TyCAD ServicesFrom: Tycad Office 
Sent: Thursday, 29 July 2004 2:03 PM
To: jo.lim@auda.org.au
Subject: Restriction on geographic names in com.au and net.au

I am an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce in a small town that is visited 
regularly by Australian and overseas tourists alike. As a small town who's name is know 
by local and overseas visitors, many of them do not associate our town name with the 
local government area name. If we were able to register www.ourtownname.com.au we could 
be more easily found on the internet and have more input into how our town is presented 
to the world. Unfortunately due to the current restrictions, the meanings of .com and 
.net have been lost and are no longer used for the entities for which they were designed. 
Most people do not pay much attention to this part of a domain name, only the name and 
the country code. More over, the majority of people do not know what the .com, .net, 
.org etc mean and when talking about a domain name, always end them with .com.au. The 
2LDs for Australian states and territories (state.au) can also be confusing from a 
tourist's point of view when they may not necessarily know the state in which a town is 
located, the same as they do not know in which local government area the town is, which 
is how most towns are currently represented on the web.

I believe that the restrictions be removed, on conditions.

1. That the only 'entities' eligible to register the domain name be a governing body or 
a key stake holder in the name (ie, tourism authority, chamber of commerce etc.), 
therefore alleviating the envisaged problem of 'privateers/money hungry businesses' 
holding towns to ransom over domain names, web design costs and management. Also allowing 
the town to own the domain and not an individual.

2. That these same stake holders reserve the right to not allow a commercial/private 
entity to register the domain name. Many small areas do not realise the benefits of a 
web presence... yet. However in the not too distant future they may. Maybe a reserve 
placed on the domain name for a period of 3 years before it is available to the general 
public.

I am all for private business and people making money, don't get me wrong. But, with 
most small towns not understanding the web and getting stories from the cities that a 
web site will cost them thousands, many are wary about going down this road. It is my 
belief that technology understanding in regional Australia is way behind that of the 
major cities. Many small towns do not have the financial support to pay these exorbitant 
fees and rely on local businesses (who charge minimum fees) to obtain an internet presence.

Yours sincerely
Kylie McCowat