6 ms·

Ask HN: Pro free speech domain registrars?

13 points by tmaly 4y ago

What are some great pro free speech registrars that independent journalists could use to help ensure their website is not taken down for being critical of Western governments?

version_five 4y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28361320 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28361320 There was this discussion... some suggestion that iceland is one of the freer ones, and looking at wikipedia it seems some unpalatable websites were hosted there, which imo is the best way to see if a registrar is not going the take your stuff down.
- tmaly 4y ago
  thank you
- yellowapple 4y ago
  Heads up: the link to the blog post changed at some point after it got posted to HN: https://slc.is/posts/tlds.html https://slc.is/posts/tlds.html
- DoItToMe81 4y ago
  TLDs controlled by local courts can be taken down by local laws. Icelandic domains are forced to be removed for violating its (much larger than most other countries) broad hate speech laws, .de's can be taken down for Germany's insanely broad slander laws, and .ru, is well, Russia, and Rozkomnadzor has the power to demand a site shut down arbitrarily. I'd be cautious of following the linked post.
disntthinkthis 4y ago
[flagged]
- sarimkhalid 4y ago
  thats not very mormon of you.....
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    That's actually quite Mormon. Source: I was once Mormon (I got better)
hayst4ck 4y ago
I have to admit, my initial response to your question was incredibly hostile. Almost everyone I respect says that free speech is being abused and we have to be more responsible about how we use it by using it to speak truth to power while everyone I don't respect at all (trump, elon, etc.) abuses free speech like it's a weapon and shield to sieze power while protecting them from consequences. The most "free speech" lip service sites (parler) ended up moving to "free speech" platforms for which their digital neighbors were quite literally stormfront. Do you have real examples of western governments taking down independent journalists using free speech to speak truth to power? Because that would do a lot to win me over. Are you looking for privacy or are you looking for non take-down-ability or are you looking to promote a message? The government barely has to "silence" people because the governments work on behalf of money, for which media is also beholden. I think it's hard to get a message out without the support of billionaire owned media enterprises.
- dev_by_day 4y ago
  > Do you have real examples of western governments taking down independent journalists using free speech to speak truth to power? Because that would do a lot to win me over. Belarus: "Freedom of the press in Belarus remains extremely restricted. State-owned media are subordinated to the president and harassment and censorship of independent media are routine. The government subjects both independent and foreign media to systematic political intimidation, especially for reporting on the deteriorating economy and human rights abuses. Journalists are harassed and detained" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Belarus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Belarus Turkey(which is mix of eastern and western but is part of the EU so I think counts): "Turkey has earned an accolade which holds no glory: according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, it is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world" https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/02/free-turkey-media/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/02/free-tur...
  - BWStearns 4y ago
    The Belarusian state is very much not Western by any political cultural definition. Lukashenko rigged the shit out of his election and then had to beg Putin to send some ОМАН forces to help put down nationwide protests.
DoItToMe81 4y ago
Avoid Gandhi, Porkbun, Namecheap, Google and GoDaddy. They will arbitrarily seize your domain if enough people report it. Njalla is good as long as your site is not openly racist and does not cater to racists. If I trust anyone to protect people from western overreach, it's the Pirate Bay founders. EasyDNS has a history of being decent but has had an openly right wing slant for the last few years, which could translate into how they handle complaints for domains owned by the "other side". They successfully fought against British takedown requests and protected their client's info. I do not know if they would be legally empowered to fight against a US request. NearlyFreeSpeech has hosted many controversial domains in the past and I've never seen them take one down, unless it was breaking the law. But they have posts about Jan 6th that indicate they will co-operate with law enforcmement if asked. Does this translate to legal but unwanted speech? I don't know.
- StuntPope 4y ago
  > EasyDNS has a history of being decent but has had an openly right wing slant for the last few years, which could translate into how they handle complaints for domains owned by the "other side". easyDNS spokesbot here. We take the same attitude toward our client domains regardless of political affiliation or orientation. In the past we were the DNS provider for both BLM and Antifa, who brought in their fair share of takedown requests and are arguably left-of-centre. When we were added as a defendant in a defamation suit because we wouldn't take the website down ahead of a court ruling, that was a legal battle between two different factions of socialists - which we're not a fan of - we still fought the lawsuit at our own expense. Everybody seeking to deplatform an easyDNS customer because of their political ideology gets the same answer: "GFY".
joecondha 4y ago
Not a domain registrar but if you're looking for an all in one free speech way to publish check out Bison Relay.
vincent_s 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletproof_hosting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletproof_hosting

