Proposal 4.3.1 of the Names Policy Panel report at:

http://www.auda.org.au/panel/name/papers/publicreport.html#new


Introduce new 2LDs in the .au domain space, subject to the ICANN experience of
introducing new gTLDs.


Pros of Proposal 4.3.1:

Creation of new 2LDs is likely to:

Enhance competition. This will be achieved by making competition possible
across different domains serving similar purposes, and across different 2LDs
serving different purposes. For example, an animal professional may have the
option of a domain name in vet.au, or one in a commercial domain like com.au
or net.au, or further options as an individual, or all three. Enhanced
competition should reduce costs and prices of domain name licences, and
potentially improve the quality of related services.

Make the DNS more useful to Internet users - especially (but not only) by
making it easier to find a web site, eg. by creation of special-purpose
domains like cpa.au (for accountants), law.au (for lawyers) or vet.au (for
veterinarians). This is sometimes referred to as a chartered-TLD approach,
although that term has been used by ICANN to cover a diverse number of subsets
(eg. an adult purposes TLD, like .xxx or .sex).

Increase the number of domain names. There seems to be a belief that 'all the
good names are already taken'. Technically, the .com gTLD is nowhere near full
and com.au even less so, but there is a perception that desirable names have
all been used.

Enlarge choices. One view is that it is restriction which needs to be
justified, not the enlargement of possibilities - the status quo should not
necessarily be the default. If there is a demand for, and usefulness in, an
enhanced range of choices, then it should be done unless there is a strong
reason to the contrary.

Create conceptual diversity in the DNS. It is suggested that the DNS is overly
dominated by territorial jurisdictions and commercial interests, and that
there are other ways of thinking (eg. the creation of an ind.au 2LD for
Australian indigenous people).


Cons of Proposal 4.3.1:

On the other hand, creation of new 2LDs may:

Confuse people looking for an entity. It would therefore take longer to find
specific entities (ie. if there are more commercial 2LDs people will not know
where to look, intuitively, for the entity they wish to find). However, the
development of cross-domain search engines will make this easier.

Be unnecessary. There is plenty of space in all of the 2LDs, even com.au -
billions of possible names, even though some of the most sought-after names
may have been taken.

Force entities that wish to prevent use of 'their' name(s) to licence across a
number of different 2LDs, rather than just one or two. The intellectual
property issues and issues which relate to famous marks will become more
complex.


Regards
Patrick Corliss