At the moment, there is such a gulf between the auDA Board and management – and a lot of its Members. Because both sides feel justified in their stances, it really does feel like the opening sentence of Charles Dickens “A Tale of Two Cities”.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
♦ So my question to auDA is do we all prefer “Resolution” to “Revolution”? I know I much prefer resolution – and I speak for many auDA members (and friends).
Here is my “open letter” to Cameron Boardman (CEO of auDA), and the Board collectively. I believe it provides a sensible way forward – and will help reduce conflicts with members and stakeholders.
PDF: Open letter to auDA 28 May 2017
What do you think?
Ned O’Meara – 28th May 2017
Disclaimer
Thank you Ned immensely for succinctly addressing these concerns that every .au user should be aware of.
But talk and watch from a distance; that is all we can do.
As rule-makers, they put themselves above the rules.
And when the rules haven’t suited them in the past, they have a documented history of hiding records, amending or creating new policies and requirements to suit themselves; subterfuge.
Good luck receiving acknowledgement from the rule-makers!
@Adrian – thanks for your comment. I did have to apply some subtle editing to avoid the potential for defamation, but I think everyone still gets your point!
Would be surprised if they listen, but worth a try.
You can’t get much fairer than that.
Ned, Although admirable for your attempt your letter would not be taken seriously. You have tried it before as have many people.
A dictatorship or a party with what they think is overwhelming power does not willingly “mediate” or engage in “conflict resolution”, they do things their way and they then do all they can to justify their actions and enforce it. Speak up and look at what usually happens… unconstitutional Codes of Conduct to silence and mute people, censorship and deletion of materials etc. The history books are full of these examples.
Due to the many serious issues involved including Australian Critical Infrastructure, Conflicts of Interest, Lack of Transparency, Lack of accountability, Lack of Good Governance & Best Practice it is time for the Australian Commonwealth Government to take over administration and the Australian wholesale .au domain name registry without further delay.
The Australian Commonwealth Government has an immediate duty to have a back up plan in place and implement it.
Another option is qualified people should form another suitable entity to take over from auDA as soon as is possible. The $12+ million auDA has in the bank will be transferred to it as is in the Constitution.
With 17 years of no oversight both political parties and the relevant oversight Ministers have a lot to answer for for their inaction.
https://www.auda.org.au/about-auda/our-org/constitution
“8 WINDING UP
On dissolution of the Company, the right to administer the .au ccTLD must either be transferred on to another entity nominated or approved by the Commonwealth of Australia or, in the absence of such approval, be transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia.
If upon the winding up or dissolution of auDA there remains, after the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, any property or money whatsoever, the remaining assets shall not be paid or distributed to the Members but shall be transferred to the subsequent entity approved by the Commonwealth of Australia to manage the .au ccTLD.”
I thinking winding up would be a good outcome as an entity could be created without demand/supply people on its board, basically just run it like a government department. The problem is for members to wind it up takes a special resolution. A winding up resolution has some potential to get passed by demand side but highly unlikely supply would vote for it.
So that just leaves the government to take action. Still feels like they don’t want to do anything, but if they ever did I would think it would just be a sudden “overnight” change.
When you say “I’m not your enemy”, I believe you and hopefully they do too. None of us want to be an enemy of auDA or Netfleet or any corporation or business in this industry we care so much about.
Surely it’s time for these companies to see we keep them on their toes because we are passionate people who want the best for Australian domain names?!
Personally, I must say I am not happy with the level of transparency going on over at auDA at the moment or the removal of previous minutes. Or the new rule of members not being able to freely speak their mind about auDA on forums.
On a positive note, I am pleased with Mark at auDA taking abn hijacking complaints seriously and am looking forward to seeing how the wholesale Registry system is implemented.
The direct registration cabal don’t care because they have control. I seriously doubt anything constructive to come from your overtures.