To blog.au or not to blog.au. That is the question

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 20 April 2010 19:53

IT Policy - Regulation

The Australian Domain Name Administrator (auDA) is seeking input on whether to create new second level .au domain names (2LDs), including blog.au, and what to do with the little used info.au and conf.au domain names.

auDA's New 2LDs Advisory Panel, chaired by Derek Whitehead of Swinburne University, has released a discussion paper inviting public comments on new 2LDs in general; and specific suggestions for creating two new 2LDs -  blog.au and event.au - and changing two existing 2LDs - info.au and conf.au.

"The panel's focus is on whether the creation of a new 2LD is in the public interest," said Whitehead. "The panel is very keen to know what people think about new 2LDs and whether they would improve the Australian domain name system. We encourage all Australians to contribute to the future development of their own domain space."

The proposal for blog.au states that its purpose would be "to provide a specific 2LD that registrants could use for when they wanted to establish a website for blogging purposes."
The intended users of blog.au would be all Australian entities and individuals who wish to establish a blog about a specific topic (eg. football.blog.au).

The proposal for event.au states that its purpose is to "consolidate the event industry across Australia". The proponent of event.au has suggested that it be introduced as a replacement for conf.au, in order to "broaden the eligibility for all types of events."

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