The .nz Policy Advisory Panel weighs big issues

Guest blog from Sue Chetwin, Chief Executive of Consumer 

I recently chaired the first meeting of the .nz Advisory Panel – we’re reviewing the policies that regulate the New Zealand domain name space on the Internet to ensure they are robust and reflect today’s thinking.

There are big issues to consider such as how to deal with hate speech in the .nz domain name space, how to manage fake web stores and phishing attacks. Many New Zealanders will have an interest in these issues. There will also be smaller, more procedural matters for the Panel to work through.

We’re spending the next 12 months reviewing these policies. At the end, we’ll provide our independent advice to InternetNZ. 

This meeting was a great opportunity for the Panel to get to know each other and agree how we will work together. Chief Executive of InternetNZ, Jordan Carter, announced the panel in an InternetNZ blog post a few weeks back:

Announcing the .nz Policy Panel

Panel member Alma Hong has agreed to be Vice Chair. Alma has demonstrated success in the ICT industry and has worked in senior roles with central and local government in telecommunications, media and broadcasting.

We met members of the InternetNZ team who are supporting our work and heard from Jordan, and the Domain Name Commissioner, Brent Carey, about the context for the review.

The Panel started discussing the issues at a high level, and the importance that data and stakeholder engagement will play in the process.

I am excited to be working with such a diverse, engaged, smart Panel. Each brings something valuable to the review - technical expertise, policy prowess, engagement skills or knack for solving problems.

I intend posting a monthly blog on our work and we’ll also be keeping the InternetNZ website updated with news of the review. Here is the link to that web page: A review of .nz policy