auDA’s engagement with Australian enforcement agencies

The .au Licensing Rules (Licensing Rules) specify the allocation and eligibility criteria for .au domain name licences, as well as the conditions under which auDA may take measures to maintain the integrity and security of the .au domain.

auDA will also comply with lawful directions and requirements from Australian enforcement agencies pursuant to court orders, subpoenas, warrants, statutory notices or any other lawful exercise of statutory power relevant to auDA's operations (a Lawful Requirement).

Pursuant to a Lawful Requirement from an enforcement agency, auDA will:

Provide domain name licence registration information

Take administrative action against a domain name licence (e.g. suspension or cancellation of the domain name licence), also known as a domain name system takedown (DNS takedown).

auDA can only act at the DNS level for .au domain name licences (e.g. .com.au or .org.au). It has no authority to take action with regard to non .au domain names (e.g. .com or .org).

The DNS is essentially the directory to tell a computer where on the internet to find websites or email services associated with a domain name licence. More information on how the DNS works can be found on auDA’s DNS explainer page.

A DNS takedown will not completely remove access to the content, it only makes it unreachable via the taken-down domain name. Accordingly, if content is at issue, it is recommended to consider other actions, such as contacting the hosting provider and requesting content removal, before pursuing an action at the domain name level. A DNS takedown disrupts public access to the information in the registry required to find a website or email service on the internet associated with a domain name.

DNS takedowns should be considered in circumstances where other means of removing the content are not practicable.

A domain name is like a person’s name in a phone directory (white pages). The public can look up the street address and phone number associated with a person’s name.

Taking a person out of the phone directory makes that person’s details harder to find — but the building is still there, and the phone number still works. People who’ve been there before can still return if they remember the way, or call the person if they have stored the phone number in their mobile phone.

Removing the person from the phone directory doesn’t remove the building or disconnect the phone line.

As specified in the Licensing Rules, auDA makes certain domain name registration information available through the public .au WHOIS tool (whois.auda.org.au). The WHOIS supports transparency and accountability of registration and helps maintain trust in the .au namespace. The registration information is validated by accredited .au registrars at the time of registration.

Information available via WHOIS includes:

• Registrar name and registrar complaint contact details
• Registrant legal entity name and identifier (e.g. an ABN or ACN) and registered contact details
• Domain name status (e.g. active, suspended, pending deletion).

Guidance on the WHOIS tool is available on auDA’s How to use the .au WHOIS tool page.

In addition to the public information available, the registry records additional information that may be disclosed to enforcement agencies where there is a Lawful Requirement. Information includes:

• Domain name licence creation and expiry information
• Historical registration information
• Postal address and phone contact information for the registrant