RE: [DNS] RE: auDA to consider new names for .au

From: Dassa <dassa§dhs.org> Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 23:19:42 +1000 · This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Sat Sep 09 2017 - 22:00:05 UTC

True.  But it is something that can not be disregarded, it must be dealt
with.

|>  > |> I tend to agree with you that creating new 2LDs adds very
little value to
|>  > |> the .au domain space.  Lets give id.au a go and see how it
fares...much
|>  > |> the same as the recently released me.uk I suspect (ie noone
wants
|>  > them).
|> 
|> I agree with Jon and several other people who've said 
|> something similar.
|> 
|>  > <SNIP>
|>  > 
|>  > I disagree.  There is a need for some additional 2LD's.
|> 
|> What evidence supports this claim?

I haven't done major research and can not point you to statistics.  I
can only state my opinion on talking to people in the community.  Far as
I know, there has not been any research with this question in mind.  So
the question is much like asking if we really need better living
conditions.

For one in the fact under gov.au there is a thriving namespace based on
geographical location.  Obviously if AuDA is considering expanding the
namespace, they consider there is a consumer demand to do so.  You may
do better to direct this question to them.

|>  > What I don't want to see is hostnames under such 2LD's costing
|>  > the same sort of price as *.com.au hostnames.  I would like to see
a
|>  > reasonable price charged for (city).(state).au and a fixed price
of say
|>  > $5AUD a year on any sub-domains under them as a condition of
registration.
|> 
|> More to the point, who gets to 'own' some city/town/village under
this
|> proposal?  How will they then decide who may 'licence' subdomains,
and
|> under what criteria?  (Hint: all this has been covered by prior
panels)

Not all of it.  The criteria for registrations would need to be set
first and then the criteria for any organisation to manage the
additional namespaces would need to be defined to meet the criteria.

|> Since these would not be commercial operations (covered by com.au or
|> perhaps .net.au), nor associations and clubs (.asn.au), nor other
|> non-profits (.org.au), nor individuals (.id.au, especially in its
|> recently expanded form), who and what exactly would they be to serve?

Who said they wouldn't be commercial operations?  I see such a namespace
as serving all, commercial, non-commercial and individual.

|> There appears to be no way that AuDA is going to demand less than $11
as
|> its slice of any domain names registered in Australia henceforth, as
|> this is as close as the previously free .org.au domains come.

That would be a shame.  There is no justification for such fees on
hostnames past the 2LD level.

|>  > The (city) level should have strict criteria for the body
|>  > acting as the registry on the 3LD.  For instance the body should
offer
|>  > registrations in a particular format that would be consistant
across all
|>  > the 3LD's and at a set price.
|> 
|> The only bodies that could get district.state.au would be local
councils
|> and the like.  Are these appropriate bodies to become domain
allocators,
|> or perhaps salespeople, within their stated brief?  I don't think so.

The idea would be to set the criteria for the operation of the registry
bodies and anyone who can provide the service would be free to apply.
It does not have to be limited to local councils or existing bodies.

|>  > Will most likely expand on this in a submission to AuDA.
|> 
|> I guess you'll have researched existing such proposals such as the
'one
|> city one site' (as if!) proposal already hoping to centralise control
of
|> communities' resources under government bureaucracies.  It's a crock.

I'm already aware of this proposal and do not agree with it.  My main
point would be to make the namespace appropriate and cheap enough for
everyone.

|>  > As for other 2LD's, given the use of com.au etc, if the
geographical
|>  > names were introduced, there may not be any need to expand in
other
|>  > directions for some time.
|> 
|> There is no demonstrated need for more .au 2LDs now.  The .com.au
space
|> remains close enough to infinite for practical purposes already, and
|> there's an equal amount of 'spare space' in every other 2L domain.

What I would propose would be an alternative to the .com.au name space
that would be cheaper and available to everyone.  It would be
geographically based to allow for a form of directory service being
built in.

|> This whole exercise can only benefit those trying to sell more
domains.
|> People will register domains as needed.  With more 2LDs such as
.biz.au
|> we'll see the d-pushers trying to frighten people into registering a
|> .biz.au for every .com.au or .net.au "before somebody else does";
it's
|> purely a scam to let a few mates make more virtually unearned money,
and
|> apart from big companies to whom it's pennies, increased 
|> consumer costs.

If handled correctly it could result in the namespace being opened up to
more people.  At much reduced pricing.  It is possible for me to
purchase a com.au hostname and doing something similar from a 3LD level
up but what I propose is for AuDA to actually control the process and to
lower costs for consumers.  I want to see the namespace used more
effectively.  

|> And why would AuDA be pushing such a proposal?  Well, there's that
$11
|> per domain fee, so AuDA has a vested interest in growing, not just
|> managing, the .au namespace.  And perhaps there'll be more 
|> auction$ ..

It is up to us all to push for lower prices and more consumer benefits.

|> My bet is that the panel will be predominantly filled by people
already
|> of the view that we "need" more 2LDs, at least half of which will
stand
|> to gain financially by their implementation.  As usual, the 'public
|> participation' will be a sham, and views contrary to the
predetermined
|> outcome will be politely but firmly ignored anyway.

We can but try.

|> Bah, humbug!
|> 
|> Cheers, Ian

Sounds like you have given up already.

Darryl (Dassa) Lynch.