4. Who is auDA?
• auDA administers the .au domain space
• Industry self-regulatory body
• Not-for-profit, membership-based
• Endorsed by Australian Govt in 2000
• Contract with ICANN in 2001
• Board of 11 directors, elected and independent
• 12 staff in Melbourne and Canberra
5. What do we do?
• Regulatory
– .au domain name policy development
– .au registrar accreditation and regulation
– .au domain name complaints and disputes
• Security and stability
– technical management of .au TLD infrastructure
• Community programs
– auDA Foundation, ANZIAs
7. Current state of .au
• 2.63 million .AU domain names
• 39 accredited registrars, 4,700+ resellers
• Lowest com.au retail price = $19.95 / 2 years
• Deloitte Access Economics report Dec 2011:
– $475 million contribution to national economy
• registration and hosting = $269 million
• other web services = $206 million
– 4,300 full-time jobs nationwide
11. Resellers = cowboys??
• Pre-2002 – misleading domain name renewal
notices/invoices
– led to expiry dates being removed from WHOIS
• 2003-2004 – misleading mail outs by Domain
Names Australia re .com version of com.au
– auDA won legal action in Federal Court for
misleading and deceptive conduct
12. Reseller changes
• auDA 2012 Industry Advisory Panel
recommendations
– “The Panel understands that resellers want to be
recognised “in the system” as a form of protection
in the case of registrar failure, and to better
facilitate portfolio portability … some kind of
formal recognition of resellers would also make it
easier for registrants to identify the entity that is
managing their domain name.”
13. Resellers in WHOIS
• “Reseller Contact ID” attached to domains
under management in registry database
• Reseller name and ID displayed on WHOIS
• Voluntary system – resellers apply to auDA for
Reseller Contact ID
• Registrars must facilitate – competitive market
14. Bulk transfers for resellers
• Tied to Reseller Contact ID in registry database
• Resellers will be allowed to bulk transfer all
domains under management WITHOUT prior
registrant consent
• Requirements for registrant notification and
opt-out period prior to transfer
15. Registrar security
• auDA Information Security Standard (ISS) to
be introduced mid-2013
• All accredited registrars must be ISS certified
within 24 months
• Future possibility of extending ISS certification
to resellers, on voluntary basis
17. New gTLDs
• Currently there are 22 gTLDs
– ICANN’s new gTLD program is aimed at increasing
competition and choice
• Total 1,930 applications for 1,409 names
– 911 from Nth America (47.2%)
– 675 from Europe (35%)
– 303 from Asia-Pacific (15.7%)
– 24 from Latin America and Caribbean (1.2%)
– 17 from Africa (0.9%)
18. New gTLDs
• Generics (eg. .music), brands (eg. .apple),
geographics (eg. .berlin), IDNs (eg. Arabic
script)
• Google submitted 101 applications, but
Facebook, Twitter and eBay did not apply
• 32 Australian applicants including:
.melbourne .sydney .afl .nab .cba .amp .anz .seven
.sbs .iinet .yellowpages .auspost .latrobe .monash
.bond .rmit .tennis .woodside .seek
19. New gTLDs
• Objection period and Governmental Early
Warning process
– Australian government lodged 130 warnings, inc.
.sucks and .wtf
• Trademark Clearinghouse
• 108 IDN applications given priority by ICANN
• Other applications batched by lottery
– first cab off the rank is .play (Amazon)
20. New gTLDs
• Top 10 most valuable names according to
Sedo:
1 .shop 6 .one
2 .web 7 .blog
3 .site 8 .eco
4 .music 9 .sport
5 .hotel 10 .love
21. What does it mean for .au?
• Relatively low level of Australian consumer
awareness at present
• Consumer confusion – possibility of scams
• Future challenge in maintaining and
positioning the “.au brand” – security, stability
and integrity
• Possible demand for new .au 2LDs and/or
direct registrations (eg. yourname.au)
