Get set for the great domain sale of '05

March 2005

Want to be master of your domain? Well, Web master, anyway. In six weeks you can, thanks to a landmark decision to release 20,000 geographic domain names for public sale.

The .au domain regulator, has decided to remove restrictions on the previously unavailable geographic domain names, which will go up for grabs on an online list to be published in six weeks.

Domain names such as southmelbourne.com.au and stkilda.net.au will be available for public sale, according to .au Domain Administration (auDA).

The .au domain names of Australian capital cities remain registered, however.

Chris Disspain, CEO of auDA, said the decision to release more geographic domains was made following a policy review last year.

Many geographic domain names have been restricted from business ownership in Australia for fear of negative impact on community geographic names.

The review found few restrictions on geographic names in other domain name spaces, and that auDA's restrictions had been applied inconsistently over time.