Contract to run .eu domain-name registry is up for grabs as Brussels tries to avoid a .co-style debacle

The European Union has opened up the .eu internet registry for a new owner, offering a five-year contract to oversee its 3.6 million domain names from October 2022. The EC’s Directorate General for Communication Networks, Content and Technologies announced the rebid last week and its director of future networks, Pearse O’ …

[Anonymous Coward]

Well..

I'm just glad we've already dropped our .eu domain(s). We simply waited for all of them to expire a couple of years ago when EU declared they would terminate them all for UK businesses.

Thankfully, for us they served only as a "stop domain squatters" domain. So it was no big loss for us, in fact it's a "profit" you could say because it saves us money.

[GlenP]

Re: Well..

We've kept our one registered, again solely to stop domain squatting, it's only other purpose (providing email that bypasses the main domains) has been moved to a .uk domain instead. If/when they try to take it away I'll either move the registration to our Polish subsidiary or drop it completely.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Well..

You need to get your arse in gear - and soon. If you don't the decision will be taken for you on Jan 1st.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-domain-names-what-you-need-to-do-to-get-ready-for-brexit

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead, the .eu registry is viewed more as a prestige project for the European Union.

That's sad.

[Anonymous Coward]

EU what?

The rebid criteria also insist on EU-style governance structures. “The Contractor shall ensure that its internal governance respects the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, transparency and responsiveness,” reads just one part of the tendering documents.

That rules out the EU itself, their own finances haven't passed an audit in over 20 years, and the words efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, transparency and responsiveness just aren't translatable in to eurocrat.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: EU what?

The EU finances have "passed audit", i.e. been signed off by the auditors, every year.

Maybe check your information source ?

[Lars]

Re: EU what?

"their own finances haven't passed an audit in over 20 years".

All those lies live on, and how come you think that could be true.

Fintan O'Toole, "The Politics of Pain" might help you to understand the "how come".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA08SXJ8mAY

Radoslaw Sikorski will help you too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI54yarKz_o&t=561s

[Ken 16]

"a kind of punishment on the UK government"

Do we have to bring out the golf club analogy, again?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "a kind of punishment on the UK government"

Do we have to bring out the golf club analogy, again?

You mean where we leave the club and offer to pay green fees to play occasionally, but the secretary prefers to change the locks on the doors rather than take our money?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "a kind of punishment on the UK government"

don't forget we also want to retain our members discount at the bar... oh, and we don't really like the dress code so while the members have to comply we want to just play in jeans and t-shirts.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: "a kind of punishment on the UK government"

In response we are banning them from using English - that'll teach the blighters.

To be slightly more serious. People who us .eu are still paying the "golf club" to use it and are likely to be pro-eu. This is rather like the WHO saying: "if the US government leaves we aren't going to accept any donations in US $"

[Anonymous Coward]

"In addition, a key component of the .eu contract will be multilingualism, which would disadvantage the dominant English-speaking players in the registry market"

You don't say! So shocking! What could it have to do with English becoming a minor EU language, and also, actually respecting the rights of the peoples in 27 countries to use their own languages rather than usanian when buying a domain?

"Any operator would also have to deal with the EC’s growing tendency to interfere with the .eu registry, imposing top-down decisions with little or no discussion."

Luckily you Brits shows us how well non-interference works, what with Nominet doing so great, ElReg itself reports on it.

This article is really funny in its lack of self-awareness! I can imagine the stiff upper lip and Rule Britannia playing in the background :D

[I ain't Spartacus]

Have you not noticed that The Register publish an anti-Nominet article about twice a month? Or more, if there's occasion to. Which given the pisspoor state of Nominet's board is often the case. They even take a dig at Nominet in the bloody article.

So why the whiny defence of the admittedly less poor EU processes? There article is fully self-aware - the Register are simply doing their job of reporting poor practise where they find it. In this case the Commission's various bizarre gyrations on Brexit policy - when they could have just left things well alone and watied until it all blew over then if they really felt it was important start a policy of no longer registering domains from the UK sometime next year.

Which is still pretty silly, in my opinion, but it's perfectly reasonable to insist on .eu being an EU-only registry. Although deliberately limiting the number of domains that people can buy for a domain that's already not very popular, is hardly likely to attract many bidders.

My only slight complaint about the article is I'd be interested to know why the Commission have seemingly fallen out of love with EURid? But then I'm sure El Reg would have told us if they knew.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Commision have not fallen out of love with Eurid, They've just put the .eu contract out to tender, something that every TLD owner should do regularly. If the RFP is done right, they get a better deal - improved service, lower prices, etc - and at worst keep the incumbent provider on their toes. Such an exercise would have a non-trivial impact on the shenanigans at a certain registry in the Oxford area.

For what it's worth I think there's some Commission rule that its long-term contracts have to be retendered every 10 years or so.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Except if you do it for a business that generates almost no revenue (on the scale of internet companies) and has increasingly complex bureaucratic requirements, you end up with one incumbent who has the past experience to tick all the boxes and the 'contacts' in the bidding process - and they get to charge what they want.

See every govt IT deal

[IGotOut]

Reg, you mentioned the UK....

registries are profit-based, so not eligible.

I think you didn't get the note about Brexit.

Even if they were nonprofit, they still wouldn't be allowed to bid.

[lglethal]

Re: Reg, you mentioned the UK....

Actually Nominet is (nominally and only really in a legal sense) a non-profit organisation. It acts very clearly as a for-profit organisation, but has somehow managed to hold on to its non-profit status.

So it could very clearly bid for this, although the lack of transparency and communication would probably rule it out...

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Reg, you mentioned the UK....

I think you'll find Nominet are very definitely a non-profit organisation.

Admittedly it's not for lack of trying...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why did Keiren give free publicity to Centralnic and Mind + Machines? He knows these are for-profit businesses and therefore automatically excluded for tendering on the .eu conttract.

[J.G.Harston]

EC != EU

The article seems to swap between using EC and EU as though they are synonyms. They aren't.

[HildyJ]

Why?

Without getting into Brexit or the size or shape of the cluster F that seems to be coming, governments need to recognize that registering domains is an inherently governmental function and outsourcing it, even to a nonprofit, makes as much sense as outsourcing the patent or trademark office.

I'm not saying this would make it problem free or cheaper but it would avoid a number of issues we see with the status quo.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why?

Bollocks! Patents and trademarks protect IPR. They have real value. Domain names don't have any value - apart from the amount some fool is prepared to pay for one or imagines it's worth. They're the 21st century equivalent of the 1600s tulip mania.

Governments running domain name registries is a great idea! What could possibly go wrong? Or have you forgotten these are the fuckwits who gave a ferry contract to a company with no ships, built aircraft carriers with no aircraft, etc, etc?