Internet Society of Australia
A Chapter of the Internet Society

ISOC-AU directors' concerns about proposed ADNA role

hi all,

ISOC-AU was invited to become a member of ADNA - the Australian Domain 
Name Authority. what follows is our formal response to this invitation.

info on ADNA can be found at www.intiaa.asn.au/dns/adna-mem.htm

please take any discussion on this issue to iamems@isoc-au.org.au

cheers,
pauline

------------- Begin Forwarded Message -------------
Attn: Luke Carruthers
      Acting ADNA Chair

Dear Luke

Thank you for your invitation to become one of the founding Directors of the
Australian Domain Name Authority. We find ourselves unable to accept your
invitation and unable to support ADNA, or to recognise it in any way as an
authority over any part of the Australian domain name space.

Our concerns, which have been given publicly and at the DNS Forum meetings,
are as follows:

   - the powers ADNA assumes under the Memorandum and Articles of its
     Association are very broad. In particular it assumes responsibility
     for the entire .au namespace.
     
   - the consultation period in general has been too short and too narrow,
     especially given ADNA's proposed powers. In particular, the .gov.au, 
     edu.au and .csiro.au domains have been left out of the deliberations.
     
   - as a result of the above, ISOC-AU does not consider it plausible that
     ADNA has the active support of even a significant fraction of the
     Australian Internet community.
     
   - a controlling body is being put in place which has at present only the
     vaguest ideas about how it will actually control the DNS and the policies
     that will guide that control. These are things which in our opinion should
     be decided by wide consultation and which should precede the setup of
     formal frameworks to exercise that control. ADNA seems to be seeking a
     blank cheque here.
     
   - the methods by which the Internet community will have meaningful input
     into the development of policy are most unclear. It seems to be shaping
     up to be a "members only" body, with "members" having all the say. And
     voting membership costs enough to make it completely out of the reach of
     most ordinary persons. While there are now (thanks to ISOC-AU and others)
     requirements for public consultation in the ADNA charter, the methods by
     which that consultation will take place are still very much up to ADNA.
     
   - ISOC-AU's perception of ADNA is of a very commercially focussed and
     commercially oriented group. We feel that such a focus is unwelcome and
     inappropriate for a body which is handling a public good.

We welcome and concur entirely with the Australian Vice Chancellors
Committee's recent letter to you, in which they too reject any authority
ADNA may claim over the Australian domain name space.

We would be most interested in any comment or response you may have to
the problems we have pointed out. We are not opposed to the idea of an
Australian domain name authority, but we cannot support the way ADNA
has chosen.

Yours sincerely

Pauline van Winsen
The Internet Society of Australia
A Chapter of the Internet Society.