Bruce,

I must take issue with your statement "The new agreement was substantially
the same as the old
agreement with the inclusion of new provisions such as the requirement to
comply with auDA policies."

Your new agreement also stipulates that resellers must take out Professional
Indemnity insurance, the cheapest of which is several thousand dollars
premium.  The reason for such a requirement seems to be that MIT want to be
indemnified against something for which they are responsible in the first
place.  A reseller *cannot* act on their own volition in the assignment or
allocation of the domain name - that's MIT's responsibility.

So why would MIT need to be covered, given that the *only* relationship with
MIT lies in the reseller making application for the provision for a domain
name on behalf of a registrant.

In practical terms, MIT have introduced impediments that weren't there in
the previous agreement, that go considerably beyond simply requiring
compliance with policy.

Ron Stark

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Tonkin [mailto:Bruce.Tonkin§melbourneit.com.au]
Sent: Friday, 11 October 2002 10:23 AM
To: 'dns§lists.auda.org.au'
Subject: [DNS] Regarding Webarama mailout


Hello Cyrille,

Thanks for forwarding the email below.  It is great how the DNS list is a
bulletin board for customer communication notices.

I think the mail below is an appropriate response.  I will add some factual
comments in the text below.

Regards,
Bruce

> 
> 
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: Webarama [mailto:support§webarama.com.au]
> Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 10:04 PM
> To:  CYRILLE LEFEVRE
> Cc: Webarama Australia
> Subject: MelbourneIT Mailout
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> CYRILLE,
> 
> Many of you will today have received an email from 
> MelbourneIT regarding
> your .com.au domain name.
> 
> NOTE: If you did not receive this email, please disregard 
> this contact from
> us.
> 
> The MelbourneIT email is, in our opionion, likely to confuse 
> and mislead
> owners of .com.au domain names. Here are the facts;
> 
> 1. MelbourneIT held a monopoly over domain name registration 
> until July 1,
> 2002.

In the same way that AusRegistry now has a monopoly.  

Melbourne IT did create the opportunity for an industry of companies to
participate in the domain name registration business, via a reseller
program.  Competition and consumer choice was available at the reseller
level.  It was under no obligation to do so.  We now have an additional
level in the industry - Registrar.  Companies can now choose to be either a
registrar or a reseller of a registrar.  There is now competition at both
the registrar and reseller level.  Melbourne IT has chosen to become an auDA
accredited registrar.

> 
> 2. Until July 1, 2002, Webarama registered domains on behalf 
> of our clients
> through MelbourneIT. We now use another accredited regsitrar, 
> Enetica, to
> register .com.au names for us.
> 
> 3. MelbourneIT did not 'terminate' our agreement with them, 
> we simply chose
> to do business with a friendlier, cheaper, company. Many other domain
> resellers have also moved away from MelbourneIT seeking 
> greener pastures.

Actually Melbourne IT did "terminate" the agreement.  As part of the new
industry structure after 1 July 2002, a new agreement was necessary that
incorporated the provisions mandated by auDA in the auDA Registrar
Agreement.  We sent notice of termination to resellers, along with the new
agreement to sign.  The new agreement was substantially the same as the old
agreement with the inclusion of new provisions such as the requirement to
comply with auDA policies.

In the same way that we try to remind domain name registrants to renew their
names, we sent several reminders to resellers to sign the new agreement,
then we suspended access to their accounts (analogous to undelegating a
domain name) in the hope they would communicate with us, and finally we
proceeded with our standard termination process (analogous to a delete
process) where we update passwords and advise all affected registrants.

We have been using this standard procedure since 1 July 2002.

It would be more correct for you to say:
"MelbourneIT terminated our old agreement with them as part of the new
environment created on 1 July 2002 and we simply chose not to sign a new
agreement with them.  We instead chose
to do business with a friendlier, cheaper, company. Many other domain
resellers have also moved away from MelbourneIT seeking greener pastures."

Note that the standard Melbourne IT agreement is in no way exclusive, and
many companies that have elected to become registrars or resellers of other
registrars have signed new agreements with Melbourne IT since 1 July 2002.

> 
> 4. You may choose to renew your domain with ANY domain 
> registrar or reseller
> you choose. MelbourneIT charge $140.00, Webarama charge $99.00
> 
> 5. Clients who have been contacted by MelbourneIT can either;
> a) Choose to renew at the higher price with MelbourneIT OR
> b) Choose to renew with Webarama and continue to experience 
> our friendly,
> knowledgable support.
> 
> The email from MelbourneIT lists your domain expiry date. You 
> may renew your
> domain any time within 90 days of the domain expiring.
> 
> Please visit 
http://webarama.com.au/forum/showthread.php?threadid=197 to
view the original mailout from MelbourneIT.

If you have any questions relating to this mailout please contact us at
support§webarama.com.au

Webarama Sales Support
support§webarama.com.au
---------------------------
Webarama - OzAus Pty Ltd
http://www.webarama.com.au
ACN 097 354 348
Tel: +61 3 9723 8933
Fax: +61 3 9723 3465
---------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
List policy, unsubscribing and archives => http://www.auda.org.au/list/dns/
Please do not retransmit articles on this list without permission of the 
author, further information at the above URL.  (368 subscribers.)