Domain Parking To Be Banned In Australia

[WadeD]

Hi DNForum Members,

I am writing to bring an important domain issue to your attention,

I have been involved with .com domains for many years, however with .com becoming so competetive I recently turned my attention to my local country code .com.au

As you may or may not know .com.au is very different to the .com name space, the names are more expensive and you must provide a reason for why you are entitled to the domain, either by way of a direct association with the domain, eg you own a business called dnforum it would entitle you to dnforum.com.au, otherwise you would fall under the "close and substantial connection" rule, where you tell them what you intend to use the domain for.

Using my experience in .com, I saw an opportunity in .com.au as well as some loop holes in the rules, I proceeded to register hundreds of domains and send them to parking pages.

The au name space regulator is known as AUDA, you can visit their site at www.auda.org.au

During the last 6 months I have been questioned about many of my domains, had over 100 names deleted and been involved in legal proceedings with AUDA.

In October AUDA made this announcement.
http://www.auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-14102005/

Last friday they released this statement
http://www.auda.org.au/news-archive/news-domain-monetisation/

Later in the day the report was released, and as you can see several public submissions have been made, the majority of which are against parking.
http://www.auda.org.au/reviews/monetisation-2006/
http://www.auda.org.au/pdf/auda-domainmon-public.pdf

The close and substantial connection rule is fairly new, prior to this you had to own the business name or you could not register a domain, basically each business could only have 1 domain.

All of the really good generic names were reserved and sold at an auction by AUDA, because of the history behind the AU name space it has a unique following of supporters who like the fact its different from .com and applaud these policies.

The reason behind my domains being deleted was because of complaints, these AUDA supporters are a vocal group, much in the same way anti spam groups police the spam situation.

If you read their responses you will quickly understand the kind of people I am up against, and as you would imagine they out number the domainers.

I know several local domainers and have made them aware, but many will never know this is up for discussion. It is an unfair situation, AUDA supporters visit the site and know what is going on, domainers dont, and on a local scale domainers are outnumbered, however there are a lot of Australian domainers who only deal in .com currently (fabulous for one).

I hope this thread will reach some more Aussies or for you to pass it to your Aussie friends and business contacts.

As much as I do not want to encourage competition in the AU name space, it is either we open it up or it is completely closed off.

There is also nothing limiting a global response, anyone is entitled to send a response to AUDA on the matter and it would be published.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks
Wade

 

[jdk]

Are they limited this to just .au names, or parking any names with a company located in Australia like Fabulous?

 

[WadeD]

Hi JDK,

If parking is banned it will only be applied to .au names, AUDA controls .com.au, .net.au and .org.au

Many of the major parking companies like fabulous, sedo, domain sponsor etc show parking pages for .com.au domains. Myself and other local domainers have contacted them about the issue, I hope they will try to help.

If parking is allowed the parking companies have a lot to gain by this market being opened up.

 

[Mike Robertson]

Please note that this only relates to the monetization of .au domains.

Cheers,

Mike
Fabulous.com

 

[WadeD]

Hi Mike,

What is your opinion on the matter? Will fabulous be making a submission to AUDA?

 

[denny007]

Commies in AUDA they are. They are killing the extension this way. But still the domains can be developped and monetised via Adsense.

 

[websitedeveloper]

edit

 

[WadeD]

Hi Denny,

I wish it were as easy as developing a basic site and using adsense as a work around, but that too is up for discussion, I have copied and pasted the text below from the AUDA pdf file http://www.auda.org.au/pdf/auda-domainmon-public.pdf

Issue 1: Use of domain names

There are different ways of monetising domain names, for example:

Generic PPC: The domain name resolves to a landing page displaying generic advertising. This type of page is usually displayed when a domain name cannot be easily categorised.

Targeted PPC: The domain name resolves to a landing page that shows ads targeted at the domain name.

Traffic categorisation: The domain name resolves to a website that breaks down the targeted term into several categories and then displays related advertising.

Information website with ads: The domain name resolves to a website with a number of pages of articles related to the domain name. This website will use a service like Google Adsense to show content-related advertising.

Redirected traffic: The domain name resolves to a website that redirects to another website. The domainer earns money by “renting out” his targeted traffic to an advertising client.

Lead-taking website: The domain name resolves to a page that gathers targeted information requests and rents or sells leads to businesses.

Developed website: The domain name (usually a high traffic generic domain name) resolves to a fully developed and maintained website which includes advertising and affiliate links.

Questions: Do all or any of the above methods establish a close and substantial connection between the registrant and the domain name?

Are some methods of domain monetisation more or less acceptable than others?

If anyone would like to discuss this privately please feel free to PM me, I would be happy to chat to anyone via email/phone/icq.

 

[denny007]

Yeah they are definitely killing the extension. Could become to be fine extension like .de or co.uk, instead of it is going somewhere bellow .cn

I am curious, how comrades from AUDA will decide, what page is enough developed to put Adsense on it and which not...

 

[WadeD]

Denny, exactly mate!

How can they decide what is developed "enough" to put ads on it?
The fact this is even being discussed is ridiculous.

I wish there was a way to encourage more DNForum members to make a submission, an avalanche of submissions would really help turn this in the direction of domainers.

 

[Honan]

DBS should take AUDA to the ACCC

 

[WadeD]

I agree Joe, it would be great if DBS got involved, they have the resources to fight AUDA.

 

[marly]

What is actually defined as a parked site can be any site really. Its a freedom of speech issue really, what you can and can't put on your site. If I want to make money off advertising revenue, what is wrong with that. You might as well suspend all sites that have advertising on them. Just my 2 cents.

 

[robert]

Yeah they are definitely killing the extension. Could become to be fine extension like .de or co.uk, instead of it is going somewhere bellow .cn

How is it killing it? It is an extension without the vast amounts of spam and cybersquatting - the registration policy specifically bans typo domains

It is not ideal for domainers / ppc etc, however from the general end user point of view it is a 'clean' extension.

I think it depends on points of view, as I would say it is a stronger extension as a result, and an extra million or so speculative registrations would 'kill' it more

 

[commandercody]

So they are taking away the reason for most domains to be sold, somehow I think that's a sketchy idea considering most of the support of these extensions comes from people who are placeholding domains.

 

[robert]

So they are taking away the reason for most domains to be sold, somehow I think that's a sketchy idea considering most of the support of these extensions comes from people who are placeholding domains.

Not in .au , as you cannot 'sell' a domain name there

 

[Beachie]

This is the reason I've avoided a position in the .au namespace. Even though I registered my first .au in 1994, I only own 3 .au's and they're directly associated with my business. That said, I'd like to see more open registration system, but I think it will be an up-hill battle with so many fervent backers of the "reasonable use" policy. Until a few years ago it was impossible to register generic .au domains. My advice is to register a business name that matches closely with your domain, and develop. Even if it's a simple site with adsense it will make your case stronger if challenged.

 

[Dale Hubbard]

Looks like they're taking a "Big Brother" attitude. That was recently banned wasn't it?

 

[typeins]

I have a couple.. only for email addresses and related directly to company names too.. so they can try all they want

 

[Ian]

this is really constraining market competition. AUDA has certainly attempted to gain leverage over issues it is not supposed to. This is a matter of grave importance for all domainers, not only those from Australia, and an official reponse statement from the DNForum would add weight to our complaints. Even Afnic (.fr) is showing signs of relaxing its rules why not Auda?