From: Michael Gilmour 
Sent: Friday, 24 March 2006 7:19 PM
To: jo.lim@auda.org.au
Subject: Comments on domain monetisation

Jo,
Please find my comments below on monetising domains via the advertising business model.

The advertising method of monetising a domain name is a valid business model and it can 
be argued that the purchase of many domains by an individual is also a valid monetisation 
strategy. The issue as I see it is the affect that this will have upon the .au space.

One of the problems that many Australian online businesses experience in the global 
market place is that the .au is just not known. Therefore a brand even as powerful as 
bhp.com.au also needs to purchase bhp.com due to the lack of understanding by many 
international internet users have that .au represents Australia. A believe that a 
significant factor the causes this situation is the lack of the number of .au domains 
that are currently in operation. I believe that it should be one of the goals of AUDA 
to promote the .au space through its policies so that it is as recognisable as the 
Australian flag in the online world. If the .au space is liberalised in this area the 
increase in the number of domains purchased would be dramatic and would benefit both 
the mass domain owner, users AND .au registrars. 

For example, let's imagine that a user enters musci.com.au (instead of music.com.au), 
presently they are likely to be taken to an 404 error page, as the domain is not registered. 
The registering of musci.com.au as a part of a "mass registering" IS in the interests of 
BOTH the domain owner and ALSO the user. To understand this we need to appreciate that it 
is in the economic interest of the "mass" domain owner to display links that users will 
click on (ie. In this case music related links). Domains that contain "junk" links or 
inappropriate links will NOT convert to clicks by users for the "mass" domain owner and 
eventually their registration will be allowed to lapse. From a users perspective they are 
now receiving content that is related to a "typo" of what they are requesting....this would 
have to be much better then a 404 error.

Obviously the major candidates for the mass registration of domain names will be typos of 
trademark related domains with large volumes of traffic. I DO NOT believe that it is the 
roll of AUDA to defend another organisations trademark (no matter how prominent it is) 
therefore ALL names should be registerable no matter what legal infringements that could 
possibly be made by the registrant. I DO believe that it is the role of AUDA to provide 
a process where a name can be de-registered or returned to a legal trademark owner in the 
event of a successful claim against the "mass" domainer.

The benefits to the Australian domain registration industry and AUDA itself would also be 
significant as greater numbers of domains purchased would likewise bring more money into 
the registrant industry. These funds could be used for the further promotion of the .au 
space or even the reducing of the price of .au names so that it becomes economically 
sensible to purchase additional names with reduced traffic volumes.

The major potential problem with the mass purchasing of additional is that once a name 
has been legitimately purchased it is gone so that no one else can acquire the identical 
name. Given that only 350,000 com.au names have been purchased to date and that there are 
several trillions possible letter and number combinations available it is unlikely that 
the names will all be purchased in the long-term future. In the event that Australia "runs 
out" of com.au names then AUDA will have been incredibly successful in its role in 
promoting the com.au space as it would mean that it was economically sensible for "mass 
domainers" to pay the yearly registration fees for all their domains. This in turn means 
that these domains are receiving huge volumes of traffic to them that is now being monetised. 
The goal of making the .au space as pre-eminent in the minds of international users would 
have been more than succeeded.

I hope that you find my comments valuable. I am more than happy to answer any questions 
or clarify my response where needed.

Michael Gilmour
Former vice-chairman of the Internet Industry Association (IIA)