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Spam and scams will happen no matter what. It will just be spread across the cheapest domain registrations that are still available now. The narrow and self-ser

Spam and scams will happen no matter what. It will just be spread across the cheapest domain registrations that are still available now. The narrow and self-serving aspect that Facebook investigated, cybersquatting, should not justify killing off legitimate free domain registrations forever, at least in a better world where we more directly tackle these problems.

refulgentis 3y ago
Nobody cut off "legitimate free domain registrations" forever. Airquotes aren't sarcastic, just, idk exactly what that combination of words means so I want to leave myself an out. You are free to hand out domains for free to strangers, if you so desire. Nobody stopped anyone from anything.
- creatonez 3y ago
  > You are free to hand out domains for free to strangers, if you so desire. > Nobody stopped anyone from anything. This is impossible, as we have just seen with the ICANN termination of Freenom. Turns out, the legal threats will kill it, even if other TLDs also have plenty of cybersquatting going on. There's realistically no way to repeat Freenom's success in giving out free domains without greatly heightened legal expenses now. It's gone, the fun is over. Likewise, because of this legal pressure they will likely never allow a .free proposal -- which is to assign .free to an organization wishing to provide free domain names and foot the bill themselves, essentially becoming the LetsEncrypt of domain name registrars.
  - refulgentis 3y ago
    The article claims Freenom shut down of its own free will. Are you reporting otherwise?
    - creatonez 3y ago
      > Are you reporting otherwise? Essentially, yes. Freenom lost its registrar accreditation a few months ago, so all domain names will be forced by ICANN to go to another registrar. I'm assuming they saw no path towards getting it back, due to the difficult nature of complying with reporting correct registrant information for free users. https://domainnamewire.com/2023/11/10/icann-terminates-opentld-famous-for-its-connection-to-tk-domains/ https://domainnamewire.com/2023/11/10/icann-terminates-opent... They also just finished a $500 million settlement with Meta.
      - refulgentis 3y ago
        [flagged]

refulgentis 3y ago

Nobody cut off "legitimate free domain registrations" forever. Airquotes aren't sarcastic, just, idk exactly what that combination of words means so I want to leave myself an out. You are free to hand out domains for free to strangers, if you so desire. Nobody stopped anyone from anything.

creatonez 3y ago
> You are free to hand out domains for free to strangers, if you so desire. > Nobody stopped anyone from anything. This is impossible, as we have just seen with the ICANN termination of Freenom. Turns out, the legal threats will kill it, even if other TLDs also have plenty of cybersquatting going on. There's realistically no way to repeat Freenom's success in giving out free domains without greatly heightened legal expenses now. It's gone, the fun is over. Likewise, because of this legal pressure they will likely never allow a .free proposal -- which is to assign .free to an organization wishing to provide free domain names and foot the bill themselves, essentially becoming the LetsEncrypt of domain name registrars.
- refulgentis 3y ago
  The article claims Freenom shut down of its own free will. Are you reporting otherwise?
  - creatonez 3y ago
    > Are you reporting otherwise? Essentially, yes. Freenom lost its registrar accreditation a few months ago, so all domain names will be forced by ICANN to go to another registrar. I'm assuming they saw no path towards getting it back, due to the difficult nature of complying with reporting correct registrant information for free users. https://domainnamewire.com/2023/11/10/icann-terminates-opentld-famous-for-its-connection-to-tk-domains/ https://domainnamewire.com/2023/11/10/icann-terminates-opent... They also just finished a $500 million settlement with Meta.
    - refulgentis 3y ago
      [flagged]