AuDA is currently running one of its regular reviews of eligibility policies for registering .AU domain names such as domain name eligibility and allocation, domain monetisation and prohibitions on misspellings.
A Names Policy Panel has released an issues paper, consulted with the public and now released its draft recommendations for the second round of public consultation that closes on 10 June.
The recommendations, if implemented, see little change to policies in the regulated .AU space. While more highly regulated than many, it manages to be in the top 20 ccTLDs globally and was one of only two ccTLDs to have growth of more than 20 per cent in the year-on-year to March 2011 according to the latest Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief.
The Names Policy Panel has considered whether it is appropriate registrants need to be Australian, however the majority of respondents to the survey and panel members agreed that the current policy is not overly burdensome, so the recommendation is that the current policy should stay.
Currently to register a com.au domain name, by far the most popular 2LD, it is a requirement to have an Australian business registration. Most respondents and panellists supported retaining the commercial nature of com.au, but that individuals should be allowed in other 2LDs.
In .AU there is a much unused and unloved id.au 2LD for individuals to register a domain name relevant to their name or nickname. But there is also currently no place for a person to register a domain name for their hobby. Something that seems to count out a lot of registrations given that since the French ccTLD allowed individuals to register domain names, individuals have accounted for 50 per cent of new registrations and now represent 40 per cent of all registrations. And in .AU id.au accounts for an insignificant 0.58 per cent (11,583) of all registrations (2,045,961) according to April AusRegistry statistics.
Registrations at the second level were considered, but there was no overwhelming support for either their introduction and nor for how they would be introduced. In this case the panel is recommending not to introduce registrations at the second level as to do so would require "such a major change to the Australian DNS would require a much stronger level of support from the community than has been demonstrated through this consultation process."
The panel has recommended that people be allowed to register their hobbies or related domain names in id.au, however given the 2LD's lack of popularity it is not likely to gain much. But if implemented we will have to wait and see.
Single character domain names have also come up for consideration with the panel recommending that since there are no longer any technical restrictions for allowing single character domain names that they would recommend they be released. This was in spite of the majority of public comments being against their release, mainly due to the difficulty in determining eligibility for a single character domain name, and suspicions that it would be merely a revenue-raising exercise for auDA and the industry.
The length of domain name registration has also come under consideration. Currently .AU registrants can register their domains for two years, however the panel is recommending that it be possible to register domain names for one, two, three, four or five years
There are also recommendations to deal with defining "special interest club", publication of the results of periodic policy compliance audits, leasing of domain names
All final recommendations from the Names Policy Panel go to the board who then decide what should be implemented.
More information on the Names Policy Panel is available from www.auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-03052011.
As well as commenting on the draft recommendations in a written submission available from the above link, there is also an online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010namespolicydraftrecommendations.
Disclaimer: the writer is a member of the Names Policy Panel.
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