According to today’s newsletter sent to Associate Members, (and after our recent Domainer Show on the proposed new licensing rules) auDA have stated;
In light of the considerable interdependencies within the Framework, including the new Registrar Agreement being rolled out, and the timing of renewal notifications, not to mention the ongoing COVID-19 challenges for the team working in Victoria, it is likely the launch date for the new Licensing Rules will be late Q1 or early Q2 next year. While we had hoped to go live late this year, the additional few months will ensure all parties are properly prepared for implementation, and registrants with domain names due for renewal are aware how the new rules will apply.
auDA also stated in today’s letter that, “at the end of August, the total active domain names in the .au ccTLD passed 3.2 million for the first time!”.
Any bets what decade Direct .AU Registrations will be implemented?
26 February 2020, The Directors noted that the amendments to the .au Licensing Rules, had been consulted on with respective stakeholders since they were published in October 2019, and the consultation was described in the Board report in December 2019.
Does anyone recall any “consultation” about amendments to these licencing rules, and who are these “respective stakeholders”? Traditionally, a panel or committee makes recommendations to the board in relation to any change. Its been 10 months since the Board received an unpublished “board report” which contained these amendments, and now we are told it will be another 6 or more months before these news rules are implemented. What’s auDA really doing?
The PRP was to reduce red-tape it hasn’t, there are more policies than ever, in fact this process has take 4 years, millions of dollars, a huge amount of voluntary effort, board disruptions, director finagling, and the removal of an entire membership which cannot vote. Coincidentally, the governing members of auDA (small group of people who can vote) decided to change the constitution and stop the over 3,000 strong associate members from becoming governing members. Many of us knew that this membership model will not keep the Board honest – and we see how easily the constitution can be changed by this small group of governing members, so whats stopping them from doing it again 2 years from now?
The new licencing rules is getting chopped and changed behind closed doors and it appears the public does not know what was changed to get to a final copy. auDA must be transparent about what they are doing, and the governing members must take steps to hold the board to account when the integrity of the process is not followed.