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On Twitter, crypto maxis seem genuinely confused why a bunch of people (?) on Twitter (?) can’t get together and ask (?) GoDaddy to just extend the legal contra

On Twitter, crypto maxis seem genuinely confused why a bunch of people (?) on Twitter (?) can’t get together and ask (?) GoDaddy to just extend the legal contract with the guy who’s now in legal trouble for violating sanctions against North Korea. These people are beyond parody.

eli 4y ago
I mean normally anyone can pay to extend a domain registration so it’s not that crazy a question.
- ethanbond 4y ago
  Normally people can pay to extend their domain registration.
  - ocdtrekkie 4y ago
    I mean, most banks don't require ID to make a deposit. It's not an unrealistic thought that someone should be able to top up some dude's account so that his stuff can autorenew. Though a company would need some sort of explicit policy for that more than likely.
    - ethanbond 4y ago
      Sure, if the original contract had a clause that said “anyone can come add money to this and if they do, go ahead and extend it under my name” then this would be entirely reasonable. It seems that clause doesn’t exist here or at least GoDaddy isn’t required to exercise it.
    - baobob 4y ago
      This hasn't been true in the UK for at least a few years now
    - jeremymcanally 4y ago
      > I mean, most banks don't require ID to make a deposit. Due to money laundering regulations, that isn't really true anymore. Most banks straight up won't take cash deposits into someone else's account, identification or not. Other means (ACH, etc.) require KYC from the originating institution. I'm not sure about secure funds like a money order, but I'm guessing they'd be subject to some sort of verification as well.
      - jefftk 4y ago
        At my bank, if you fill out a deposit bag with the account number and put in cash, you can drop it in the deposit slot and it shows up in the account. There is no verification that you own the account, beyond knowledge of the account number.
  - witheld 4y ago
    No, usually you can renew a domain for anyone without authentication
    - JohnHaugeland 4y ago
      uh. what?
      - euroclear 4y ago
        I'm not sure about Godaddy, but on Gandi you can definitely pay to extend someone else's domain name. https://docs.gandi.net/en/domain_names/renew/how_to_renew.html https://docs.gandi.net/en/domain_names/renew/how_to_renew.ht...
        JohnHaugeland 4y ago
        That's wild. I had had no idea.
      - andreareina 4y ago
        Happened to microsoft: https://slashdot.org/story/99/12/25/114201/microsoft-hotmailpassport-service-interruptedupdated https://slashdot.org/story/99/12/25/114201/microsoft-hotmail...
        maccard 4y ago
        Thats not the same thing. The domain lapsed and someone else bought it, which is exactly what is going to happen to eth.link according to this post.
        andreareina 4y ago
        From the horses mouth: > I read through the discussion area for that story and found that the problem had been tracked down to an outstanding invoice for passport.com at Network Solutions, the domain name registrar. > I own a number of domains myself, including doublewide.net, so I'm no stranger to the payment system at Network Solutions. I went to the payment page at https://payments.networksolutions.com https://payments.networksolutions.com and typed in "passport.com", after which I was greeted with a page showing the outstanding invoice for $35. One of the buttons near the bottom of the page was "Make payment", so I pressed it. https://web.archive.org/web/20031002153020/http://www.doublewide.net/ https://web.archive.org/web/20031002153020/http://www.double...
