It used to be that you were guilty until proven innocent; now there are quite a few parts of law where it is now our job to prove our innocence upon being accused.

By the same token, it used to be that the government needed a reason to steal an organisation. And they’re trying to change that as well.

n a letter dated October 15, senior civil servant David Hendon, BERR’s Director of Business Relations, asked Nominet chairman Bob Gilbert: “What arguments would you employ to convince my Ministers that the present relationship between government and the company is appropriate in ensuring that public policy objectives in relation to the management of the domain name system and the standing of the UK in the internet community are understood and taken into account?”

Why should you continue to be free of government fuckwittery? asks the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

It’s a simple question to answer. You could go on at length about the fairly decent track record that Nominet has; you could mention that even if the government was to take it over then as crucial infrastructure BERR wouldn’t be the place for it; you could argue that it being non-political is better for all involved.

Or, as I would, you could use the traditional cry of it’s not fucking yours so get your filthy thieving hands off it. It’s not broken, but it would be broken beyond all usefulness if the British fucking government was to get involved. Jaysus, they can’t even manage a ministerial appointment without causing collateral damage; managing some seven million domains would definitely be beyond them…

If you are asked to answer said question, I suggest you go for that second answer. Perhaps moderating the language might yield better results though…