auDA Management presentation on policy consultation June 2019 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

auDA Management presentation on policy consultation

June 2019 Consolidation of slides from the May 2019 and June 2019 Board meetings

• Promote principles of competition, fair trading and consumer protection (DOCA ToE)
• Maintain and promote the operational stability and utility of the .au ccTLD (auDA const.)
• Minimise confusion from policy changes
• Minimise uncertainty during implementation
• Differentiate eligibility for .au from eligibility for .com.au
• Recognise that .com.au is a commercial space, which supports a range of business

models to generate revenue – including domain monetisation

• auDA is not a website content regulator – that is the role of ACMA and ACCC
• Definitions of terms for auDA policies should reflect definitions from current Australian

legislation

• Where possible existing policies should be simplified and modernised to reflect current

Australian legislation

Principles

• Facebook and Instagram advertisements reached 1.4 million
• 1.5 million impressions of shorter names video – with 18.7% watching it to the end
• 11,808 unique visitors to https://shorternames.com.au/ website
• 1,750 completed the website survey
• 15% conversion rate versus 2-4% industry standard
• 17 unique written submissions received
• most registrars and domain name investors submitted a pro forma response

Results of Consultation

Public Consultation Feedback

• 1. Would you apply to get a shorter .au domain name if they are introduced?
• 2. We propose that to register a domain name ending in .au, you must have an

Australian presence. Do you agree with this?

• 3. We propose to give existing domain licence holders in .au priority to apply for

their corresponding domain name in .au for 6 months from launch date. Do you agree with this?

Website survey results

Yes No Question 1 86% 14% Question 2 94% 6% Question 3 83% 17%

• Strong support for new licensing rules including - .au eligibility rules, public

interest test, and protections for deceptively similar

• A registrar recommended aligning allocation rules for .com.au / .net.au with

allocation rules for .au, whilst retaining the .com.au/.net.au eligibility restrictions

• Limited opposition to changes such as:
• Removal of misspelling list (was a free complaint option for intellectual property

holders, rather than using auDRP which has fees)

• Internationalised Domain Names - 3 submissions against
• Sub-licencing – domain investors want the option to sub-licence

Summary of feedback – licensing rules

• Limited remaining opposition to direct registration - 4 submissions
• Single submission supported an auction to allocate direct .au names rather

than a priority process

• One corporate submission suggested indefinite lock-down if parties don’t reach

agreement

• Most supportive of an annual application renewal fee – although domain name

investors concerned with cost if no benefit

• Propose creating a landing page that lists the parties still in contention for each name, that will have

links to the parties’ websites so they can receive and measure traffic

• Registrars oppose credits for unsuccessful applications given there are costs to

validate each applicant for the direct registration

• May need some mechanisms to update details of domain names used for

eligibility during the priority application period.

Summary of feedback – direct reg implementation

• Little support amongst registrars for providing credits as part of normal domain

name registrant licence transfers

• Usually value of remaining licence period is immaterial compared to the sale

price of a domain name licence.

• There is a case for considering bulk transfers when a portfolio of names is sold

between parties

Credits for registrant licence transfers

Changes to .au licensing rules at May 2019 Board meeting

• No changes have been made since the 15 April 2019 version
• Retained annual application renewal fee – strong support, and a landing page

can be provided with links to negotiating parties’ websites so that they can receive and measure traffic

Summary of changes – Direct Reg implementation

• Updates to allow addition of new .edu.au rules in future that align with .au

framework

• Aligned .com.au and .net.au allocation rules to those for .au, which is

consistent with the ASIC rules for registering business names (see Regulatory Guide 235: https://download.asic.gov.au/media/1247075/rg235.pdf). The focus will remain on ensuring that a com.au/net.au registrant is an eligible commercial entity (i.e. with a valid ABN/ARBN or ACN number), but they will not be restricted in the name they choose other than that it can’t be on the reserved list, and not already registered as a domain name to someone else. This would result in no restrictions on use, other than those prohibited by law.

• Increased the time available for registrants to change their details after a

licence sale agreement is signed to 28 days.

• Added details of external registrant review process for auDA compliance

decisions.

Summary of changes – Licensing Rules

• None of the following have name allocation rules for commercial entities:
• .ca (Canada)
• .co.uk and .uk (United Kingdom)
• .com and .us (United States)
• .co.nz and .nz (New Zealand)
• .de (Germany)
• .fr (France)
• There is no evidence that the absence of allocation rules has caused harm in

those name spaces.

ccTLD comparison for name allocation

• From:

https://asic.gov.au/for-business/registering-a-business-name/before-you-register- a-business-name/business-name-availability/business-name-availability-tests/

• Is not identical to a name that is already registered to someone else
• Is not undesirable for registration
• Does not includes any restricted words or expressions

ASIC Business Name availability tests

• To participate in the priority registration process for .au, the names must be in the

central registry

• The Tasmanian Government requested approval to add their names to the registry

and participate in the priority registration process

• The Board approved adding tas.gov.au names to the registry to participate in the

priority registration process

tas.gov.au names

Changes to .au licensing rules approved at June 2019 Board meeting

• 20 May 2019 - The Board RESOLVED to approve the.au Domain Administration Rules:

Licensing in principle, subject to further feedback with DOCA and internal review by SRC regarding IDN and further authorised Management to commence the Industry Implementation Plan.

• 22 May 2019 – The Department of Communications, Cyber Safety, and the Arts (DOCA)

provided via email some additional feedback regarding the public interest test

• 24 May 2019 – auDA provided written responses to the feedback received on 22 May, as

well as written responses to questions received on 10 May 2019, and discussed by phone on 17 May.

