From: lee@emu.netguide.net on behalf of Lee Hamilton 
Sent: Wednesday, 23 May 2001 12:59 PM
To: jo.lim@auda.org.au
Subject: Comment on "NEW SECOND LEVEL DOMAINS IN THE AUSTRALIAN DNS:
PUBLICDISCUSSION PAPER"

  Regarding question 3, "WHAT NEW 2LDs SHOULD BE INTRODUCED?";

  The last suggestion that perhaps a new 2LD be created for Indigenous Australians is 
admirable in it's objective, but I think is the first step down a trouble-filled road.  
The further suggestion that "new 2LDs could be introduced for other cultural and ethnic 
groups" is also unsettling.

  I do not think it would be wise to introduce any sort of ethnic or raced based separation 
of the .au namespace.  Apart from the obvious discriminatory overtones, I think it would be 
an administrative, and perhaps legal, nightmare for those burdened with maintaining such a 
namespace.  If one of the aims of such a namespace is "to help prevent commercial 
exploitation of indigenous artworks, etc", who would arbitrate in cases where two or more 
Indigenous Australian groups claim they have more "right" over a particular 3LD?  Moreover, 
who determines exactly who qualifies as an "Indigenous Australian", or as a member of 
any particular culture for that matter?

  Similarly, ethnic based separation for such cultures as Serbian and Croatian will 
invariably invite people who could easily prove links to either culture registering 
inflammatory 3LDs in an effort to spite others.  
Recent cases such as the Bobby Despotovski three fingered "salute" in an Australian soccer 
game highlight the often volatile sensitivities that could easily be aroused by registering 
an inflammatory 3LD.  Moreover, it shows that it would be beyond the capabilities of any one 
body to be able to understand and keep abreast of the nuances of several cultures such as 
this.

  While recognising that the current system is already open to similar abuses, at least the 
current lack of any sort of racial or ethnic separation means that is harder for those people 
who are looking to abuse such a system to develop an "us and them" mentality about 3LDs.  
New 2LDs would be like drawing a line in the sand and saying "all of us from one culture over 
here, and all the rest over there please".  It would become a boastworthy goal to "get one 
over the other side" by getting an inflammatory 3LD registered in the other 2LD namespace; 
a situation that currently doesn't exist in the generic nature of our current 2LDs.

  Extreme care has to be paid in any separation of society along racial, ethnic, or religious 
lines.  History has proven that usually such attempts fail, even if the original intent was 
admirable.  I think any separation of the .au namespace along racial, ethnic, or religious 
lines does little to enhance, enrich, or protect those concerned, nor does it benefit the 
Internet at large to any significant degree.  More likely, such separation will only invite 
more problems than the current system, and therefore I urge the panel not to consider any 
such proposal for new 2LDs.

  Regards,
          Lee.

Lee Hamilton.