auDA Puts Domain In Pending Delete & Goes On Holidays

December 23, No Comments

On the afternoon of Thu 17th, 2009 SAPIA Pty Ltd registered the domain name “stephenconroy.com.au” as a satirical platform on which to air grievances and promote debate about the Australian governments proposed mandatory Internet filtering scheme. By 5pm the next day, the website was forcibly taken offline by auDA.

SAPIA was given merely 3 hours to issue a response which is an unusually short period of time for domain eligibility complaints to be arbitrated. A request for additional time was denied personally by auDA’s CEO shortly before the domain was taken offline.

The domain name stephenconroy.com.au is now in PendingDelete and the auDA office is closed for the holiday season – Merry Christmas.

Meanwhile, Electronic Frontiers Australia has expressed its surprise and concern:

“This incident reflects worrying concerns about the power that private domain
name regulators have to silence critical political speech without going
through legitimate legal channels.”

SAPIA Pty Ltd appears to have re-established the site (out of the range of auDA’s jurisdiction / claws) at stephen-conroy.com (no more .au).

Just in case you don’t know what the fuss is all about regarding Internet censorship in Australia, have a look at this video:

More information is available at: PRWeb, Open Letters & EFA.

Related Posts:

1. Registrar sues auDA for deleting domain name
2. auDA Wants Feedback On Industry Competition
3. .com.au – What Do The auDA Changes Mean?
4. Domainer Nominates For auDA Board – Needs Your Help
5. auDA Releases Industry Competition Draft

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