Terry Collins wrote:
> Well, that is because there are more than one likely meaning of a
> name.
It is because the Aussie Internet founders Elz(?), Houston, et al.
had the foresight to create an Australian .AU hierarchy that parallels
the root (TLD) domains .COM .ORG .NET .GOV (but not .MIL).
In their original incarnations, each 2LD in .AU had a unique purpose.
This ain't the case anymore, due solely to commercial greed.
> Under the system that every country has (?), you can have
> .com.au (or .co.uk, .co.hk, co,jp,) a commercial entity name collins
> .org.au a organisation for researching the collins name,
> .asn.au for the collins wild party association,
> .net.au a welconnedct nethead (two name distinct servers isn't it)
> terry.collins.id.au which is not quiet how it works (The revhead
> rumble can explain {:-)
Australia is the only country I know of that parallels the
TLD's precisely.
Canada is a mess: .ab.ca for anything in Alberta, yet .telusplanet.ca for
a Canadian telco.
Many Euro and Asian countries just have ONE level, e.g. anything.it or
something.id
Here in Australia .NET.AU is now being sold off by connect.com.au
in the same manner (and using nearly the same rulebook) as .COM.AU ...
it certinly ain't no nethead domain. So much for any semantics
in the hierarchy. That went out the door years ago :-(
> Now, the obvious arguments is that Collins books should really be
> www.collinsbooks.com.au, but as my full business name is wombat
> outdoor adventures, I can get away with woa.com.au
Heh heh ... a real can of worms that one. The only system that seems
to work is awarding names on a first come first served basis, but
only where there is a demonstrable connection between the domain name and
the owner of the domain name.
This has served Australia quite well with .COM.AU ... there has been little
if any litigation since INA is very strict (enforcing modified rules created
by Elz years ago).
- an unfortunate side of .COM.AU is that some big names in Australia seem to
have been given names that break the rules, i.e. names that mere mortals like
us would never be allowed to have - news.com.au, seven.com.au, ten.com.au come
to mind ... hmmmm ... mass media rules, OK?
- another bizarre rule in .COM.AU is "no generic names", i.e. a name that would
appear in the index of the yellow pages. But explain the existence of car.com.au
- nasty names in .COM.AU not allowed: A SLUGGER posted his home page link yesterday,
and on it is a link to jesus-sucks-dicks.com. Such a name would not be allowed in
.COM.AU. This policy is debatable, of course, but it certainly has maintained a
low cringe factor for commercial Australian names.
My own pet peeves about .COM.AU are the monopoly they hold and how selectively they've
applied the rules. There seems to be inconsistent policy administration and
downright incompetence on the part of some of their staff and managers. Whatever
the cause, it has raised the ire and hackles of many wannabe cyber ventures in
Australia.
OTOH, in the USA there are heaps of cases before the courts
disputing rightful ownership of popular .COM domain names. The Yanks have
actually made it illegal to engage in cyber-squatting (grabbing and sitting
on a domain name you have no right to own) since there is absolutely no control
over the .COM space at all.
Want some weird ones? The country top-level domains like .FM (formosa) and
.CD (whatever) have been hijacked by Yanks wanting to promote FM radio
stations and compact disc sales companies. I kid you not.
My conclusion: since the Internet went commercial in the early nineties, the
domain name system has been hijacked and corrupted by greedy bastards trying to
make a fast buck. In the process they've managed to break all the ground rules
and corrupt what was once a very usable system. Future generations will look
back to this era and probably decide that the best long term solution will be
to outlaw greed ;-) <wink wink>
Cheers
Rick W
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Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services Pty Limited
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