/ Internetstiftung
The Internet Privatstiftung Austria – Internet Foundation Austria (short: "Internet Stiftung") is 100 % owner of nic.at GmbH. The non-profit foundation supports projects and activities like the expansion, further propagation, and versatile use of the Internet in Austria.
Internet Stiftung
The Internet Stiftung was established in 2000 by the ISPA, the Internet Service Providers Austria, and formally speaking, it is a non-profit Austrian foundation, i.e. Internet Stiftung. The foundation's purpose is to promote the Internet in Austria and, particularly, to act as a trustee in order to take over the .at domain administration for the benefit of the general public. For this reason, the technical and administrative duties and responsibilities of domain administration have been assigned to its company “nic.at GmbH”. The Internet Stiftung sees itself as an organisation dedicated to applying the proven principles of Internet organisation – i.e. private bottom-up self governance – to the administration of the top-level domain .at in a transparent and effective manner. Given its staffing and its development from ISPA, the Internet Stiftung is appropriately qualified to perform this task.
The Internet Stiftung regards itself as the institutional representative of the Austrian and international Internet community. The .at domain administration operates in accordance with the Austrian legal system. Thus, the relationship between the domain holders and the registry is generally subject to the Austrian law. The foundation's funds originate from the domain administration revenues generated by nic.at.
Structure of Internet Stiftung
Management Board
The Management Board of the Internet Stiftung manages the foundation's business operations. It is committed to the foundation's purpose, which is to promote the Internet in Austria, and particularly, to take charge of .at domain administration. The foundation is the owner of nic.at GmbH, which is why the foundation's Management Board also acts as the owner's representative.
Members of the Board:
- Dr. Andreas Koman (Chairman of the Board)
- Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Andreas Schildberger (Vice Chairman)
- Mag. Walter Mika
Supervisory Board
The Supervisory Board of the Internet Stiftung is in charge of overseeing the activities of the Management Board and appoints members to the Domain Name Council. Two members are nominated by the ISPA, one by University of Vienna.
Members of the Supervisory Board:
- Ing. Harald Kapper, kapper.net
- Dr. Natalie Ségur-Cabanac (Drei)
- DI. Ulf Busch, Vienna University Computer Center
Domain Name Council
The Domain Name Council consults on fundamental name space policies and on the relationship between domain holders and the registry. Specifically, the Council decides delegation rules and is also responsible for having defined the principles of the arbitration office for .at domains. This arbitration office acts as a conciliation body to help resolve disputes between registrar and third parties. For more information on the organization and its members, visit www.domainbeirat.at.
Sponsorship Council
In a separate sponsorship council, experts from various fields decide what projects are sponsored by the Internet Stiftung, according to transparent and objective principles. All members carry out their duties in a honorary capacity and independently of their main occupation. Sponsorships are granted e.g. via the platform www.netidee.at.
Members of the Sponsorship Council:
- DI Petra Bußwald, co-CEO of www.akaryon.com
- Dr. Stefan Köhler, Wien Energie
- Sabine Fleischmann, freelance management consultant
- Mag. Ritchie Pettauer, freelance online marketing expert and blogger
- Mag. Martin Haunschmid, entrepreneur in the field of IT security and web development as well as tech and digitalisation blogger
Other Internet Stiftung activities
tldbox GmbH
tldbox GmbH was founded with the aim of offering registry services to aspiring and actual operators of top-level domains. In particular, it provides the technical infrastructure necessary for the registration and operation of domains.
Currently, tldbox GmbH operates the backend service for the generic top-level domains .berlin, .hamburg and .versicherung, among others. tldbox GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of the Internet Foundation.
ipcom GmbH
Originally, ipcom GmbH was active in the field of telephony, with products for Voice over IP and DNS services for top-level domain registries. In recent years, ipcom GmbH has specialized in anycast services for TLDs, Internet service providers and enterprises through the product RcodeZero DNS, which was implemented by nic.at's technical department. More information about RcodeZero DNS can be found at www.rodezero.at.
CERT - Computer Emergency Response Team
CERT.at is the Austrian national CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) and thus the contact for IT security in the Austrian domestic setting.
CERT.at connects numerous CERTs and CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams) in areas such as critical infrastructure or ICT (information and communication technology) and publishes warnings, alerts and tips. In case of attacks on computers at a national level, CERT.at takes over a coordination role and informs the respective network operators and the responsible local security teams.
netidee
The Internet Stiftung supports projects and activities like the expansion, further propagation, and versatile use of the Internet in Austria. The grant support focuses in particular on creating and ensuring new means of access. The organisation supports projects and activities by natural and legal persons that earn special merit for outstanding services for promoting the development of the Internet in Austria in accordance with the goals of the foundation. Since 2006, under the name "netidee.at", the Internet Stiftung has issued calls for projects that are evaluated by an independent advisory group.
