Statement by Deputy Inxheneu Crovâ to the Chamber of Deputies
Estimats Túischac'h,
While I can well appreciate the disorganization that comes from an unexpected victory, I find it it surprising and disturbing that there has been no official response from the Seneschal or indeed the President to the latest crisis in the operation of Wittenberg. Adding to my disquiet is the ongoing lack of any statement on the shape of the new government, and what priorities it will be pursuing in this 5th Chamber of Deputies.
I will say, however, D:na Túischac'h, that I can testify to the efforts of Deputy Lowry in the matter, and can say without hesitation that he was a credit to my government in his capacity as Minister for Technology, and I hope the Seneschal, when he finally makes an announcement as to the composition of his government, will retain him in this position.
I would now like to make a formal announcement of my intent to submit to this Chamber, short of any government action within the next 24 hours, an amendment to the Finance (Webspace Nationalization) Act authorising the Minister of Technology to use his/her best judgement in securing a long-term provider of domain registration services.I do so reluctantly, but I have come to the conclusion that OnlineNIC is simply not a good deal for the relatively small number of domain names that the Republic will own at the end of this process. We will also be proposing practical measures (that will not require legislation) to cope with a similar technical emergency in the future.
D:na Túischac'h, I would like to now explain to the Chamber my efforts thus far to complete the Webspace Nationalization process. My initial attempts to facilitate the transfer of the domain names from their previous owners to the Republic was a private initiative on my part to set up an OnlineNIC account and to receive not just the domain names mentioned in the Webspace Nationalization Act, but also other Talossa-related domain names which could have proven useful to civil society in its broadest sense, or to simply let them expire if there was no demand for them.
This initiative met with failure, as OnlineNIC went through a prolonged technical crisis just as we were attempting to perform the transfer, by the end of which the transfer deadline had expired. Subsequent to this, despite my best efforts to contact S:reu Furxheir, I have received no cooperation on a new transfer, until today. I am reliably informed that there has been another technical issue with the transfer, but this is hopefully more minor and will be resolved by tomorrow at the latest.
My suggestion, that I will be backing up with legislation if lack of government parliamentary action makes it necessary, is that the Republic use the already funded OnlineNIC account that I have set up, and that Deputy Lowry has full access to, in order to relieve S:reu Furxheir of the responsibilty of owning the domain names he currently controls. The Minister of Technology may then, with the monies collected from ordinary citizens under the Finance Act, make the best decision about where to register these names. Then the other domain names mentioned under the Act, owned by S:reu Válcadác’h I believe, as well as one domain owned by myself, can be assembled together with the names that have been transferred through OnlineNIC at a more convenient location.
Finally, D:na Túischac'h, I can speak on behalf of the ZRT when I say that we are sincerely committed to working with the government in ensuring that this final technical step is fully facilitated, and I eagerly await the governments announcement as to their intentions.
