From: johnc@optus 
Sent: Wednesday, 29 January 2003 12:10 AM
To: Jo Lim
Subject: Re: [announce] auDA public consultation

  Again, Australian consumers lose through ill-considered policies which 
were designed to protect a section that doesn't need protection in this form.

  Australia has continually been disadvantaged with higher priced domain 
registration via a formalised monopolistic approach in the beginning, and 
now a method of extracting a further 2 years subscription from the registrant 
whether there is nearly a full 2 year period remaining in the licence period 
purchased or only 1 day left.

  This is plainly wrong and anti-competitive and should be under investigation 
by the ACCC as this dialogue proceeds.

  If a period licence is purchased for the use of a Domain Name, then that 
period should be honoured by all the Registrar's who are in the business to 
make money out of the process in any case.  These registrar's must be laughing 
all the way to the bank with this illegal arrangement endorsed by auDA.  The 
poor registrant has no option but to pay up if he wants to keep his domain 
name while choosing to use another registrar.

  Hosting sites, being open to worldwide competition, do offer a vast choice 
of options and prices to the consumer and, unlike domain name registration, 
let the consumer have the final say in the level of service they are prepared 
to pay for.

  I endorse the control of .au TLD and 2LD names to ensure purity of the 
extension, as with other countries in the world.  I do not condone the typical 
over-regulation of the suppliers (registrars) or conditions blithely imposed 
on consumers with no thought as to where all this money comes from that we 
are "required" to pay every single time we want to change or do something in 
Australia.  Eventually Australia will join the rest of the world and make it 
easy and affordable for anyone to have a domain name, registered with an 
affordable system and easily transfered between owners and/or hosts.  It only 
means we who are involved now and in the past must pay and keep paying till 
someone has the fortitude and funds to force the use some common sense in 
putting the power back with the people to decide how their money is used.

Yours for private enterprise,

     J C CHRISTENSEN