I just checked the auda board and it actually includes a number of people who stand to obtain a massive financial benefit from these changes. Did they abstain from voting? Probably wouldn't matter anyway if their friends did their bidding for them after stating their arguments. The good news is auda is setting itself up for a high-level investigation with this sort of nonsense.
Draft recommendations from the 2015 Names Policy Panel
- Thread starter eBranding.com.au
- Start date
Jamie-AU
Regular Member
Well, if auDA are going to go down the controversial path of equal rights for .net.au and .com.au holders to the top-level .au domain, then maybe we need to ensure we have registered the .net.au equivalents of our .com.au domains to avoid someone else causing us grief down the track.
DomainNames
Top Contributor
This is noteworthy from the Internet responses and there is a lot of them...
"Paul Shaw
The only "demand" is amongst AUDA, registries and registrars who keep bringing up the issue. They want to sell a whole lot of defensive and new registrations."
DomainNames
Top Contributor
This is a very interesting point. It would seem to be inappropriate for anyone who could gain an interest or financial benefit to be allowed to have any say whatsoever let alone the authority to be make such a change?
As one legal expert stated today when this Press Release went out via broadcast from Auda....
"Who is pushing for .au registrations, who would benefit from more registrations, more registration renewals, more COR's Change of Registrant fees, more disputes, more IP, Legal, Trademark and domain name disputes.....?"
DomainNames
Top Contributor
Adrian Hemens
The only beneficiaries would be businesses selling TLD's and owners of com.au would be forced to register yet more unnecessary TLD's.
Adrian Hemens
No, too many TLD's exist already. There is no need for any more. There is a risk they will become meaningless if more are approved. Already a huge public and business investment in com.au The only gains will be for businesses selling TLD's.
Andrew Cheng
No for now, that will further make the web address confused. We have .com.au and .net.au and when using .au will surely making people confused
Aslan Avdi
Keep .com.au as is, do not allow .au The UK debacle showed what a bonanza it was for registrars, and what a nightmare it was/is for consumers. All the research in the UK pointed to the problems that would come about if the direct .uk was adopted, but this research was ignored. Possibly because people on the recommendation committed had links to registrars, was suggested as the main reason it went ahead regardless. Don't let the Australian consumer be slugged again. If you really want to do something for the .com.au space, allow ANYONE to register .com.au domains, not just Australian residents, this would be the real kick starter the space needs.
Ben Page
It has credibility and should remain as is.
Bernhard Luder
With an opening of direct .au registrations all that would happen is, that all the com.au and net.au registrants would seek to register their domain as an AU. This would mainly happen to preserve the trademark already established under that domain. So I ask what's the point of that. Just selling more domains.
Bill Rodgers
Yes. .au is too restrictive at present.
Blicka
Whilst this would be yet another domain space in a market which is now flooding with products we are concerned about one potential issue. We believe that anyone who now owns the rights to an existing 2ld for .au be given notification of a grace period whereby they can elect to also register the new direct .au equivalent of their existing domain brand. eg Registrant currently holds xyz.com.au so they should be given a window to elect to own xyz.au before it is made publicly available. This would be done under the spirit of brand protection.
David Dunn
I personally believe that the current system works and that .com.au still is the defacto way of ensuring that the owner of a domain is a registered Australian business which displays an unparalleled confidence in the business operating from the domain name. Just because it's the new hip thing to do I don't believe warrants a change in the .au namespace.
David Graham
Nope. No benefit
Derek Garson
No, it should not. General reasons for holding this opinion. * It creates an unnecessary cost for a business by forcing it to register additional domains defensively. * Where a business fails to do this (e.g. by choice) it increases the possibilities for fraud i.e. tricking a customer into believing that s/he has visited the correct web site for the business when this is not the case. * Where unrelated entities are allowed to register similar names under different domains, even where this is legitimate (i.e. not an attempt at fraud), it will increase customer confusion and customer error rate. For example: example.au and example.com.au are different commercial entities and example.com.au has chosen to avoid the cost of preferentially registering example.au too, this will result in customers going to the wrong site or sending email to the wrong address. (I see a fair bit of this between .com.au and .com and I don't see it getting any better if customers have three choices.) * Where a business registers both domains it really just increases the system management cost of making one domain a synonym of the other in e.g. email addresses and e.g. web sites. Invariably with web sites there are one or two stuff-ups and not everything is identical between the two supposedly identical web sites. With email addresses it creates customer annoyance because invariably some users end up in address books under two theoretically identical email addresses. * As it stands today there are reasonably clear eligibility and other rules for the various subdomains of .au (e.g. .com.au and .edu.au) and there can be clear differences between those rules (e.g. .com.au can have different rules from .edu.au). If .au is opened up for direct registration then the rules that apply by definition will have to be some compromise set of rules and will be different from at least some of the subdomains (e.g. a company registers under .com.au and directly under .au - but the rules might have to be different). * The subdomain provides some useful information to the user. It may be a modest anount of information but it is better than nothing. * I haven't seen any really compelling arguments for why we would want to do this. It is one thing to argue for why we shouldn't do this but there should be some arguments for actually doing this i.e. not just change for change's sake. Yes example.au is shorter than example.com.au but is 4 characters really that important, particularly if the user visits a URL by clicking on a link on another site. * One thing is certain: This is a one way trip. Once you open up .au you obviously can't get rid of that. If you decide not to open it up - because the arguments for doing so don't stack up - you can always revisit that decision
Dirk Hunter
I am against the opening of .au for direct registrations
Geoff Bearne
No, I do not believe that this is a good idea. I believe that it will result in a huge number of defensive domain name registrations, causing a burden to existing .au domain owners for minimal benefit. Having a single level might be simpler but there is real benefit in only allowing specific businesses to use .com.au etc. If this was not the case I would not have bothered to register .com.au but would have used only .com. In other words, the existing system requires a defensive approach and this change would exacerbate the situation.
