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Attention Business/Technology Editors:

Registrars Call for More Business Reps on Internet Authority Board of Directors

    OTTAWA, June 20 /CNW/ - Prompted by concerns that Canada's Internet
Registration Authority (CIRA) does not have enough commercially oriented
candidates on its new Board of Directors, a group of the largest Canadian
Internet registrars today called on the Authority to increase the number of
proposed candidates from the business sector.
    The group of Registrars has also indicated that they will not endorse the
entire proposed board CIRA has put forward. It is their belief that the CIRA
nominated candidates would return control of CIRA to academia and in so doing
diminish the Board's ability to set policies and make decisions that effect
the Internet and its commercial applications in Canada.
    The group also put forward its own slate of candidates which they feel
gives a better balance between business, Intellectual Property concerns,
academia and the general Canadian Internet user population.
    CIRA has responsibility for approving and registering all top level. CA
Internet domain names in Canada. The Authority took on this role last year
when the responsibility was transferred to CIRA from the University of British
Columbia. CIRA will hold its first election of a Board of Directors since
taking over the Registry's operation in 2000 beginning on June 22, 2001.
    CIRA's 75,000 members will elect nine of the 12 directors; the remaining
three will be appointed by the interim Board to represent Internet Service
Providers (ISPs), registrars and the Internet users' community.
    The Registrars' slate contains a wide range, from intellectual property
lawyers, to technical and financial experts, to high profile business
representatives. Candidates put forward by the group include:

    Jonathan Cohen, Senior Managing Partner, Shapiro Cohen Group of
      Intellectual Property Practices
    Dr. Bruce Firestone, Founder, Ottawa Senators Hockey Club
    Julie Peckham, Chartered Accountant and CFO Internic.ca
    Colin Campbell, COO, Hostopia.com Inc.
    Maureen Cubberley, Senior Partner, ASM Advanced Strategic Management
      Consultants
    John Demco, Manager, Computing Facilities, University of British Columbia
    Ron Kawchuk, President , RKA Inc
    Paul Anderson, Vice President, Operations egateDOMAINS
    Victor Gene Arcuri, President, Arvic Search Services Inc.

    Registrars feel that each of the nine candidates they support will bring
a diverse array of experience to the board. It is their belief that the CIRA
board needs to be more business oriented than it has been in the past. More
information on each of the candidates that the Registrars support can be found
at www.CIRAboard.ca.
    In recent years, the Internet Industry has worked hard to bring a more
business like attitude to the .CA domain. This culminated in the creation of
CIRA and the relaxing of the .CA rules in November of last year. Care must be
taken to not undo what progress has been accomplished.
    Although their nominees include four individuals nominated by CIRA, the
Registrars feel that the remaining five will bring a combination of experience
and business acumen to the board that would be otherwise unavailable from the
slate of Directors put forward by CIRA.
    The group of concerned Registrars is made up of the following companies:

    Internic.ca
    Tucows
    Look Communications
    DomainsAtCost.ca
    Egate.ca
    Hostmaster.ca
    Arvic Search Services
    Hostopia Romel Corp.
    RegisterYour.ca
    Echelon Internet
    Canadian Virtual Office (CVO.ca)
    dotcanuck Web Services
    CompulseNet inc.
    Dot.CA



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For further information: Shaun Markey, Shaun Markey Communications, 
smarkey@ftn.net, Voice (613) 728-9951