In my opinion, IRA should have sent this apology (see below) to the
snail mail addresses as this is where the original deceptive mail out
was directed.  The cost of sending thousands of emails is also borne by
the user not IRA (http://www.caube.org.au/problem.htm#Money), a postal
correction would have been paid for by IRA.

Domain Name Reseller to Provide Refunds Following ACCC Federal Court
Action
http://203.6.251.7/accc.internet/digest/view_media.cfm?RecordID=887

Ironically this ACCC media release misspells auDA's web site address ...
"www.auda.org"

ACCC slugs Australian domain name reseller over dodgy invoices
http://zdnet.com.au/newstech/ebusiness/story/0,2000024981,20270526,00.ht
m


Josh
--
http://josh.id.au/

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Received: from Emu (050.004.dsl.pth.iprimus.net.au [210.50.111.50]) by
whim.sanctum.com.au (Postfix) with SMTP id 4896E5A6AC for <[snip-snip]>;
Tue, 10 Dec 2002 20:11:18 +1100 (EST)
From: "Corrective Advertising"
<correctiveadvertising&#167;registrations.com.au>
To: <[snip-snip]>
Subject: IRA apology following ACCC action
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 17:08:29
Message-Id: <20021210091118.4896E5A6AC&#167;whim.sanctum.com.au>

CORRECTIVE ADVERTISING

AN APOLOGY FROM
INTERNET REGISTRATIONS AUSTRALIA
 

Internet Registrations Australia Pty Ltd ("Internet Registrations
Australia") wishes to advise you that certain representations made in
its past promotional and business materials were misleading or likely to
mislead in breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cwlth). Internet
Registrations Australia acknowledges that these representations may have
misled you into believing, for instance, that:


- Internet Registrations Australia had a pre-existing relationship with
you before inviting you to renew your .com.au domain name registration;

- Internet Registrations Australia had an exclusive authority to
register or renew your .com.au domain name;

- Any renewals of .com.au domain name registrations were required to be
made through Internet Registrations Australia;

- Internet Registrations Australia had the same or substantially the
same administrative powers and functions as Melbourne IT Limited in
relation to .com.au domain name registrations and renewals;

- Internet Registrations Australia was responsible for .com.au domain
name registrations and renewals;

- .com.au domain name renewal applications could be processed earlier
than 60 days before the expiry of the existing registration;

- Internet Registrations Australia could register or renew .com.au
domain names for periods of 4, 6, 8 or 10 years;

- Internet Registrations Australia would supply you a free one year .biz
domain name registration on renewal of your .com.au domain name
registration;

- Internet Registrations Australia could secure pre-registration of
".biz" and ".info" domain names;

- Internet Registrations Australia was the authority responsible for
registration of ".biz" and ".info" domain names in Australia;


- By accepting the offer to list the .com.au address of your business in
businesses.com.au directory being promoted by Internet Registrations
Australia:   
(a) your.com.au address would actually be listed in such a directory;
and
(b)  the management of your .com.au domain name would not be transferred
to Internet Registrations Australia from your existing .com.au domain
provider to Internet Registrations Australia.

- Internet Registrations Australia was entitled to retain an
"administration" fee or any cancellation fee where money was refunded
following any consumer complaint about misleading conduct; and


- That non-excludable consumer protection provisions in the Trade
Practices Act can be excluded or did not apply to your dealings with
Internet Registrations Australia.

If you accepted Internet Registrations Australia Pty Ltd's offer to
provide domain name renewal or other domain name management services you
will shortly be receiving a letter informing you of how you may obtain a
refund if you believe you were misled by claims about any of its
services and did not receive a renewal, registration or pre-registration
service that Internet Registrations Pty Ltd led you to believe you were
paying for or were charged an "administration fee" by Internet
Registration Australia Pty Ltd as a condition of obtaining a refund.

You can contact Internet Registrations Australia at freecall hotline:
1800 833 000

If you have a query about this notice you may contact the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission on phone number 1300 302 502.

This notice has been issued pursuant to an undertaking enforceable under
section 87B of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cwlth) as a result of
action taken in the Federal Count of Australia pursuant to the Trade
Practices Act 1974 (Cwlth) by the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission.

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