glen wakelin
No!!! I don't think this is fair for small business it is hard enough now with all the other domain names available to protect your business identity unless you are able to buy all of them which can be very expensive, the only people that benefit from this is the sellers of the domain names. (not honest business)
The only beneficiaries would be businesses selling TLD's and owners of com.au would be forced to register yet more unnecessary TLD's.
Adrian Hemens
No, too many TLD's exist already. There is no need for any more. There is a risk they will become meaningless if more are approved. Already a huge public and business investment in com.au The only gains will be for businesses selling TLD's.
Andrew Cheng
No for now, that will further make the web address confused. We have .com.au and .net.au and when using .au will surely making people confused
Aslan Avdi
Keep .com.au as is, do not allow .au The UK debacle showed what a bonanza it was for registrars, and what a nightmare it was/is for consumers. All the research in the UK pointed to the problems that would come about if the direct .uk was adopted, but this research was ignored. Possibly because people on the recommendation committed had links to registrars, was suggested as the main reason it went ahead regardless. Don't let the Australian consumer be slugged again. If you really want to do something for the .com.au space, allow ANYONE to register .com.au domains, not just Australian residents, this would be the real kick starter the space needs.
Ben Page
It has credibility and should remain as is.
Bernhard Luder
With an opening of direct .au registrations all that would happen is, that all the com.au and net.au registrants would seek to register their domain as an AU. This would mainly happen to preserve the trademark already established under that domain. So I ask what's the point of that. Just selling more domains.
Bill Rodgers
Yes. .au is too restrictive at present.
Blicka
Whilst this would be yet another domain space in a market which is now flooding with products we are concerned about one potential issue. We believe that anyone who now owns the rights to an existing 2ld for .au be given notification of a grace period whereby they can elect to also register the new direct .au equivalent of their existing domain brand. eg Registrant currently holds xyz.com.au so they should be given a window to elect to own xyz.au before it is made publicly available. This would be done under the spirit of brand protection.
David Dunn
I personally believe that the current system works and that .com.au still is the defacto way of ensuring that the owner of a domain is a registered Australian business which displays an unparalleled confidence in the business operating from the domain name. Just because it's the new hip thing to do I don't believe warrants a change in the .au namespace.
David Graham
Nope. No benefit
Derek Garson
No, it should not. General reasons for holding this opinion. * It creates an unnecessary cost for a business by forcing it to register additional domains defensively. * Where a business fails to do this (e.g. by choice) it increases the possibilities for fraud i.e. tricking a customer into believing that s/he has visited the correct web site for the business when this is not the case. * Where unrelated entities are allowed to register similar names under different domains, even where this is legitimate (i.e. not an attempt at fraud), it will increase customer confusion and customer error rate. For example: example.au and example.com.au are different commercial entities and example.com.au has chosen to avoid the cost of preferentially registering example.au too, this will result in customers going to the wrong site or sending email to the wrong address. (I see a fair bit of this between .com.au and .com and I don't see it getting any better if customers have three choices.) * Where a business registers both domains it really just increases the system management cost of making one domain a synonym of the other in e.g. email addresses and e.g. web sites. Invariably with web sites there are one or two stuff-ups and not everything is identical between the two supposedly identical web sites. With email addresses it creates customer annoyance because invariably some users end up in address books under two theoretically identical email addresses. * As it stands today there are reasonably clear eligibility and other rules for the various subdomains of .au (e.g. .com.au and .edu.au) and there can be clear differences between those rules (e.g. .com.au can have different rules from .edu.au). If .au is opened up for direct registration then the rules that apply by definition will have to be some compromise set of rules and will be different from at least some of the subdomains (e.g. a company registers under .com.au and directly under .au - but the rules might have to be different). * The subdomain provides some useful information to the user. It may be a modest anount of information but it is better than nothing. * I haven't seen any really compelling arguments for why we would want to do this. It is one thing to argue for why we shouldn't do this but there should be some arguments for actually doing this i.e. not just change for change's sake. Yes example.au is shorter than example.com.au but is 4 characters really that important, particularly if the user visits a URL by clicking on a link on another site. * One thing is certain: This is a one way trip. Once you open up .au you obviously can't get rid of that. If you decide not to open it up - because the arguments for doing so don't stack up - you can always revisit that decision
Dirk Hunter
I am against the opening of .au for direct registrations
Geoff Bearne
No, I do not believe that this is a good idea. I believe that it will result in a huge number of defensive domain name registrations, causing a burden to existing .au domain owners for minimal benefit. Having a single level might be simpler but there is real benefit in only allowing specific businesses to use .com.au etc. If this was not the case I would not have bothered to register .com.au but would have used only .com. In other words, the existing system requires a defensive approach and this change would exacerbate the situation.
