Glen,

>I'll state again that I was referring to the .edu.au and
>.gov.au domains.
>
>The occupants of these domains have different requirements
>for domain registration policies and procedures than the
>occupants of for-profit domains.

Perhaps you explain why you think .edu.au and .gov.au
(and I'd throw .asn.au into the group) have requirements
any different from .net.au and .com.au etc.  As far as I can
see the requirements are functionally identical for all the
.au SLDs, and the necessity for clear policies and procedures
applies to all the SLDs:

They have users that need domain names created.
They have users that require service guarantees
(eg, might need a domain name set up fairly quickly).
They have users who require reliability in the DNS
system.
They have users who would like lowest possible cost
to register a domain name
They have restrictions on what entities can get a
domain name in that SLD.
They have restrictions on what domain names will be issued
to entities in that SLD
They have users who have expectations (privacy, reliability, etc)
of the registrars.

I can think of two non-functional areas where the situation may
be different for .asn.au, .edu.au, .gov.au from .net.au .com.au etc 

1. Volume of requests
The number of requests for domain names in .asn.au, .edu.au, .gov.au
may always be so low that the job of registrar can be done by volunteers
at no charge.

2. Financial support of the DNS system
Should all users contribute financially to the support of the DNS system,
or should there be some cross subsidisation?  This is a 'morality' sort of
issue - there's no right or wrong on this one, it's going to be a matter or
individual opinion for everyone.

I can see two contrasting points of view on this second issue:

a) All users should contribute equally to the support of the DNS system.
Issues such as subsidisation for entities such as public schools, charities,
etc should be handled outside the DNS by those entities receiving subsidies
as part of their normal operations, and therefore irrelevant to the DNS.

b)The full cost of whatever is necessary to deliver a reliable DNS should be
carried by those users who use domain names as part of their money making
activities (and are responsible for about 85% of the demand), and they should
subsidise those sectors who's objective is something other than just making
money.

Regards, Mark


  


In these domains, the users of the domain are the people
behind the browser, not businesses seeking a web presence.

ADNA and IIA has a long history of ignoring these different
requirements and, considering that Vic states he is a
director of IIA and that he was wearing his "IIA hat" when
writing his e-mail, I can now see how that happens.


Finally, I have no idea what

> ...you want to throw stones at commerical exploitation, I
> suggest you look around your own work place.

is referring to -- recall that my workplace is the
University of Adelaide.  Unless of course it's the large
mainly-volunteer effort by people at universities in
providing services to Internet users that ISPs then on-sell
for a profit :-)

Cheers,
glen

-- 
 glen.turner§itd.adelaide.edu.au    Network Support Specialist
 Tel: (08) 8303 3936           Information Technology Division
 Fax: (08) 8303 4400            University of Adelaide SA 5005