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Bitcoin.com.au rant

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mdw

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"Bitcoin.com.au sells for $31,200 as owner loses the domain due to bad registrant info" http://www.thedomains.com/2014/11/25/bitcoin-com-au-sells-for-31200-as-owner-loses-the-domain-due-to-bad-registrant-info/

ICANN requires all domain name registrants to maintain accurate WHOIS contact information. Individual registrants are the real losers in the current system, which favors corporate and national interests above actual people, and it's getting worse.

WHOIS requirements are an oppressive method by which ICANN gives more power to corporate interests at the expense of individual registrants. The requirements are enforced arbitrarily, and are an affront to the basic notion that anyone can register and use a domain name. This is the 21st century version of free speech. It's important.

Use and support decentralized DNS - improve security, enhance privacy and remove the politics from the administration of our shared Internet!

Posted on November 26, 2014 at 8:01 AM

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• Cryptonaut

  

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  interesting, that is the first time I have heard of a domain actually getting taken away due to "bad registrant info"

  Posted on November 26, 2014 at 8:49 AM
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• mdw

  

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  Happens quite often. But this onerous ICANN requirement is selectively enforced. It's an easy excuse for a registry operator to seize a domain name, as often happens with the .au (Australia) registry. GoDaddy and other registrars have a long history of doing this also.

  Technically speaking, anyone who uses a "private registration service" is in violation of this requirement as well in my view, although it could be argued that the rightful registrant is really the privacy registration company, and NOT the registrant; i.e. you don't really own the rights to that domain any more.

  That little bitcoin startup lost its nice domain name now due to this ridiculous technicality. It's akin to having your home auctioned off because the title to the property has some inaccuracy on it.

  Posted on November 26, 2014 at 9:55 AM
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• Rob

  

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  Interesting. I at one point tried to register an .AU domain, but my application was rejected as I couldn't show proper evidence I had a business located in Australia. So I'm trying to figure out how much of this unfair-seeming seizure is a general ICANN issue, vs. very strict enforcement of .AU domains.

  @mdw Do you have a sense of this detail? And if you're correct about private registration being grounds for seizure, that's also scary...

  Posted on November 27, 2014 at 6:45 AM
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• mdw

  

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  Ther's no precedent that I know of for private registration being used as justification for domain seizure, but I still think someone will test it one of these days. Most experts I know disagree FWIW.

  Enforcement of the requirement to have current and accurate WHOIS info is hardly limited to the .au registry though. It's very common in the ccTLDs - the country code domains, where nations are given wide latitude to operate as they see fit. The registry and registrar functions are often handled by the same governmental agency. It happens often at the hands of registrars too, including the biggest registrars of all.

  Speaking of big registrars, I do think the best strategy for a domain name you're using to make money from is to start an LLC (very cheap) and avoid disclosing your personal contact info by listing the company info instead. At the very least, you'll be spared having your email address harvested by spambots.

  Your company's name should be on the title, so to speak, and not the name of some registrar. What would you do if someone hacked into 1&1 Internet AG and changed the entry in their database to show that someone else was the rightful registrant of your domain name? You might scramble to prove your claim, while your name was transferred offshore.

  Just like in the case of domain thefts, the registrars could be required to keep track of how many domain names are seized, and for what reason. But ICANN feels no pressure to appease the ranks of the individual registrants. We contribute most of the revenue that ICANN enjoys, but have no significant impact on policy making. Namecoin was the Boston Tea Party of Internet governance, and now the revolution spreads. People really can have a naming system that is free and fair.

  Posted on November 27, 2014 at 10:28 AM
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• Isabella

  

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  it is not worth so much for a state-level domain

  Posted on December 1, 2014 at 8:16 PM
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• Theogoodman

  

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  It is worth as much has someone is willing to pay for it, as with all domains and products.

  Yea that is really another example of what is wrong with ICANN. If you use whois protect you have to confirm your email address with the register now, even though they already have it, makes no sense to me.

  There is talk that they will soon totaly do away with whois protection anyway.

  Posted on December 2, 2014 at 12:58 PM
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