glen wakelin
No!!! I don't think this is fair for small business it is hard enough now with all the other domain names available to protect your business identity unless you are able to buy all of them which can be very expensive, the only people that benefit from this is the sellers of the domain names. (not honest business)
DomainNames
Top Contributor
Janet Preuss
There are still plenty of options available for .com.au domain names. Adding in the .au domain names just puts added pressure on Australian companies to own both (added expense when it really isn't necessary) and won't open up the market to new domain name opportunities as most existing businesses will take the ones for .au that they already have .com.au for. For small companies, this requirement to cover all your bases is becoming a bit ridiculous from a financial point of view.
Jason mainwaring
I believe this is going to become just another frustration for customers, it's already increasingly frustrating for businesses/companies having to register additional TLD's that are rarely or never used just to protect branding/names. Examples are .co which some took up just to protect their .com and most Australian businesses use .com.au as primary but register .com nevertheless for protection. Take into account that whenever I mention ones such as .Sydney to people they get aggravated or say it's irrelevant.
Jenny O'Connell
I think it would cause huge confusion if this was allowed.
Kimberley Heitman
No, the .com.au registry continues to deliver an exclusive benefit to Australian businesses. Dilution of the .au name space is to be avoided, and the additional cost to Australian businesses of securing protective rights over the .au direct registration equivalent of their .com.au address is a wasteful expense.
Luke Summers
Expanding the .au namespace to allow direct registrations would increase brand protection costs for businesses. It would also pose a threat to the brand equity of businesses using existing .com.au (and .net.au) domains. If a business does not register the .au equivalent of its existing .com.au domain, then it faces the risk that it will be registered by another entity or individual, which could lead to consumer confusion and potential market loss through 'traffic-bleed' to a confusingly similar website address. For example, if there are two separate businesses trading in the same industry, with similar products or services, that use identical domain terms, but with one on .com.au (e.g. 'farmsupplies.com.au') and one on .au (e.g. farmsupplies.au) - this is a recipe for disaster. This creates an unreasonable level of confusion in the marketplace and will have a detrimental effect on the brand equity that each business has invested in and grown over time. Direct registrations will create consumer confusion. There are already a number of 2LDs in the .au namespace, a number of which are underutilised and poorly understood. Many consumers may not understand that .com.au and .au are different domains, potentially used by different entities or individuals. The .au namespace should not be expanded to allow direct registrations
Mark Smith
No .au shouldn't be open to general public the people who have purchased the .com.au should have first choice at purchasing the .au domain extension. When will this stop your undermining the value of the domains we have purchased in good faith.
Mike Merlin
I don't think .au should be allowed by itself. It's hard enough to give someone your email addresses over the phone, why introduce yet one more variable into the mix to create greater confusion, ambiguity and potential for error and time wastage through lost emails.
Murray Thomas
For those of us that have already purchased com.au net.au etc to protect our brands, this is just another cost to business to secure another domain from people poaching our brands. The fact that these are usually picked up (and offered firstly) to people owning the major domains shows that the owning people losing by these new domains are those owning the major domains. The only winners are domain name sellers.
Nathan
We don't have a busy enough market place for such need
Nathan Smith
.com.au holders should be first offered the .au equivalent first.
Paul Gear
No. The recent changes to TLDs were about commercialising the DNS further, and all they served to do was confuse the public more. I think there is more public trust in .com.au and .org.au than in foo.doctor or bar.sydney or whatever, because it declares to people what type of entity it is.
Paul Shaw
"Direct registrations" will double the holding costs of many businesses as they go about protecting their brands. The main beneficiary of direct registrations are registrars, registries and AUDA. In my view the justifications in the paper are weak, -Firstly, following the uk and new zealand, why? Both those countries have comparatively weak namespaces. -The section about new tlds doesn't have much basis either, because those new tlds look to be failing.
Peter Matthews
Adding a close and confusing domain derivative of com.au, without strict controls must not be permitted. The .au should have been the original domain for Australia. The internet was dominated by the USA and .com and expanded without thought of the long term ramification of the exponential growth of the internet. The use of multiple au domains will be confusing, error ridden, duplicity and commercially exploitative.
Peter Siddall
My opinion is that it .au should not be open to direct registrations. I don't have a lot of supporting information - but the current availability of just a few second-level domains (com.au, net.au, org.au etc) has never restricted my domain registrations. The current structure is adequate, and brings some exclusivity to .au registrations.
