"Australia has a more systematic and structured system," Backes says. "You have it easier because you have not so much competition; you have not so many disputes. And the government has a very safe way to show their contents because you have this .gov.au domain, and if you would like to register for this domain, you have to follow the guidelines, you have to be a government body, and so on.

"In my thesis I suggest that we introduce a .gov.de sub-level domain to the domain system because it will be easier for citizens to see and to trust these Web sites, and they wouldn't have to search so long for the Web sites."

The German government has publicly stated it will not interfere as long as the system is working successfully. With almost 12 million registrations to date under the .de domain, it appears to believe there is no need for it to involve itself.

But Backes says Australia could better clarify the situation for entities wanting to register a fourth-level domain name under the relevant state government. While there are guidelines on the Web pages of AGIMO, GCIO and auDA, they are confusing, he says.

"It's not really clear who is responsible for what and on whose behalf GCIO is acting," he says, "especially in NSW. There is a dispute resolution on the AGIMO Web pages for cases where there is a dispute between two registrants (one who has a .gov.au domain and another who would like to have the same .gov.au domain) but there is no dispute resolution for a dispute between AGIMO, GCIO and a local council for example.

"My question is: What happens when GCIO or AGIMO refuse to accept an application. What happens when GCIO don't pay the fees, and so on?"

He is urging state and federal authorities to work together to eliminate confusion, establish dispute resolution procedures, clarify the roles of various authorities and draw up clearer guidelines for applicants.