http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,3196733%5e16123%5e%5enbv
%5e,00.html


auDA won't get .org.au: Elz
Kate Mackenzie
NOVEMBER 06, 2001  
 
AUSTRALIA'S media-shy internet pioneer Robert Elz has asserted his
control over .org.au, saying auDA has no right to the second-level
domain.

The .au Domain Authority (auDA) yesterday launched the next phase of
competition for Australia's domain name system, even though Mr Elz
refused to delegate authority for the non-profit .org.au and .id.au
names to AuDA. 
"It seems that they [auDA] might want to [take control of .org.au and
.id.au], but it isn't going to happen," Mr Elz said in an email sent to
several journalists, auDA and the National Office for the Information
Economy. 

AuDA applied in May to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) for the .au authority to be redelegated to auDA without
Mr Elz's consent. ICANN accepted the application and the formal handover
of .au has taken place. 

Yesterday AuDA issued a request for expressions of interest for
registrars, or domain name wholesalers, to take part in a technical
testbed in the lead up to competition for all second-level .au domains,
including .org.au and .id.au. 

AuDA chief executive Chris Disspain said auDA had been advised that
ICANN's redelegation of .au meant the authority could also take control
of .org.au and .id.au. 

But Mr Elz disagrees: 


If that is the legal advice that auDA have, then I suspect it is based
upon someone assuming that "delegation" as used as a term in DNS matters
is similar to delegation as used in agency law. 
That's simply not true - or perhaps more accurately, if some court were
to determine that it is true, then the effect would be that all the
org.au names that exist (and all the com.au and everything else as well)
would have "no further force or effect" as of the same date. 

The "delegations" from org.au to the various org.au domain names were
(and are) done on exactly the same basis as the "delegation" of org.au
from AU. 

org.au is not going to be any part of auDA's (near) future (nor assuming
that registration of 3LDs would be permitted, is id.au). 

If/when auDA actually take control of AU, they can create new domains
for organisations or individuals if that is their desire. They cannot
usurp the rights of any of the organisations to which control of any
sub-domains has been passed.

The .org.au and little-used .id.au domains are the only second-level
domains still delegated to Mr Elz. Others, including the popular
.com.au, have been delegated to other orgnisations over the past few
years. 

Mr Elz still processes all applications for .org.au domains, which are
free for non-profit organisations. Some applicants have complained it is
taking up to two months to receive a response to an application. Under
auDA's proposed regime, a successful tenderer to run the .org.au and
.id.au registries would have to provide quick registrations, but
registrants would likely be charged at least $12, as the registry would
have to pay auDA a fee for each name. 

Mr Elz, who has not spoken to the media in person for several years and
only rarely communicates with journalists by email, sent the message
last night in response to a query about AuDA's actions. 

Mr Disspain has been contacted for comment. 
 


_______________________________________________________
Skeeve Stevens     Email: skeeve§skeeve.org
Website: www.skeeve.org  - Telephone: (0414) 753 383
Address: P.O Box 1035, Epping, NSW, 1710, Australia
_______________________________________________________
Avis est! Aeronavis est! supervir est!


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