5 ms·

Kim Dotcom's new Me.ga site barred by Gabon

50 points by neotek 14y ago

neotek 14y ago
Interestingly enough, it doesn't appear that Kim owns me.ga anyway - it redirects to a twitter profile[1] which claims: "To our gabonese friends: have no fear, me.ga is in safe hands, the megaman @KimDotcom has no control over the me.ga domain name. We do." Also interesting: "@KimDotcom offered us 1% of Megabox in exchange of http://me.ga http://me.ga that is 1% of nothing in exchange of the almighty Me!" [1] https://twitter.com/o https://twitter.com/o
- epa 14y ago
  It is very strange. Look at their website http://ome.ga http://ome.ga. Seems almost fake.
- AdamTReineke 14y ago
  The name on the profile is "Onymous". I bet somebody hacked both @O and me.ga. Notice the oldest tweet is only two hours. Edit: Article from Jan 2011 shows different owner of @O. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/twitter-from-a-to-z/69776/#slide15 http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/twitte...
Cieplak 14y ago
Iceland?
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
nthitz 14y ago
Hmm the .ga tld was owned and managed by a subsidiary of Vivendi so this isn't really too surprising.
- ramblerman 14y ago
  It is surprising in the sense that kim dotcom tweeted this into the world without any strategic foresight. Not that I think he is a strategic genius, but this is pretty basic
  - aw3c2 14y ago
    If you learn about Kim/ble Dotcom/Schmitz's history, then this is zero surprise. He is a "shower", a "taker" and since he likes to sue people who badmouth him I cannot say something about lying and cheating. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dotcom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dotcom German Wikipedia has more http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz
    - kahawe 14y ago
      Listen to this man here. Who ever hacked the site got it perfectly right when they were saying: > "He himself is an industry, only here to pollute"
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
    - shell0x 14y ago
      Indeed, he is a fraudster and an insult to every business man. I'd bet that the next post on HN is called "Kim Dotcom starts own NIC" or "Kim Dotcom purchased an own TLD".
borplk 14y ago
The twitter username is "o"? How the hell?
- spectrum 14y ago
  It's not that special. Nice to have though. https://twitter.com/a https://twitter.com/a https://twitter.com/b https://twitter.com/b https://twitter.com/c https://twitter.com/c
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
fourstar 14y ago
This is why I'm hesitant to get another tld -- specifically .ly. Great example case.
rorrr 14y ago
The domain, not the site.
oelmekki 14y ago
It would be the perfect situation to promote open TLDs of openNIC.
- dutchbrit 14y ago
  Thing is, what happens if someone buys a TLD via ICANN that's already a TLD on OpenNic?
  - oelmekki 14y ago
    Well, I see that the preferred way to access openNIC is to set resolvers ( https://github.com/GoTux/Bash/blob/master/onic.sh https://github.com/GoTux/Bash/blob/master/onic.sh ), so those could simply ignore the new tld. But yes, this would mean that domains provided for this new standard TLD wouldn't be accessible if you use openNIC. Or maybe the dns servers pointed by /etc/resolvers could be smart enough to tell if the requested domain is on openNIC or on the standard TLD, and prefer the openNIC one if there are two with the same names (this really shouldn't happen and is in no one interest, but, well...).
- kyriakos 14y ago
  OpenNIC idea is quite interesting but I can't see how it will ever become mainstream. I'd love though to see the domain monopoly end.
SeanDav 14y ago
I am not up to speed on latest developments, but Sealand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand) seems like a good solution to this type of problem.
- stephen_g 14y ago
  It would be pretty difficult to get enough bandwidth and power to a place like Sealand. You'd probably need an undersea cable to have a big enough pipe to the Internet, and whatever country that runs to can cut you off... That, and if you're in international waters and you annoy a country enough, you probably don't have your own army or anything to stop them invading you.
ashray 14y ago
So what about the fact that me.ga hasn't actually done anything illegal ..yet.. It appears that this whole issue has blown up into an absolutely ugly power game. Everyone's bullying everyone and it goes to show that international law, national law, any law, really don't have much meaning when the stakes are high enough. There goes civilization. =/ (I'm referring to the part where the minister was pressured to seize the domain.. the hackers.. well no comment on them..)
- pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  So basically if you buy a .ga domain this USA based company can take your money [via their subsidiary] and violate your contract at will? Surely the US government will step in and ensure the rule of law is upheld?
  - Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
    Why would they, it's a civil matter surely, some form of breach of contract and the correct recourse is to the courts. It also depends why the company have done what they've done. Given his previous history it's entirely reasonable that they've decided they don't wish to deal with him (having not realised it was him originally - I'm sure they don't check every domain registration) and have terminated their contract based on some perfectly reasonable clause or other. Dotcom has the right to do what he wants within the law, however other companies don't have to deal with him if they don't want to and given his past have plenty of reasons to think that way.

