auDA 60% foreign controlled

Update: The ITWire where I’m accused of racial profiling mentioned in the video

I honestly hate talking about auDA. I have so many other exciting and profitable things I could be doing. It’s depressing what auDA have done and what they are continuing to do to the Australian Internet Community.

Recently auDA has quadrupled it’s membership by signing up 900 employees of several registrars.  They have claimed this is in response to the Federal Govt review that recommended they “diversify” the membership base to “under represented” groups.  Registrars have to be accredited by auDA to sell Australian domain names. These are the very businesses auDA are meant to regulate. auDA has actively sought their support and refers to them as their ‘loyal’ registrars. If any group is under represented it is Australian business, which own the lion share of Australian .com.au domain names.

Foreign Membership Fast tracked

These employees have not had to pay for their memberships nor have they had to undergo a manual verification process of their details or be interviewed to confirm their eligibility to become member like local domain name holders have to be.

The new membership list was published last week revealing that the “loyal” registrars now control 75% of the membership base. Most of their employees are based in the Philippines, Canada, USA, Ukraine & Singapore. This means auda is now 60% foreign membership and the bulk of these new members do not seem to have any online presence, which begs the question how are the in anyway eligible for membership of auDA to begin with?

We know there has been no verification of their details because if there were, we would not see new members with names like “Dina Qui√±ones
“ There are at least 20 members listed with √± as part of their name. In their haste to stack the membership base, the auDA board have approved members that literally do not exist. There would also not have been time to verify or confirm eligibility because each member up until now, has had to undergo a formal interview process which, conservatively would have taken at least 150 work hours for auDA to complete. (allow 10 mins for each phone call including administrative record keeping)

Local Business Owners Deemed Untrustworthy by auDA.

auDA has not abandoned the process of the interview. In fact as recently as last week it was still being employed on local business owners that applied to become members. Apparently they are less trustworthy than foreign workers who do not own a domain name.

Here’s a colleague whose membership seems to have been rejected by auDA just last week.

auDA Membership <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2018 at 15:00
Subject: Confirmation of auDA Membership

Good afternoon Scott,

Unfortunately I have been unsuccessful in trying to reach you via phone. auDA would like to acknowledge receipt of your application and remittance for membership.

Our next Board Meeting will be held on Monday 16 July 2018 and as per the auDA membership guidelines, the cut off period for application submissions is one week prior to this.

In order to confirm your eligibility for Demand Class membership, the accuracy of the details on your application will need to be verified. If you could please call before the close of business today, I will be able to ensure that your application is submitted for approval at next Monday’s Board Meeting.

auDA appreciates your interest in the future of the .au domain space and again thanks you for the lodgement of your application. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Kind regards,

auDA Membership

.au Domain Administration Ltd

T: 1300 732 929

Scott has worked in the Australian Internet Industry for over 15 years. He is incredibly well respected and is a pioneer of ecommerce in our country. Yet “Annalyn Charmy Eda√±o” apparently is more qualified and trustworthy to become a member than him. Why? Well presumably “Annalyn Charmy Eda√±o” will vote the way he/she is told to by their employer at the next auDA AGM.

auDA is Compromised

This put’s our regulator, in charge of critical infrastructure at the mercy of the very organisations it is meant to regulate. In addition to this auDA has increased it’s share of domain fees by 167% and have announced a 12 million dollar marketing fund to promote AU domain names. Would APRA promote banking products?

auDA was formed as a ground up organisation to support the Australian Internet Community. It was not meant to be the play thing of political apparatchiks and their lobbyists. We’d like to return it to an organisation that the Australian Internet Community can be proud of, not a top down tyrannical mob hell bent on milking the Australian Internet Community for every cent it can get.

If you are an auDA member please vote YES to the 3 resolutions proposed at upcoming SGM