Jim,

I like all the market related stuff auDA does - that sits squarely within
their charter. I wish they would do more of it - they should. If anything
its too little too late - it's taken them a few years too long to get round
to it.

The endeavours I find dubious are things like the auDA Foundation (which is
what I specifically indicated when talking about auDA moving millions of
dollars into separate entities).

The problem with the Foundation is not that auDA has put millions into a
grant giving Foundation, but that the objectives of the Foundation are much
wider than those of auDA. So where auDA's mission is tightly centred around
domain names and DNS issues, the Foundations is not, and can fund - for
example - studies into how the internet can benefit remote rural
communities. Now that's a worthy cause no doubt, but it doesn't have
anything to do with domain names and there is no reason why domain name
owners should be effectively taxed to provide the funds for this activity -
there are other bodies that are better suited - and properly constituted -
to do this.

I think that more than one staff member of auDA staff flying around the
world to attend ICANN conferences 4 times a year to be excessive.

All this stuff I wouldn't mind too much if they were doing their job in
their own back yard, but they're not. After 4 years of deregulation,
registrars are still being told that we can't get access to the ASIC
databases for what is quite frankly a crap reason. What it boils down to is
that auDA haven't made more than a cursory attempt to assist registrars in
implementing their policy efficiently. We are expected to apply manual
processes to what ought to be an automated service. 

Our legitimate concerns about the uselessness of the current policy wrt
close and substantial matches are only now being taken seriously, despite
the years of abuse of this rule that have rendered it ridiculous at best.

When I was an auDA board member, I had to fight pretty hard to get reduction
in the auDA domain name fee. The prevailing attitude was that the money
coming in should be used rather than returned to the market in lower fees.
It has been a case of 'more money - now what can we do with that' rather
than what it should be: 'more money than we need, lets look at reducing our
take and thereby reduce prices for the end user'.

The Board composition is flawed - and to be fair this is the subject of a
current constitutional review. By and large - in my experience - it acts as
a rubber stamp for the executive. 

Ultimately - in my opinion (and I have more experience in domain name
matters than just about anyone) - it is the Australian domain name owners
that are getting screwed - higher prices, red tape, lack of certainty in
their ownership of a name, and confusing policies that serve to retard
innovation.

Larry



> -----Original Message-----
> From: dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au§dotau.org 
> [mailto:dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au§dotau.org] 
> On Behalf Of Jim Preston
> Sent: Friday, 9 June 2006 3:21
> To: .au DNS Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [DNS] france ditches magic number 
> requirementRe:Domaindisputeheats up
> 
> 
> Larry
> 
> You state in your email "dubious endeavours" - I think they 
> auDA has gone out of its way in recent times to promote both 
> itself and the .au industry as whole.
> 
> As a registrar I would have thought that the more promotion 
> the auDA does direct to the public the greater the flow on 
> effect would be.
> 
> For example:
> 
> - auDA has run a series of advertisements in major newspapers
> - auDA has placed full pages ads in BRW at least 3 or 4 times 
> which is directly targeting the business community (and hence 
> purchasers of au
> Domains) for around $15,000 per ad to a magazine the has a 
> 200,000 readership each week seems good value.
> 
> I don't think anyway should be too concerned about a 
> concentrated marketing effort from auDA - you need to spend 
> money to make money - and if $200-300,000 has been spent to 
> promote auDA and its leadership under Chris Disspain - surely 
> that is a good use of the registration fees.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Jim
> 
> On 6/8/06, Larry Bloch <larry.bloch&#167;netregistry.com.au> wrote:
> > Darryl,
> >
> > You are absolutely correct about price. Red tape in .au 
> makes it more 
> > expensive. Poor tender management by auDA results in the registry 
> > taking more than their fare share. Siphoning millions of 
> dollars into 
> > separate legal entities for dubious endeavours all add to 
> the cost of 
> > your .com.au name.
> >
> > Making businesses jump through hoops to justify their selection of 
> > name has the same effect.
> >
> > It drives people away from .au to .com. I think that's bad. 
> I'd prefer 
> > Australian businesses to use .au. Partly from self interest 
> and partly 
> > because I think in most cases it's more appropriate.
> >
> > I disagree with your assertion that the current policy enforces the 
> > .au branding. As you said, most people don't understand. 
> They choose 
> > what is easier and what is cheaper. And the numbers show 
> the result: 
> > gTLDs 2, Australia 1
> >
> > Larry
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au&#167;dotau.org
> > [mailto:dns-bounces+larry.bloch=netregistry.com.au&#167;dotau.org] On 
> > Behalf Of Darryl (Dassa) Lynch
> > Sent: Thursday, 8 June 2006 8:09
> > To: '.au DNS Discussion List'
> > Subject: Re: [DNS] france ditches magic number requirement 
> > Re:Domaindisputeheats up
> >
> >
> >
> > |> -----Original Message-----
> > |> From: dns-bounces+dassa=dhs.org&#167;dotau.org
> > |> [mailto:dns-bounces+dassa=dhs.org&#167;dotau.org] On Behalf Of Larry 
> > |> Bloch
> > |> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 5:59 PM
> > |> To: '.au DNS Discussion List'
> > |> Subject: Re: [DNS] france ditches magic number requirement
> > |> Re: Domaindisputeheats up
> > |>
> > <SNIP>
> > |> Australia has 1.2m non AU domain names. Double the number of .AU 
> > |> names. A far higher ratio than the three countries 
> mentioned. Many 
> > |> may say 'so what'. I think it's a scandal that our regulatory 
> > |> regime drives Australian businesses to register .com's 
> over .AU's.
> > |> Regardless of the relative merits, it is auDA's job to
> > |> SUPPORT uptake of .AU for Australian's, no RETARD that
> > |> uptake as it does.
> >
> > I don't see the policy or rules from AuDA as having much of 
> an impact 
> > for a business deciding to go with .com rather than under .au, the 
> > biggest incentive I see and hear about is the price.  Same 
> for hosting 
> > in Australia as opposed to hosting overseas, it is price 
> that drives 
> > the market more than anything.
> >
> > If the Australian market had $5 or free domain names under .au I'm 
> > sure it would leap ahead in bounds.  Would you like to 
> start running 
> > loss leaders and see if this isn't true?  It is what a lot of 
> > companies are doing in other namespaces to build up the numbers.
> >
> > I deal with a fair number of businesses and people, the majority of 
> > them don't really understand the differences with the TLD's 
> or how the 
> > namespaces operate.  Getting more people investing in the .au 
> > namespace isn't about changing the rules, it is about getting the 
> > consultants, the web designers, the hosting companies and everyone 
> > else who advises business to recognise the importance of the .au 
> > branding.  The policies and rules in place support that branding.  
> > What you advocate dilutes the brand.
> >
> > Think of .au as a trademark if you wish.  Those who invest 
> in sharing 
> > the use of the trademark appreciate it as it is.  Those who don't 
> > already invest just don't realise the potential as yet.
> >
> > Darryl (Dassa) Lynch
> >
> > 
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