Australia's Generic Net Names To Be Put Up For Auction
Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the generic-dot-something-hey-you dept.
m0f3z writes: "According to this article,
auDA has organised to auction off previously reserved internet names, such as hotel.com.au and banks.com.au. It's believed the auction is the first of its kind in the world."
Domain name reverse auction
by
rdl
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I actually had the idea several years ago, when tangentially involved with a ccTLD commercialization project, to auction domain names in a "virgin" domain on a first-come, first-serve, reverse auction basis. I'm sure others have as well -- auctions are a standard way to distribute scarce resources, like RF spectrum.
On day one, offer any available name for USD 100m. (first come first-serve intraday). Second day, USD 50m. Third, USD 25m...
Certainly there would be few/no sales at the higher price, but at some point, domains like "anal.*" would go for a high price. And single-letter domains. I like this system because it allows users to decide what domains are valuable, and whoever values the domain the highest, gets it. It really seems like the only fair way to distribute the resource.
It's better to do reverse vs. forward auction because otherwise bidding for popular domains could drag out for some time. Forward auction might increase prices if there is a "bidding war". Some of the details can be tweaked.
However, it's unclear if this kind of sale would be ok with ICANN (or at the time, IANA). Not that it particularly matters; they're pretty much morally bankrupt at this point, and if the proceeds went to the country involved, I doubt they could successfully protest.
If anyone with a ccTLD wants to do this, please email me, I'd be happy to set it up for you, I have the code:)
Why stop there?
by
heretic108
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Why don't they go the whole hog:
1) Abolish ownership of all domain names, and replace it with a system of 12-month leases, issued by auction.
2) At end of every 12 month period, auction each domain name again?
Hell, even as it is, you can't register a.org.au domain unless you're a legally incorporated association. You can't register a.com.au unless you're a legally registered business, and the domain name has to be the same as the business' trading name.
I was born in, and spent the first 32 years of my life, in Australia. Looking at it from outside, I'm fascinated how the 'convict streak' there is paralleled by a severe authoritarian streak.
Hell, it's even against the law there to webcast an audio or video stream without a government license.
I'm surprised they haven't yet legislated to force all TCP/IP connections to go through Censorship Board firewalls.
I've spent 5 of the last 7 years in New Zealand (by virtue of my Kiwi wife), and I've never felt so free!
-- --
In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was UNSIGNED, and the main(){} was without form and void...
Not open season
by
purplemonkeydan
·
· Score: 4, Informative
It's not 'open season' on whatever stupid domain name you want (I was looking at nudists.com.au;).
.com.au requires you to hold a business name or trademark similar to the domain you want to register.
To successfully win in the auction, you needed to have a valid and relevant trademark or business name current as of last August.
It's mainly for companies that had a generic name as a trademark, but due to the existing policies of the previous.au administration were not allowed to register an appropriate.com.au (Orange comes to mind; they can probably pickup orange.com.au as well as their current.net.au).
First of it's kind?
by
Zocalo
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I don't know about "it's believed the auction is the first of its kind in the world" but wasn't one of the new TLDs auctioned off? Sure, it got classed as an illegal lottery, but it was still an auction of domain names to the highest bidder.
Actually this makes a lot of sense to me; raise a shitload of cash for nothing and then watch the new owners of the vastly overvalued domain names struggle to recoup their investment while you laugh all the way to the bank. This scheme sounds suspiciously like the 3G mobile auctions in the UK a few years ago; the government got £26 *billion* for a few leases on the RF spectrum. Like, sure, there is £26 billion to recouped from 3G in a population of less than 60m...
Slashdot Mirror
I actually had the idea several years ago, when tangentially involved with a ccTLD commercialization project, to auction domain names in a "virgin" domain on a first-come, first-serve, reverse auction basis. I'm sure others have as well -- auctions are a standard way to distribute scarce resources, like RF spectrum.
:)
On day one, offer any available name for USD 100m. (first come first-serve intraday). Second day, USD 50m. Third, USD 25m...
Certainly there would be few/no sales at the higher price, but at some point, domains like "anal.*" would go for a high price. And single-letter domains. I like this system because it allows users to decide what domains are valuable, and whoever values the domain the highest, gets it. It really seems like the only fair way to distribute the resource.
It's better to do reverse vs. forward auction because otherwise bidding for popular domains could drag out for some time. Forward auction might increase prices if there is a "bidding war". Some of the details can be tweaked.
However, it's unclear if this kind of sale would be ok with ICANN (or at the time, IANA). Not that it particularly matters; they're pretty much morally bankrupt at this point, and if the proceeds went to the country involved, I doubt they could successfully protest.
If anyone with a ccTLD wants to do this, please email me, I'd be happy to set it up for you, I have the code
Why don't they go the whole hog:
.org.au domain unless you're a legally incorporated association. You can't register a .com.au unless you're a legally registered business, and the domain name has to be the same as the business' trading name.
1) Abolish ownership of all domain names, and replace it with a system of 12-month leases, issued by auction.
2) At end of every 12 month period, auction each domain name again?
Hell, even as it is, you can't register a
I was born in, and spent the first 32 years of my life, in Australia. Looking at it from outside, I'm fascinated how the 'convict streak' there is paralleled by a severe authoritarian streak.
Hell, it's even against the law there to webcast an audio or video stream without a government license.
I'm surprised they haven't yet legislated to force all TCP/IP connections to go through Censorship Board firewalls.
I've spent 5 of the last 7 years in New Zealand (by virtue of my Kiwi wife), and I've never felt so free!
-- In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was UNSIGNED, and the main(){} was without form and void...
It's not 'open season' on whatever stupid domain name you want (I was looking at nudists.com.au ;).
.au administration were not allowed to register an appropriate .com.au (Orange comes to mind; they can probably pickup orange.com.au as well as their current .net.au).
.com.au requires you to hold a business name or trademark similar to the domain you want to register.
To successfully win in the auction, you needed to have a valid and relevant trademark or business name current as of last August.
It's mainly for companies that had a generic name as a trademark, but due to the existing policies of the previous
Actually this makes a lot of sense to me; raise a shitload of cash for nothing and then watch the new owners of the vastly overvalued domain names struggle to recoup their investment while you laugh all the way to the bank. This scheme sounds suspiciously like the 3G mobile auctions in the UK a few years ago; the government got £26 *billion* for a few leases on the RF spectrum. Like, sure, there is £26 billion to recouped from 3G in a population of less than 60m...
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!