On Tue, Jul 06, 1999 at 11:06:11AM +0930, ShaunLeCornu wrote:
|         I must say that I agree with Ari, domain names are a very
| important part of a merchadisees tools only because the consumer is
| pushing it that way. Robert Elz mentioned that by deregulating the .au
| domain names that you will allow huge foreign companies in who will buy
| up all the "GOOD" domain names.

So are you suggesting that it is ok to allow huge Australian (or small
for that matter) companies to buy up all the "Good" names ? 

|         Surely we can set up some criteria were by we can protect
| Australian business. I am only suggesting that we deregulate within
| Australia, surely the aim of this exercise is to support Australian
| businesses, to promote Australia on the internet. Perhaps one of the
| criteria would be that the parent company must be located in Australia
| to own a .au domain name, their has to be a way that we can have a
| compedative advantage over the rest of the world in our own
| country."Australia must have access to .au generic domain names" before
| we lose the continuity of them. Someone now has .au.com. The consumer is
| going to get confused as to what, where and how to search for what they
| want.

I think that many of the rules for the .com.au and .net.au domains that 
are in place are there to protect the interests of Australian business.
I also belive that to a large extent these rules work, and that the current
situation is better than it would have been without them.

These rules do not make everyone happy, but they do ensure that _most_
organisations have a good chance of getting a name that is representitive
of who they are without having to pay a riddiculous amount of money to
some name-grabber.

I just dont understand what people are hoping deregulation will gain for
the internet community at large. Rules that make it easier for one person
to register a domain, will make it impossible for the next person who
wanted that same name. Open-slather will mean that more people miss out
on names that represent what they do rather than less (IMHO anyway).

I think many of the deregulation arguments are comming from individuals
and organisations hoping for a cut of the profits that are to be made, and
that until now, have been restricted to a chosen few. I understand this
point of view, but I dont understand what the internet community is going
to gain from increasing the chosen few domain rego organisations to a
chosen score.

|     I think what is concerning Ari, myself and many other people is that
| there seems to be a feeling that everybody is equal but some are more
| equal than others. Currently their is ademand for something that we cant
| have, but people are finding ways aroud that eventually with enough
| pressure things will undoutably change. I think that the alarm bells are
| ringing now so lets not make the mistake now.
| Shuan LeCornu

-- 
Regards,

	Anthony Hill		+61 3 9251 3678	
	System Administrator 	connect.com.au