“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” — Oscar Wilde
In the wake of the deregistration of Lyle Shelton’s domain names lyleshelton.com.au and lyleshelton.net.au, and his subsequent claim this was an attempt to silence him, it’s interesting to note that he made no such fuss when his domain lyleshelton.org.au was also recently deregistered.
The Internet Archive shows us the existence of the domain lyleshelton.org.au:
Lyle Shelton had been publishing articles under lyleshelton.org.au, in parallel to publishing them on lyleshelton.com.au, evidenced by records of posts received via RSS subscription between April 12-20 2018:
April 12 2018
http://www.lyleshelton.org.au/why_truth_should_always_trump_prejudice
April 16 2018
http://www.lyleshelton.org.au/consequences_what_consequences
April 18 2018
http://www.lyleshelton.org.au/this_pathway_to_totalitarianism_must_be_reversed http://www.lyleshelton.org.au/qld_education_minister_drops_truth_bomb_about_safe_schools
April 20 2018
http://www.lyleshelton.org.au/here_s_what_the_chronicle_is_saying_about_my_call_for_conservatives_to_be_conservatives
On April 23 2018 the domain lyleshelton.org.au was no longer able to be reached:
The WHOIS record for lyleshelton.org.au indicated on April 23 2018 that it was in a pendingDelete (Client requested policy delete) status, effective April 20 2018:
Whois response for lyleshelton.org.au:
| Domain Name | lyleshelton.org.au |
| Last Modified | 20-Apr-2018 14:10:06 UTC |
| Status | pendingDelete (Client requested policy delete) |
| Registrar Name | GoDaddy.com, LLC |
| Registrant | Whitestone Strategic Pty Ltd |
| Registrant ID | ACN 618607051 |
| Eligibility Type | Other |
| Registrant Contact ID | CR315360472 |
| Registrant Contact Name | David Hutt |
| Registrant Contact Email | david.hutt@whitestonestrategic.com |
| Tech Contact ID | CR315360477 |
| Tech Contact Name | David Hutt |
| Tech Contact Email | david.hutt@whitestonestrategic.com |
| Name Server | ns10.nationbuilder.com |
| Name Server | ns11.nationbuilder.com |
| Name Server | ns12.nationbuilder.com |
| Name Server | ns13.nationbuilder.com |
| Name Server | ns14.nationbuilder.com |
| Name Server | ns15.nationbuilder.com |
| DNSSEC | unsigned |
auDA says of the pendingDelete (Client requested policy delete) status:
Domain names that are deleted due to a breach of an auDA Published Policy will transition from a “Registered” to a “Pending Policy Delete” state at the time the deletion command is submitted by the registrar. At this time, the domain name will be published on the Official Domain Drop List for 14 calendar days after which it will be purged at the next drop cycle.
auDA policy states of a .org.au domain name:
SCHEDULE F
ELIGIBILITY AND ALLOCATION RULES FOR ORG.AU
The org.au 2LD is for non-commercial organisations.
The following rules are to be read in conjunction with the Eligibility and Allocation Rules for All Open 2LDs, contained in Schedule A of this document.
1. To be eligible in the org.au 2LD, registrants must be non-commercial organisations as follows:
a) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; orb) a political party registered with the Australian Electoral Commission; or
c) a trade union or other organisation registered under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009; or
d) a sporting or special interest club operating in Australia; or
e) a charity operating in Australia, as defined in the registrant’s constitution or other documents of incorporation; or
f) a non-profit organisation operating in Australia, as defined in the registrant’s constitution or other documents of incorporation.
2. Domain names in the org.au 2LD must be:
a) an exact match, abbreviation or acronym of the registrant’s name; or
b) otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, in accordance with the categories of “close and substantial connection” set out in the Guidelines on the Interpretation of Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs.
The domain name lyleshelton.org.au appears to have breached all the auDA requirements of a .org.au domain name.
Lyle Shelton lost his lyleshelton.org.au domain name due to breach of auDA policy. The registrant for the domain name, David Hutt, would have been notified of this in advance of the domain being taken offline. Clearly David and Lyle weren’t able to sort out the discrepancies with their two other domain names before they were also found to be in breach of auDA policy.