Board Minutes - 9 August 2004
Public Version
Meeting of the .au Domain Administration Board
9 August 2004 - 1.00pm
.au Domain Administration Limited, 107 Faraday Street. Carlton VIC 3053
Present:
Larry Bloch, Greg Crew, Ric da Paz, Chris Disspain, Kim Heitman, Jo Lim, Peter Nissen, Josh Rowe, Peter Shilling and Tony Staley
Teleconference:
Cheryl Langdon-Orr and Greg Watson
Observers:
Craig Ng (Maddocks), Allan LeBusque (DCITA) and Derek Whitehead
Apologies:
Kim Davies
1. Continuous Disclosure
There were no matters to be disclosed.
2. Confirmation of Minutes
The minutes of the June 2004 meeting were confirmed.
3. Finance Report
The board noted the June and July accounts.
4. CEO Report
The following issues were noted:
AusRegistry reporting
AusRegistry has provided a report to auDA on recent outages and performance degradations. All registrars have been invited to comment on the report, and auDA and AusRegistry are meeting individual registrars to discuss their particular concerns. auDA's technical committee will also be consulted.
Depending on the outcome of current discussions, auDA will consider a range of actions including an independent audit of AusRegistry's systems, ongoing independent monitoring of AusRegistry's performance, renegotiating service levels in the Registry Licence Agreement, and improvements to registry-registrar communications and reporting processes.
auDA media releases
The board considered correspondence from LB on behalf of 14 registrars, in relation to auDA's media release of 29 July 2004 entitled "TPP Internet renewal advice emails breached Code of Practice". The registrars requested that auDA introduce guidelines about the appropriate use of media releases when a registrar has breached the Code of Practice.
It was agreed that decisions about Code breaches are not a matter for the board.
Action: auDA staff to discuss media release guidelines with registrars.
The board also considered correspondence from Theo Hranakis, Melbourne IT and an accompanying statement signed by 7 other registrars, in relation to auDA's media release of 17 June 2004 entitled "auDA reduces its fee for .au domain names". Registrars expressed concerns about the statement "If consumers find that their registrar has not passed on auDA's cost saving, they may wish to shop around to find another registrar who will".
The board agreed that one of auDA's primary roles is to educate consumers about competition and choice. However, it was also agreed that price is merely one of a range of factors that go towards consumer choice and auDA should mention other factors when making public statements.
Action: CEO to respond to the letter from Melbourne IT.
legacy net.au and org.au domains
Approximately 3,000 org.au names and 1,800 net.au names were purged from the registry on 1 August 2004 after a 30 day pending delete period. Approximately 1,000 legacy asn.au names were also deleted (under the management of Connect West).
eq.edu.au
The board noted the actions of Education Queensland in relation to the use of eq.edu.au as an alternative to qld.edu.au for state school 4LDs. auDA has notified AICTEC that it regards these actions as detrimental to the stability and integrity of the edu.au 2LD. The board supported the CEO's efforts to resolve the situation cooperatively with AICTEC as quickly as possible.
5. Policy Development
Name Policy Review Panel
DW reported on the first meeting of the Panel, held in Sydney on 27 July 2004. The Panel has identified a number of issues for consideration, including non-Australian registrants, domain name licence periods, eligibility criteria for net.au and org.au, the meaning of "close and substantial connection" and rules for id.au. The Panel will release an issues paper shortly.
Community geographic names
The board noted the preliminary report on the OCOS pilot project by ETHOS, comments by the National Reference Group (NRG), and ETHOS's response to the NRG's comments.
Commercial geographic names
The board considered the outcomes of public consultation during July. GW advised that ISOC-AU supports the release of commercial geographic names.
The board agreed that commercial geographic names are useful and desirable for Australian businesses. It was noted that the restriction was introduced by the previous com.au and net.au administrators and had been interpreted and applied in different and inconsistent ways over the past 7 years. It was further noted that, to auDA's knowledge, geographic names are not restricted in any other comparable ccTLD.
The board decided, in principle, to lift the restriction on geographic names in com.au and net.au. The board noted that concerns about the possible negative impact on community geographic names could be addressed as part of the implementation plan.
Action: auDA staff to prepare an implementation plan, including timing and method of releasing the commercial geographic names.
6. auDA Foundation
Motion (proposed KH, seconded GC): That the board approve the draft charter for the auDA Foundation. Carried.
LB expressed his view that the auDA Foundation breaches the auDA Constitution, not in legal terms but with regard to a "common understanding" among members about auDA's role and purpose. The board noted that the auDA Foundation has been in existence for 12 months, with details made available to members at the 2003 AGM and on the auDA web site, and no complaints have been received.
Action: CN to write to auDA confirming his original advice that the objects of the auDA Foundation fall within the objects of the auDA Constitution.
7. 2004 AGM
The 2004 AGM will be held at the Hilton Parmelia Hotel in Perth on 8 November 2004. Board seats up for election: 2 supply class, 1 demand class, 2 representative association class.
8. Membership
The members listed below were accepted in the classes indicated.
Ric da Paz(demand)
Karl Schaffarczyk (demand)
Martin Freckmann (demand)
Shelston IP (demand)
9. Board correspondence
Correspondence was received from Theo Hranakis, Melbourne IT, and LB on behalf of 14 registrars - both were discussed under item 4 above.
10. Other Business
There was no other business.
11. Next Meeting
The next board meeting will be held on Monday 11 October 2004.