The battle against domain name fraud (Chesley Rafferty)
The following article about Domain Names Australia (Chesley Rafferty) is from the APC Magazine:
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Exchange - Chris Disspain
http://www.apcmag.com/apc/v3.nsf/print/8CE35FCC8C60D151CA256F4D002752BDWednesday 24, November 2004
By Dan Warne
Meet the man in the front line of the battle against domain name fraud.
Thousands of Australians have lost money to Internet domain name scams, particularly those who registered domains through Domain Names Australia (DNA). We put some of the most common complaints to Chris Disspain, CEO of the Australian Domain Name Authority (auDA).
What’s the progress on getting money back for Domain Names Australia victims?
DNA has appealed to the full bench of the Federal Court. Our message remains firm: we are committed to getting a result from the court stating that DNA’s behaviour isn’t acceptable so we can proceed with a class action in order to get money back to consumers.
How can a domain registrar afford to fight a drawn out legal battle?
Very simply — 9,000 people paid them $237 for a domain name which in many cases hasn’t been registered yet. There’s an awful lot of cash there for a fighting fund.
What lessons have been learnt from the DNA saga?
The biggest lesson for us is that we need to educate small business and the public about auDA and the code of practice around domain name registrations.
AuDA isn’t a government body — we can only “govern by contractâ€. Unfortunately, DNA was just buying domains like any other person “walking in off the street†and then reselling them. It wasn’t a contracted and accredited registrar. Entities such as law firms, accountants and ISPs can legitimately manage domains on behalf of customers without necessarily being accredited — DNA is the only company we’ve had problems with. If it became a growing problem we would go back to government for a legislative solution.
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