AuDA helps fund local not-for-profits

The Australian domain name registry body AuDA has doled out $275,000 to 16 not-for-profit Internet projects from across Australia.

The grants, via the AuDA Foundation, were awarded to not-for-profit projects which work toward the technical improvement and/or utilisation of the Internet for the benefit of the Australian community.

The grants which each range from $5000 to $20,000 are the first in what the organisation hopes will become an annual or bi-annual event, AuDA chair Chris Disspain (pictured) said.

The foundation’s funding originates from surplus revenues generated from the 2002 auction of a range of formerly restricted general domain names, Disspain said.

Winning entries include projects that: aim to increase high school retention rates amongst indigenous students, develop a customised web browser for the vision impaired, improve the administration of local government, and teach Australian seniors.

In related news, Disspain said the AuDA was also considering developing a framework for the sell-off of mobile domain names in the mobi.au format early next year.

However, to date, industry interest in a localised mobile domain name format had been limited, he said.

As reported in iTnews in September, the Mobile Top Level Domain (MTLD) organisation reported that more than 75,000 "dotmobi" domain names were registered in the first day of the open registration period for the wireless websites in the US.

The flurry followed registrations by some 13,000 domains awarded to trademark holders.