DNS: Letter to MelbourneIT from ISOC-AU regarding the domain name renewal procedure

DNS: Letter to MelbourneIT from ISOC-AU regarding the domain name renewal procedure

From: Pauline van Winsen - Uniq Professional Services <Pauline.van.Winsen§uniq.com.au>
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 15:55:02 +1100 (EST)
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Sender: owner-dns&#167;magna.com.au
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Reply-To: dns&#167;intiaa.asn.au

hi all,

as many of you are aware ISOC-AU has been having discussions with MelbourneIT
regarding changes to the com.au renewal procedure.
what follows is a letter which will be faxed to MelbourneIT shortly.
it is my understanding that these suggested changes have be ok'd by MelbourneIT
& i would request that MelbourneIT respond to this letter in email to
that effect.

i have also attached a copy of our original letter for those who have not seen 
it yet.

thanks to all the ISOC-AU members who contributed. the reason for posting to
lists other than the ISOC-AU list is that a copy of my draft letter was 
forwarded to other forums as well as the public interest in this issue. 
Apologies in advance for those who will see this email 3 times.

cheers,
pauline

Pauline van Winsen                                   pauline&#167;uniq.com.au
Uniq Professional Services Pty Ltd                       www.uniq.com.au
PO Box 70, Paddington, NSW 2021,                      (Sydney) Australia
Phone: +61-2-9380-6360      Fax: +61-2-9380-6416      Pager: 016 287 000

Join the Internet Society of Australia!        http://www.isoc-au.org.au

------------- Begin Forwarded Message -------------

[LOGO + ACN]                  The Internet Society of Australia
                              A Chapter of the Internet Society
                              C/- PO 366
                              KENSINGTON NSW 2033

                              14th March 1997

Professor Peter Gerrand
Melbourne IT
Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street,
The University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria
Australia, 3052


Dear Peter,

Thank you for responding to our letter regarding changes to the com.au
domain name renewal procedure. From the telephone conversations between 
MelbourneIT and ISOC-AU we understand that MelbourneIT have three categories of
domain name renewals to deal with. These are described as follows:

Category 1

com.au domain names registered by MelbourneIT after the 8th of October
1996 as part of the backlog processing of com.au domain names for which
no fee has yet been paid. These domain names were registered at no charge
when MelbourneIT commenced operation on the 8th of October 1996, to speed
processing of registrations with the understanding that a renewal fee would 
fall due in January 1997.

Category 2

com.au domain names which are deemed "dead". i.e. the owners of the domain names
cannot be contacted by email, phone or letter.

Category 3

com.au domain names registered prior to the 8th of October 1996 which have not
been renewed. That is, domain names held by owners who have no prior 
"contract" with MelbourneIT.
 
MelbourneIT stated that they would like to process renewals 
for each of these categories in the following way:
 
Category 1

com.au domain names which fall into Category 1 need to be registered before 
March 17 as the domain name owners have an existing relationship with 
MelbourneIT. It is also understood that the March 17 deadline may have already
moved to April 17 as a result of a Federal Court action.

Category 2

com.au "dead" domain names would be removed on July 1 1997 if no contact with 
the domain owner could be established.
 
Category 3
com.au domain names registered prior to the 8th of October 1996 who could be 
contacted could elect to remain unlicensed until the 8th of October 1997 
providing no work was required to be performed on the domain.


ISOC-AU will endorse the above changes to the renewal procedure with the
following caveats:
 
Category 1:

Providing there was a clear understanding in writing to the domain name
owners registered after the 8th of October 1996 that registration would be 
completed for free but renewal fees would fall due in early 1997. It is 
understood these names were processed as part of the backlog of domain name
registrations left over from the old registration procedure.

Category 2:

That a public register of "dead" com.au domain names be established 
immediately so that the public may assist in tracking down domain name
owners. It is suggested that this list be published via a web page and that
the existence of the web page be published to the Internet community.
If the owner of a "dead" domain name did come forward before the 1st of July 
1997, they could elect to move to Category 3. i.e. no fee would be due until
the 1st of November 1997.

