auDA boss warns NetRegistry of possible suspension

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 07 June 2006 22:01

Your IT - Home IT

When they wake up tomorrow morning, the management of one of Australia’s largest domain name registrars, NetRegistry, can expect a public citation for refusing to follow the directives of the Australian Domain Name regulator auDA.

According to the CEO of auDA, Chris Disspain, the citation is little more than a slap on the wrist. However, he warns that NetRegistry risks suspension from its status as an official domain names registrar if the company continues to flout the rules as laid out by auDA.

Yesterday, NetRegistry issued a media release slamming auDA for issuing directives to delete two domain names registered by a web design business called DomoWeb. The domain names were composed of recently released two-letter domains. One was ws.net.au and the other was bs.net.au.

According to Netregistry, the domains were meant to signify web services and business services. However, auDA denied registration of the domains and issued a directive for NetRegistry to delete them. NetRegistry has so far refused to comply with the request, stating that auDA is acting arbitrarily and arrogantly and claiming that auDA has not received a competing claim to the names or a complaint.

However, Mr Disspain disputes NetRegistry’s account, saying that auDA had received a complaint against the registration of the domains.

“The registrar makes the decision to grant the domain name pursuant to the policy. If we receive a complaint, we will then look at that decision and decide whether the registrar has done it correctly or incorrectly. It’s as simple as that,” said Mr Disspain.

“In this particular instance, a complaint was made in one case but not in the other case. However, prior to the issue of the two letter names, we told all of our registrars in writing that we would be auditing every single one. The problem is that NetRegistry simply doesn’t understand the policy. I find it extraordinary that a registrar that trades on the fact that it is accredited by us appears to be proud of the fact that it is incapable of following the policy.”

According to Mr Disspain, NetRegistry has been a thorn in the side of auDA for some time.

“We are basically saying that they have been bad at what they do and that’s why we are citing them,” he said. “They have breached the registrar contract. Their right to be a registrar in Australia, whether they like it or not, is solely and only because they have a contract with us. Those are the rules.”

So what are the consequences for NetRegistry? Right now, relatively minor according to Mr Disspain. However, the consequences could be more serious if NetRegistry doesn’t come to heel.

“If  they continue to behave in manner that is in breach of their agreement, we’ll suspend them,” he said. “The citation is a slap on the wrist and it means that we’ll be watching everything they do very, very carefully.”