Australia has a long-running history of sheltering cybersquatters. Various international giants such as YouTube and Facebook have, over the years, been forced into action on our shores to retrieve the .au versions of their domain names.

We’ve even got a rogue political activist up in Queensland — Wayne Smith — who for many years now has been nicking domain names like liberalnationalparty.com. And more power to him. That’s why we’re not surprised at all to find out this week that the Australian domain name of the newest social networking craze — Twitter — does not exactly (yet) belong to US-based Twitter.

Domain Name: twitter.com.au
Last Modified: 05-Jan-2010 01:05:33 UTC
Registrar ID: Distribute.IT
Registrar Name: Distribute.IT
Status: ok

Registrant: BOYCE JASON
Registrant ID: ABN 39764726163
Eligibility Type: Sole Trader

Registrant Contact ID: DIT-783917
Registrant Contact Name: Jason Boyce
Registrant Contact Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech Contact ID: DIT-783919
Tech Contact Name: Jason Boyce
Tech Contact Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server: ns1.digitalpacific.com.au
Name Server IP: 216.127.80.15
Name Server: ns2.digitalpacific.com.au
Name Server IP: 203.19.59.4

And we’re not surprised, either, to find that the website set up at Twitter.com.au features some good old-fashioned Australian home-grown web design. Circa 1995 — the era of Geocities and ICQ. Not really the best advertisement for those who are trying to find today’s hottest social networking craze.

Oh dear.

We’re not alleging that Boyce or his company have done anything wrong here, by the way — odds are the company dates back to before Twitter itself existed — but we’re sure Twitter will be attempting to retrieve the domain name real soon now.

Image credit: Delimiter screenshot of Twitter.com.au

Related posts:

1. Oh dear: Tony Smith doesn’t really ‘get’ Twitter
2. Great Australian Blackout hits 500 sites
3. Turnbull loves “feisty” Twitter debates
4. What makes a great Australian iPhone app?
5. Oh dear: Meter Maids heat up Tech.Ed

1. Simon Reidy
   Posted 15/06/2010 at 4:45 pm | Permalink | Reply

   LMAO! That web design is pure art. Frontpage 97 and MS Clipart FTW :)

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 15/06/2010 at 4:54 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Have to find out who did the design, I’d like to hire them for some serious work on satirical websites :)

2. Anthony
   Posted 15/06/2010 at 4:50 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Whois History:
   33 records have been archived since 2007-06-21 .

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 15/06/2010 at 5:04 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Huh? Not sure what you’re saying here.

     • Anthony
       Posted 15/06/2010 at 5:10 pm | Permalink | Reply

       That means the domain has been in existance from that date. Don’t know whether it’s been the same owner or not… That’s not that easy to see with .au domains.

       • Renai LeMay
         Posted 15/06/2010 at 8:41 pm | Permalink | Reply

         Ah I see. Judging from the design of the site I’d say that guy has owned the domain name for some time ;)

3. Gloucestershire Website Design
   Posted 15/06/2010 at 7:36 pm | Permalink | Reply

   That has to be one of the worst websites I’ve seen in a long time! I can imagine that the level of ‘accidental’ traffic is actually quite high, so why not go to the effort of putting some decent content on there?

   The colourful background and buttons sent my colourblindness crazy by the way!

   I get the impression that Twitter are happy with their twitter.com brand, http://www.twitter.co.uk/ produced an equally unappealling website! Interestingly though the .co.uk site has some insight into the Twitter’s attitude towards spam!

   Kind regards

   Rob

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 15/06/2010 at 8:46 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Lol the UK site is, if possible, even worse, and it’s for sale! Can’t believe Twitter hasn’t bought it yet … would save them a buttload of problems later on ;)