John Demco
Draft .AU Policy Recommendations Released – A panel reporting to auDA, the Australian domain name administrator, has been reviewing the policy framework for .au domain names, and has issued draft recommendations. The main recommendation is that .au should not be opened up to direct second-level registrations, i.e. that registrations should continue to be of the form domainname.com.au, domainname.org.au, and so on. Among the other recommendations are that auDA should be allowed to suspend a domain name without notice at the request of an Australian regulatory or law enforcement agency, and that registrants should be allowed to license domain names for 1, 2, or 3 year periods rather than for a fixed 2 year period. Concerning the sale of domain names by registrants, the panel has not formed a draft recommendation and is calling for further comments. A public consultation will take place until October 19, and the panel is due to provide final recommendations in November.
Nevada Man Impersonated Lawyer to Steal Domain Names – From a Wired article: A Nevada man pleaded guilty Thursday to his plotting to steal domain names from their legitimate owners by impersonating a California intellectual property lawyer and send threatening letters to domain name owners in hopes of convincing them to turn over the domains to him.
Picks To Click
- The CIRA Board election continues until Thursday, September 13.
- “Proceed with Extreme Caution”, an article on domaining by Bret Fausett.
- The .mobi registry launches an upgraded version of its mobile Web test tool.