50 points by neotek 14y ago

Interestingly enough, it doesn't appear that Kim owns me.ga anyway - it redirects to a twitter profile[1] which claims: "To our gabonese friends: have no fear, me.ga is in safe hands, the megaman @KimDotcom has no control over the me.ga domain name. We do." Also interesting: "@KimDotcom offered us 1% of Megabox in exchange of http://me.ga http://me.ga that is 1% of nothing in exchange of the almighty Me!" [1] https://twitter.com/o https://twitter.com/o

epa 14y ago
It is very strange. Look at their website http://ome.ga http://ome.ga. Seems almost fake.
AdamTReineke 14y ago
The name on the profile is "Onymous". I bet somebody hacked both @O and me.ga. Notice the oldest tweet is only two hours. Edit: Article from Jan 2011 shows different owner of @O. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/twitter-from-a-to-z/69776/#slide15 http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/twitte...

Cieplak 14y ago

Iceland?

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

nthitz 14y ago

Hmm the .ga tld was owned and managed by a subsidiary of Vivendi so this isn't really too surprising.

ramblerman 14y ago
It is surprising in the sense that kim dotcom tweeted this into the world without any strategic foresight. Not that I think he is a strategic genius, but this is pretty basic
- aw3c2 14y ago
  If you learn about Kim/ble Dotcom/Schmitz's history, then this is zero surprise. He is a "shower", a "taker" and since he likes to sue people who badmouth him I cannot say something about lying and cheating. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dotcom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dotcom German Wikipedia has more http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz
  - kahawe 14y ago
    Listen to this man here. Who ever hacked the site got it perfectly right when they were saying: > "He himself is an industry, only here to pollute"
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - shell0x 14y ago
    Indeed, he is a fraudster and an insult to every business man. I'd bet that the next post on HN is called "Kim Dotcom starts own NIC" or "Kim Dotcom purchased an own TLD".

borplk 14y ago

The twitter username is "o"? How the hell?

spectrum 14y ago
It's not that special. Nice to have though. https://twitter.com/a https://twitter.com/a https://twitter.com/b https://twitter.com/b https://twitter.com/c https://twitter.com/c
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

fourstar 14y ago

This is why I'm hesitant to get another tld -- specifically .ly. Great example case.

rorrr 14y ago

The domain, not the site.

oelmekki 14y ago

It would be the perfect situation to promote open TLDs of openNIC.

dutchbrit 14y ago
Thing is, what happens if someone buys a TLD via ICANN that's already a TLD on OpenNic?
- oelmekki 14y ago
  Well, I see that the preferred way to access openNIC is to set resolvers ( https://github.com/GoTux/Bash/blob/master/onic.sh https://github.com/GoTux/Bash/blob/master/onic.sh ), so those could simply ignore the new tld. But yes, this would mean that domains provided for this new standard TLD wouldn't be accessible if you use openNIC. Or maybe the dns servers pointed by /etc/resolvers could be smart enough to tell if the requested domain is on openNIC or on the standard TLD, and prefer the openNIC one if there are two with the same names (this really shouldn't happen and is in no one interest, but, well...).
kyriakos 14y ago
OpenNIC idea is quite interesting but I can't see how it will ever become mainstream. I'd love though to see the domain monopoly end.

SeanDav 14y ago

I am not up to speed on latest developments, but Sealand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand) seems like a good solution to this type of problem.

stephen_g 14y ago
It would be pretty difficult to get enough bandwidth and power to a place like Sealand. You'd probably need an undersea cable to have a big enough pipe to the Internet, and whatever country that runs to can cut you off... That, and if you're in international waters and you annoy a country enough, you probably don't have your own army or anything to stop them invading you.

ashray 14y ago

So what about the fact that me.ga hasn't actually done anything illegal ..yet.. It appears that this whole issue has blown up into an absolutely ugly power game. Everyone's bullying everyone and it goes to show that international law, national law, any law, really don't have much meaning when the stakes are high enough. There goes civilization. =/ (I'm referring to the part where the minister was pressured to seize the domain.. the hackers.. well no comment on them..)

pbhjpbhj 14y ago
So basically if you buy a .ga domain this USA based company can take your money [via their subsidiary] and violate your contract at will? Surely the US government will step in and ensure the rule of law is upheld?
- Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
  Why would they, it's a civil matter surely, some form of breach of contract and the correct recourse is to the courts. It also depends why the company have done what they've done. Given his previous history it's entirely reasonable that they've decided they don't wish to deal with him (having not realised it was him originally - I'm sure they don't check every domain registration) and have terminated their contract based on some perfectly reasonable clause or other. Dotcom has the right to do what he wants within the law, however other companies don't have to deal with him if they don't want to and given his past have plenty of reasons to think that way.