Board Minutes - 14 June 2005
Public Version
Meeting of the .au Domain Administration Board
14 June 2005 - 1.00pm
Maddocks. Angel Place, 123 Pitt Street. Sydney NSW 2000
Present:
Greg Crew, Chris Disspain, Kim Heitman, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, Jo Lim, Peter Nissen, Bennett Oprysa, Peter Shilling and Tony Staley
Teleconference:
Josh Rowe
Observers:
Andrew Maurer (DCITA) and Craig Ng (Maddocks)
Apologies:
Larry Bloch, Kim Davies and Greg Watson
1. Continuous Disclosure
There were no matters to be disclosed.
2. Confirmation of Minutes
The minutes of the April 2005 meeting were confirmed.
3. Finance Report
The board noted the April and May accounts.
The June and end of year accounts will be dealt with via email prior to the August board meeting.
4. CEO Report
The following issues were noted:
Capital Networks
auDA terminated Capital Networks’ registrar accreditation on 29 April and all legal action has finished.
Industry conference
auDA’s third annual industry conference was held in Sydney on 26-27 May. There were not many major issues for discussion, a sign of industry stability.
5. Registry RFT
CLO declared her interest as an ISOC-AU director, because at least two ISOC-AU members may respond to the RFT.
The board agreed that, as in 2001, the tender will include marketing/registrar subsidy programs as a non-mandatory selection criterion.
The board discussed the tender process. The registry technical specification has already been published in draft form. The remaining tender documentation will not be made public until the RFT is published. Tender bids will not be made public.
Craig Ng advised that probity requirements apply not only to the evaluation of tender bids but also to the preparation of the tender documentation. The board noted that, unlike the 2001 tender, this time there is an incumbent with a clear commercial interest and it is therefore imperative that the process is able to withstand scrutiny.
The board agreed that it is not appropriate for directors and registrars to have direct input to the tender documentation as this could be perceived as an attempt to influence the outcome in a particular way. However, it was acknowledged that registrars have valuable experience that could help to refine the tender requirements.
Action: CEO to invite registrars to provide general comments and suggestions relevant to the registry tender.
6. Policy
Name Policy Review Panel outstanding recommendations
The board accepted the Panel’s recommendation to allow registrants to shorten their domain name licence period in order to synchronise expiry dates for multiple domain names.
The board accepted the Panel’s recommendation to remove the restriction on domain names that match existing TLDs, based on the advice of people with DNS technical experience who argued that RFC 1535 describes technical limitations that were relevant in 1993 but which no longer apply.
Action: Staff to arrange for implementation of the Panel’s recommendations in consultation with the registry and registrars.
Commercial geographic names ballot
The ballot was launched on 1 June and people have until 31 July to apply. auDA ran print advertisements in all major national, state and regional newspapers, and there was a high level of media interest. Feedback to date has been generally positive.
The board was advised that the community geographic 2LDs have now been entered in the .au zone file, and the OCOS pilot project domain names have been granted.
Policy investigations
auDA is currently investigating registrants with large numbers of domain names (known as “megarants”) to ensure that they comply with .au policy rules.
Upcoming policy reviews
auDA will hold public reviews of the WHOIS Policy and auDRP, as well as some other minor published policies.
7. Membership Applications
The members below were accepted in the classes indicated:
Paul Clarke (Demand)
Greg Grimwood (Demand)
Dirk Hunter (Demand)
Elizabeth Keys (Demand)
Ian Smith (Demand)
Discount Domain Name Services Pty Ltd (Supply)
The board noted that membership will be considered as part of a general review of the auDA Constitution in 2006.
8. Board Correspondence
Correspondence received from the Augusta Margaret River Tourism Association was dealt with via email prior to the meeting.
9. Other Business
The CEO advised that a minor shareholder of AusRegistry has gone into administration and the shares have been advertised by the administrator.
10. Next Meeting
The next board meeting will be held on Monday 8 August 2005 at auDA.