Geoff Huston wrote:
> 
> Ny question regarding the proposed com.au name policy is simple:
> 
>     Precisely what are you trying to protect, and from whom?
> 
 and (in a following message):

> I would be interested to learn of the reason for the haste here (haste because
> you noted that such changes should be undertaken ASAP) and I would be
> interested to learn the reason why there is such a requirement for refinement
> of the com.au policy in terms of attempting to understand the objectives of the
> overall policy relating to com.au
>  
> Thanks
> 
>   Geoff
> 

Hi Geoff

My proposal to improve the COM.AU naming policy ASAP is driven by our
experience as the COM.AU DNA over the past two months. During this
period several Australian business customers have sent me email or
letters, expressing their frustration at being excluded from using their
normal business name as a Second Level Domain Name because of the Rule
excluding common dictionary names.  

I happen to believe they have a very reasonable case for inclusion, on
the basis that my view is that the purpose of the COM.AU name space is
to enable legitimate Australian businesses to communicate and otherwise
conduct their business electronically over the Net - and the role of the
COM.AU DNA Bureau should be to help, not hinder, them to so do. 

As I see the COM.AU Bureau's primary role as being to help its
customers, I am seeeking to have this proposal discussed within the DNS
Industry Forum ASAP, and a decision made also ASAP.  As I have given
four weeks' advance notice of my proposal before the 17 January meeting,
I do not regard my request for a decision to be made at that meeting as
being one of undue haste, but rather one of being responsive to the
needs of the Australian business community.

The second part of my proposed reform of the General (naming) Policy is
to delete, or at the very least severely limit, the Rule against generic
words, because I have noted that there is no common agreement amongst my
own staff, let alone in the general business community - the customers
of COM.AU - as to what are generic words. 

Like George Michaelson, I do not support moves to allow open slather on
COM.AU  DNs, because this would immediately create a speculative market
in broking desirable domain names, which in turn would artificially
inflate the costs of acquiring a domain name.  

The third part of my proposal is to decide on a uniform General Naming
Policy to operate across all the Second Level Domains (SLDs) serving
Australian commercial businesses: COM.AU, NET.AU and the proposed BIZ.AU
(whose establishment I support). A decision in favour of having a
uniform policy helps ensure that ongoing reform of the naming policy
remains transparent to (and effectively independent of) any policy
decisions on new SLDs and on single versus multiple DNAs within a SLD. 

While I admire your habit of developing policies from first principles,
I don't think that the question "Precisely what are you trying to
protect, and from whom?" is the fundamental question in this case. To
me, the fundamental question is "What is the COM.AU domain space created
for, and what is the primary role of the COM.AU Domain Name
Administrator?" - and I have given my answer to these questions above. 

I am about to exit this terminal and take a holiday from work, and from
the Net, for one week; I wish you and everyone else on these mailing
lists a happy Xmas-New Year, and look forward to more dialogue on DNS
policies from 2nd January on.

Cheers
Peter Gerrand