Well, I said in my last email on this subject that I'd

> try and get my thoughts /
> comments sorted out better and in more detail

Finding time to read all the necessary documents and think them thru is
always a problem, but here's some further thoughts on the Transfer of
Registrar or Record issue.


The draft document at http://www.auda.org.au/docs/auda-transfers-draft.pdf
has as Section 3.2 b):

"the registrant must renew their domain name licence when the transfer takes
place (i.e.. the registrant receives a new 2 year domain name licence from
the
gaining registrar)."

The effect of this clause is critical - the process for changing 'Registrar
of Record' actually becomes a just a version of "Renewal of Domain Name",
with the proviso that domain name renewals can be done at any time, but
they're always for two years.  In effect, we end up with 3 versions of a
similar procedure:


1)  Application for a new domain name
2)  Renewal of an existing domain name
3)  Renewal of an domain name, with a change of Registrar of Record

And one procedure document should be able to cover them all.  Treating them
as slightly different versions of the same process means that things which
are common to all three only have to be stated once, and the end result
should be simpler and much more consistent than treating them as different
processes.


The process is always going to be a tradeoff between:

* efficiency - resulting in low costs to Registrars & Resellers and
therefore to Registrants, in a competitive environment
* effectiveness - resulting in a desirable outcome with regard to policy
issues

There are specific policy issues which may affect one or more of the
versions of the application / renewal processes, and they appear to include
(in no particular order):

* Authentication
* Bad Faith Registrations
* Deceptive Practices
* Validity Checking

and there may be others I haven't thought of.



Looking at those policy issues in more detail:


* Authentication - i.e. Authenticating the entity submitting a request
Authentication needs to be done at any time subsequent to a new domain name
application where a change is made to the domain name details, to the
contact details for the domain name, or to a domain name delegation.  It
doesn't really apply to new domain name applications as the entity applying
automatically becomes the authorised holder of the domain.

* Bad Faith Registrations - i.e. discouraging them
Discouraging bad faith registrations should be done as part of the domain
name application.  It doesn't need to be done at domain name renewal time -
its difficult to see how any mechanism to deal with bad faith registrations
can be effectively linked to the domain name renewal process.

* Deceptive Practices - i.e. discouraging deceptive practices by entities
other than Registrants (i.e. Registrars / Resellers / Others)
The objective is to stop deceptive practices by entities on Registrants
designed to make the Registrant either pay more money than necessary or
change Registrar / Reseller without their knowledge.  This applies for
Renewals with change of Registrar of Record.

* Validity Checking
For domain name applications, the eligibility of the applying entity, and
the name they're applying for, need to be checked.  Following the existing
principle of grandfathering, validity checking is not necessary at time of
renewal.




In Summary:

                      New         |         | Renewal with
                      Application | Renewal | Change of Registrar
                      ------------|---------|--------------------
Authentication           No       |   Yes   |   Yes
Bad Faith Registrations  Yes      |   No    |   No
Deceptive Practices      No       |    ?    |   Yes
Validity checking        Yes      |   No    |   No




Having identified the policy objectives, it should be possible to create one
clear procedure document to address the three versions of the process:

1. New Application
2. Renewal
3. Renewal with Change of Registrar


We'd then end up with a "Domain Name Application and Renewal Procedure"
document, and won't need a separate one for Change of Registrar of Record.




Regards, Mark

Mark Hughes
Effective Business Applications Pty Ltd
effectivebusiness§pplications.com.au
www.pplications.com.au
+61 4 1374 3959