Country domain governance: an analysis by data-mining of country domains

Abstract

Along with protocols, domain names are critical internet resources. To build a safe, secure, and globally ubiquitous internet, all entities responsible for the governance of domains must allocate their lower-level domains with competence and discipline following the basic principle of decentralized governance. The governance and operation of a country code top-level domain is delegated to the governing and operating entity of the relevant country or territory. There are great differences among these entities in domain allocation policy, fees, discipline, and technical competence. The undertaking of governing a global infrastructure requiring high integrity, such as the internet, on the basic principle of decentralized governance is unprecedented. To enable this governance to work well, it is necessary to set up proper objectives for the governance of country domains, and to use highly transparent criteria for a multi-faceted evaluation of how far these objectives have been achieved. This article presents a set of country domain governance indicators which is intended to be used for the construction of a safe and secure ubiquitous global network.