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enacted
domains that have already been
registered and paid for could be
taken away from their current
registrants. AuDA is currently
inviting public commentary on the
proposed changes but the window is about
to close with the deadline for submissions
set for 5pm Australian EST
Friday, April 12 (AEST is 14
hours ahead of U.S. EST which would
make the deadline 3AM Friday morning
in the eastern United States).
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Simon
Johnson |
Veteran
Australian entrepreneur and
domain investor Simon
Johnson, who
served as Chairman of the
AuDA Board's Security and
Risk Committee until
resigning in 2017, is among
the well-known figures who
have taken a firm
stand against AuDA's
proposal.
Johnson told us the
Australian Internet industry
must be defended and there
is still time to act. "Given
that Directors need to
exercise due care and
diligence, for auDA to
retrospectively go back and
delete domain names from
Australian businesses, does
more harm than good,"
Johnson said. "As such,
I don’t believe it would
be in the interests of the
organisation for the auDA
Board to accept the
recommendations in the PRP
report.” |
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The
Internet
Commerce Association
(ICA) also issued their own
strong objections to the
AuDA proposal in a nine-page
letter
sent to AuDA's Policy Review
Panel Tuesday
(April 9). The letter
written by ICA Legal Counsel
Zak Muscovitch noted,
"Whether in land, a
catalogue of Beatles
songs,or domain names,
investing in assets is a
natural by-product of a free
and open market. Domain
registrants use and risk
their own money to lawfully
purchase generic and
descriptive domain names on
a first-come, first-served
basis and from prior owners
and should have the right
to do so. Domain name
investors range from an
at-home mom making a casual
investment in a handful of
names to professional domain
name investors who spend
substantial money and
efforts on building a
portfolio and marketing it
to the public. Such business
activities involving domain
names are entirely legal,
expected, and natural.
Indeed, Australia is the
only country that we are
aware of that has such
restrictive policies when it
comes to domain names."
Muscovitch
added, "The attempt to
stamp out domain investing
will create a multitude of unintended
collateral harms. The
effort will either be
ineffective or will entrap
those who are not primarily
domain investors in an
overly |
ICA
Legal Counsel Zak Muscovitch |
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broad
net. The supposed harms the
policy is attempting to
address are largely illusory
while the actual harm
created by the proposed
policies, if enacted, will
be deep and
widespread." |
In
a related noted, the ICA is hosting
an open public webcast Friday
afternoon (April 12) at 1pm
US Eastern Time. Anyone can sit
in on the session by registering here.
The controversial AuDA proposal is
one of several topics set for
discussion on the webcast.
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