At 14:00 4/10/98 +1000, you wrote:
>At 10:13 1998-11-03 +1100, you wrote:
>>At 07:26 3/11/98 +1100, you wrote:
>>>In reviewing my own words I fail to see how the
>>>'Domain name holders' could ever organise a
>>>sinmgle nominee. Looks like I'm down to 5  in
>>>this proposal - fair enough - 5 is a good number
>>>to do a well defined task very cleanly.
>>
>>In my previous email I echoed this point - there are no consumer bodies
>that can take this mantle. I believe that a 'Registrar' or 'Registration
>Agent' is most likely to represent consumer interests because they are
>closest to those interests.
>>
>
> I disagree with this "top down" thinking, the domain space .au represents
>the whole of the country, not just the technocracy and its associated
>business interests. It is apparent throughout these discussions that these
>interests are already very well represented.
>
> What is glaringly obvious when we stand back and review the situation is
>the huge gap, the place, and the need, for "community based & IT savvy"
>representation.
>
>We (GCN) build and hold in trust domain names for community groups and
>proceed via govt grant systems to teach these groups what the value of these
>holdings are and how to use them for the betterment of their communities and
>groups.
>
>We also encourage and teach small business to take up the utilisation of the
>system.
>
>We are consumers, consumer guardians and educators in relationship to these
>(DNS) products. I believe that would make us uniquely representative.

So......

1. How many domain names are you talking about, and
2. How many 'domain owners'?

How representative is your sample?

Before we stake claims to who represents the 'un-self-representable domain owners' lets not forget that the purpose of the excercise is first and foremost to clean up the supply side of the industry, to create a level playing field in which no single 'for profit' player has an unfair advantage (as INA does currently) and to open up registration to those entities who choose to compete in this arena.

I'm not suggesting that consumers shouldn't be represented, but they do NOT have a representative, and any entity who claims they uniquely fulfill the post is a pretender.

( <PLUG> and Ron, this is not entirely aimed at you, because I similarly feel that NetRegistry is uniquely qualified because we have sold upwards of 3000 domains in the last 9 months and therefore have a very direct channel to consumer requirements. Moreover, because NetRegistry offers more relevant domain ending choice than any other company in Australia, we have taken the trouble to find out what the consumer spin on different endings is - within .au as well as other alternatives. </PLUG>) - LMB

>
>The problems associated with the .au namespace and its allocation mechanisms
>effect us greatly. I believe it is about time we put our hand up on this one.
>
>
>
>
>Ron Ipsen,
>Managing Director,
>Gippsland Internet Pty Ltd
>Ph: 61 3 51 276543  Fax: 61 3 51 262020
>Project Manager,
>Gippsland Community Network.
>
>http://www.comu.net.au - Gippslands Community Network
>http://www.gips.com.au - bringing Gippsland business online.
>http://www.amputee.org - amputees working together.
>
>"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the level of thinking
>we were at when we created them." -  Albert Einstien
>
>--
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>express permission of the author.  You don't know who really wrote it.
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> 
_____________________________________________
Larry Bloch                   
Chief Executive Officer       
NetRegistry Pty Limited       
email:  larry&#167;netregistry.au.com
Office: +61-(0)2-9699 6099
Fax:    +61-(0)2-9699 6088


http://www.netregistry.au.com
Domain House, PO Box 2088, Sydney, NSW 1043
_____________________________________________