The holder: the public record
Guide 6 of 7
How do you check who holds a .au name, and keep yours safe?
The registry keeps a public record of every licence, and the holder keeps it true. The WHOIS shows who holds a name, the registrar of record, and the name’s status.
General information from auDA’s published rules, not legal advice. Published by Dotto, which runs a marketplace for .au names.
What the WHOIS shows
The official .au WHOIS lives at whois.auda.org.au and provides the full publicly available record of a licence; the tool on auDA’s website shows a summary of key information, and its help page explains every field. A query is made by typing a domain name into the lookup field; only the domain name of the web address is needed (auDA’s WHOIS help page).
For a .au licence, the public record carries the domain name; the date the record was last modified; the status of the name, such as OK, pendingTransfer or pendingDelete; the registrar of record’s name; any recorded reseller; the registrant’s legal name; the registrant ID number where one applies, such as an ACN for a company; the registrant’s contact name and email address; the technical contact’s name and email; the eligibility type and, where it differs from the legal name, the name used to establish eligibility with its ID; the name servers, of which a minimum of two must be listed; and the DNSSEC status, signed or unsigned (Rules, Schedule D).
What it does not show, where a source says so: fields that do not apply are not displayed. A business that registered with an ABN or ACN has that number in the Registrant ID field; an incorporated association shows its state-based incorporation number; a trustee typically shows the ACN of the trustee; and where the registrant is a citizen or resident, the field should be empty. The eligibility name and ID appear only where the licence was established on a registered business name, trade mark or trust name that matches the domain. The reseller name stays blank where the holder registered directly with a registrar (Rules Schedule D; auDA’s WHOIS help page).
The tool exists for compliance and verification: it displays public details about the registrant, such as the legal name and an ABN, information on a registered business name or trade mark that matches the domain, and contact email addresses; a registrant may change those fields through their registrar or reseller, and may consider role-based contacts such as a CEO or IT manager name (auDA’s WHOIS help page).
Keeping your details current
A registrant must ensure their information is complete, true and accurate through the licence period, and must inform the registrar of any change to the information used to apply for or renew the licence, and recorded in the registry data, within 14 calendar days of becoming aware of it (Rules 2.11.8, 2.11.9).
The Australian presence must continue through the licence period, and a licence will be cancelled where the person no longer has one (Rules 2.11.5, 2.11.6).
Among the circumstances in which a registrant’s licence will be cancelled is that the information provided at the time of registration or renewal of the licence is untrue (Rules 2.16.10).
To set things right, contact the name’s provider: auDA’s update page says contact details are updated through the .au registrar or reseller, a correction to registration details can be requested by contacting the provider, the provider can be found by looking the name up in the WHOIS tool, and keeping the information current is what makes sure the renewal notifications arrive (auDA’s update page).
Renewal reminders
Reminders come from the provider, as auDA’s renew page states it: the .au registrar or reseller will send a reminder email as the end of the licence period approaches, and holders should keep their contact details up to date so they do not miss it. The Rules say nothing about reminders; the renewal windows themselves are in guide 5 (auDA’s renew page).
The ground the reminders are about: a licence can be renewed up to 90 days before the expiry date, and there is a 30-day grace period after expiry in which the name can be renewed through the existing provider or a new one (auDA’s renew page; Rules 2.14.1 and 2.14.4).
Look-alike names
The Australian Cyber Security Centre warns that cybercriminals sometimes register a domain name which appears like your business name, and that these look-alike domains can fool people into thinking they are contacting your business (Australian Signals Directorate, cyber.gov.au).
Its advice is to consider registering domain names that are similar to your business name, because that can reduce the risk of people being tricked by look-alike domains (ASD, cyber.gov.au).
auDA’s security page adds the phishing angle for the holder: be cautious of emails or messages that try to trick you into revealing login details or other sensitive information, and verify any communication that claims to come from your provider or another organisation by contacting that party separately (auDA’s keep your .au secure page).
Disputes
Disputes over a .au name go to auDRP, the .au Dispute Resolution Policy, which states its own purpose: a cheaper, speedier alternative to litigation for a dispute between the registrant of a .au domain name and a party with competing rights in the name (auDRP 2016-01).