13 points by tmaly 4y ago

What are some great pro free speech registrars that independent journalists could use to help ensure their website is not taken down for being critical of Western governments?

version_five 4y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28361320 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28361320 There was this discussion... some suggestion that iceland is one of the freer ones, and looking at wikipedia it seems some unpalatable websites were hosted there, which imo is the best way to see if a registrar is not going the take your stuff down.

tmaly 4y ago
thank you
yellowapple 4y ago
Heads up: the link to the blog post changed at some point after it got posted to HN: https://slc.is/posts/tlds.html https://slc.is/posts/tlds.html
DoItToMe81 4y ago
TLDs controlled by local courts can be taken down by local laws. Icelandic domains are forced to be removed for violating its (much larger than most other countries) broad hate speech laws, .de's can be taken down for Germany's insanely broad slander laws, and .ru, is well, Russia, and Rozkomnadzor has the power to demand a site shut down arbitrarily. I'd be cautious of following the linked post.

disntthinkthis 4y ago

[flagged]

sarimkhalid 4y ago
thats not very mormon of you.....
- yellowapple 4y ago
  That's actually quite Mormon. Source: I was once Mormon (I got better)

hayst4ck 4y ago

I have to admit, my initial response to your question was incredibly hostile. Almost everyone I respect says that free speech is being abused and we have to be more responsible about how we use it by using it to speak truth to power while everyone I don't respect at all (trump, elon, etc.) abuses free speech like it's a weapon and shield to sieze power while protecting them from consequences. The most "free speech" lip service sites (parler) ended up moving to "free speech" platforms for which their digital neighbors were quite literally stormfront. Do you have real examples of western governments taking down independent journalists using free speech to speak truth to power? Because that would do a lot to win me over. Are you looking for privacy or are you looking for non take-down-ability or are you looking to promote a message? The government barely has to "silence" people because the governments work on behalf of money, for which media is also beholden. I think it's hard to get a message out without the support of billionaire owned media enterprises.

dev_by_day 4y ago
> Do you have real examples of western governments taking down independent journalists using free speech to speak truth to power? Because that would do a lot to win me over. Belarus: "Freedom of the press in Belarus remains extremely restricted. State-owned media are subordinated to the president and harassment and censorship of independent media are routine. The government subjects both independent and foreign media to systematic political intimidation, especially for reporting on the deteriorating economy and human rights abuses. Journalists are harassed and detained" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Belarus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Belarus Turkey(which is mix of eastern and western but is part of the EU so I think counts): "Turkey has earned an accolade which holds no glory: according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, it is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world" https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/02/free-turkey-media/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/02/free-tur...
- BWStearns 4y ago
  The Belarusian state is very much not Western by any political cultural definition. Lukashenko rigged the shit out of his election and then had to beg Putin to send some ОМАН forces to help put down nationwide protests.

DoItToMe81 4y ago

Avoid Gandhi, Porkbun, Namecheap, Google and GoDaddy. They will arbitrarily seize your domain if enough people report it. Njalla is good as long as your site is not openly racist and does not cater to racists. If I trust anyone to protect people from western overreach, it's the Pirate Bay founders. EasyDNS has a history of being decent but has had an openly right wing slant for the last few years, which could translate into how they handle complaints for domains owned by the "other side". They successfully fought against British takedown requests and protected their client's info. I do not know if they would be legally empowered to fight against a US request. NearlyFreeSpeech has hosted many controversial domains in the past and I've never seen them take one down, unless it was breaking the law. But they have posts about Jan 6th that indicate they will co-operate with law enforcmement if asked. Does this translate to legal but unwanted speech? I don't know.

StuntPope 4y ago
> EasyDNS has a history of being decent but has had an openly right wing slant for the last few years, which could translate into how they handle complaints for domains owned by the "other side". easyDNS spokesbot here. We take the same attitude toward our client domains regardless of political affiliation or orientation. In the past we were the DNS provider for both BLM and Antifa, who brought in their fair share of takedown requests and are arguably left-of-centre. When we were added as a defendant in a defamation suit because we wouldn't take the website down ahead of a court ruling, that was a legal battle between two different factions of socialists - which we're not a fan of - we still fought the lawsuit at our own expense. Everybody seeking to deplatform an easyDNS customer because of their political ideology gets the same answer: "GFY".

joecondha 4y ago

Not a domain registrar but if you're looking for an all in one free speech way to publish check out Bison Relay.

vincent_s 4y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletproof_hosting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletproof_hosting