4 ms·

I don't mean to complain, but where are the details? I have two (very low traffic, so likely to never have come close to hitting this) domains at FreeNom becau

I don't mean to complain, but where are the details? I have two (very low traffic, so likely to never have come close to hitting this) domains at FreeNom because they're the easiest way to register emoji/punycode domains in obscure gTLDs. How does FreeNom know how much traffic your domain is getting, especially if you've set up your own DNS servers (which you can do on free domains)? There are no particulars here and I am very curious to know how this popped up.

ev1 5y ago
They own the entire TLD. To reach your DNS you have to go through the TLD. On free domains, the TTL is set to 300 seconds (or 60 seconds). So to reach your ns1.example.com, it goes through {a,b,c,d}.ns.tk first and refers to ns1.example.com.
- justusthane 5y ago
  They own what entire TLD? .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, and .gq? I don't think so.
  - jeroenhd 5y ago
    They do own .tk [0] and completely service others [1][2][3][4], actually. They run the TLDs (in the name of poor countries). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tk [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.ga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.ga [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cf [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gq [4]: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130407005038/en/Mali-.ML-Domain-Names-Free https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130407005038/en/Mal...
    - tialaramex 5y ago
      Poor countries are often eager to sell some right their country has, as a sovereign entity, but is not using - even for a relatively modest sum of foreign currency. In a corrupt country the money might never see the treasury, going straight into some official's pockets. Of course, such arrangements are not very reliable. The relationship between a sovereign entity and an individual, or even a small corporation, is unbalanced. The rules of the game are set by one party, and varied at their whim. "But that's not fair" might work in countries that pride themselves on fairness, such as the United States of America (though don't count on it) but it won't get you very far in Equatorial Guinea. If these arrangements annoy the other sovereign entities, they might do something about it. For example, the Paris MOU (and subsequently similar Port State Control rules in much of the developed world) - is what happened when European states were annoyed that places like Panama were not pulling their weight when it came to safety and employment standards on commercial shipping, and operated Open Registers (which the Europeans argued were in fact mere "Flags of Convenience") to earn money without spending that money where it was needed. But if they just annoy you, a mere individual with no rights on the world stage at all, you can go whistle. You are not even eligible to complain to most of the bodies that claim jurisdiction over sovereign entities, another sovereign entity would need to take up the complaint.
  - riffic 5y ago
    They are the registry operator[0] for at the very least[1], .tk and .ml: [0] https://icannwiki.org/Registry https://icannwiki.org/Registry [1] https://icannwiki.org/Freenom https://icannwiki.org/Freenom
    - ev1 5y ago
      a.ns.cf has address 185.21.168.17 a.ns.gq has address 185.21.168.65 a.ns.ml has address 185.21.168.1 a.ns.ga has address 185.21.168.49 % Abuse contact for '185.21.168.0 - 185.21.168.15' is 'abuse@freenom.com' % Abuse contact for '185.21.168.16 - 185.21.168.31' is 'abuse@freenom.com' ..and so on I may have not been clear enough by "own", but Freenom are the technical operator end to end for all of these TLDs (and .tk, from much earlier before) and exercise total technical control over them.
- techsupporter 5y ago
  > They own the entire TLD. Ah, that's the piece I was missing. I get how DNS works but I hadn't fathomed that FreeNom was the root for those TLDs they handle. Still curious how / if / when they tell you about the thresholds. Fortunately none of the domains I have registered there are used for anything important but it does hurt if someone does use one they register for something important.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jeroenhd 5y ago
I think it's got to do with this clause in the terms and conditions [0]. An all-caps post on a weird domain isn't exactly convincing me of this supposed scam, but there is a catch hidden in the T&C. Their DNS servers will collect all top-level DNS requests. When someone visits a given website, the TLD is queried for the authoritive nameservers for the domain if that information hasn't been cached yet. In practice, every ISP will end up sending a DNS request every once in a while when the cache expires. When loads of DNS requests come in from all over the world, you could flag a domain as high-traffic or high-value. [0]: --- 11.2. Renewal As long as you have remained in compliance with each of the terms of this Agreement from the date you agreed to be bound by this Agreement, including without limitation the minimum use requirements set forth in Section 10.1, we may elect in our sole discretion to (i) allow you to upgrade to the Paid Service at the prevailing applicable rate, (ii) automatically renew this Agreement for a term, determined by Freenom, from such date (the "Renewal Period") and (iii) continue providing you with FREE DOMAIN subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement (including a renewal of the registration of the domain name provided to you in connection with FREE DOMAIN). ---
throwawaycities 5y ago
I too have registered emoji domains with Freenom and my experience has been good. In fact most of my domains I have upgraded to paid registrations. I’d love to see these allegedly high traffic domains that were just taken and sold to 3rd parties. My guess is if there is any truth to the complain the free registration expired and the domain was scooped up.
layoutIfNeeded 5y ago
"Tampering with FREE DOMAIN and Freenom Traffic-Check. You understand that a viewer is engaged in Freenom server infrastructure to record the number of visitors to your Freenom domain name (Freenom Traffic-Check). By accepting this Agreement, you hereby agree that you will not tamper with, disable or limit the functionality of the Freenom Service or the Freenom Traffic-Check in any way, including, but not limited to, disabling or otherwise tampering with the viewer displayed when your domain name is accessed by you or a third party."