Rob Collett
Absolutely not. It provides absolutely no advantage except for the domain name resellers gaining more money. Keep it controlled, keep it even more controlled actually - get rid of not .net type .net domains. The idea is to make domains more obvious in their naming not less.
There are still plenty of options available for .com.au domain names. Adding in the .au domain names just puts added pressure on Australian companies to own both (added expense when it really isn't necessary) and won't open up the market to new domain name opportunities as most existing businesses will take the ones for .au that they already have .com.au for. For small companies, this requirement to cover all your bases is becoming a bit ridiculous from a financial point of view.
Jason mainwaring
I believe this is going to become just another frustration for customers, it's already increasingly frustrating for businesses/companies having to register additional TLD's that are rarely or never used just to protect branding/names. Examples are .co which some took up just to protect their .com and most Australian businesses use .com.au as primary but register .com nevertheless for protection. Take into account that whenever I mention ones such as .Sydney to people they get aggravated or say it's irrelevant.
Jenny O'Connell
I think it would cause huge confusion if this was allowed.
Kimberley Heitman
No, the .com.au registry continues to deliver an exclusive benefit to Australian businesses. Dilution of the .au name space is to be avoided, and the additional cost to Australian businesses of securing protective rights over the .au direct registration equivalent of their .com.au address is a wasteful expense.
Luke Summers
Expanding the .au namespace to allow direct registrations would increase brand protection costs for businesses. It would also pose a threat to the brand equity of businesses using existing .com.au (and .net.au) domains. If a business does not register the .au equivalent of its existing .com.au domain, then it faces the risk that it will be registered by another entity or individual, which could lead to consumer confusion and potential market loss through 'traffic-bleed' to a confusingly similar website address. For example, if there are two separate businesses trading in the same industry, with similar products or services, that use identical domain terms, but with one on .com.au (e.g. 'farmsupplies.com.au') and one on .au (e.g. farmsupplies.au) - this is a recipe for disaster. This creates an unreasonable level of confusion in the marketplace and will have a detrimental effect on the brand equity that each business has invested in and grown over time. Direct registrations will create consumer confusion. There are already a number of 2LDs in the .au namespace, a number of which are underutilised and poorly understood. Many consumers may not understand that .com.au and .au are different domains, potentially used by different entities or individuals. The .au namespace should not be expanded to allow direct registrations
Mark Smith
No .au shouldn't be open to general public the people who have purchased the .com.au should have first choice at purchasing the .au domain extension. When will this stop your undermining the value of the domains we have purchased in good faith.
Mike Merlin
I don't think .au should be allowed by itself. It's hard enough to give someone your email addresses over the phone, why introduce yet one more variable into the mix to create greater confusion, ambiguity and potential for error and time wastage through lost emails.
Murray Thomas
For those of us that have already purchased com.au net.au etc to protect our brands, this is just another cost to business to secure another domain from people poaching our brands. The fact that these are usually picked up (and offered firstly) to people owning the major domains shows that the owning people losing by these new domains are those owning the major domains. The only winners are domain name sellers.
Nathan
We don't have a busy enough market place for such need
Nathan Smith
.com.au holders should be first offered the .au equivalent first.
Paul Gear
No. The recent changes to TLDs were about commercialising the DNS further, and all they served to do was confuse the public more. I think there is more public trust in .com.au and .org.au than in foo.doctor or bar.sydney or whatever, because it declares to people what type of entity it is.
Paul Shaw
"Direct registrations" will double the holding costs of many businesses as they go about protecting their brands. The main beneficiary of direct registrations are registrars, registries and AUDA. In my view the justifications in the paper are weak, -Firstly, following the uk and new zealand, why? Both those countries have comparatively weak namespaces. -The section about new tlds doesn't have much basis either, because those new tlds look to be failing.
Peter Matthews
Adding a close and confusing domain derivative of com.au, without strict controls must not be permitted. The .au should have been the original domain for Australia. The internet was dominated by the USA and .com and expanded without thought of the long term ramification of the exponential growth of the internet. The use of multiple au domains will be confusing, error ridden, duplicity and commercially exploitative.
Peter Siddall
My opinion is that it .au should not be open to direct registrations. I don't have a lot of supporting information - but the current availability of just a few second-level domains (com.au, net.au, org.au etc) has never restricted my domain registrations. The current structure is adequate, and brings some exclusivity to .au registrations.
Rob Collett
Absolutely not. It provides absolutely no advantage except for the domain name resellers gaining more money. Keep it controlled, keep it even more controlled actually - get rid of not .net type .net domains. The idea is to make domains more obvious in their naming not less.
DomainNames
Top Contributor
Rob Gregory
In my view, no. There are any number of 'policy light' gTLDs in which a domain name can be registered at the second level. Mostly by historical accident, the .au domain name system's point of difference is that it is relatively 'policy heavy' which includes registration at the third level. This imposes some additional cost, but gives the public some understanding of what the registrant of the domain is about (eg: lawyers.com.au, lawyers.org.au or lawyers.asn.au). That public understanding gives both a degree of consumer protection and confidence and also some 'brand premium' for a .au domain name. In my view, that point of difference is worth preserving.
