<snip from BIZ.COM-http://www.theage.com.au>  




                   Agreement on names will benefit Australia 

                   DOMAIN CONTROL by KIRSTY NEEDHAM 

                   Changes made by the Internet's new governing body,
The Internet Corporation for
                   Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in Los Angeles
this month will benefit
                   Australian businesses, says the chief executive of
Australia's National Office for the
                   Information Economy, Dr Paul Twomey.

                   Dr Twomey, who heads ICANN's government advisory
committee, said a significant
                   agreement had been reached between Network Solutions
Inc, which until recently had a
                   monopoly on the sale of .com domain names, and ICANN
to foster international
                   competition in the sale of names.

                   Internet Names Worldwide, which has issued a
prospectus to raise $92.5 million on the
                   Australian Stock Exchange, is among 80 companies that
have recently been granted the
                   right to compete with NSI.

                   The ''Who Is?'' database that Internet users access
to determine whether a domain has
                   been taken has until now referred people to NSI's Web
site to buy available names.
                   Under the agreement with ICANN, however, the database
will now be housed by a
                   neutral third party and will list all companies
offering domains for sale.

                   Dr Twomey said ICANN would look next at how Internet
domains were run in countries
                   outside the US.

                   ''I think that what is quite clear is that in some
parts of this regime, governments need to
                   be there as an enforcement mechanism,'' he said.

                   In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, domain name
disputes are being referred to
                   courts.<unsnip>

I think we all NEED to ask what "an enforcement mechanism is?
(I always get worried when big brother starts huffing and puffing...)

I also want to ask when NOIE is going to start actually doing something
about the .au?

I'm starting to get a little sick of all this publicity about domains,
especially when we have so many REAL questions and queries about how the
.au is being and has been administered, and they are not being
answered...

Doc Twomey is quoted as saying next he will be looking at how domains
are administered in countries outside the US....How about looking at
Australia, specifically, the current situation with INA and the
.com.au.........

Or is this a little too obvious for us all?

Mike.