Spencer Callaghan Speaks to the Power Behind a .ca Domain

CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) is the organization that runs the .ca domain. They enforce the Canadian Presence Requirement, meaning anyone registering a .ca domain name must prove they are either a Canadian citizen, a Canadian company, or a company that does business in Canada. They also effectively act as a distributor of .ca domains to retailers like GoDaddy, etc.

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https://marketingnewscanada.com/news/spencer-callaghan-speaks-to-the-power-behind-a-ca-domain


Does anyone know Spencer?
Can we invite him to the forum to participate?

I'm trying to decide if we would actually want to invite CIRA into this, on one hand I think it would be good, on the other hand, I don't want to feel like big brother is watching everything I'm saying here. This is water cooler / lunch room type talk. Would you want your company CEO at the water cooler and sitting with you in the lunch room every day?

HeHe, We always have the private forums

I mean really what can be harmed, we know domainers buy and sell domains. It has been documented time and time again now that domaining is a legitimate business. We are the biggest holders of domain assets in Canada and a lot of their 3 million domains will be held by domainers. We make them money and we keep the industry vibrant and talking about domains.

It is like a Rembrandt painting, if nobody collects it or talks about it then it is pretty worthless.

rlm said:

I'm trying to decide if we would actually want to invite CIRA into this, on one hand I think it would be good, on the other hand, I don't want to feel like big brother is watching everything I'm saying here. This is water cooler / lunch room type talk. Would you want your company CEO at the water cooler and sitting with you in the lunch room every day?

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Totally agree.

MapleDots said:

HeHe, We always have the private forums

I mean really what can be harmed, we know domainers buy and sell domains. It has been documented time and time again now that domaining is a legitimate business. We are the biggest holders of domain assets in Canada and a lot of their 3 million domains will be held by domainers. We make them money and we keep the industry vibrant and talking about domains.

It is like a Rembrandt painting, if nobody collects it or talks about it then it is pretty worthless.

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Yes, I understand that, but again, back to the water cooler talk, would you want the ivory tower people listening to all your thoughts and opinions about what they do up in the ivory tower? While I know anyone can join anyway, and they _could_ be there, it just seems different inviting them. Not that they even really care about the majority of our trivial talk here, but still, do I want them to not like me because I may express opinions they don't like? Do I want them researching anything I've ever said in a post before? Not sure.

On the flip-side, if they actually cared what we thought, and made changes based on that, then it would be good. But I don't get the feeling that CIRA will ever change anything. They're too busy trying to expand into new business models rather than to just pay attention to the one and only reason they exist, .CA domain names.

I think you have a valid point and my first question to him would be to ask him if he collects any domain names. If the answer is yes then we know we have a comrade. If the answer is no then we know he is here for other reasons, but seriously the .ca space is pretty boring for a non domainer.

Maybe we will keep things a bit mum just in case though 8)