Rod Hucker
Frankly, the constant attempt at changing a successful model is a pain in the proverbial. I'm surprised that the writer of the introduction to change is confused. I'm "old" and quite easily identify .org and .asn and know immediately it's place in the market. The proliferation of alternatives makes it more expensive to register all the possibilities, makes for MORE confusion, not less as implied and is totally unnecessary. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The ONLY reason I see for all the options is a for registrars to add to the range of options, (read revenue). the stats quoted are evidence to the fact that change is NOT always for the better!
Russell Cox
No. The uniform layout works well.
Saul Willers
As a web development company we strongly disagree with everything associated with the processes of adding a new .au domain. It is a simple matter of a land grabbing exercise for business owners who already own existing .com.au, in addition to being a money making exercise for registrars. We strongly suggest the .au domain not be opened.
Simon Yeo
The strong regulations regarding registration of .au domains gives those sites integrity and maintains their Australian identity. Opening up direct registrations could loose that integrity and allow for uses other than identifying a site as Australian.
Stephen Hines
There is no obvious value in opening .au to direct registrations. Doing so would even further clutter the available domain registration hierarchy, which has already become a nightmarishly cumbersome beast with the recent TLD changes. The main effect would be defensive registrations, as has been seen with TLDs - and this adds no value to the .au domain. Adding the direct registration option would just result in muddy waters, making the .au territory more difficult to navigate. The current choice of 2LDs is more than enough to meet demand - and in fact can be considered over-reach when individual cities and towns are able to register as 2LDs. Should people in Canberra register under .canberra.act.au, for instance? There is only one city in the ACT, so there is not much choice - unless they choose to register under particular suburbs. Too much choice can be as bad as not enough - as found by supermarket researchers and as used by mobile phone service providers wanting to make their products as confusing and incomparable as possible
Susan Cynthia Horton
Allowing new set of domain names to compete with established domain names could ruin a business.Mine included. Keyword domains are still doing very well in the Google search for my industry and I have no doubt that others will buy up the domains ending in just .au and try to compete. I currently see a keyword rich domain on page of the search terms for my business that is owned by the domain holder and is leased out to people in the industry. There is more to a website than the domain name, I know this but I have been monitoring my success with my website in detail for 7 years and my opposition, I have no doubt allowing these new domains will definitely have an impact on the page 1 search results in google for my industry, A way around this would be to offer the .au domain names to the holders of the ,.com.au and .net.au existing domain name holders first before putting them out to the public. I would buy these domains to protect my business
Tim
How many more domain extension names do you really need. A joke diluting peoples investments for your own benefit.
tony ritchie
I do not believe we should use .au as it be so confusing if you could have companya.com.au and companya.au but they were two different companies. It would just be seen as a whole lot of money for someone but for what gain
Trent Lloyd
This should not be allowed. It will simply (a) Confuse people who are not sure if it is a .au or .com.au, and even when told, are likely to type one or the other in (b) Result in people hitting the wrong domain for a different company (c) Result in significant expense to companies needing to register and maintain both their .au domain and existing .com.au or .net.au domains, realistically, the majority of domain owners will want to do this. The only people to benefit here are domain registrars, resellers (which w eare) and auDA who would earn revenue. There would be no benefit, and significant downsides, to end users/registrants.
______________________
The list goes on and out of the Millions of .com.au name registrants who would be affected they may not know what problems are coming if .au is allowed and continues to be PUSHED to some people agenda as it has been for years now
In my view, no. There are any number of 'policy light' gTLDs in which a domain name can be registered at the second level. Mostly by historical accident, the .au domain name system's point of difference is that it is relatively 'policy heavy' which includes registration at the third level. This imposes some additional cost, but gives the public some understanding of what the registrant of the domain is about (eg: lawyers.com.au, lawyers.org.au or lawyers.asn.au). That public understanding gives both a degree of consumer protection and confidence and also some 'brand premium' for a .au domain name. In my view, that point of difference is worth preserving.
Rod Hucker
Frankly, the constant attempt at changing a successful model is a pain in the proverbial. I'm surprised that the writer of the introduction to change is confused. I'm "old" and quite easily identify .org and .asn and know immediately it's place in the market. The proliferation of alternatives makes it more expensive to register all the possibilities, makes for MORE confusion, not less as implied and is totally unnecessary. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The ONLY reason I see for all the options is a for registrars to add to the range of options, (read revenue). the stats quoted are evidence to the fact that change is NOT always for the better!
Russell Cox
No. The uniform layout works well.
Saul Willers
As a web development company we strongly disagree with everything associated with the processes of adding a new .au domain. It is a simple matter of a land grabbing exercise for business owners who already own existing .com.au, in addition to being a money making exercise for registrars. We strongly suggest the .au domain not be opened.
Simon Yeo
The strong regulations regarding registration of .au domains gives those sites integrity and maintains their Australian identity. Opening up direct registrations could loose that integrity and allow for uses other than identifying a site as Australian.
