On Saturday just gone, the domain name
Banking.com.au was accidentally dropped by CSC Global for ING Bank.
According to Wikipedia,
ING Bank is a $53 Billion company with over 1000 employees.
Banking.com.au was an AWESOME domain name for this company. I am sure they are (will be) quite upset when they notice they will never be able to leverage it’s marketing power, ever again, from this moment forward.
On their own website, CSC Global claim to be:
the world’s leading provider of business, legal, tax, and digital brand services to companies around the globe. From keeping your business in compliance and streamlining operations, to protecting and promoting your brand online, we use our expertise and personal approach to help your business run smoother.
This is not the first time I’ve noticed CSC Global “drop the ball” (so to speak) and lose a valuable premium domain name for a client.
The funny thing is though…
Netfleet were quick to remove this domain name from their drop-catching platform on Saturday, and when I placed a $500 bid on Drop.com.au (knowing I would have no chance of winning it!) – it was clear that someone had already locked that option out.
I wouldn’t be surprised if bidders were opting for $5,000 or even $10,000 or higher… as their bid on the Drop.com.au platform on Saturday for this prestigious domain name.
Once time was up, I checked the WHOIS to see who had been successful in acquiring this amazing domain name.
The response was:
RESERVED BY REGISTRY.
It seems that auDA or Afilias are now officially BLOCKING certain domain names from ANYONE owning them, as they are being dropped.
I’d love to hear your opinion on this, but first, I’d like to share mine.
How is it that a competitive bank wasn’t allowed to BID for this premium domain name on the drop platforms?
Let’s say the IT guy, or a broker
on behalf of a bank, wanted to acquire this domain name on the drops on Saturday?
Why and how was this domain name blocked from being purchased on the drop platforms?
How and why is it NEVER available for anyone to own EVER again?
Do you believe auDA or Afilias are allowed, or should, be doing this?
Hello Robert. One of my jobs in Commonwealth Treasury’s Financial Institutions Division many years ago was to advise on the proposed use of the words like ‘bank’, ‘banker’ and ‘banking’, the use of which was (and still are restricted under the Banking Act 1959 (Latest Version: <https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00331>.
This function is now be the responsibility of APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority). See these APRA ‘Guidelines: Restricted words under the Banking Act 1959, 20 Aug 2018’ at <https://www.apra.gov.au/sites/default/files/apra-guidelines-restricted-words-under-the-banking-act-august-2018.pdf>
Ian Johnston
Thanks for your input and link, Ian J, but I still have questions surrounding this…
I’m currently being told:
Have I missed something here?
Since when did the “Banking Act of 1959”, which protects the term “banking” being used to register a financial business with ASIC, morph into protecting the online generic-word domain name “banking.com.au”?
How and when did auDA add and start heavily policing these generic domain names? Was it since an amendment was made to the Reserved List Policy (https://www.auda.org.au/policies/index-of-published-policies/2014/2014-06) which states:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but did this amendment and specific generic keywords just suddenly appear overnight in January, earlier this year?
Are we the only country in the whole world blocking out generic one-word terms like this?
What other generic words and acronyms will be added to this list in the near future?
1) Why does the “Family Law Regulations 1984” list the reserved terms with the extensions (example familyrelationshipcentre.com.au) yet the others do not? Why did auDA made the decision on turning the restriction on “banking” to include “banking.com.au“. Are there any public documents we could request via a FOI between auDA and the Treasury department on this expansion of scope. Are there any documents we can refer to that explain why banking.com.au is considered a match with banking while bankingonline.com.au is not considered a match? Is this going to change again in the future.
2) If the list is based on Australian law, then why is bjndesign.com.au on the reserved list?
whois bjndesign.com.au ?
Reserved by Registry
3) Why is auDA not following the policy deletion process (which includes the right to external review) if auDA policy is being breached?
4) Have the Registrars of record or auDA alerted the Australian Doctors Foundation, the Adelaide Football Club, iVentures Pty Ltd and Christoher Todd Kissin that adf.com.au, afc.com.au, ran.com.au and crsaustralia.com.au are all locked?
Interesting…
So perhaps Concerned is saying, CSC Global didn’t “drop the ball” and accidentally let the domain name drop?
If auDA place a domain name into LOCK STATUS because it appears on the newly modified RESERVED LIST, does this mean the domain CAN’T be renewed, even if the current owners don’t want to lose it? Which causes the domain to go to the drops… but then it CAN’T be bought on the Drops?
I just looked up the WHOIS for ADF.com.au and it says “Renew Prohibited”…
This is as generic an acronym as you can find….
It could literally stand for dozens of things…
But it appears on the RESERVED LIST…
Does this mean, the currently-working website for Australian Doctor Fund can NOT renew their domain name, and will lose ADF.com.au and their website and A LOT OF THEIR BUSINESS once their current registration period ends?
If so… this is CRAZY
I have just been advised that my domain name banc.com.au has been Locked
I will definitely follow up and investigate this further
I can see banque.com.au for you as well Greg.
This is out of control and we need to discuss how things have gotten to this point.
My next article is going to be MASSIVE about this and will expose EVERY DOMAIN that is currently LOCKED and about to be TAKEN from the current owners…