Just over a week ago, I reported that auDA began an investigation into my complaint of potential market manipulation and discrimination that occurred when my Domain Broker firm successfully won the expired domain name Superannuation.com.au from one of auDA’s own Accredited Registrars, Drop.com.au on their “drop catching” auction platform (which is a monopoly of premium expired domain catching) for $325,000. However, after the auction had finished and I had won fair and square, they phoned me up, then deleted my last few bids (but not all of them?), then invented a lower bid amount of $250,000 out of thin air, and then gave the domain name to someone else.
auDA have now replied and their reply is technically incorrect.
It doesn’t appear that auDA can follow their own Licensing Rules? Or, does this show they simply make some of them up as they go along?
As you are about to read below, auDA have chosen to address the “WHOIS ownership” question I raised, on its own, which looks technically wrong to me… They also ignored all other questions of market manipulation and discrimination that I raised.
I believe auDA have now failed their Terms of Endorsement placed upon them by the Commonwealth Government in November 2021. I also believe they have now ruined the trust and integrity of the entire .au domain name infrastructure. I’ll expand more on this in my following articles over the coming days.
Every single domain name that accidentally expires (around 1500 per day) is at the hands of one private company (that owns multiple auDA Registrars) who has ultimate and unquestionable monopoly power over who inevitably receives the best domain names, and at what prices. That company is called “Trellian” and/or “Trillion” and they run Drop.com.au and Above.com (a domain monetisation parking company). auDA have been letting these guys get away with this behaviour since November 2020.
As I consider my next steps, and prepare to write the next articles, take a read of auDA’s official response below.
Let it wash over you, and see if you can spot how wrong they just got their own licensing rules?
More to come…
Link: https://www.auda.org.au/policy/au-domain-administration-rules-licensing#2-18
Below is a current screenshot (as at 18 June 2024) of the Licensing Rules they quote and try to justify above.
I am very sad to see that I was right. auDA wallow in the quagmire of their corruption/bias/ineptitude.
auDA have done as they wished. It is clear from 2.18.3 that any correction has to be initiated by the Registrant. A registrar cannot unilaterally request or make a “correction”. at 3:30 GMT the registrant was ASSETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD. Unless AAPL requests a correction in the registrant information, the Registrar (Drop.com.au Pty Ltd) cannot make changes unilaterally.
The word “correction” does not occur anywhere else in this document https://www.auda.org.au/policy/au-domain-administration-rules-licensing So only the Registrant can request a correction.
On that basis, the registrar and auDA have broken their own rules. If they want to support Drop’s dodgy activity then they will have to find another loophole in their policy
Looks like auDA has given Drop.com.au carte blanche to modify any registrant data at any time without having to go through the correct process as outlined in the licensing rules .
Would love to see the paper trail on this one given the data was “corrected” within 5 minutes of registration.
Once again auDA puts Registrars Above Registrants. (no pun intended).