Ask me anything - I'm putting my hand up to be on the InternetNZ council.

Forums › ICT Policies and Regulation › Ask me anything - I'm putting my hand up to be on the InternetNZ council.

globalmodeguy

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#215005 8-Jun-2017 10:11

1. If you're not a member of InternetNZ, consider joining. Why? Look at Australia. Their government blocks the Internet due to media company pressure. If you use the Internet as a consumer, Internet NZ protects your right to choose and privacy. Look at the US; their government is removing privacy and net neutrality principals. As a business, they protect your ability to access your cloud apps without paying the penalty for priority traffic.

InternetNZ is an independent voice, without bias, yep seriously because they make their money from DNS records. It's a beautiful thing really, and unique, most DNS around the world is privately controlled. So join, it's only $21 if you haven't already. https://internetnz.nz/join-us

2. So a bit about me... I've been on the Internet since I was 12, in 1992. We had an AOL dial-up connection when I was living in the US. My mum was in education; I count myself fortunate to have been introduced to online early as it shaped my career. Fast forward 25 years, when we eventually shut down the Global Mode product, I realised it's not just ok to just disrupt the market, it's important to help shape the principals that encourage online innovation into the future.

I've been an active member InternetNZ member and an Internet entrepreneur for many years. I like to start a conversation, about what issues you see are relevant for the next council term, so you can assess if you think I'm going be an asset to the board.

My areas of the interest & expertise are Online Saftey, Net Neutrality, Global Collaboration & Unlocking the economic benefit of the Internet & Rural Broadband Access.

Ask me anything.

1 | 2 | 3

152 posts

Master Geek

#1796505 8-Jun-2017 10:38

Do you think there any net neutrality issues in NZ?

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1796511 8-Jun-2017 10:52

"Global Mode Guy" Just curious, Do you have a relation to the provider that provided that service?

SaltyNZ

8233 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1796556 8-Jun-2017 12:12

I think the most pertinent question is 'Why do you think that the politicians would listen to you?' I don't mean it in the sense of being rude to you: I am genuinely interested to know what you've thought out as the reasons for which someone like the minister would spend some of their valuable time talking to you rather than someone else, such as (for no particular reason) the CEO of Sky TV.

There are many, many people who have the relevant technical and industry experience to make an informed opinion on the Internet and communications in general. What about you in particular is going to grab their attention?

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

globalmodeguy

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1796569 8-Jun-2017 12:28

@howdystranger

The rules to protect the open Internet principles are under consideration globally; Trump is planning to overturn Network Neutrality, and it was central to the Vodafone Sky Merger debate in NZ.

Rules should encourage investment in new specialised services to develop, if they are too restrictive they prohibit innovation. Likewise, the Internet should be open and uncapturable. In NZ three main telco's control 93% market share, and we'll all have fibre right - so do we need prioritisation?

I facilitated the network neutrality session at NetHui in 2015 because I could see it was becoming more relevant.
http://2015.nethui.nz/programme/day-2-nz-4#slowing-the-fast-lane

InternetNZ is uniquely positioned to facilitate a multi-stakeholder discussion during Telco Act Review is underway so we can help create law and policies that work with the architecture of the Internet, not against it.

And we need to a better job of helping everyday Kiwi consumers and businesses know why it's important to have them involved in the conversation.

https://youtu.be/mfY1NKrzqi0

globalmodeguy

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1796581 8-Jun-2017 12:32

@TimA - yes, I'm one of the co-founders, we don't operate the product anymore, it was shut down in Sept 2015.

globalmodeguy

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1796601 8-Jun-2017 13:02

@SaltyNZ

Good question, the simple answer is I don't.

In my experience politicians are normal people; they listen to people with whom they have a relationship or where there is an immediate and emerging issue. Every politician I've met or spent time with genuinely cares about NZ.

Educating and influencing long-term policy to create social change takes the resources of an organisation like Internet NZ. Education requires research, whitepapers, presentations and media; that's why belonging the InternetNZ community is more effective, it has the resources to create these assets.

This is an example of something I worked on previosuly with InternetNZ and Mohawk Media to help educate people.

http://mohawkmedia.co.nz/video/nz-copyright/

What I do have is good political & media relationships, which can draw wider attention an issue if need be.

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1796616 8-Jun-2017 13:22

Where does the $500,000 in funding come from? Is that all the likes of pub charity etc?

How come one has to pay to be part of the group?

Lastly, What will you be doing for privacy? We all remember the "Internet Party" and how they promised to stop govt spying etc. Do you have any connections with them or carry on support of some of their policies?

