Melbourne, March 7, 2005: 

 

.au Domain Administration (auDA), the administrator of .au domain names,
today issued a warning to all Australian businesses with domain names, and
those likely to register domain names in the future, to be wary of an
organisation trading as Federal Bureau of Domain Names (FBODN),
http://www.fbodn.com <http://www.fbodn.com/> .

 

auDA has been informed that FBODN has contacted several Australian
businesses - including an internationally renowned Australian icon - falsely
positioning itself as the global domain name administrator.

 

auDA understands that FBODN has told these Australian businesses that
someone has applied to register their name in .biz but that FBODN has
blocked the registration and is now able to offer the name in .biz to the
Australian business.

 

Chris Disspain CEO of auDA said, "As far as auDA can ascertain, FBODN is not
an official, or US Government-endorsed, administrator of .biz or any other
domain name extension.  As such, Australian businesses should be wary of any
contact with FBODN."

 

"Australian businesses should also be aware that anyone can register a .biz
domain name.  Additionally, those who own the comparable .com domain name
extension are not able to veto the registration of the .biz extension by
someone else." Mr Disspain continued.

 

Despite FBODN's website being heavily branded with American icons, imagery
and references to the US Federal Government, www.fbodn.com
<http://www.fbodn.com/>  is registered to Michael Goodall - a resident of
London, England.

 

"At this stage auDA and its international domain name administrator
counterparts are still investigating FBODN.  However, I stress again that
all Australian businesses who are contacted by FBODN should act cautiously"
Mr Disspain concluded.

 

Adam King

Administrative Officer

.au Domain Administration

 <http://www.auda.org.au> www.auda.org.au