auDA denies claims of impropriety - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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auDA denies claims of impropriety

By Jeanne-Vida Douglas and Vivienne Fisher, 0
December 20, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/auDA-denies-claims-of-impropriety/0,139023166,120262507,00.htm

Both auDA and Melbourne IT have countered claims from a source which allege the list of generic domain names being auctioned was available prior to August 15.

The source claimed that the list of generic names was given to parties before August 15, which would allow them to prepare early to qualify for valuable domain names which had in the past been unavailable.

"[We were] planning on bidding ourselves until we found out others also got the list and have partnered with others so they will have the $$ to win the auction and the small business fold will have no chance," the source said in an e-mail to ZDNet Australia.

auDA CEO Chris Disspain said the .au domain administrator had received the list of the generic names from Melbourne IT. While he was not able to say that someone wouldn't be able to obtain it prior to August 13, Disspain said he'd be "very very surprised if that were the case". He said that the decision to use the Melbourne IT list was not made until a board meeting on August 13.

Similarly, Melbourne IT's chief technology officer Bruce Tonkin said no one should have had access to the list. Tonkin said a preliminary list of names was provided to auDA several months ago, with the final list sent to auDA last week.

"I don't see why anyone would want to obtain a complete list of the names anyway," Disspain said. "All that information is now freely available to interested parties via the Stuff Web site."

The source also said they would "tip off" the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC is unable to confirm whether they have received complaints about the auction of generic domain names, and ASIC told ZDNet Australia that the matter lay outside their jurisdiction.

However, the principal concern of ZDNet Australia's source was that if companies obtained copies of the list prior to August 15 they would have an unfair advantage in the voting process over those who hadn't, yet the illegality of such a breach has yet to be established.

John Wong, operations manager for Stuff said that interested parties still had plenty of time to review the list and submit their applications before the January 31st deadline.