9 August 2021
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: CyWay domain name
Enquiry
It's come to my attention the cyway.nz website now appears to be a gambling blog site.
I've spoken to Netsafe about it and they say there's no way to know for sure, but it doesn't appear to be malicious as there are not suspicious links, ads or requests for things like credit card numbers.
They said what likely happened was the domain lapsed and it was not renewed. They said the domain host would have sent reminders to the previous registrar of the domain to renew it during a 'grace period' before the domain was made available to others.
They believed it's possible the email address provided could have been a previous council employee or an old email address, meaning no one received the reminder messages.
The domain is now registered to an address in Germany which gives its address as a doner kebab and pizza shop in Hamburg, although there is no name attached to it.
Can the council please tell me:
- If it was aware, before this email, that the site was no longer active or registered to the council and was now a gambling-related site?
- Did the council intend to retire the site? What happened?
- Has the council received any correspondence from the new registrar of the domain? Have they asked for money for the council to buy it back?
- If that was offered, would the council consider it / does the council want the domain back?
- Does the council know in how many places (documents, websites, signs) it refers the public to the site? Will these be removed?
- Is CyWay still an active 'brand'? Will the council create a new CyWay website with a new domain?
Response
This can be attributed to Stavros Michael – Infrastructure & Environment DCE if required:
Yes we were aware of this. The CyWay work programme concluded last year. This was a three year programme, part funded by Waka Kotahi, to create an initial physical network of shared paths. Once the programme was completed, the website was no longer required and was retired. Our broader cycling infrastructure, which will continue to be enhanced, is now included within Council’s Safe and Sustainable Journeys work programmes. The CyWay brand has been progressively phased out and all web links should now lead to our Safe and Sustainable Journeys web pages.
Note for reporter: for your information, once a domain has been retired, we have no say over who may use it in future. Re correspondence from the new registrar, no we have not received any.