Content-MD5: MsEHCx/+lqG+G7RvP4Mh6Q== Sender: owner-dns§magna.com.au Precedence: bulk Reply-To: dns§intiaa.asn.au hi all, as many of you are aware ISOC-AU has been having discussions with MelbourneIT regarding changes to the com.au renewal procedure. what follows is a letter which will be faxed to MelbourneIT shortly. it is my understanding that these suggested changes have be ok'd by MelbourneIT & i would request that MelbourneIT respond to this letter in email to that effect. i have also attached a copy of our original letter for those who have not seen it yet. thanks to all the ISOC-AU members who contributed. the reason for posting to lists other than the ISOC-AU list is that a copy of my draft letter was forwarded to other forums as well as the public interest in this issue. Apologies in advance for those who will see this email 3 times. cheers, pauline Pauline van Winsen pauline§uniq.com.au Uniq Professional Services Pty Ltd www.uniq.com.au PO Box 70, Paddington, NSW 2021, (Sydney) Australia Phone: +61-2-9380-6360 Fax: +61-2-9380-6416 Pager: 016 287 000 Join the Internet Society of Australia! http://www.isoc-au.org.au ------------- Begin Forwarded Message ------------- [LOGO + ACN] The Internet Society of Australia A Chapter of the Internet Society C/- PO 366 KENSINGTON NSW 2033 14th March 1997 Professor Peter Gerrand Melbourne IT Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street, The University of Melbourne Parkville, Victoria Australia, 3052 Dear Peter, Thank you for responding to our letter regarding changes to the com.au domain name renewal procedure. From the telephone conversations between MelbourneIT and ISOC-AU we understand that MelbourneIT have three categories of domain name renewals to deal with. These are described as follows: Category 1 com.au domain names registered by MelbourneIT after the 8th of October 1996 as part of the backlog processing of com.au domain names for which no fee has yet been paid. These domain names were registered at no charge when MelbourneIT commenced operation on the 8th of October 1996, to speed processing of registrations with the understanding that a renewal fee would fall due in January 1997. Category 2 com.au domain names which are deemed "dead". i.e. the owners of the domain names cannot be contacted by email, phone or letter. Category 3 com.au domain names registered prior to the 8th of October 1996 which have not been renewed. That is, domain names held by owners who have no prior "contract" with MelbourneIT. MelbourneIT stated that they would like to process renewals for each of these categories in the following way: Category 1 com.au domain names which fall into Category 1 need to be registered before March 17 as the domain name owners have an existing relationship with MelbourneIT. It is also understood that the March 17 deadline may have already moved to April 17 as a result of a Federal Court action. Category 2 com.au "dead" domain names would be removed on July 1 1997 if no contact with the domain owner could be established. Category 3 com.au domain names registered prior to the 8th of October 1996 who could be contacted could elect to remain unlicensed until the 8th of October 1997 providing no work was required to be performed on the domain. ISOC-AU will endorse the above changes to the renewal procedure with the following caveats: Category 1: Providing there was a clear understanding in writing to the domain name owners registered after the 8th of October 1996 that registration would be completed for free but renewal fees would fall due in early 1997. It is understood these names were processed as part of the backlog of domain name registrations left over from the old registration procedure. Category 2: That a public register of "dead" com.au domain names be established immediately so that the public may assist in tracking down domain name owners. It is suggested that this list be published via a web page and that the existence of the web page be published to the Internet community. If the owner of a "dead" domain name did come forward before the 1st of July 1997, they could elect to move to Category 3. i.e. no fee would be due until the 1st of November 1997. Category 3 That the renewal date be moved to the 1st of November 1997 to give com.au domain name owners a clear 1 year grace period. ISOC-AU would also encourage MelbourneIT to allow com.au domain name owners to query the status of their renewal status via electronic means. We believe this will remove much of the current confusion regarding the renewal status of domain names in the com.au name space. Though not in the scope of our original letter, MelbourneIT will need to consider how to process com.au domain name owners who have licensed their domains on the understanding that a fee would fall due on the 17th of March 1997. It may be wise to consider extending the license of those domain name owners who have renewed but who do not require work to be performed on their domain until the 1st of November 1997. Yours sincerely, Pauline van Winsen Director, Internet Society of Australia A Chapter of ISOC ------------- End Forwarded Message ------------- orig. letter: ------------- Begin Forwarded Message ------------- [LOGO + ACN] The Internet Society of Australia A Chapter of the Internet Society C/- PO 366 KENSINGTON NSW 2033 10th March 1997 Professor Peter Gerrand Melbourne IT Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street, The University of Melbourne Parkville, Victoria Australia, 3052 Dear Peter, The Internet Society of Australia is concerned about Melbourne IT's current plan to remove domain names from the com.au name space which have not been renewed by the 17th of March 1997. ISOC-AU urges you to leave domain names which have not been renewed by the 17th of March untouched until the anniversary of the domain name's original registration or until the 1st of November 1997, whichever date arrives first. If the original registration date cannot be determined then the renewal cut-off date should fall to the 1st November. If MelbourneIT is asked to perform changes on behalf of an unrenewed domain before either of these times, only then is it reasonable that a renewal fee be paid to Melbourne IT by the domain name owner at that time. The motivations you have given for your renewal process are valid and we consider the process of maintaining the integrity of the DNS to be of great importance. If the integrity of the current com.au namespace is flawed MelbourneIT has a wonderful opportunity to be public-spirited and to improve the DNS as MelbourneIT will already be contacting domain name owners as part of the renewal process. Administrative and delegation information and an original registration date can be determined when contact with the domain name owner is established. The domain name can then be added to the formal renewal process so that the domain name owner can be billed at the appropriate time. Domain name owners could also relinquish unwanted domain names at this time. Requiring the immediate registration of all domain names is, rightly or wrongly, seen by many members of the Society as anti-competitive. It is felt that forcing most active domain names to be licensed with Melbourne IT will make it very difficult for effective competition to arise. Given the enormous competitive advantage that Melbourne IT already has in the area of DNS administration, we feel it can afford to make a gesture which will be of great long-term benefit to the Australian Internet. There is overwhelming public support for the renewal mechanism we have proposed above. This mechanism has been proposed to MelbourneIT before by parties other than ISOC-AU. We urge you to permit unrenewed domain names to continue unaltered until a change is requested, until the anniversary of their registrations (if known) or until the 1st of November 1997 whichever is the earlier. This would be an effective show of good faith to the Australian Internet community, would lessen the financial strain on many domain name holders and would provide the space needed for alternative DNS services to arise. We believe that not only would such a course of action not harm Melbourne IT's business interests, it would actively promote Melbourne IT as a company with the real future health of the Australian DNS at heart, and would go a long way towards removing many of the reservations that the Australian Internet community has with respect to this revolutionary change in the way the Australian DNS is managed. Yours sincerely, Pauline van Winsen Director, The Internet Society of Australia. A Chapter of ISOC ------------- End Included Message -------------Received on Fri Mar 14 1997 - 16:41:36 UTC
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