The annual election for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority board of directors opened last week, with voting ongoing until September 24th. All CIRA members (anyone with a dot-ca domain is eligible to become a member) are entitled to vote. I am currently a member of the board having been elected in 2012. Over the past year, CIRA has made great strides in better fulfilling its public interest mandate, most notably by launching the Community Investment Program. The CIP provided grants to 29 organizations for Internet and technology related projects, allocating over $1 million in the process. I was the chair of the committee and was proud of the wide range of projects and initiatives that will benefit from CIRA funding.
This year’s election features four spots on the board: three positions coming from candidates nominated by an independent nominating committee and one position for candidates nominated by members. There are many great candidates drawn from current board members seeking re-election and new candidates that hope to join the CIRA board for the first time. With so many strong candidates, it is difficult to endorse specific people. However, it should be noted that current CIRA Board of Directors chair Susan Mehinagic is one of the nominating committee candidates. Ms. Mehinagic may not be a household name within the Internet community, but she played a pivotal role in helping to launch the CIP in her one year as board chair. She unquestionably deserves member support.
Is there anything that can be done about .ca domain squatters?
My last name as a domain is registered but not in use: there’s no web service, no mx service, nothing.
“dig -t any mylastname” shows domainmanager.com and parkingcrew.net (cname) as the only entries.
I looked into the dispute process and it’d cost, if I remember correctly, $1300 to launch dispute and possibly that much again to get a hearing. Completely not worth-while.
SO – what does CIRA do about these obvious breaches of their rules / guidelines?
Thanks Michael!