auDAs New Domain Transfer Policy is Long Overdue

It has taken a few years, but changes to auDA policy mean Australia may finally enjoy some of the same domain name freedoms already considered normal in the US and Europe.

For six years, Australia has been unique amongst our international peers in restricting the .au 2LD from transfer. Anyone needing to transfer a .au domain name, for whatever reason, found it virtually impossible to do so.

Evolution of Internet Policy

The restrictions are a hangover from original attempts to shield the then fledgling internet from market pressures. Championing the belief that the internet should be open to all, auDA enshrined a policy designed to prevent the commercialisation of domain names and shut out speculators from the market.

Domain name speculation has become big business in the US and Europe, with some domains changing hands for six figure sums. There is no doubt that, despite the original non-commercial aspirations of the internet, domain names have become highly prized commodities with a large amount of power attached to them. But with many becoming frustrated at the inability to capitalise on the power of their own domain, the pressure has been on auDA for a long time to adjust this policy.

Commercial necessity required change, not merely from a financial viewpoint, but also a practical one. If a business can be sold on, the relevant domain should also be sold on and transferred with it. If a domain is an exclusive commodity for the purposes of registration and ownership, it should also be a commodity available to trade, when necessary or desirable to do so.

A Huge Step in the Right Direction

From June 1, 2008, the process of transferring a .au 2LD to another party, for whatever reason, becomes a whole lot easier. This is a major development and dramatically changes the domain landscape in this country, for the better.

Yet people should be aware of certain restrictions before going out and registering every variation of the most popular phrases and whacking them up on eBay.

Quoted from the auDA website.

“Key features of the new policy are as follows:

• it will not be allowable to register a domain name for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to a third party
• registrants will not be able to transfer their domain name for the first 6 months after the initial registration (this does not apply to domain names that have been renewed or previously transferred)
• after 6 months, registrants will be able to offer their domain name for sale/transfer by any means (eg. by listing the domain name for sale on a domain brokerage website, advertising the domain name for sale in a newspaper, or contacting a prospective buyer directly)
• the new registrant must comply with normal eligibility and allocation rules
  registrant transfers will be processed by the registrar of record using a standard transfer form, and the registrar may charge a transfer fee
• parties to a transfer will be asked to disclose the sale method and price, on a voluntary and confidential basis, so that auDA may collect aggregated statistical data to improve access to market information for buyers and sellers.”

Reading the Fine Print

It is yet to be established how these restrictions are to be implemented. It would be virtually impossible to police whether people were registering domains purely for the purpose of resale. Without direct complaints that can be supported by suspicious trading behaviour, it is hard to see how auDA intends to enforce this line.

Also, the 6 month non-transfer period after registration seems arbitrary. It may be designed to prevent opportunistic registrations – although rare, a phenomenon reported in the US. This practice involves domain providers snapping up any unregistered domain names entered into their search interface, holding them at a higher price should the customer later try to register.

In Australia, such behaviour is clearly against the code of conduct and would result in major penalties. Australian domain providers cannot register domains that are not for immediate use (ie; to pass onto a customer) so the six month restriction seems designed to prevent behaviour that already has sufficient safeguards.

A six month non-transfer period may inconvenience many who negotiate deals or need to make changes with legitimate reason in the first few months. The same reasons that would necessitate a transfer after 6 months are still valid before, so there may still be frustrated domain owners out there.

It is great to see changes bringing Australia into line with similar international territories. But it is certain that the domain name landscape will continue to evolve in Australia as the needs of business and the traditions of auDA find compromise.

Tags: auda, Domain Names