  - eli 4y ago
    I’ve done it for other people multiple times. Not sure about godaddy though.
    - tomlogic 4y ago
      It's not the case with GoDaddy. I just had a hosting client run into this a few weeks ago -- someone they know had registered their domain for them long ago, and they didn't have the GoDaddy login. I tried to help out when their domain expired and spoke to GoDaddy support. They do not provide any way to renew domain without logging into the account that owns the domain. They were fortunately able to get in touch with the person who originally registered it, so that person could renew it and work on transferring it to an account controlled by the true "domain owner". I personally don't see a security issue with allowing anyone to renew any domain. It's not like you can change WHOIS information or the authoritative name servers -- you're just paying to continue with the existing ownership/configuration.
jsheard 4y ago
Isn't a whole guiding principle of crypto that code is law, rules are rules with no exceptions, and if you end up getting screwed over by the rules you opted into then it's your fault for not doing due diligence? The irony of immutable smart contract proponents begging humans to let them backdoor around a contract is palpable.
- ETH_start 4y ago
  This is a Web2 relay to access Web3. If browsers had built-in Web3 functionality, the eth.link relay wouldn't be needed, and this whole situation would be moot. Until that day, it's reasonable for people to appeal to centralized Web2 entities to use their control to fix a problem inherent to centralized Web2 services.
  - desindol 4y ago
    Citation needed.
    - ETH_start 4y ago
      Which part?
      - desindol 4y ago
        Web3 functionality
    - px43 4y ago
      Um, use Brave, or any other decent web3 browswer. Put in any .eth URL, and it works fine. Eth.link was a crutch. A silly hack that makes it so you can take a .eth URL, add ".link" to it, and get onto .eth sites without having to use a modern browser.
      - ohgodplsno 4y ago
        Thankfully, not querying random blockchains is not what makes a modern browser. Actually, I'd love for cryptobros to try to make a browsers on their own, just for the lulz. I'm guessing it fails at about... eh maybe they'll make a CSS parser before there's a rug pull on BrowserCoin
ETH_start 4y ago
It's not totally crazy to think that GoDaddy could unilaterally extend the contract so that a widely used relay service could stay operational.
- ethanbond 4y ago
  Yes it is.
  - ETH_start 4y ago
    Huge number of people dependent on service, owner incapacitated, GoDaddy able to prevent disruption to service by simply freezing current settings. Not seeing the "out of this world crazy".
    - neoberg 4y ago
      > owner incapacitated Owner deliberately created a bus factor issue and decided to violate sanctions against North Korea.
    - smoldesu 4y ago
      The owner went to jail. You think GoDaddy is going to give people a domain in-perpetuity for free? Are you unfamiliar with their business model or something?
      - tomlogic 4y ago
        I don't see anyone asking for that -- just for the ability for someone other than the domain owner to pay the annual renewal fee.
        smoldesu 4y ago
        They can, they just have to let it lapse first. Same as it's always been with GoDaddy, why should they make an exception here?