Stephen Hines
There is no obvious value in opening .au to direct registrations. Doing so would even further clutter the available domain registration hierarchy, which has already become a nightmarishly cumbersome beast with the recent TLD changes. The main effect would be defensive registrations, as has been seen with TLDs - and this adds no value to the .au domain. Adding the direct registration option would just result in muddy waters, making the .au territory more difficult to navigate. The current choice of 2LDs is more than enough to meet demand - and in fact can be considered over-reach when individual cities and towns are able to register as 2LDs. Should people in Canberra register under .canberra.act.au, for instance? There is only one city in the ACT, so there is not much choice - unless they choose to register under particular suburbs. Too much choice can be as bad as not enough - as found by supermarket researchers and as used by mobile phone service providers wanting to make their products as confusing and incomparable as possible
Susan Cynthia Horton
Allowing new set of domain names to compete with established domain names could ruin a business.Mine included. Keyword domains are still doing very well in the Google search for my industry and I have no doubt that others will buy up the domains ending in just .au and try to compete. I currently see a keyword rich domain on page of the search terms for my business that is owned by the domain holder and is leased out to people in the industry. There is more to a website than the domain name, I know this but I have been monitoring my success with my website in detail for 7 years and my opposition, I have no doubt allowing these new domains will definitely have an impact on the page 1 search results in google for my industry, A way around this would be to offer the .au domain names to the holders of the ,.com.au and .net.au existing domain name holders first before putting them out to the public. I would buy these domains to protect my business
Tim
How many more domain extension names do you really need. A joke diluting peoples investments for your own benefit.
tony ritchie
I do not believe we should use .au as it be so confusing if you could have companya.com.au and companya.au but they were two different companies. It would just be seen as a whole lot of money for someone but for what gain
Trent Lloyd
This should not be allowed. It will simply (a) Confuse people who are not sure if it is a .au or .com.au, and even when told, are likely to type one or the other in (b) Result in people hitting the wrong domain for a different company (c) Result in significant expense to companies needing to register and maintain both their .au domain and existing .com.au or .net.au domains, realistically, the majority of domain owners will want to do this. The only people to benefit here are domain registrars, resellers (which w eare) and auDA who would earn revenue. There would be no benefit, and significant downsides, to end users/registrants.
______________________
The list goes on and out of the Millions of .com.au name registrants who would be affected they may not know what problems are coming if .au is allowed and continues to be PUSHED to some people agenda as it has been for years now
DomainNames
Top Contributor
Don't be surprised if the next idea floated, promoted, pushed and marketed is .AU generic name auction... then survey, then board recommendation....
If you bought a name at the Auda .com.au auctions years ago or in the approved Auda aftermarket how would you feel to learn you may lose your investment not only of that initial cost but the years of marketing and goodwill you built up in the name etc?
How would this work with anyone able to register realestate.au and do an online real estate website? How about Jobs.au and do an online job portal? Carsguide.au, NEWS.AU..... , InvestmentProperty.au,
There will be a scare campaign by some so people must do defensive .au registrations at any cost... It will be promoted as the new next big thing... you must have an .Au
If you bought a name at the Auda .com.au auctions years ago or in the approved Auda aftermarket how would you feel to learn you may lose your investment not only of that initial cost but the years of marketing and goodwill you built up in the name etc?
How would this work with anyone able to register realestate.au and do an online real estate website? How about Jobs.au and do an online job portal? Carsguide.au, NEWS.AU..... , InvestmentProperty.au,
There will be a scare campaign by some so people must do defensive .au registrations at any cost... It will be promoted as the new next big thing... you must have an .Au
DomainNames
Top Contributor
There are now over 500 different world domain name extensions... It is very obvious who pushes and wants to promote more..
There is still thousands of .net.au names not registered which have the .com.au already registered.
There is an Auda approved aftermarket to deal with any real demand for existing .com.au. net.au etc
There is still thousands of .net.au names not registered which have the .com.au already registered.
There is an Auda approved aftermarket to deal with any real demand for existing .com.au. net.au etc
1/ auDA: In the course of the review so far, it has become clear to the Panel that the major issue under consideration is whether direct registration of domain names at the second level under .au (eg. myname.au) should be permitted, or whether the current policy of registration only at the third level (eg. myname.com.au) should remain. This paper canvasses the issues around direct registrations that have been identified by the Panel to date.
...
Importantly, the Panel is still at an early stage of its deliberations and has not yet reached a consensus view on the issues under consideration.
We welcome your comments and suggestions, not only in response to the specific questions posed by the Panel at the end of each section, but also on any other issues that are relevant to the Panel’s Terms of Reference.
2/ auDA: The Panel notes that a large number of respondents to the Issues Paper argued or assumed that com.au registrants should have the right to the matching .au name; in line with the ‘no hierarchy of rights’ principle, the Panel does not agree that com.au should be given preference, and believes that all 2LDs should be regarded as equal.
