Clive Flory wrote:

>1. We have not heard that the ACA have "...assumed regulatory control of
>Internet Domain Name Administration..." I this were the case we would be
>the first to know about it and we would certainly have been party to the
>preliminary discussions.
>
>2. Given that the ACA do not have control I am uncertain as to the nature
>of your research. If you can advise on what the research is that you are
>doing I would be more than happy to assist ( obviously within the
>guidelines of Melbourne IT )

I am by no means an expert, and my only knowledge of the area has come from
following this mailing list for more than a year, but I think Clive is
discussing the present administration of the DNS system without mentioning
the legal background.

Melbourne IT don't have the power to create laws, nor can they create
regulations backed by law unless there is legislation that says so. From
statements on this list in the past, I thought that the ACA does have the
legislative authority to control DNS names in Australia, somewhat similar
to its control of the radio spectrum.

However, because there already is a system in place and the Australian DNS
has to fit into the overall Internet DNS for it to be any use, the ACA is
not doing anything specific about DNS at this time. Some contributors said
that the ACA would prefer self-regulation to work, but it is possible that
if it decides self-regulation is not working it might become more active in
DNS issues. That's speculation, but it is fact that ACA observers come to
ADNA meetings.

Last year some contributors to the list were saying that ADNA has to be
seen to be working well in order to ensure the ACA doesn't feel compelled
to take over, or to run DNS in Australia some other way.

Wasn't one of the reasons for creating ADNA to have an official
self-regulatory body the ACA can work with?

Cheers

Paul Foxworthy

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