Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that telephone preference services are able to block international nuisance calls as well as domestic ones.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003 already prevent international nuisance marketing calls being made on behalf of UK companies. Callers are legally required to ensure they do not call a number that is registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). UK consumers are also protected if they have previously notified the caller that they do not wish to receive such calls. Callers can be subject to fines of up to £500,000 for breaching the regulations. International marketing calls on behalf of non-UK companies are outside of the UK’s jurisdiction.Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when and on what grounds Nominet was granted the exclusive authority to administer the .uk namespace.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Nominet was created as an initiative of the UK internet services community in 1996, in order to manage the rapidly increasing demand for domain names and ensure a single inter-operable network of addresses would continue to evolve. Prior to this, all requests for .uk domain names were approved by a Naming Committee established by the UK Education and Research Networking Association (UKERNA). The Government recognises Nominet’s continuing role in managing the .uk registry on a not-for-profit basis consistent with the multi-stakeholder model for internet governance that the Government supports.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of Nominet's licence to grant .uk domain names on the competitiveness of the domain registration market.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I have made no assessment of the effect of the launch of .uk domain names on the competitiveness of the domain registration market. However, the UK has one of the most competitive domain name markets in the world, with over 10m domain names on the .uk registry, making it the 6th largest registry. The wholesale price for domain names in the UK is less than those for .com or .net domain names and some 2700 domain name registries compete in the retail market for .uk domains, bringing significant benefits for consumers. Since the launch of .uk Second Level Domain Names, over 50,000 .uk second level domains were registered on the first day and over 100,000 after the first month.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that people who purchase domain names are doing so to use them for legitimate purposes and not simply to sell on at profit.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government has no plans to intervene in the management of the UK registry in this way at this time. Nominet, who operate the UK registry, are a private not-for-profit company with a public purpose objective and any changes to the way in which the registry is managed is done so through a multi-stakeholder approach. The Government supports the multi-stakeholder approach to the way the internet is managed. There is an active secondary market for domain names and Nominet has robust procedures in place to ensure brands and trademarks are adequately protected.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the system for registering new .uk domains with Nominet is accessible and straightforward.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Nominet is responsible for managing the UK registry and any policy changes, such as the introduction of new .uk domain names, is done in full consultation with its stakeholders, which includes the Government. The Government favours this multi-stakeholder model approach to internet governance. The processes for .uk domains are fully transparent and Nominet has justified their policy position when publishing the response to the consultation on second level domain names.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will carry out an international comparative assessment of the ease of registering for the new .uk domains as a UK business.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government has no plans to carry out such an assessment. The UK registry is one of the most open, trusted and competitive in the world and Nominet consulted extensively before the introduction of the new .uk domain names, including with the Government.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations he has received on Nominet's policy of first offering the new .uk domain names to the holder of the equivalent .co.uk domain.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government responded to the Nominet consultation regarding .uk domain names and supported stronger protection for holders of .co.uk domain names in order to protect existing brands and avoid consumer confusion. Officials subsequently met with officials from Nominet to discuss Nominet's revised approach following consultation responses from all stakeholders.