Translation: Although we pretended that we had not yet made a decision and fooled many of you into wasting your time in submitting comments and suggestions, it turns out that the vast majority of comments and suggestions would limit our ability to secure a substantial financial benefit from our desired changes so your comments and suggestions will be ignored.
...
Importantly, the Panel is still at an early stage of its deliberations and has not yet reached a consensus view on the issues under consideration.
We welcome your comments and suggestions, not only in response to the specific questions posed by the Panel at the end of each section, but also on any other issues that are relevant to the Panel’s Terms of Reference.
2/ auDA: The Panel notes that a large number of respondents to the Issues Paper argued or assumed that com.au registrants should have the right to the matching .au name; in line with the ‘no hierarchy of rights’ principle, the Panel does not agree that com.au should be given preference, and believes that all 2LDs should be regarded as equal.
Translation: Although we pretended that we had not yet made a decision and fooled many of you into wasting your time in submitting comments and suggestions, it turns out that the vast majority of comments and suggestions would limit our ability to secure a substantial financial benefit from our desired changes so your comments and suggestions will be ignored.
findtim
Top Contributor
dare i say " i told you so " and hardly anybody paid attention to my threads on this subject, NOW, you are all up in arms about it !
here's how i see it ! if you want to start reading my opinion now ? and its all been said in above comments.
1) they planned this and it was never NOT going to happen, its a money grab, its disgusting IMO
2) they put the right people in the right places to make it happen
3) its NOT going to help any "normal people" , if you came late to the party then all the cake is eaten
4) yes it is going to cause chaos
5) they put on sale .net.au for $1 before they started the committee, TACTIC, horrible tactic
6) they NEVER promote membership to owners of domain names ( ma and pa owners with 1 domain ), thus they never have enough voting members to VOTE themselves OUT.
7) nobody except the the registras and auda will benefit, its simply an added cost of business for no reason.
8) sydney.net.au , whoever you are you should have no right for the .au IMO, once again a money grab by auda to have 2 people fighting over it and as i have said previously the process will get shifted to a registra so there are no ties to auda and i'd HONESTLY bet my own life on ............. well, i'm not going to say exactly but bromwyn ......... comes to mind !
-------------------
now here is what i'm going to do:
i'm going to draft a letter and send it to all my clients, i am going to give them the link for submissions and i am going to get them to send it through, and i am going to record all submissions.
as there are 3 million domains registered and 3 auda members
i suggest you all do the same.
this is just BS, obscure at the moment.
they are just giving us enough to justify that they are telling us, but not enough to get to the nitty griity.
"soon, maybe, almost, future" is really what they are saying, its presently a setup so they can say "they did their best and this was the result" BS, its already decided
--------------------
and i am bias , WHY should my high value domains be now in jeopardy ? WHY should i have to compete against a .net.au owner that has a bloody parked domain ?????
--------------------
why are we causing confusion in the online space ?
dubbodentist.com.au and someone else has dubbodentist.au , stupidity, money grab
tim
here's how i see it ! if you want to start reading my opinion now ? and its all been said in above comments.
1) they planned this and it was never NOT going to happen, its a money grab, its disgusting IMO
2) they put the right people in the right places to make it happen
3) its NOT going to help any "normal people" , if you came late to the party then all the cake is eaten
4) yes it is going to cause chaos
5) they put on sale .net.au for $1 before they started the committee, TACTIC, horrible tactic
6) they NEVER promote membership to owners of domain names ( ma and pa owners with 1 domain ), thus they never have enough voting members to VOTE themselves OUT.
7) nobody except the the registras and auda will benefit, its simply an added cost of business for no reason.
8) sydney.net.au , whoever you are you should have no right for the .au IMO, once again a money grab by auda to have 2 people fighting over it and as i have said previously the process will get shifted to a registra so there are no ties to auda and i'd HONESTLY bet my own life on ............. well, i'm not going to say exactly but bromwyn ......... comes to mind !
-------------------
now here is what i'm going to do:
i'm going to draft a letter and send it to all my clients, i am going to give them the link for submissions and i am going to get them to send it through, and i am going to record all submissions.
as there are 3 million domains registered and 3 auda members
i suggest you all do the same.
this is just BS, obscure at the moment.
they are just giving us enough to justify that they are telling us, but not enough to get to the nitty griity.
"soon, maybe, almost, future" is really what they are saying, its presently a setup so they can say "they did their best and this was the result" BS, its already decided
--------------------
and i am bias , WHY should my high value domains be now in jeopardy ? WHY should i have to compete against a .net.au owner that has a bloody parked domain ?????
--------------------
why are we causing confusion in the online space ?
dubbodentist.com.au and someone else has dubbodentist.au , stupidity, money grab
tim
DomainNames
Top Contributor
Everyone may wish to contact the Australian Federal Government
Does the management of the Australian domain space go out to tender or review?
http://www.minister.communications.gov.au/
Electorate Office
Ground Floor, 287–289 New South Head Rd
Edgecliff, NSW 2027
Postal Address
PO Box 545,
Edgecliff, NSW 2027
Tel: 02 9327 3988
Fax: 02 9327 2533
Email: malcolm.turnbull.mp@aph.gov.au
Parliament Office
PO Box 6022, House of Representatives
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600
Tel: 02 6277 7480
Fax: 02 6277 3776
http://www.auda.org.au/about-auda/au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space.
