6 ms·

The .io TLD is owned by Ethos Capital. The same private equity company that tried to buy the .org TLD a while ago. Go figure...

WhyNotHugo 5y ago
I think it's pretty sad how the rights for this get sold around, but the territory to which it belongs gets little to no revenue from domain sales. There's an ongoing complaint seeking repatriation of the domain, and I really hope I'm wrong in speculating that nothing will be done about it.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Man, that is early-Web levels of sordid. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io#History https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io#History FYI, apparently this is the current state of UN affairs: https://www.lexpress.mu/node/388292 https://www.lexpress.mu/node/388292 (previous and recent decisions referenced)
- wwalexander 5y ago
  I’m always mind-boggled at the level of acceptance in the industry of clear misuse of ccTLDs. Is having “input/output” in your domain really so cute that it’s worth tying your entire business to an incorrect ccTLD? Especially when we have so many new cute, built-for-purpose geek-cred gTLDs like .dev.
- andylynch 5y ago
  It’s much worse than that. The Chagosian islanders who lived in this territory were all exiled by the British to make room for a military base on their land. They have been fighting in the legal system for decades just for the right to go home.
sschueller 5y ago
From their website: "OUR ETHOS Drive prosperity for all stakeholders We believe that long-term success is best accomplished through a thriving ecosystem in which prosperity is shared amongst all stakeholders." [1] Bullshit, they exist to squeeze every little penny left in a company out and then dump the hollowed out remains on the stock market to die. [1] https://ethoscapital.com/about-us/ https://ethoscapital.com/about-us/
- missedthecue 5y ago
  Who exactly are you quoting? Or did you pull a completely random quote from somewhere off the internet solely in order to grind your axe in a vaguely related discussion thread?
  - ryguytilidie 5y ago
    He's literally quoting their website. He even linked the exact thing. Now that we've established what actually happened with that other guy, what were YOU doing here? You seemed to intentionally misunderstand the post so that you could get angry at a stranger on the internet? Maybe its time for a little break from interacting with people on the internet?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - ziddoap 5y ago
    >Who exactly are you quoting? They are quoting the page they linked, which is the Ethos Capital "About Us" page, where they have written the above quote under the heading "Our Ethos".
    - missedthecue 5y ago
      At the time of my comment, their post did not include that link, only a random quotation and "that's bullshit, here's my take".
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- misja111 5y ago
  Well they obviously mean that those 'stakeholders' are their shareholders.
- gowld 5y ago
  The stake that is held is driven through the heart of the company.
Cerium 5y ago
Ethos Capital has a mortgage operation. My experience with them lead me to the conclusion that their name does not imply "ethical".
- jjoonathan 5y ago
  The sunnier the name, the darker the reality.
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    Cerberus Capital have entered the chat...
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    The inverse of this doesn’t hold unfortunately. Blackwater sounded like a load of bad guys and behaved like it too.
- rasengan 5y ago
  What is scary is that Ethos Capital is made up entirely of ICANN affiliates. In other words, these are the same people that govern our domain names. Pretty fucked up if you ask me. They are also going around buying up basically every major TLD. Lease with ICANN and be subject to their price gouging forever or own with Handshake, the only thing ICANN is afraid of [1], and never pay again. [1] https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-names-are-created-equal-24-11-2021-en https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-...
  - jfk13 5y ago
    Handshake, what's that? Oh, I see... blockchain... "Handshake coin (HNS)"... PoW... the way you're plugging it, I thought it had that kind of smell.
    - rasengan 5y ago
      Oh, excuse me. I thought that smell was Ethos Capital.
plastic_bag 5y ago
Wasn't it owned by Internet Computer Bureau (ICB)? Regardless, the British government profited off of the .io domain while it rightfully belonged to the Chagossians of British Indian Ocean Territory. https://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-dark-side-of-io-how-the-u-k-is-making-web-domain-profits-from-a-shady-cold-war-land-deal/ https://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-dark-side-of-io-how-the-u-...
- ethbr0 5y ago
  As far as I can tell, the British government has officially claimed not to have been paid anything from the .io registrar. Despite the registrar claiming it deposited some amount into accounts for each territorial party they were ostensibly operating on the behalf of. So, someone's lying.
missedthecue 5y ago
According to their website, they do not own .io https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio/ https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio...
- tehlike 5y ago
  https://ethoscapital.com/portfolio/ https://ethoscapital.com/portfolio/ Afilias does
- ethbr0 5y ago
  IANA has it as Internet Computer Bureau Ltd [0], which was bought by Afilias in 2017 [1] and is operated as a subsidiary, and Afilias itself was bought by Donuts in 2020 [2], and Ethos Capital acquired a controlling interest in Donuts in 2021 [3]. So it's accurate to say that ICB (inasmuch as it exists) operates .io, as a subsidiary of Afilias, a Donuts company, controlled by Ethos Capital. Simple! [0] https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/io.html https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/io.html [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Computer_Bureau https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Computer_Bureau [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afilias https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afilias [3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donuts_(company) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donuts_(company)
cblconfederate 5y ago
Irony Capital should hostilely buyout Ethos capital to complete the joke
rasengan 5y ago
Ethos Capital is run by former ICANN leadership [1]. The problem is centralized control leads to price gouging efforts. As they say you should avoid a monopoly. Some things, like domain names which are becoming the backbone of the internet, really should be owned and controlled by the commons as opposed to a single entity or dictator. We have learned this time and time again. Luckily, projects like Handshake [2] have basically overtaken ICANN to the extent they are issuing messages in fear [3] and engaging in last ditch efforts to fatten their pockets. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethos_Capital https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethos_Capital [2] https://handshake.org https://handshake.org [3] https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-names-are-created-equal-24-11-2021-en https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-...
- gowld 5y ago
  Handshake is nowhere close to overtaking ICANN.
  - rvz 5y ago
    yet. Even Namecheap seems to offer Handshake domains. But I always get the feeling that some folks on HN seem to be consistently wrong with their projections. I wouldn't rule out these blockchain-based domain guys that quickly; since there is utility there. Unlike the other useless shitcoins I keep seeing. [0] https://www.namecheap.com/domains/handshake-domains/ https://www.namecheap.com/domains/handshake-domains/
    - donmcronald 5y ago
      Shame on Namecheap and Porkbun for scamming unsuspecting suckers.
- donmcronald 5y ago
  How do you deal with trademark infringement and phishing with Handshake domains? I'm sure some bad actors are salivating at the idea of registering trademarked domains on the blockchain so they can extort businesses anonymously. No one using their domains to build things is going to want to buy into a system with no legal oversight. It's only squatters, flippers, and scammers that want that system because they can extract value for doing nothing.
cle 5y ago
Ethos later acquired a controlling interest in Donuts (Jan 2021), who acquired Afilias (Nov 2020), who is the service provider for the .org TLD. The "operator" is still the Public Internet Registry, but from my understanding Ethos now controls the company that effectively runs the .org infrastructure.
chrismorgan 5y ago
It’s possibly worth noting that this is through Afilias, who seem to operate at least eleven other countries’ registries, including Australia’s (.au), and such of the older-but-not-original gTLDs as .info and .aero. https://afilias.info/ https://afilias.info/ has a list. This seems to be to be a fairly rotten space, with power tending to consolidate around parties that have acted in fairly demonstrable bad faith.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

WhyNotHugo 5y ago

I think it's pretty sad how the rights for this get sold around, but the territory to which it belongs gets little to no revenue from domain sales. There's an ongoing complaint seeking repatriation of the domain, and I really hope I'm wrong in speculating that nothing will be done about it.

ethbr0 5y ago
Man, that is early-Web levels of sordid. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io#History https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io#History FYI, apparently this is the current state of UN affairs: https://www.lexpress.mu/node/388292 https://www.lexpress.mu/node/388292 (previous and recent decisions referenced)
wwalexander 5y ago
I’m always mind-boggled at the level of acceptance in the industry of clear misuse of ccTLDs. Is having “input/output” in your domain really so cute that it’s worth tying your entire business to an incorrect ccTLD? Especially when we have so many new cute, built-for-purpose geek-cred gTLDs like .dev.
andylynch 5y ago
It’s much worse than that. The Chagosian islanders who lived in this territory were all exiled by the British to make room for a military base on their land. They have been fighting in the legal system for decades just for the right to go home.

sschueller 5y ago

From their website: "OUR ETHOS Drive prosperity for all stakeholders We believe that long-term success is best accomplished through a thriving ecosystem in which prosperity is shared amongst all stakeholders." [1] Bullshit, they exist to squeeze every little penny left in a company out and then dump the hollowed out remains on the stock market to die. [1] https://ethoscapital.com/about-us/ https://ethoscapital.com/about-us/

missedthecue 5y ago
Who exactly are you quoting? Or did you pull a completely random quote from somewhere off the internet solely in order to grind your axe in a vaguely related discussion thread?
- ryguytilidie 5y ago
  He's literally quoting their website. He even linked the exact thing. Now that we've established what actually happened with that other guy, what were YOU doing here? You seemed to intentionally misunderstand the post so that you could get angry at a stranger on the internet? Maybe its time for a little break from interacting with people on the internet?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ziddoap 5y ago
  >Who exactly are you quoting? They are quoting the page they linked, which is the Ethos Capital "About Us" page, where they have written the above quote under the heading "Our Ethos".
  - missedthecue 5y ago
    At the time of my comment, their post did not include that link, only a random quotation and "that's bullshit, here's my take".
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
misja111 5y ago
Well they obviously mean that those 'stakeholders' are their shareholders.
gowld 5y ago
The stake that is held is driven through the heart of the company.

Cerium 5y ago

Ethos Capital has a mortgage operation. My experience with them lead me to the conclusion that their name does not imply "ethical".

jjoonathan 5y ago
The sunnier the name, the darker the reality.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  Cerberus Capital have entered the chat...
- lostlogin 5y ago
  The inverse of this doesn’t hold unfortunately. Blackwater sounded like a load of bad guys and behaved like it too.
rasengan 5y ago
What is scary is that Ethos Capital is made up entirely of ICANN affiliates. In other words, these are the same people that govern our domain names. Pretty fucked up if you ask me. They are also going around buying up basically every major TLD. Lease with ICANN and be subject to their price gouging forever or own with Handshake, the only thing ICANN is afraid of [1], and never pay again. [1] https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-names-are-created-equal-24-11-2021-en https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-...
- jfk13 5y ago
  Handshake, what's that? Oh, I see... blockchain... "Handshake coin (HNS)"... PoW... the way you're plugging it, I thought it had that kind of smell.
  - rasengan 5y ago
    Oh, excuse me. I thought that smell was Ethos Capital.

plastic_bag 5y ago

Wasn't it owned by Internet Computer Bureau (ICB)? Regardless, the British government profited off of the .io domain while it rightfully belonged to the Chagossians of British Indian Ocean Territory. https://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-dark-side-of-io-how-the-u-k-is-making-web-domain-profits-from-a-shady-cold-war-land-deal/ https://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-dark-side-of-io-how-the-u-...

ethbr0 5y ago
As far as I can tell, the British government has officially claimed not to have been paid anything from the .io registrar. Despite the registrar claiming it deposited some amount into accounts for each territorial party they were ostensibly operating on the behalf of. So, someone's lying.

missedthecue 5y ago

According to their website, they do not own .io https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio/ https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio...

tehlike 5y ago
https://ethoscapital.com/portfolio/ https://ethoscapital.com/portfolio/ Afilias does
ethbr0 5y ago
IANA has it as Internet Computer Bureau Ltd [0], which was bought by Afilias in 2017 [1] and is operated as a subsidiary, and Afilias itself was bought by Donuts in 2020 [2], and Ethos Capital acquired a controlling interest in Donuts in 2021 [3]. So it's accurate to say that ICB (inasmuch as it exists) operates .io, as a subsidiary of Afilias, a Donuts company, controlled by Ethos Capital. Simple! [0] https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/io.html https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/io.html [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Computer_Bureau https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Computer_Bureau [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afilias https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afilias [3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donuts_(company) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donuts_(company)

cblconfederate 5y ago

Irony Capital should hostilely buyout Ethos capital to complete the joke

rasengan 5y ago

Ethos Capital is run by former ICANN leadership [1]. The problem is centralized control leads to price gouging efforts. As they say you should avoid a monopoly. Some things, like domain names which are becoming the backbone of the internet, really should be owned and controlled by the commons as opposed to a single entity or dictator. We have learned this time and time again. Luckily, projects like Handshake [2] have basically overtaken ICANN to the extent they are issuing messages in fear [3] and engaging in last ditch efforts to fatten their pockets. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethos_Capital https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethos_Capital [2] https://handshake.org https://handshake.org [3] https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-names-are-created-equal-24-11-2021-en https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-...

gowld 5y ago
Handshake is nowhere close to overtaking ICANN.
- rvz 5y ago
  yet. Even Namecheap seems to offer Handshake domains. But I always get the feeling that some folks on HN seem to be consistently wrong with their projections. I wouldn't rule out these blockchain-based domain guys that quickly; since there is utility there. Unlike the other useless shitcoins I keep seeing. [0] https://www.namecheap.com/domains/handshake-domains/ https://www.namecheap.com/domains/handshake-domains/
  - donmcronald 5y ago
    Shame on Namecheap and Porkbun for scamming unsuspecting suckers.
donmcronald 5y ago
How do you deal with trademark infringement and phishing with Handshake domains? I'm sure some bad actors are salivating at the idea of registering trademarked domains on the blockchain so they can extort businesses anonymously. No one using their domains to build things is going to want to buy into a system with no legal oversight. It's only squatters, flippers, and scammers that want that system because they can extract value for doing nothing.

cle 5y ago

Ethos later acquired a controlling interest in Donuts (Jan 2021), who acquired Afilias (Nov 2020), who is the service provider for the .org TLD. The "operator" is still the Public Internet Registry, but from my understanding Ethos now controls the company that effectively runs the .org infrastructure.

chrismorgan 5y ago

It’s possibly worth noting that this is through Afilias, who seem to operate at least eleven other countries’ registries, including Australia’s (.au), and such of the older-but-not-original gTLDs as .info and .aero. https://afilias.info/ https://afilias.info/ has a list. This seems to be to be a fairly rotten space, with power tending to consolidate around parties that have acted in fairly demonstrable bad faith.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]