Category 3
 
That the renewal date be moved to the 1st of November 1997 to give 
com.au domain name owners a clear 1 year grace period.
 
ISOC-AU would also encourage MelbourneIT to allow com.au domain name
owners to query the status of their renewal status via electronic means.
We believe this will remove much of the current confusion regarding the 
renewal status of domain names in the com.au name space.

Though not in the scope of our original letter, MelbourneIT will need to
consider how to process com.au domain name owners who have licensed their 
domains on the understanding that a fee would fall due on the 17th of March 
1997. It may be wise to consider extending the license of those domain name 
owners who have renewed but who do not require work to be performed on their 
domain until the 1st of November 1997.

Yours sincerely,



Pauline van Winsen
Director, Internet Society of Australia
A Chapter of ISOC

------------- End Forwarded Message -------------

orig. letter:

------------- Begin Forwarded Message -------------

[LOGO + ACN]                  The Internet Society of Australia
                              A Chapter of the Internet Society
                              C/- PO 366
                              KENSINGTON NSW 2033

                              10th March 1997

Professor Peter Gerrand
Melbourne IT
Level 3, 207 Bouverie Street,
The University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria
Australia, 3052


Dear Peter,

The Internet Society of Australia is concerned about Melbourne IT's current 
plan to remove domain names from the com.au name space which have not been 
renewed by the 17th of March 1997.
ISOC-AU urges you to leave domain names which have not been renewed by 
the 17th of March untouched until the anniversary of the domain name's original 
registration or until the 1st of November 1997, whichever date arrives first. If 
the original registration date cannot be determined then the renewal cut-off 
date should fall to the 1st November. If MelbourneIT is asked to perform 
changes on behalf of an unrenewed domain before either of these times, only then 
is it reasonable that a renewal fee be paid to Melbourne IT by the domain name 
owner at that time. 

The motivations you have given for your renewal process are valid and
we consider the process of maintaining the integrity of the DNS to be of great 
importance. If the integrity of the current com.au namespace is flawed 
MelbourneIT has a wonderful opportunity to be public-spirited and to improve the 
DNS as MelbourneIT will already be contacting domain name owners as part of the 
renewal process. Administrative and delegation information and an original 
registration date can be determined when contact with the domain name owner is 
established. The domain name can then be added to the formal renewal process so 
that the domain name owner can be billed at the appropriate time. Domain name 
owners could also relinquish unwanted domain names at this time. 

Requiring the immediate registration of all domain names is, rightly or wrongly, 
seen by many members of the Society as anti-competitive. It is felt that 
forcing most active domain names to be licensed with Melbourne IT will make
it very difficult for effective competition to arise. Given the enormous
competitive advantage that Melbourne IT already has in the area of DNS
administration, we feel it can afford to make a gesture which will be of
great long-term benefit to the Australian Internet. There is overwhelming public 
support for the renewal mechanism we have proposed above. This mechanism has 
been proposed to MelbourneIT before by parties other than ISOC-AU.

We urge you to permit unrenewed domain names to continue unaltered until a 
change is requested, until the anniversary of their registrations (if known) or 
until the 1st of November 1997 whichever is the earlier.
This would be an effective show of good faith to the Australian Internet
community, would lessen the financial strain on many domain name holders and
would provide the space needed for alternative DNS services to arise. We
believe that not only would such a course of action not harm Melbourne IT's
business interests, it would actively promote Melbourne IT as a company with
the real future health of the Australian DNS at heart, and would go a long
way towards removing many of the reservations that the Australian Internet
community has with respect to this revolutionary change in the way the
Australian DNS is managed.

Yours sincerely,


Pauline van Winsen
Director, The Internet Society of Australia.
A Chapter of ISOC

------------- End Included Message -------------
Received on Fri Mar 14 1997 - 16:41:36 UTC

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