In December 2000, the Australian Government formally endorsed auDA as the appropriate body to administer the .au domain space. The Government holds reserve powers in relation to domain names under the Telecommunications Act 1997.
In October 2001, ICANN recognised auDA as the suitable operator for .au under a Sponsorship Agreement.
Role of auDA
auDA performs the following functions:
Does the management of the Australian domain space go out to tender or review?
http://www.minister.communications.gov.au/
Electorate Office
Ground Floor, 287–289 New South Head Rd
Edgecliff, NSW 2027
Postal Address
PO Box 545,
Edgecliff, NSW 2027
Tel: 02 9327 3988
Fax: 02 9327 2533
Email: malcolm.turnbull.mp@aph.gov.au
Parliament Office
PO Box 6022, House of Representatives
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600
Tel: 02 6277 7480
Fax: 02 6277 3776
http://www.auda.org.au/about-auda/au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space.
In December 2000, the Australian Government formally endorsed auDA as the appropriate body to administer the .au domain space. The Government holds reserve powers in relation to domain names under the Telecommunications Act 1997.
In October 2001, ICANN recognised auDA as the suitable operator for .au under a Sponsorship Agreement.
Role of auDA
auDA performs the following functions:
- develop and implement domain name policy
- license 2LD registry operators
- accredit and license registrars
- implement consumer safeguards
- facilitate .au Dispute Resolution Policy
- represent .au at ICANN and other international fora.
Bacon Farmer
Top Contributor
Basically the .com.au is being replaced by .au's and this panel believes that there shouldn't be a hierarchy or rights for the .com.au.
You have got to be kidding.
The panel needs to have a good hard look at themselves.
The supply side members need to own up to their conflict of interest too.
You have got to be kidding.
The panel needs to have a good hard look at themselves.
The supply side members need to own up to their conflict of interest too.
Bacon Farmer
Top Contributor
Every single current owner of a good .com.au will have to buy the .au as a defensive move.
Who does that benefit?
Who does that benefit?
Bacon Farmer
Top Contributor
Oh but .au's are more appealing and memorable said no one besides a supply side panel member ever.
Bacon Farmer
Top Contributor
Most owners of .com.au's aren't computer nerds and would not know this is happening. They are going to be stiffed.
I'd like to know why they haven't been asked by auda if they think it's a good idea.
Surely auda can email every owner, they have their email addresses.
I'd like to know why they haven't been asked by auda if they think it's a good idea.
Surely auda can email every owner, they have their email addresses.
Bacon Farmer
Top Contributor
I seriously question the ethics of the panel when they claim that the panel believes there should be no hierarchy of rights given the investment in the .com.au by business owners over the last 20 years.
This will be a major issue as it has been in every other country. Here's a link to what happened in the UK http://www.alphr.com/news/enterprise/380272/nominet-ditches-uk-domain-proposal
Neddy over at domainer.au whoops domainer.com.au also calls on stakeholders to speak out.
This will be a major issue as it has been in every other country. Here's a link to what happened in the UK http://www.alphr.com/news/enterprise/380272/nominet-ditches-uk-domain-proposal
Neddy over at domainer.au whoops domainer.com.au also calls on stakeholders to speak out.
One email to the whole database is not going to be a big hassle and for most business owners who only have 1 or 2 domain names the additional cost of paying registration fees for the .au name is not going to raise an eyebrow. $20 per year is a very cheap cost to wear as a business expense.
Simon Johnson
Top Contributor
Hi Everyone,
While I'm an auDA Board member, I'm also a member of DNT. It's no secret that domain name investors voted for me at the last election. So..... let me assure you of something. You have a voice at the table.
Unlike other people, I don't have a financial interest in a Registrar. I'm not employed by a Registry.
Just like YOU, I own a portfolio of domain names. My advice is:
1. Submit your constructive feedback via the process outlined by the Panel.
2. Sign up as a Demand Class member to auDA and keep your membership current.
Personally, I agree with many of the points raised in this thread and I will be making a public statement on this issue, before the submissions close.
Kind regards,
Simon
While I'm an auDA Board member, I'm also a member of DNT. It's no secret that domain name investors voted for me at the last election. So..... let me assure you of something. You have a voice at the table.
Unlike other people, I don't have a financial interest in a Registrar. I'm not employed by a Registry.
Just like YOU, I own a portfolio of domain names. My advice is:
1. Submit your constructive feedback via the process outlined by the Panel.
2. Sign up as a Demand Class member to auDA and keep your membership current.
Personally, I agree with many of the points raised in this thread and I will be making a public statement on this issue, before the submissions close.
Kind regards,
Simon
Bacon Farmer
Top Contributor
What's not cheap is the lost business they could suffer when their clients go to the .au as they assume it's the same business.
And it's an extra $20 in someone else's pocket for no good reason.
Community sponsors
