On behalf of Chris Berkeley that is having problems posting on the list.




------- Forwarded message follows -------
To:             	dns§lists.auda.org.au
Subject:        	Bent coppers?
Send reply to:  	chris§netmastery.com.au
Date sent:      	Sat, 16 Mar 2002 12:20:20 +1100

On 15 Mar 2002 at 13:38, Ed Sweeney wrote:

Send reply to:  	dns§lists.auda.org.au
Date sent:      	Fri, 15 Mar 2002 13:38:49 +1000
To:             	dns§lists.auda.org.au
From:           	Ed Sweeney <ed&#167;capital.net.au>
Subject:        	Re: [DNS] stupid question

>
> There is a listing of accredited gTLD registrars available at
> http://www.internic.net/origin.html
>
> The Australian registrars are listed at the top.
>
> Regards,
> Ed Sweeney
>
>

I am sure Ed that after disclosing that you are closely associated
with one of the registrars listed there that you would like to
recommend that anyone registering a domain name consider the long term
ramifications of using a particular registrar.

Not so long ago gTLD domains registered with a particular registrar
went off line for 36 hours. What a capital idea - not. The registrar
did not apologise or offer any discounts to those adversely affected.
Instead when people reacted by transferring domains away from that
registrar to more reliable and cheaper registrars, the registrar
started putting barriers in the way of the transfer requests.

These barriers included requiring that the domain registrants sign
notarised(!) declarations and provide notarised (!!!) copies of
photographic identification such as a drivers licence or passport
before they would consider a transfer request. (Now for those who
don't know obtaining notarised documents is both an expensive and time
consuming process.)  And even when registrants went to the trouble of
complying with such unreasonable requests (I mean Ed where in the
registrar's T&C does it say that a registrant must have a drivers
licence or passport?) and sent the required documentation, the
registrar refused to accept delivery!

So registrants were faced with the option of paying over the odds for
the renewal of their domains with a registrar whose technical strength
could be questioned or of playing ducks and drakes and letting the
domain lapse with the original registrar and hopefully reregistering
it with another registrar.

Sadly some people who took the second option found that their domain
name had been grabbed by some one else  before they had the chance to
re-register. And what is more these domains were still registered
through the original registrar but this time the registrants were
non-existent entities with false addresses and who were uncontactable.
And worse still the original registrants of these carefully nurtured
domains found that they were now being offered for sale on an auction
site.

A reasonable person would think that a responsible registrar who
required registrants to go to great lengths to prove their identity
when requesting a transfer would require new registrants of those same
domain names to demonstrate their bona fides particularly when the
registrar's associated entities were doing the hosting of the
reregistered domains and the auction site. I mean Ed that the
registrar would want to prevent fraud wouldn't they?

And Ed one really good test of a registrar's (or indeed any bona fide
Australian business) probity might be that when a customer asks to
speak to the chief executive or even for the name of that person's
name, that information would be freely given. But customers of that
registrar are told when they ring that the CEO is never available and
even that they are unable to disclose his or her name or the name of
the company's public officer.

Ed I know that as a subscriber and contributor to this list that you
can be assumed to be a supporter of free speech and the dissemination
of information that would allow consumers to make informed decisions
as to where they should spend their hard earned purchasing goods and
services. I am sure that you are as shocked as I am to learn that the
registrar has now apparently resorted to legal action for defamation
against the sponsors of forums where aggrieved domain name registrants
aired their, errr, grievances.

And another thing that is passing strange, Ed. This registrar claims
to be Australian. It is on the list that you pointed us to as an
Australian registrar, and in the past it has traded on it's
"Australianess" and its T&Cs say specifically that registrants must
accept that the laws and regulations of a particular Australian
Territory apply to their transactions with the registrar .  But when
an Australian based registrant asks the ostensibly Australian
registrar for a Tax Invoice, the registrar responds by saying
something along the lines of "Oh no heaven forfend. We are not
Australian. We are actually processing this transaction on a high
mountain top in a far away country through another entity altogether
in non-Australian currency."

And this dear friends (and Ed) is the sad story of what can happen if
one chooses ones registrar less than carefully. And this is the slough
of despair (despain?) that auDA and the free market loonies want to
deliver us to shortly: shyster registrars, no predictability, no
reliability, expense, frustration, and a complete and utter waste of
time and money.

That's all folkers

Chris Berkeley



-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Sweeney [mailto:ed&#167;capital.net.au]
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 2:39 PM
To: dns&#167;lists.auda.org.au
Subject: Re: [DNS] stupid question



There is a listing of accredited gTLD registrars available at
http://www.internic.net/origin.html

The Australian registrars are listed at the top.

Regards,
Ed Sweeney


At 09:58 PM 3/14/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>Sorry for the stupid question but it seems to be the right place to ask.
>
>How do you go about registering a .com domain name in australia and how
>does renewal work ?
>
>Thank you
>
>Vlady
>--
>
>_______________________________________________
>Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Email.com
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>
>
>
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