Following a detailed industry panel review, auDA has implemented the recommendations of the 2012 Industry Advisory Panel by publishing Transfers (Change of Registrar of Record) Policy (2013-02).

The policy regulates transfers between auDA Accredited Registrars, and now accommodates bulk transfers between registrars, in order to promote competition.

The new clause 7 of the policy states in part:

7.1 Bulk transfers by registrars are only permitted:

a) for a minimum of 1,000 domain names at a time; and

b) with the prior written consent of auDA.

Circumstances in which auDA may consent to a bulk transfer include where the gaining registrar has acquired the losing registrar’s business, or where the gaining registrar and the losing registrar are related entities.

The amended policy comes into force today, 31 May 2013.

Global internet regulator ICANN has announced that it has now approved the new GTLD .melbourne, making it one of the first new Australian GTLD applications to be approved.

All new GLTD need to pass an evaluation process before approval. The approval of .melbourne brings this new GTLD a step closer to going live.

The Victorian Government has not yet announced what the cost or eligibility criteria will be for the new extension, but it is anticipated that registration will only be open to businesses with a physical presence in Melbourne, Victoria.

Following a successful tender process Melbourne based ARI Registry Services won the tender to provide registry services for .melbourne. ARI Registry Services is part of the Ausregistry Group who provide registry services for .au domains.

As part of Privacy Week 2013 we are seeking to increase awareness of privacy issues.

The privacy infographic shows how regulators and citizens are taking action to protect personal information.

Check it out.

Today is the start of Privacy Awareness Week 2013.

This week’s events include:

Sydney – 30 April 2013

The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim will speak about privacy law reform at a CEO forum event, Sydney.

Brisbane – 1 May 2013

The iappANZ, together with Corrs Chambers Westgarth will hold a PAW event featuring Australian Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim and Michelle Dennedy, Global Chief Privacy Officer, McAfee Inc. The event will be held from 12.30–2.00 pm at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Brisbane.
More information is available here. Booking is essential.

Canberra – 1 May 2013

The Australian Information Commissioner, Professor John McMillan will speak about privacy law reform at an event at the Australian Government Department of Human Services, Canberra.

Sydney – 2 May 2013

The iappANZ, together with McAfee and Norton Rose, will present a PAW event titled ‘Understanding Australia’s new privacy legislation’. The event will be from 8–10 am held at Norton Rose, Sydney.
More information is available here. Booking is essential.

Melbourne – 3 May 2013

The iappANZ, together with McAfee and Norton Rose, will present a PAW event titled ‘Understanding Australia’s new privacy legislation’. The event will be held from 8–10am at Norton Rose, Melbourne.
More information is available here. Booking is essential.

.au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA) the regulator of .au domain names, has called an EGM for Monday 22 April 2013 to put a number of constitutional amendments to its members.

The proposed amendments to the constitution arise out of recommendations from the independent review of auDA, by Westlake Consulting. The proposed changes fall into two categories (1) house keeping, which focuses on errors and redundancies in the constitution; and (2) changes including a reduction in the number elected directors, an increase in directors terms, and a cap of terms that directors may serve.

The EGM will be followed by a public meeting of the Board.

All auDA members are welcome to attend.

Details of the EGM are:

Maddocks Lawyers, 140 William Street, Melbourne

on Monday 22 April 2013 at 10.30am

The 2012 Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code was registered in September 2012, but thanks to a six month ramp up period it’s just starting to seriously impact Australian telco retailers.

The TCP Code, as it’s widely known, introduces a range of reforms designed to improve consumer satisfaction with telecommunications services.  From 27 October last year, it mandated a form of unit pricing in advertising some telco plans, inspired by the unit pricing scheme that has applied in larger supermarkets for some years.

Telcos offering so-called ‘included value’ mobile plans are obliged to inform potential customers of the price of a two minute mobile call, the cost of an SMS and how much of their included value will be consumed by using a megabyte of data.  ‘Included value’ plans are those where a monthly fee buys a higher amount of credit that can be applied to calls, messages or data usage.

Since 1 March 2013, it has also been obligatory for telcos to provide would-be customers with a two page summary of the key features and pricing of a plan, before they commit to buy.  These ‘Critical Information Summaries’ are designed to provide clearer and more standardised information to customers, and to simplify the task of comparing various plans that may be under consideration.

Those are just two out of dozens of requirements imposed by the Code, and a newly created independent body called Communications Compliance has been charged with monitoring telco compliance with the new rules.  By 1 April 2013, every telco that is subject to the TCP Code (and there may be as many of 1,000 of them) must file statements with the Code monitor attesting their Code compliance and listing the website location of the large amount of consumer and customer information that is now required to be provided on telco websites.

Standing behind the Code monitor is the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) as Code enforcer, with a range of sanctions available to it where education and encouragement fail to secure industry compliance.  The ‘big stick’ here is a potential Federal Court penalty of $250,00 for failing to heed an ACMA direction to comply with the Code.

Cooper Mills is recognised as the premier legal adviser the 2012 Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code, and we have even established a dedicated website to support the industry’s compliance effort.  Our innovative TCP Code Compliance Shop provides a rich set of expert compliance tools at a fraction of the cost of traditional legal advice.

Cooper Mills’ TCPCode.com.au website also offers news, analysis and commentary about the TCP Code, frequently updated.

The ACMA is already actively auditing telco compliance with the Code, even before the industry is due to file its compliance materials with Communications Compliance.  We expect a busy time for telcos in the next few months as compliance laggards are identified and allowed short timeframes to get their business in order.

The Victorian Government today released its ICT Strategy at a AIIA function in Melbourne.

The strategy sees a dramatic altering in the landscape of government ICT delivery in Victoria. The strategy sets out 8 ICT decision making principles:

1. Policy and service delivery programs will use popular digital channels;
2. Policy and service delivery programs will be increasingly co-designed and co-produced;
3. Information will be shared, open and managed as an asset;
4. ICT-enabled projects will be staged and focused on managing risks and delivering business benefits earlier;
5. Competition will be promoted to drive efficiency and  innovation in ICT systems and services;
6. ICT services will take advantage of industry capabilities;
7. ICT systems will be interoperable, modular and reusable;
8. Technology will be trialled and adopted to promote better outcomes;

The strategy also signals a change in the central shared services provisioning model administered by the trouble plagued Cenitex.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, credited with founding the internet spoke at an auDA QandA evening at the University of Melbourne last night.

The QandA was moderated by journalist Alan Kohler, among topics of discussion were Sir Tim’s views on data retention and freedom of the internet. When discussing Twitter, Sir Tim described it as “an amplifying medium for things that are emotionally charged“.

He also reiterated the importance of domain names as the “trust mechanism of the internet“.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has completed its prioritisation draw for new GTLD (top level) domains.

The draw will determine the order for release of evaluation results for 1930 new GTLD applications, such as .christmas and .lawyer.

This process now brings new GTLDs even closer to release with a July 2013 release for some GTLDs becoming a reality.

In the draw .melbourne was drawn as one of the top 10 cities, a list which included Tokyo and Paris. While Fiat Epson and Omega topping the list of brand names.

As a result of the 2010 Names Policy Panel Report, auDA has implemented some of the Panel’s recommendations with the introduction of the new 2012-04 Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs and 2012-05 Guidelines on the Interpretation of Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs.

The main changes involve the revocation of the Monetisation Policy, with rules around monetisation now being incorporated into the new policy, and specifying with more clarity as to how registrants can use domains for monetisation. The changes to policy also broaden the eligibility basis for .id.au domain names to now allow, individuals to register these domains for personal interests or hobbies.