As I’ve written before, direct registrations were always going to be given the nod. And the next battleground is implementation.
- Am I still peed off that proper consultation wasn’t done with the majority of the 1,700,000 individual registrants out there? Too right I am.
- Am I concerned that there appears to have been some potential or perceived conflicts of interest at both the Names Panel and the auDA Board level? Absolutely.
- Did I cop some personal retribution from a few people in “high places”? Sure did.
Most people that know me in the domain world would acknowledge that I always speak my mind – without fear or favour. They also know that by nature I’m a positive and constructive person. Just because I don’t agree on the need for direct registrations at this time doesn’t make me a negative person.
You Can Almost Bank On This
When Nominet initially tried to get their direct registration proposal approved, they faced howls of outrage. They ended up doing it three times, and ultimately the approximate 93% of .co.uk registrants were finally granted prior rights to .uk. That’s how it should have been from the start (according to most UK commentators).
auDA will want to try and get it right first time, so expect to see some “real” consultation with registrants sometime later this year. If they don’t, then they will be rightly crucified.
(They have shown in recent times that they have lost their fear of being accused as “spammers”, so that probably augurs well!) 😉
In my opinion, auDA probably won’t want to get involved in a complicated, costly and time consuming exercise of following the NZ model. The UK model would seem to be a logical and acceptable way of doing things, though it may be that the 5 year grace period is tweaked downwards to as little as two years.
Finally, the one change that I am really looking forward to is for Australian individuals to have the right to register an .au domain without the need for an ABN. I don’t think there is any disagreement from any camp in that regard.
Disclaimer
Ned, are you suggesting resident or non resident individuals will be eligible to register a .com.au or the new .au if when it’s implemented?
It’s a progressive move to allow individuals to register domains but will this remove the current ABN requirements or will that continue for businesses
@Scotty
Having been a part of the Names Panel, I can tell you that the Final Report to the auDA Board did in fact recommend that Australian citizens and/or residents be eligible to register an .au domain without having an ABN. Even though I was part of the minority report, I very much support this.
(Obviously, the final implementation model will be subject to approval by the auDA Board).
I’m going to write more about this in another post.