Lea de Groot [dotau.org§elysiansystems.com] wrote:
> Deus Ex Machina wrote:
>  > while we are talking of bad policies:
>  > if you consider that in the pyramid of business sizes, the biggest 
> layer ie
>  > soho businesses is not the bottom layer. underneath soho is an even
>  > bigger layer of what I call proto businesses. these are people thinking
>  > about going into business or investigating setting up a business or just
>  > dreaming about it. this layer does not qualify for an abn and as such
>  > they dont qualify for a .com.au (you are not allowed to apply for an
>  > abn simply to apply for a domain name). elimination of requirement for a
>  > magic number would let these people back into the space. this is another
>  > bad and useless policy that has outlived its use by date.
> 
> I'm not convinced that this is true.
> http://help.abr.gov.au/content.asp?doc=/content/16985.htm
> implies that as long as you beleive you are operating something like a 
> business you can have an ABN.

thats the point there is a massive group of people under soho who are
not operating a business yet and hence dont qualify for either an abn or
a .com.au. the US market welcomes them with open arms after we tell them
to go jump.

> I don't really see a great benefit in allowing anyone to get a .com.au 
> domain -

you havnt been reading. how about a million+ people who now spend dollars
overseas and who would be happy to buy australian instead? that is such a
powerful argument for doing away with the magic number requirement that
you would have to burry your head in the sands of self indulgence not
acknowledge it.

>some basic proof that you are a business helps to reinforce 
> that confidence in the .com.au 2ld that I see in the Australian public.
> Joe Public knows that a .com might be a dodgy American company, but with 
> a .com.au domain they have some comeback with Consumer Affairs.

by the same token fraudsters can and do use .com.au to lul people into a false
sense of security, that completely outweighs any such benefits.

all european countries except france have dropped the requirement for
magic numbers. a magic numbers as a requirement for a domain is
meaningless and pointless bit of red tape. kre and others had a real
xenophobia about the name space been invaded by foreingers its time we
grew up and moved along with the times.

Vic