*big sigh* Now I'm beginning to see the problem.

I will try and make this brief as I don't want this to be another 
long-winded go-nowehere debate about DNS. I'll say my piece then if 
that resolves nothing I'll give up.

All around the world organisations of all sizes ranging up to the US 
government are organising systems for managing DNS because it is 
becoming so important. Eventually they are going to set it all up and 
get it going. Then they're going to ask Australia what we have 
in place to coordinate this important sector of the Internet.

Is our response going to be "A bloke called Bob"?

While I have every respect for Robert Elz, it is ludicrous to say it 
is better to have one person have overall control of .au because a 
body that respresents the interested parties couldn't be formed.

So if we accept we need some organisation, ADNA is the closest thing 
to it. It may be miles away from it but it is still the closest thing 
to it. Now we can either take the attitude that it's not perfect and 
block it until it is perfect (never) or we can negotiate, compromise 
and offer constructive suggestions to get it there.

Some possible compromises to consider:

People don't like the idea of ADNA claiming control of all of .au; 
ADNA compromises by making a statement that initially it will only 
deal in commercial domains - .com.au and .net.au if the Connect dudes 
will be in it. Maybe it could even change its objectives to this 
affect. (BTW - I am not speaking for ADNA here, I'm just one member)

People don't like the idea of 2LDs being created. The people 
compromise by accepting a statement from ADNA that it will only 
create 2LDs for commerial purposes. Sure this isn't exactly what you 
want - but it is a compromise.

People say that they won't join ADNA because they don't like it's 
attitude/articles. We call a special meeting of ADNA which anyone can 
attend to thrash these things out. Assuming an agreement can be 
reached then the abstaining groups can join.

People say ADNA doesn't supply information about what is going on. 
ADNA has accepted this criticism and is working on a web page as we 
type.

There's probably lots more good compromises that I haven't thought of 
- maybe you guys can suggest some.

Basically I think its time for ISOC-AU, etc. to decide whether they 
are out to help create a truly representative and useful organisation 
to sort out DNS in Australia or is blocking ADNA in the interest of 
some hidden agenda. If it is a hidden agenda, let us know what it is 
- maybe its a better idea.

BTW - I speak plain English, not legalese so please don't just pick 
apart my wording.

Regards

--
Kevin Dinn ____________________    o    _          _--_|\    ZIP P/L 
Business Manager              /____|___|_)________/______\_____________
www.zip.com.au                         | .        \_.--._/  Virtually
Phone: (Australia) 02 92 704 777  Fax: 92 475 276       v  the best :-)
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     President - The Australian Internet Alliance (www.aia.asn.au)
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