Well patronised by the Web community, www.whatis.com, provides extensive information on the Internet, networking standards, and technical terms generally. However, Australian Web surfers looking for its local counterpart will be disappointed.
The domain name is registered to a New South Wales business by the name of What Is, which purports to provide "technical explanations and a technical glossary". However, attempts to track down a trading history or contact details for What Is management have failed thus far.
According to Chris Disspain, chief executive officer of .au Domain Administration (.auDA) Australian regulations only require domain name registrants to show they have a registered company or business which bears some resemblance to the domain name they require.
"As a registered business the What Is company is perfectly entitled to use the www.whatis.com.au domain name," Dispain said.
However, in not providing a technical explanation or glossary, What Is may be infringing the NSW Trade Practices Act which requires businesses to reveal the nature of their business to the Department of Fair Trading.
In the mean time TechTarget has distanced itself from the use of the www.whatis.com.au Web site.
"It is not practical for us to register every single international domain and we regret the misuse of the whatis.com brand to promote a third-party product," said a spokesperson for TechTarget. "We do not sanction or endorse either this practice or the products being promoted."
What Is and Telstra were both contacted, but were unable to respond to clarify the nature of their relationship by press time.
