Abbottfacts.com.au exposes double standards at auDA

David Heath
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 23:15

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

It took just 3 hours for auDA to terminate stephenconroy.com.au yet 6 weeks since a complaint was lodged against abbottfacts.com.au, nothing has happened (Updated: date errors corrected).

In December 2009, opponents of the Internet filter created an anti-Conroy website stephenconroy.com.au.  Within 3 hours, auDA (Australia's internet domain authority) had the site disabled. 

Specifically, auDA cited a clause in schedule C of the domain agreement that said any registrant must be able to demonstrate that the domain name is "an exact match, abbreviation or acronym of the registrant's name or trademark; or otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant."  On that basis, auDA rescinded the registration. 

Moments later, the site was reincarnated as stephen-conroy.com, a site that persists to this day.  A few weeks later, a successful re-application for the Australian domain was successful, based on a hurriedly created business name.

Roll forward to mid-April this year where a number of people lodged formal complaints against the domain name abbottfacts.com.au.

Visit the site - readers will find that it is a very clear ANTI-Tony Abbott (and anti-Liberal Party) site.  The complaints to auDA cited that it was a completely identical contravention of the same clause that caused the Stephen Conroy website to be cancelled.

Checking the domain records, we find that the site was registered by the Australian Labor Party National Secretariat; the listed contact being Tegan Alchin, who's ALP affiations can easily be established by any reader.