ev1 5y ago

They own the entire TLD. To reach your DNS you have to go through the TLD. On free domains, the TTL is set to 300 seconds (or 60 seconds). So to reach your ns1.example.com, it goes through {a,b,c,d}.ns.tk first and refers to ns1.example.com.

justusthane 5y ago
They own what entire TLD? .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, and .gq? I don't think so.
- jeroenhd 5y ago
  They do own .tk [0] and completely service others [1][2][3][4], actually. They run the TLDs (in the name of poor countries). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tk [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.ga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.ga [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cf [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.gq [4]: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130407005038/en/Mali-.ML-Domain-Names-Free https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130407005038/en/Mal...
  - tialaramex 5y ago
    Poor countries are often eager to sell some right their country has, as a sovereign entity, but is not using - even for a relatively modest sum of foreign currency. In a corrupt country the money might never see the treasury, going straight into some official's pockets. Of course, such arrangements are not very reliable. The relationship between a sovereign entity and an individual, or even a small corporation, is unbalanced. The rules of the game are set by one party, and varied at their whim. "But that's not fair" might work in countries that pride themselves on fairness, such as the United States of America (though don't count on it) but it won't get you very far in Equatorial Guinea. If these arrangements annoy the other sovereign entities, they might do something about it. For example, the Paris MOU (and subsequently similar Port State Control rules in much of the developed world) - is what happened when European states were annoyed that places like Panama were not pulling their weight when it came to safety and employment standards on commercial shipping, and operated Open Registers (which the Europeans argued were in fact mere "Flags of Convenience") to earn money without spending that money where it was needed. But if they just annoy you, a mere individual with no rights on the world stage at all, you can go whistle. You are not even eligible to complain to most of the bodies that claim jurisdiction over sovereign entities, another sovereign entity would need to take up the complaint.
- riffic 5y ago
  They are the registry operator[0] for at the very least[1], .tk and .ml: [0] https://icannwiki.org/Registry https://icannwiki.org/Registry [1] https://icannwiki.org/Freenom https://icannwiki.org/Freenom
  - ev1 5y ago
    a.ns.cf has address 185.21.168.17 a.ns.gq has address 185.21.168.65 a.ns.ml has address 185.21.168.1 a.ns.ga has address 185.21.168.49 % Abuse contact for '185.21.168.0 - 185.21.168.15' is 'abuse@freenom.com' % Abuse contact for '185.21.168.16 - 185.21.168.31' is 'abuse@freenom.com' ..and so on I may have not been clear enough by "own", but Freenom are the technical operator end to end for all of these TLDs (and .tk, from much earlier before) and exercise total technical control over them.
techsupporter 5y ago
> They own the entire TLD. Ah, that's the piece I was missing. I get how DNS works but I hadn't fathomed that FreeNom was the root for those TLDs they handle. Still curious how / if / when they tell you about the thresholds. Fortunately none of the domains I have registered there are used for anything important but it does hurt if someone does use one they register for something important.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

jeroenhd 5y ago

I think it's got to do with this clause in the terms and conditions [0]. An all-caps post on a weird domain isn't exactly convincing me of this supposed scam, but there is a catch hidden in the T&C. Their DNS servers will collect all top-level DNS requests. When someone visits a given website, the TLD is queried for the authoritive nameservers for the domain if that information hasn't been cached yet. In practice, every ISP will end up sending a DNS request every once in a while when the cache expires. When loads of DNS requests come in from all over the world, you could flag a domain as high-traffic or high-value. [0]: --- 11.2. Renewal As long as you have remained in compliance with each of the terms of this Agreement from the date you agreed to be bound by this Agreement, including without limitation the minimum use requirements set forth in Section 10.1, we may elect in our sole discretion to (i) allow you to upgrade to the Paid Service at the prevailing applicable rate, (ii) automatically renew this Agreement for a term, determined by Freenom, from such date (the "Renewal Period") and (iii) continue providing you with FREE DOMAIN subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement (including a renewal of the registration of the domain name provided to you in connection with FREE DOMAIN). ---

throwawaycities 5y ago

I too have registered emoji domains with Freenom and my experience has been good. In fact most of my domains I have upgraded to paid registrations. I’d love to see these allegedly high traffic domains that were just taken and sold to 3rd parties. My guess is if there is any truth to the complain the free registration expired and the domain was scooped up.

layoutIfNeeded 5y ago

"Tampering with FREE DOMAIN and Freenom Traffic-Check. You understand that a viewer is engaged in Freenom server infrastructure to record the number of visitors to your Freenom domain name (Freenom Traffic-Check). By accepting this Agreement, you hereby agree that you will not tamper with, disable or limit the functionality of the Freenom Service or the Freenom Traffic-Check in any way, including, but not limited to, disabling or otherwise tampering with the viewer displayed when your domain name is accessed by you or a third party."