From: Bruce Tonkin 
Sent: Tuesday, 17 December 2002 7:44 AM
To: 'jo.lim@auda.org.au'
Subject: auDA Code of conduct review

Hello Jo,

Hopefully this submission is not too late.  It is still 16 Dec where I am!

I am generally happy with the current code of conduct provisions.

There is one area that I would like to add to the code of conduct.

We have seen a substantial number of incidences where domain name registrants are 
being forced to transfer their domain name to a different registrar at the time 
they select a provider for web site hosting or email services.

One benefit of a competitive market of registrars is that a registrant can maintain 
their domain name (which is in effect a pointer to an internet
location) independently of the provider of their email or web hosting services.  
Just as a driver's licence is not tied to any particular car - the holder of a 
driver's licence can drive any car.  A user manages the renewal of their drivers 
licence, and the car company does not take over this role at the time a new car 
is purchased.

A registrant should be able to arrange for a website to be established, and use 
their existing provider of domain name registration services to point the registrant's 
domain name at the website.  (This involves a change to the DNS nameservers listed 
in  the domain name registry for that domain)

A registrant at the time they select an email provider or web hosting company 
should be offered the choice by the provider to either manage the domain name 
themselves via their existing domain name registrar, or choose to have the product 
provider manage the domain name on their behalf.

A statement along the lines of:
"A domain name provider must indicate to the registrant that they have a choice of 
managing their domain name through a different domain name provider before initiating 
a transfer as part of another product offering" could be added to the code of conduct.

I hope this area can be discussed as part of the code of conduct review.

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin