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Have Your Say As .AU Consults On Opening Up Second Level Registrations

The .au policy and regulatory body is currently consulting on a number of issues relating to the way .au domains are allocated and used, but the main issue is whether second level registrations such as name.au should be allowed.Today an issues paper was issued by auDA that has come out of its latest Names Policy Panel review, which happens approximately every three years.And the issue is topical following the introduction of second level registrations in the .uk (United Kingdom) and .nz (New Zealand) ccTLDs in 2014.The panel chair, Derek Whitehead, Adjunct Professor – Swinburne University of Technology writes, “this is an important time in the evolution of .au domain space, therefore we invite the Internet community to have their say, at this very early stage, where no definitive consensus has yet been made. The Names Policy Panel’s progress so far has not only focussed on the second level registration under .au, but extends to other issues raised regarding auDA policies governing the allocation of .au domain names. We have identified issues raised and encourage public input, to ensure early consideration as the panel discussions take shape.”Other issues being considered include:

  • what, if any, changes should be made to the eligibility and allocation policy rules for asn.au, com.au, id.au, net.au and org.au
  • should the domain name licence period be changed from the current two years to allow registrations from one to five years
  • how should expired domain names be made available or, as the issues paper explains it, “should the current second level domain eligibility criteria (ie. restricting com.au/net.au to commercial entities, org.au/asn.au to not-for-profit entities, id.au to individuals) be modified?
  • is the ‘close and substantial connection’ rule desirable?
  • what changes are required to address the new practice regarding business name registrations
  • the reserved list and misspellings.

The Names Policy Panel consists of nominated members of the Australian internet community, including this writer, who have expressed interest in helping shape policy for the .au domain space.For more information, to download the issues paper and submit a response either via an online survey or written submission, see:
www.auda.org.au/policies/panels-and-committees/2015-names-policy-panel/