

Kim Dotcom loses new domain in preemptive strike by Gabon government - quadrahelix
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/kim-dotcom-loses-new-domain-in-preemptive-strike-by-government/

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rdl
I still don't understand why insane people use ccTLDs for the characters,
rather than due to the national law. It's like picking a flag of convenience
for your ship due to the pretty colors of the flag.

~~~
olalonde
The reason is that all good .com domains are taken or squatted. Also, ships
don't use flags of convenience for their colors but for laws that are
advantageous to them.

~~~
vog
-1 for defeating a strawman argument in the second sentence:

 _Also, ships don't use flags of convenience for their colors but for laws
that are advantageous to them._

The parent posting didn't question that. On the contrary, the fact that ships
chose their flag by law instead of color - that was exactly the parent
posting's point.

~~~
olalonde
Right, I misunderstood that last part. My main point still stands.

~~~
rdl
Lack of domain names isn't as much of a problem as it was 5-10 years ago, due
to: 1) Mobile apps 2) Search (especially search-in-address-bar) 3) The
fundamentally large namespace

I'd still rather have a domain like "tryfoobar.com" early on rather than
foobar.ix or even worse, foob.ar or foubar.com. Provided foobar.com isn't a
competitor, porn site, etc., and that I can make efforts to buy
foobar.com/net/org/co.uk/jp/etc. with time if successful.

The only strong argument for (ab)using a ccTLD, IMO is URL shorteners.

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pg
That should make anyone think twice about using .ga domains.

~~~
reinhardt
The real question is if there is _any_ TLD you don't have to think twice
about, and if yes for how much longer..

~~~
rdl
It's pretty clear that there are some places to just write off (Libya .ly, io,
ga, etc.), and then, if you have anything even vaguely questionable, use a
domain name in your country of operation.

If you're operating from NZ, you're already exposed to NZ law. A .co.nz domain
name adds no additional risk. You may need to pick your country based on
favorable laws -- i.e. don't run a gambling site from the US, and don't be a
US citizen. HK is actually one of the better choices. The US is actually good
for a lot of things, too.

If you're in the US, .com/.net/.org are all roughly equivalent, although I
still think .com is the best overall tradeoff. There are some differences in
individual registry ToS, but every one I've read is flexible enough as to be
meaningless if they want to do something.

It's probably fair to say the US is the biggest risk for anyone operating in a
non-US country except for their own government, so .com is a "safe" backup
choice as well.

If you're really worried, the only safe choice is .onion :) Safe from having
large numbers of users, too! (you'd be better off at that point distributing
some kind of client software, or running multiple pop-up frontends accessing a
common API, and then making it easy to move the API around using client-side
failover.)

~~~
timClicks
The .nz namespace is pretty good, as it is independently administered from the
government (<http://dnc.org.nz>). It's just very hard to see .nz being adopted
by startups to create pithy URLs.

~~~
sandal
Hmm, I'm kind of amazed that kitte.nz isn't taken :)

~~~
rdl
Unfortunately .nz has the structured second level domains, so you'd end up
with kitte.co.nz.

~~~
bradleyland
First thing that popped in to my mind: decepti.co.nz

My mind wasn't the first it popped in to though.

~~~
rdl
That would be horrible to try to build a business on if you weren't the
rightsholder, though.

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nthitz
The .ga registrar is managed by a subsidiary of Vivendi, so this isn't too
surprising.

~~~
adestefan
For those that don't know, Vivendi is a French conglomerate that has strong
holdings in music, movies, TV, and video games. Their assets include Universal
Music Group and a 61% stake in Activision Blizzard.

~~~
moe
For context: Universal Music Group was the driving force behind the MegaUpload
raid, they really don't like Kimble.

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CountHackulus
I realize that Gabon isn't the US, but having something taken away before any
crime is even committed. That seems a bit extreme. What's next, pre-crime
units?

~~~
powertower
My understanding is that his domain registration was invalidated or revoked
because he made a public statement that he would use this domain to circumvent
anti-piracy laws. I'm sure it's in the Registrar's TOS that using domains for
criminal enterprises is not allowed.

~~~
pyre
Seems like a less extreme course of action would be to just send him a warning
that, should he do so, his domain would be revoked (possibly without notice).

Though, as someone pointed out, if you follow the purse strings you hit
Vivendi which is deeply invested in copyright. Seems likely that someone
realized that they had access to kill his .ga domain, sent out the relevant
requests, and extreme (rather than measured) action was taken.

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aw3c2
Already covered at <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4752023>

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w1ntermute
I'm surprised www.kim.com hasn't been seized yet by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.

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samstokes
Edit: _was complaint about misleading title, title is no longer misleading_

~~~
DanBC
Why is the title misleading?

> "I have instructed my departments... to immediately suspend the site
> www.me.ga," said Communication Minister Blaise Louembe, according to the AFP
> French news agency.

(<http://phys.org/news/2012-11-gabon-megaupload-site.html>)

> _Communication Minister Blaise Louembe, [said] he wanted to "protect
> intellectual property rights" and "fight cyber crime effectively". "Gabon
> cannot serve as a platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating
> copyrights, nor be used by unscrupulous people,"_

~~~
MiguelHudnandez
I presume that the original title just said "by government."

~~~
DanBC
Ah, that makes sense.

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philipmorg
This reminds me of the need for robust P2P tech in the name resolution layer.

~~~
throwaway64
namecoins fit the bill rather nicely, its essentially bitcoin, but applied to
DNS.

<http://www.dot-bit.org/>

~~~
foobarqux
Do they? No one seems to be using them despite the fact that centralized DNS
seems to be fatally flawed. Maybe it just really isn't that big of a problem
when put in context.

~~~
pyre
The 'people with money' could make it happen if they wanted to, but since they
have money, they're not too concerned about the government taking things away.

The little guy has more to lose than the big guys, but few people are going to
jump through hoops for the little guy.

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amerf1
the domain LadyGa.ga should be in trouble then

