[LINK] should .au domain names be traded?

[Roger Clarke]

At 3:14 -0700 3/8/07, David Goldstein wrote:
>auDA's Names Policy Panel is examining whether .au names should be 
>able to be traded, and if so, what possible scenarios could exist to 
>enable this. The Issues Paper at 
>http://auda.org.au/pdf/2007npp-issues-paper.pdf outlines some of the 
>pros and cons of allowing domain name trading. ...
>what do people on the Link list think of the idea?

I can't see any evidence of having posted my submission to the Panel 
to link.  (Strange - I don't usually hide my light under a bushell).


>Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 05:06:54 +1000
>From: Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au>
>Subject: Submission to AuDA Names Policy Panel
>
>Mr Derek Whitehead
>Chair
>Names Policy Panel
>.au Domain Administration Limited
>
>                Attention Jo Lim, Chief Policy Officer, auDA
>
>Dear Derek
>
>                   Submission to AuDA Names Policy Panel
>
>I have reviewed the submission by John Selby of Macquarie 
>University, and strongly support it.
>
>I would add one further point.
>
>Allocating active names directly within .au would create an enormous 
>amount of additional contention over short names and acronyms.  It 
>would not only re-open many old wounds, but also create new 
>conflicts.
>
>For example, ACS is *at least* .com:  Advanced Client Services, 
>Australian Christian Services, Associated Computer Solutions, 
>.org/.asn:  Australian Computer Society, Australian Cinematographers 
>Society, Aged and Community Services, Australian Cancer Society, 
>Australian Coastal Society, .gov:  Australian Customs Service, and 
>.edu:  Australian Correspondence Schools.  (Those are all real, not 
>made up;  and there are plenty more to choose from).
>
>In general, corporations have far greater power than small 
>businesses and non-profit organisations, and hence corporations 
>would win most battles, in some cases at considerable cost to the 
>smaller organisations.  (The squelching of Virgin Helicopters by 
>Richard Branson's company is a lesson that needs to be remembered).
>
>If AuDA were to proceed with this ill-advised idea, then a 
>complementary design feature would be essential.  This would provide 
>something similar to Wikipedia 'disambiguation' pages:  the owner of 
>a <name>.au page would be obliged by the terms of contract to 
>provide an initial page containing an index of any secondary links 
>that had been accepted for registration to the same domain-name.
>
>Using John Selby's example, if the owner of the whitegoods business 
>gained the rights to whirlpool.au, then the first page encountered 
>by the user would not be the whirlpool home-page, but instead a page 
>along the lines of:
>
>	This is the home-page of <business-name>
>	The full page will be displayed in 15 seconds,
>	or you can click here to go directly to it
>
>	If you are looking for another organisation,
>	the following registrations also exist:
>
>	-    LINK:whirlpool.net.au - <organisation-name>
>        -    LINK:whirlpool.org.au - <organisation-name>
>        -    ...
>
>	This service is provided under AuDA guidelines
>
>Another approach would be to require the owner to display on their 
>home-page a prominent display and link along the lines of FIND OTHER 
>ORGANISATIONS WITH SIMILAR NAMES.  But this alternative would be far 
>from satisfactory to any of the parties.
>
>AuDA's policy re acceptance of registrations for secondary entries 
>would need to be liberal and practical.  It would need to accept not 
>only any organisation that gains a registration under the relevant 
>policies applicable to any .au 2TLD, but also any organisation that 
>*would* gain such a registration if the relevant domain-name had not 
>already been assigned.
>
>Hence Virgin Helicopters, which it appears no longer owns any 
>virgin.xxx.au domain-name, would be accepted for registration for 
>the virgin.au domain.
>
>Would you please accept this as a formal submission, despite its 
>brevity and ASCII formatting.
>
>Regards

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW