4 ms·

Long time buyer of random domains here. Over the years I've heard reports of people trying to get back their ccTLD because they weren't a citizen of that countr

by vmoore 5y ago

Long time buyer of random domains here. Over the years I've heard reports of people trying to get back their ccTLD because they weren't a citizen of that country and had to fight back-and-forth to reclaim their domain, oftentimes handing ownership of the domain over to a trusted citizen of that country so they can keep their domain. This is why I don't build important stuff on a ccTLD and go for generic ones like .club .party etc. In my country, I have a single ccTLD that I registered with a passport scan and had to verify my legal name with the registrar, which is good because I don't have to fight to get it back in a rug-pull scenario. I don't have anything too important on it, just a few links to projects I worked on, and a contact page. The domain price could be hiked at any moment so I don't take the domain too seriously. (I've often thought of just not renewing it, and retiring it).

rasengan 5y ago
The issue is you will always be leasing versus owning unless you use Handshake. The same entity of interest, Ethos, owns most of the generic top level domain names since they own Donuts [1]. [1] https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio/ https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio...
- kmeisthax 5y ago
  While I like the idea of using blockchain-determined name ownership; there's a few problems. First, you have the problems that you get just because of how blockchains work[0]. But moreso there are specific chicken-and-egg problems with migrating away from standard DNS: - Because DNS is well-established and everyone uses it, most websites want to be registered in DNS, and blockchain names provide little to no value to them. - Because blockchain names see little usage, most ISPs see no need to resolve them in addition to or overlapping standard DNS names. For a blockchain name system to actually succeed, you need buy-in from large network operators. Most network operators, for better or for worse, have just decided to trust ICANN and ICANN alone. At the very least, you would need IANA and ICANN to agree to set certain TLDs aside for competing naming systems so that network operators could be confident that resolving them wouldn't cause security problems. [0] specifically the whole 'immutability' and 'no central authority' thing legalizes certain kinds of theft
  - donmcronald 5y ago
    I think big tech and entertainment will actively fight against blockchain domains if it comes to it. Their brands are massively squatted on from what I've seen. Here's a single ETH wallet that's squatting on a solid 40 .eth domains with high value trademarks: https://app.ens.domains/address/0x140eF05a724CA161d49ffE8D97D35571289Fa5C4/registrant https://app.ens.domains/address/0x140eF05a724CA161d49ffE8D97... Do you think `microsoft` or `disneyland` or `amazonprime` or `barclays`, etc. are going to be onboard with a system where their global brand names get zero legal protection? Not likely IMO.
    - kmeisthax 5y ago
      You're not wrong, but I'm getting tired of explaining to cryptobros that possession of a cryptographic private key is not equivalent to legal ownership of property.
    - rasengan 5y ago
      All of the top domains which make up the majority of web traffic were reserved to the domain holders on Handshake [1]. [1] https://dns.live/top.html https://dns.live/top.html
      - donmcronald 5y ago
        That's not a good replacement for actual trademark protections though. They reserved 100k TLDs in a pool of unlimited TLDs and there's no solution to stopping 2nd level domains from infringing. For example, what happens if the owner of the HNS TLD `techsupport` decides to sell subdomains and sells `microsoft.techsupport`? That's an amazing phishing domain if HNS is part of a mainstream resolver somewhere. How about `stripe.payments` or `disney.movies` or `google.search`? What do those reserved domains do for me if I'm not in the Alexa top 100k?
        bfriedrichs 5y ago
        The phishing issue not an argument against HNS domains. Phishing already exists without handshake domains. With ICANN domains you can also be creative and place misleading domains that harm for a while. I would rather say the ICANN system as it is today is not addressing the problem properly and fast enough. There are plenty of ways to make it faster and more secure working with a decentralized system that is not dependent on the reaction time and judgement of one institution. If you are today not in the Alexa Top 100k you have plenty of room to find a great domain. And there is a lot of opportunity to get better names. ICANN domains are limited, intentionally made scarce and often blocked and not used. And you need to rent them instead of owning them. What is the added value from renting them?
SavantIdiot 5y ago
I've been using a .io for several years for primary email and side projects. I'd have about two dozen critical emails to switch of I got booted of .io. I had no idea it was a ccTLD.

by vmoore 5y ago

rasengan 5y ago

The issue is you will always be leasing versus owning unless you use Handshake. The same entity of interest, Ethos, owns most of the generic top level domain names since they own Donuts [1]. [1] https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio/ https://donuts.domains/what-we-do/top-level-domain-portfolio...

kmeisthax 5y ago
While I like the idea of using blockchain-determined name ownership; there's a few problems. First, you have the problems that you get just because of how blockchains work[0]. But moreso there are specific chicken-and-egg problems with migrating away from standard DNS: - Because DNS is well-established and everyone uses it, most websites want to be registered in DNS, and blockchain names provide little to no value to them. - Because blockchain names see little usage, most ISPs see no need to resolve them in addition to or overlapping standard DNS names. For a blockchain name system to actually succeed, you need buy-in from large network operators. Most network operators, for better or for worse, have just decided to trust ICANN and ICANN alone. At the very least, you would need IANA and ICANN to agree to set certain TLDs aside for competing naming systems so that network operators could be confident that resolving them wouldn't cause security problems. [0] specifically the whole 'immutability' and 'no central authority' thing legalizes certain kinds of theft
- donmcronald 5y ago
  I think big tech and entertainment will actively fight against blockchain domains if it comes to it. Their brands are massively squatted on from what I've seen. Here's a single ETH wallet that's squatting on a solid 40 .eth domains with high value trademarks: https://app.ens.domains/address/0x140eF05a724CA161d49ffE8D97D35571289Fa5C4/registrant https://app.ens.domains/address/0x140eF05a724CA161d49ffE8D97... Do you think `microsoft` or `disneyland` or `amazonprime` or `barclays`, etc. are going to be onboard with a system where their global brand names get zero legal protection? Not likely IMO.
  - kmeisthax 5y ago
    You're not wrong, but I'm getting tired of explaining to cryptobros that possession of a cryptographic private key is not equivalent to legal ownership of property.
  - rasengan 5y ago
    All of the top domains which make up the majority of web traffic were reserved to the domain holders on Handshake [1]. [1] https://dns.live/top.html https://dns.live/top.html
    - donmcronald 5y ago
      That's not a good replacement for actual trademark protections though. They reserved 100k TLDs in a pool of unlimited TLDs and there's no solution to stopping 2nd level domains from infringing. For example, what happens if the owner of the HNS TLD `techsupport` decides to sell subdomains and sells `microsoft.techsupport`? That's an amazing phishing domain if HNS is part of a mainstream resolver somewhere. How about `stripe.payments` or `disney.movies` or `google.search`? What do those reserved domains do for me if I'm not in the Alexa top 100k?
      - bfriedrichs 5y ago
        The phishing issue not an argument against HNS domains. Phishing already exists without handshake domains. With ICANN domains you can also be creative and place misleading domains that harm for a while. I would rather say the ICANN system as it is today is not addressing the problem properly and fast enough. There are plenty of ways to make it faster and more secure working with a decentralized system that is not dependent on the reaction time and judgement of one institution. If you are today not in the Alexa Top 100k you have plenty of room to find a great domain. And there is a lot of opportunity to get better names. ICANN domains are limited, intentionally made scarce and often blocked and not used. And you need to rent them instead of owning them. What is the added value from renting them?

SavantIdiot 5y ago

I've been using a .io for several years for primary email and side projects. I'd have about two dozen critical emails to switch of I got booted of .io. I had no idea it was a ccTLD.