Why two million .au domain names might not be such a good thing

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 08 March 2011 12:22

Opinion and Analysis

The existence of two million .au domain names for the first time is being heralded as an achievement. It's certainly a milestone, but I think that Australia - apart from the domain name industry - would be better off with a smaller number.

As reported overnight, the number of .au domain registrations yesterday reached two million.

But it wasn't a case of the two millionth name being registered. Names are continually being registered, while some registrations are allowed to lapse. The milestone was that the number of active .au domain names in AusRegistry's database reached two million for the first time.

That's why auDA didn't identify the two millionth domain name registration, an event that occurred an undetermined time in the past.

And as Paul Szyndler, auDA's general manager, public affairs, pointed out "promoting an individual or company as the 'two millionth' would be a little disingenuous" because "it is possible that 'company x' registered the name that ticked the counter over to two million, a name was deleted, and 'company y' registered the two millionth name (again)."

Most of the coverage of the milestone accepts auDA's line that it is a good thing. For example, auDA CEO Chris Disspain said "There were only about 275,000 .au domains registered when auDA introduced a new competition model in 2002. Now we are celebrating two million registrations and this wouldn't have been possible without the policy reforms and marketing activities auDA have implemented, or without the technical and operational expertise AusRegistry has brought to the industry."

It seems self-evident that the introduction of competition to the .au registration business dramatically drove down prices, and it's usually the case that if something gets cheaper, we collectively buy more of it.

What about the policy changes? Please read on.