eli 4y ago

I mean normally anyone can pay to extend a domain registration so it’s not that crazy a question.

ethanbond 4y ago
Normally people can pay to extend their domain registration.
- ocdtrekkie 4y ago
  I mean, most banks don't require ID to make a deposit. It's not an unrealistic thought that someone should be able to top up some dude's account so that his stuff can autorenew. Though a company would need some sort of explicit policy for that more than likely.
  - ethanbond 4y ago
    Sure, if the original contract had a clause that said “anyone can come add money to this and if they do, go ahead and extend it under my name” then this would be entirely reasonable. It seems that clause doesn’t exist here or at least GoDaddy isn’t required to exercise it.
  - baobob 4y ago
    This hasn't been true in the UK for at least a few years now
  - jeremymcanally 4y ago
    > I mean, most banks don't require ID to make a deposit. Due to money laundering regulations, that isn't really true anymore. Most banks straight up won't take cash deposits into someone else's account, identification or not. Other means (ACH, etc.) require KYC from the originating institution. I'm not sure about secure funds like a money order, but I'm guessing they'd be subject to some sort of verification as well.
    - jefftk 4y ago
      At my bank, if you fill out a deposit bag with the account number and put in cash, you can drop it in the deposit slot and it shows up in the account. There is no verification that you own the account, beyond knowledge of the account number.
- witheld 4y ago
  No, usually you can renew a domain for anyone without authentication
  - JohnHaugeland 4y ago
    uh. what?
    - euroclear 4y ago
      I'm not sure about Godaddy, but on Gandi you can definitely pay to extend someone else's domain name. https://docs.gandi.net/en/domain_names/renew/how_to_renew.html https://docs.gandi.net/en/domain_names/renew/how_to_renew.ht...
      - JohnHaugeland 4y ago
        That's wild. I had had no idea.
    - andreareina 4y ago
      Happened to microsoft: https://slashdot.org/story/99/12/25/114201/microsoft-hotmailpassport-service-interruptedupdated https://slashdot.org/story/99/12/25/114201/microsoft-hotmail...
      - maccard 4y ago
        Thats not the same thing. The domain lapsed and someone else bought it, which is exactly what is going to happen to eth.link according to this post.
        andreareina 4y ago
        From the horses mouth: > I read through the discussion area for that story and found that the problem had been tracked down to an outstanding invoice for passport.com at Network Solutions, the domain name registrar. > I own a number of domains myself, including doublewide.net, so I'm no stranger to the payment system at Network Solutions. I went to the payment page at https://payments.networksolutions.com https://payments.networksolutions.com and typed in "passport.com", after which I was greeted with a page showing the outstanding invoice for $35. One of the buttons near the bottom of the page was "Make payment", so I pressed it. https://web.archive.org/web/20031002153020/http://www.doublewide.net/ https://web.archive.org/web/20031002153020/http://www.double...
- eli 4y ago
  I’ve done it for other people multiple times. Not sure about godaddy though.
  - tomlogic 4y ago
    It's not the case with GoDaddy. I just had a hosting client run into this a few weeks ago -- someone they know had registered their domain for them long ago, and they didn't have the GoDaddy login. I tried to help out when their domain expired and spoke to GoDaddy support. They do not provide any way to renew domain without logging into the account that owns the domain. They were fortunately able to get in touch with the person who originally registered it, so that person could renew it and work on transferring it to an account controlled by the true "domain owner". I personally don't see a security issue with allowing anyone to renew any domain. It's not like you can change WHOIS information or the authoritative name servers -- you're just paying to continue with the existing ownership/configuration.

jsheard 4y ago

Isn't a whole guiding principle of crypto that code is law, rules are rules with no exceptions, and if you end up getting screwed over by the rules you opted into then it's your fault for not doing due diligence? The irony of immutable smart contract proponents begging humans to let them backdoor around a contract is palpable.

ETH_start 4y ago
This is a Web2 relay to access Web3. If browsers had built-in Web3 functionality, the eth.link relay wouldn't be needed, and this whole situation would be moot. Until that day, it's reasonable for people to appeal to centralized Web2 entities to use their control to fix a problem inherent to centralized Web2 services.
- desindol 4y ago
  Citation needed.
  - ETH_start 4y ago
    Which part?
    - desindol 4y ago
      Web3 functionality
  - px43 4y ago
    Um, use Brave, or any other decent web3 browswer. Put in any .eth URL, and it works fine. Eth.link was a crutch. A silly hack that makes it so you can take a .eth URL, add ".link" to it, and get onto .eth sites without having to use a modern browser.
    - ohgodplsno 4y ago
      Thankfully, not querying random blockchains is not what makes a modern browser. Actually, I'd love for cryptobros to try to make a browsers on their own, just for the lulz. I'm guessing it fails at about... eh maybe they'll make a CSS parser before there's a rug pull on BrowserCoin

ETH_start 4y ago

It's not totally crazy to think that GoDaddy could unilaterally extend the contract so that a widely used relay service could stay operational.

ethanbond 4y ago
Yes it is.
- ETH_start 4y ago
  Huge number of people dependent on service, owner incapacitated, GoDaddy able to prevent disruption to service by simply freezing current settings. Not seeing the "out of this world crazy".
  - neoberg 4y ago
    > owner incapacitated Owner deliberately created a bus factor issue and decided to violate sanctions against North Korea.
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    The owner went to jail. You think GoDaddy is going to give people a domain in-perpetuity for free? Are you unfamiliar with their business model or something?
    - tomlogic 4y ago
      I don't see anyone asking for that -- just for the ability for someone other than the domain owner to pay the annual renewal fee.
      - smoldesu 4y ago
        They can, they just have to let it lapse first. Same as it's always been with GoDaddy, why should they make an exception here?