At 10:13 1998-11-03 +1100, you wrote:
>At 07:26 3/11/98 +1100, you wrote:
>>In reviewing my own words I fail to see how the
>>'Domain name holders' could ever organise a
>>sinmgle nominee. Looks like I'm down to 5  in
>>this proposal - fair enough - 5 is a good number
>>to do a well defined task very cleanly.
>
>In my previous email I echoed this point - there are no consumer bodies
that can take this mantle. I believe that a 'Registrar' or 'Registration
Agent' is most likely to represent consumer interests because they are
closest to those interests.
>

 I disagree with this "top down" thinking, the domain space .au represents
the whole of the country, not just the technocracy and its associated
business interests. It is apparent throughout these discussions that these
interests are already very well represented.

 What is glaringly obvious when we stand back and review the situation is
the huge gap, the place, and the need, for "community based & IT savvy"
representation.

We (GCN) build and hold in trust domain names for community groups and
proceed via govt grant systems to teach these groups what the value of these
holdings are and how to use them for the betterment of their communities and
groups.

We also encourage and teach small business to take up the utilisation of the
system.

We are consumers, consumer guardians and educators in relationship to these
(DNS) products. I believe that would make us uniquely representative.

The problems associated with the .au namespace and its allocation mechanisms
effect us greatly. I believe it is about time we put our hand up on this one.




Ron Ipsen,
Managing Director,
Gippsland Internet Pty Ltd
Ph: 61 3 51 276543  Fax: 61 3 51 262020
Project Manager,
Gippsland Community Network.

http://www.comu.net.au - Gippslands Community Network
http://www.gips.com.au - bringing Gippsland business online.
http://www.amputee.org - amputees working together.

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the level of thinking
we were at when we created them." -  Albert Einstien