When has a government ever given itself "just in case" powers and never used them?

Mandelson is Rasputin of a modern age - creeply hovering around in the background, pulling the strings, playing those in power like the puppets they are.

Fuck the whole damn lot of 'em.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mandy playing landgrab

I don't really care how ugly the boardroom battles get; lord high too many hats mandelson is getting much more worrysome with his apparent propensity for grabbing as much power (copyright, now domain names, what next?) especially as he is consolidating his power by giving himself a carte blanche to invent new rules as he goes along.

The idea of constitutional government is to not give any single person too much power and providing for checks against their abuse; writing yourself blank cheques saying "I won't be using them, honest" is not a valid excuse, much less an acceptable substitute. So what is this autocrat up to?

[David 105]

"Unlikely powers will ever be used"

Why have them then?

Big Brother, in the absence of a Darth mandelson icon (a note to grammer pedants, I don't capitalise the names of people I have no respect for)

[Anonymous Coward]

Bleh.

If it is so important that Nominet serves the interests of the public ... why don't they think the same of the railways, telephone systems, bus services, etc.

[Haku]

Where have all the Jedi's gone?

"Who made him a lord, the sith?" - Frankie Boyle

"He added that if the powers were used, officials would go into Nominet, reorganise it, and then return it to the private sector."

There's a name for that: "Seagull management" - when a boss swoops in, makes a lot of noise, shits all over your work and flies off again leaving an utter mess behind for you to deal with.

[Chika]

@AC

"I sincerely hope that this bill is blocked"

Same here. Trouble is that the people pushing for this either have a vested interest in getting this kind of control or are too IT ignorant to realise what the fallout of such a bill is and are too stupid to work it out for themselves.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets be honest about this......

what Meddlesome is proposing is simply a back door route to the Government obtaining control of Nominet and then privatising it. That is what they are using the trojan for. Watch out for the JUDICIAL REVIEW of this.

[Michael Fremlins]

I don't believe them

"Officials said they believed it is unlikely the powers will be used". Yeah, right.

Here's the future for Nominet:

1. Some minor thing occurs, something like a fire extinguisher is out of date.

2. The government steps in because "Nominet is not functioning properly".

3. Government cronies get the top jobs.

4. Government crony IT companies are called in as consultants. Let's have a big cheer for EDS.

5. Prices of domain registrations now cost £200, because they are a scarce resource. As such, only people with lots of money should have them. And MPs, who are specifically allowed to put them on expenses.

6. Some years later, Nominet is sold off to government cronies who keep milking it.

7. Ofdom, that is the Office of the Domain Regulator, is formed. It has a staff of 500, headed by numerous government cronies. It costs millions a year to run.

Nominet works, it is cheap and it is efficient. All things that the government is incapable of delivering.

[Ted Treen]

So we're safe, then.

"Officials said they believed it is unlikely the powers will be used, "

Would that be like the assurance that your friendly neighbourhood council wouldn't dream of using it's newly-acquired investigatory powers over comparitively trivial matters?

Hopefully this will all end in tears.

Theirs!

[The Dorset Rambler]

I just couldn't resist......

@David 105

Big Brother, in the absence of a Darth mandelson icon (a note to grammAr pedants, I don't capitalise the names of people I have no respect for)

There, fixed it for you...

[amanfromMars 1]

The Punch and Judy Show

"Watch out for the JUDICIAL REVIEW of this." .... By Anonymous Coward Posted Friday 20th November 2009 13:08 GMT

Oh, the Justice System ... the Jokers in the UK Pack. Surely you still don't believe that they can wield any real power? Wake up and smell the coffee, AC.

[Anonymous Coward]

because Mandelson doesn't really have enough powers does he?

And why does word that the powers are unlikely to be used *NOT* set my mind at rest? I seem to have heard similar comforting words before - usually just before those powers are used.

[lukewarmdog]

LHC

For the brief second it works it will expose mandy as one of the District 9 aliens.

Government needs to wake up and fire him a third time.

[John G Imrie]

For the brief second it works it will expose mandy as one of the District 9 aliens.

I doubt it. The District 9 aliens had a well developed set of morals.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes but also there have been......

Cases of a political party (erm Labour) "duping" the electorate into believing that they are competent to run a Country, but of course after we elected them we have now found out they are NOT. Oh and of course they also "duped" us into believing that they would hold a referendum on the EU treaty etc etc etc etc. Maybe we should hold an election ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good article Chris........

and have you asked Berr on what legal basis they can interfere in a PRIVATE company ,or Nominet on whether they will seek a Judicial Review ?. As for the latter question, I suspect that Dilbert and Coward have been softened up with some promises, but that's only my assumption and truth will be seen in due course.