• auDA also met with the Joint Cyber Security Centre (JCSC) in Melbourne, and held a

teleconference with the Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security at the Dept of Home Affairs

• As a result auDA has revised the licensing rules to address some of the concerns raised by

DOCA with respect to requests from foreign agencies and the degree to which auDA conducts investigations

.au licensing rules – DOCA consultation

• 14 June 2019, DOCA advised:
• received their internal legal advice.
• commenced discussions with security agencies and the Attorney General’s Dept and will convene a

senior-level meeting

• speaking with the ACCC who are looking at the competition / fair trading aspects of the rules.
• Given the public interest test talks about compliance with Australia's obligations under international

law we will need to speak with the Dept of Foreign Affairs, the Office of International Law and a few

• ther agencies as well to get their views.
• Note .au licensing rules don’t come into effect until 1 October 2019
• When DOCA advice is received
• if minor changes are necessary we will bring to the Board for approval
• if more substantive changes, we will put out for 21 day public comment, prior to Board approval

DOCA update

• A briefing of the security issues and mitigation to address those issues was presented to the

Security and Risk Committee (SRC) on 3 June 2019

• Risk management included:
• Only work with IDN tables where there is more than 10 years of practical experience
• Only work with languages that have significant usage as IDNs
• Only allow one script per language
• There is extensive practical experience with Han (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) language

scripts – and collaboration across China, Korea and Japan

• Roll-out language by language, and monitor impacts moving to the next language
• Implementation not before 1 July 2020
• Implementation planning to commence in April 2020 and involve further consultation with
• ther parties such as MailGuard (email spam and virus filter software), the TASC, and local

language communities, and also review whether to introduce in .com.au as well as in .au.

• Update to be provided to the SRC in May 2020

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)

• Clarified the Australian law associated with Australian Business Number
• Added definition for Registry and increased minimum password length to 13

characters

• Added additional reason to reserve names where it is necessary for the proper

administration of Government

• Removed text relating to receiving a request under the public interest test from a

foreign officer or foreign court order. auDA will respond to law enforcement and intelligence agency as defined in the Privacy Act.

• Removed text relating to “investigations’ and clarified that we only undertake

searches of Registry Data – e.g. for other domains from the same registrant.

Summary of .au licensing rule changes

.au implementation details approved at June 2019 Board meeting

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• Cut-off date: 4 February 2018 (see appendix for explanation)
• Commencement date: 4th quarter 2019
• .au wholesale fee – set the same as the open second level name spaces (e.g. com.au)
• .au application fee – set the same as the .au wholesale fee
• Application fee will include one year of .au registration
• Costs to validate an application and manage compliance/disputes the same as .au registration
• Annual application fee for a contested name will include a holding page with links to the applicant

websites

• Reserve names in the form of <name>gov.au (e.g. reserve atogov.au from registration)

Implementation Details

• The Australian Government’s Digital Transformation Agency has requested that the following

names be reserved for future potential second level name spaces:

• nationalpark.au / nationalparks.au
• archive.au / archives.au
• parliament.au / parl.au
• election.au / elections.au
• mil.au / military.au
• library.au / libraries.au
• court.au / courts.au
• highcourt.au
• police.au
• minister.au
• governor.au
• royalcommission.au
• These will be posted for a 21 day public comment period

Reservation of names in .au

Request from Northern Territory Government

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• To participate in the priority registration process for .au, the names must be in the

central registry

• The Northern Territory Government requested approval to add their names to the

registry and participate in the priority registration process

• Board approved adding nt.gov.au names to the registry to participate in the priority

registration process.

nt.gov.au names

Appendix

25

PRP Recommendation – Priority registration

Cut-Off Date 4 Feb 2018 Launch Day e.g. Oct 2019 End of Priority Application Period e.g. Mar 2020 6 months Priority Application Period Indefinite Conflict resolution period All existing names locked in .au, but any new name can be registered Any locked name with no application is released to the general market Only registrants with names created before the cut-off date can participate in conflict resolution

Use Cases – Cut-off date 4 Feb 2018

Party A B C D Result Domain name

forexample.com.au forexample.net.au forexample.org.au forexample.id.au

Creation Date Jan-2005 Feb-2010 Mar-2018 Aug-2018 Case 1 Applied Applied Applied Applied A & B go into conflict resolution Case 2 Applied Applied Applied B gets forexample.au Case 3 Applied Applied C gets forexample.au, as creation date of forexample.org.au is before forexample.id.au Case 4 Applied D gets forexample.au

• Use cases consider various combinations of Parties A, B, C, and D applying for forexample.au

during the Priority Application Period.

• Parties A and B have domain names created prior to the cut-off date.

Status page

• A registrant will be able to see how many other names have a matching string across all the .au

namespaces

• A registrant will be able to see where each registrant sits in the priority order based on creation date
• A registrant will be able to see if other registrants have applied for a name, decided not to apply or

have withdrawn their applications, or simply haven’t responded yet as of the date of the search

Priority Order Application Status forexample.com.au Applied forexample.net.au Declined to Apply forexample.edu.au No Response Cut-off date 4 Feb 2018 forexample.org.au Applied forexample.asn.au Declined to Apply forexample.id.au Applied

Forexample.au landing page

The domain name licence for forexample.au has not been allocated as the parties below are still in negotiations to agree who will be the holder of forexample.au Forexample Company Pty Ltd https://www.forexample.com.au Forexample Charity Incorporated https://www.forexample.org.au