P.S: Will you vacate the Internet Party leader position

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18663 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1796625 8-Jun-2017 13:41

I'm all for unlocking discriminatory monopoly practices that exist only to protect shareholder value. Global access to all content at a fair price for everyone is what I would like to see. A legal basis in New Zealand for geo-unblocking services that could not be shut out by a Sky-Spark-whoever cartel would certainly be a good starting point. Much better control and accountability of government surveillance is essential as terrorism panic sweeps the world. These are two things that matter to me.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

globalmodeguy

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1796659 8-Jun-2017 14:19

@TimA Just to clarify, I'm talking about council forInternetNZ is a non-profit and open membership organisation. InternetNZ's Council is its governing body, consisting of twelve members elected by and from the membership.

https://internetnz.nz/about

InternetNZ group is made up of Internet NZ, NZRS Limited (the .co.nz and .nz domain name registration company) and The Domain Name Commission (DNCL) manages and administers the .nz domain name space.

mattwnz

20164 posts

Uber Geek

#1796747 8-Jun-2017 15:49

Where do you stand on protecting .co.nz domains for NZ registered companies and businesses? eg. similar to how Australia manages to the .com.au space, where only companies with a ABN or trademark number etc, can purchase a domain? At the moment anyone anywhere in the world (including potentially scammers) can buy a .nz domain, and setup a website that looks like it is operated in NZ, to target nz consumers. Many consumers assume a .nz domain means they are dealing with a nz company, so buy from it, only to find out they are dealing with some company on the other side of the world. Considering NZ shares a lot of standards with Oz, I think there at least needs to be a conversation about this, as scams are becoming more widespread.

globalmodeguy

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1796794 8-Jun-2017 16:29

@mattwnz I agree it's important and see a few sides. I operate a company which does business in multiple markets, the cost of compliance for local legislation is onerous, so we don't set-up local legal entities. The beauty of the Internet is you can access your niche from any part of the world, including local New Zealand.

I agree that the reputation of the domain name is important, it fact critical to its value, and ultimately it's the role of NZRS and DNC to set the policies to protect this asset. Online safety & Identity have been identified as an issue in the recent research conducted by Internet NZ, and NZRS has been testing NLP to categorise domains. You also have to remember the revenue from the society comes from DNS, so there is a balance to be had.

The solution is at the intersection of compliance, technology and education. It's a global issue that will impact many registrars, so we need to understand the scale of this in New Zealand (I suspect Jay and his team already know this). I'd be looking to ensure we are involved in a global solution so any actions we take in New Zealand are influencing, or at least leverage global initiatives.

mattwnz

20164 posts

Uber Geek

#1796811 8-Jun-2017 16:56

globalmodeguy:

@mattwnz I agree it's important and see a few sides. I operate a company which does business in multiple markets, the cost of compliance for local legislation is onerous, so we don't set-up local legal entities. The beauty of the Internet is you can access your niche from any part of the world, including local New Zealand.

I agree that the reputation of the domain name is important, it fact critical to its value, and ultimately it's the role of NZRS and DNC to set the policies to protect this asset. Online safety & Identity have been identified as an issue in the recent research conducted by Internet NZ, and NZRS has been testing NLP to categorise domains. You also have to remember the revenue from the society comes from DNS, so there is a balance to be had.

The solution is at the intersection of compliance, technology and education. The first aspect is to research the scale of the issue. What do you think?

So do you see there being a bit of a catch-22 situation with the restricting domain names to NZers / NZ companies resulting in less domains, versus wanting to sell as many domains as possible to fund the organisation?

I think the issue around .co.nz domains being restricted is an ever increasing issue, and is evidenced by the number of consumers contacting the media (eg. Fair Go) about being scammed, or finding out they are dealing with a company on the UK of China, when they thought they were buying from NZ. People do seem to be under the impression .nz means it is a NZ company, so they can trust it. Also the fact that these overseas companies are purchasing .nz domains, to give the appearance they are a NZ business, even going to the extend of buying a NZ phone number, shows that they see these things as important when targeting a particular country. It also ends up putting that company at a unfair advantage over a NZ operated company, as NZ companies are contributing to the NZ economy and paying tax and abiding by NZ consumer and advertising laws. Whereas the overseas company often doesn't have to do any of that.

I even saw one website operated from overseas , which is a legitimate business, but on their contact page it has a picture of a NZ map, with the logos showing in the main centres, but they don't appear to have any offices in NZ. They have a NZ looking phone number, but it is answered overseas . Unless the customer was tech savy like most of of on here, and looked up the Whois record and companies office first, they wouldn't have a clue that they were dealing with an overseas company.

I am in the process of helping a client register a .com.au domain, and apart from needing the ABN (which is quite time consuming) it doesn't seem all that difficult to buy the domain once you have that number. So I can't see that being too onerousness. Maybe it would put the cost of purchasing a domain up, but it has always been a relatively small cost compared to other business costs.

SaltyNZ

8233 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1797041 9-Jun-2017 08:15

mattwnz:

Also the fact that these overseas companies are purchasing .nz domains, to give the appearance they are a NZ business, even going to the extend of buying a NZ phone number, shows that they see these things as important when targeting a particular country.

To be fair, the opposite is also true. There are plenty of NZ businesses who operate international domain names and phone numbers for exactly the same reason.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

DonGould

3892 posts

Uber Geek

#1797075 9-Jun-2017 09:25

Where do you stand on open membership with no cost that would allow anyone who chooses to be a member, actually be a member no mater the cost barrier?

Where do you stand on the growing digital divide?

Where do you stand on influencing IoT development?

Where do you stand on frequency management?

Promote New Zealand - Get yourself a .kiwi.nz domain name!!!

Check out mine - i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz - don@i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz

SaltyNZ

8233 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1797078 9-Jun-2017 09:28

DonGould:

Where do you stand on frequency management?

I don't know about OP, but I find myself changing my mind a lot.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

1 | 2 | 3