[David 105]

@The Dorset Rambler

Walked into that one didn't I. Fail, because I just did

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you NOT REALIZED?

@Haku

We are the FORCE, exercise Your Rights to Vocal Opposition & leave the "sith" NOWHERE TO HIDE!

[amanfromMars 1]

Are there any gutsy professionals with balls in the Westminster village?

"Maybe we should hold an election ?" ... By Anonymous Coward Posted Friday 20th November 2009 14:21 GMT

If Cleggy and Dave picked up the ball and refused to play the Labour Government game until the teams were changed to allow for more competent and honest players into the game, would Parliament be paralysed into immediate proaction ...... for it is presently run and/or infested by crooks and bounders, by all accounts, and thus has lost all credibility and legitimacy, by jove.

[Anonymous Coward]

@The Punch and Judy Show #

I agree on that, but have you any other suggestions ? The other I think might be the Members of Nominet suing Berr ,and possibly Nominet.

[archie lukas]

Mandy takes over the net

Does Mandy think he's Al Gore or something?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is part of quote of press release from Nomiberr......

erm sorry I mean Nominet;

"......The Government has been clear that if our members implement in full the changes proposed, then they are confident that Nominet will remain a beacon of self-regulation, protecting the wider public interest, without the need for Government intervention.

We believe that the reserve powers set out in the Digital Economy Bill will not be needed and that together with our membership Nominet will be able to introduce the constitutional reforms needed to allow .uk to continue to be operated responsibly and in the public interest. ..,...." End quote

Yes siree that sounds like a Company run by Dilbert and Coward that are in cahoots with Berr ,but

I make clear that is only my opinion and not factual.

Sounds too like Blackmail of members to vote for changes or..... Well hard luck because

there is no way members will be so blackmailed.

[SlabMan]

Next steps

Once Mandelson has awarded himself full legal powers over the Internet, he plans to have his mind migrated to the cloud. That way he can personally inspect every packet, draw enegry from your innermost secrets, and NEVER DIE!

[Justin Bennett]

Communism through the back door

Who ever said / thought that nu-labour was different from old-labour... It's just communism and tight control of the people through the back door. That's why they don't criticise China / Russia too much, they learn from them instead.

The sooner there's an election and the unelected government is first thrown out then prosecuted for treason & crimes against humanity the better! (Include Blair in that one too)

[MJI]

Ewan - we need you

As the first living Jedi actor I thought of - sort out Sith mandelson.

This power grab is really starting to worry me.

[Franco]

Mandelson

Oh good, that oily **** that has no power granted to him by the electorate has taken even more power for himself. Just as well there's an election next year.

[SynnerCal]

Re: I don't believe them (Michael Fremlins)

First off - where _have_ you been hiding?! EDS hasn't existed for a good few months now, and besides they're far too busy with strike ballots to be bothered.

That said, I kind of agree with most of what you're saying, other than the other option is to turn it into an Agency - like we have the DVLA, QinetiQ (mega fail), etc. And after god knows how many rebranding's we'll end up with less service, for more money spent.

Personally, as a .co.uk registrant, I've never had a problem with Nominet - quite the reverse, it's usually a pretty efficient service (but ymmv of course), so why the scum-sucking Dark Lord of the Sith in Dept of Biz should feel the need to intervene escapes me. Presumably bucking for promotion to Dark Emperor - or maybe laying the foundations for an internet mega-db as part of some anti-filesharing, anti-porn, anti-terrorism 'initiative'.

[Anonymous Coward]

re: "trust us"

> Officials said they believed it is unlikely the powers will be used"

> Just like the sweeping Draconian anti-terrorism powers that wouldn't ever be abused.

> They'll also leave the door open for ...

Agreed. Though I might have written "They'll also leave an Iceland-sized hole open for ..."

[Anonymous Coward]

Government in the carbuncle on the posterior of society

and politicians the puss that wallows inside.

Well I don't want my connection to be ruined by this, so MandyPandy can pay for this out of his own pocket, and beg for permission from each and every person to violate their privacy, that should keep him busy.

[Anonymous Coward]

A new model for domain name registration...

Rather than "sell" domains for a few quid a year if the model changed to:

Make a payment of say £100 for the domain.

The £100 is returned to you if you relinquish the domain.

The domain remains yours until that time so no renewal admin overhead and risk of losing the domain by missing the renewal window.

The £100 earns interest for Nominet - covering their running costs.

The big win comes from all those domain name squatters - how many are going to keep a portfolio of hundreds of names if they represent an investment of tens of thousands of pounds? No longer would we have to pay them hundreds or thousands for the name we want or settle for a massively long name or "alphabet soup" names (lkjherdsly.co.uk).

Even the names hosting sites full of spammy advertising links that don't earn enough to cover their cost might disappear.