4 ms·

I have three locality domains, all with different registrars in Oregon. Two are with unique delegated locality domain registrars (think old school consultancies

by kraptv 5mo ago

I have three locality domains, all with different registrars in Oregon. Two are with unique delegated locality domain registrars (think old school consultancies or ISPs that still exist) and one directly via localitymanagement.us (GoDaddy/USTLD). One of the registrars is from an out of state operator that has been dead for three years. I tracked his widow down and had a number of cordial conversations over about 18 months. I've helped his widow renew some personal domains but she's recently told me that she's going to stop paying the hosting bill of the locality registrar and it'll shut down June 1st. I've offered to take over hosting, we'll see if she is convinced. Several other locality users will likely also see their domains disappear once that happens as the USTLD registrar will require a notarized letter from the city/county of that domain to approve any "new" (new in their system) domains. Not easy for any mid or large sized city in the US. I love locality domains clearly, but the bureaucracy applied since the start has piled up over the years. I do worry that this poor Seattle ISP is going to get DDoS'ed by outsider (find an appropriate locality please if you go down this route) due to the popularity of this article, though! RIP Jon.

bombcar 5mo ago
The notarized letter may be easier to get than you think - if you live in the city/county. The key is being professional, polite, and present.
- Kneecaps07 5mo ago
  I don't understand why getting a letter notarized is being treated as some huge ordeal. Pretty much any bank or credit union has a notary on staff. It takes 5 minutes. Many lawyers and accountants are notaries. Many people here probably know someone who is a notary and they don't even realize it.
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
fullstop 5mo ago
I used to have some domains registered with "theparsec.com", and would communicate with the owner, "ML", on occasion. It was great, he was responsive and helped me out if an order didn't go through for some reason. In 2022, their TLS certificates were off -- a subdomain used by a backend redirect process was no longer valid, so I contacted "ML" and they were unresponsive. I managed to get my domains to a new register by ignoring some TLS warnings and transferring them. As of July of 2022, I have not heard from "ML" and I assume that he passed away. I don't know their identity or what became of them. All I know is that their name is/was Mark.
- mikeyouse 5mo ago
  The internet is weirdly good for creeping on people with this level of detail — https://nationalpublicdata.com/people/l/mark-lord/nv/reno/pdmjeo6bnd2giyz88hy4dosz40gc5k/ https://nationalpublicdata.com/people/l/mark-lord/nv/reno/pd... Looks like you can reach him at mark84@gmail if you want to say ‘hi’.
  - fullstop 5mo ago
    I had found that person, and thought that it could be him. The site that I used did not provide an email address, though. Even the link that you provided shows other addresses than that to me.
    - mikeyouse 5mo ago
      Yeah it’s weird how they obfuscate some and surface different emails - this one seems to have both in normal and incognito mode: https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/mark-lord_id_G-4145583711754654630 https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/mark-lord_id_G-414558371175...
      - fullstop 5mo ago
        It's probably an attempt to maximize search hits. I wonder if they would always be provided if your user-agent matched google's webcrawler UA. The last email address in your link, the sbcglobal one, is for someone else entirely. She's involved in the church in Springfield, IL. I assume that she got tied in by Mark's surname.
1vuio0pswjnm7 5mo ago
"RIP Jon." In the 90s when learning about the internet I remember reading stuff written by "Jon Postel", a univeristy employee in California Today, a curious student trying to learn about the internet would probably end up reading stuff written by "Big Tech" and/or academics who have financial relationships with these or other so-called "tech" companies I remember Postel and one other person, perhaps at SRI, I forget her name, had a plan for these sort of hierarchical geographical domainnames. I recall it was _not_ commercial in nature. It "seemed like" Postel saw the internet, including DNS, as a public service. Needless to say, any such non-commercial vision was not realised ICANN DNS became a money grab If Postel had survived to today, would he have sold out like so many of his peers I like to pretend he would not but I have no idea
- donmcronald 5mo ago
  > ICANN DNS became a money grab It’s too bad more people don’t understand how the domain industry is structured under ICANN. IMO, the registries are ICANN’s customers, the registrants are part of the product being sold, and the registrars are a liability shield. One day there will be a grab for .com.
  - Barbing 5mo ago
    Fun fact (you probably remember), you used to report phishing sites with one simple email and they would actually be taken down. These days I get the feeling a lot of the registrars are essentially/effectively in on it (at least by inaction). A well-run ICANN feels needed, who can track takedown compliance.
    - donmcronald 5mo ago
      Abuse handling is a mess. AFAIK, the registries, registrars, and ICANN all share responsibility in terms of mitigation. There’s no consistency.
    - ocdtrekkie 5mo ago
      The entire domain squatting/parking industry exists because filing an ICANN dispute costs more than paying the squatter. Absolutely insane.
tiffanyh 5mo ago
Super interesting. Naive question, what do you use the locality domain for?

by kraptv 5mo ago

bombcar 5mo ago

The notarized letter may be easier to get than you think - if you live in the city/county. The key is being professional, polite, and present.

Kneecaps07 5mo ago
I don't understand why getting a letter notarized is being treated as some huge ordeal. Pretty much any bank or credit union has a notary on staff. It takes 5 minutes. Many lawyers and accountants are notaries. Many people here probably know someone who is a notary and they don't even realize it.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]

fullstop 5mo ago

I used to have some domains registered with "theparsec.com", and would communicate with the owner, "ML", on occasion. It was great, he was responsive and helped me out if an order didn't go through for some reason. In 2022, their TLS certificates were off -- a subdomain used by a backend redirect process was no longer valid, so I contacted "ML" and they were unresponsive. I managed to get my domains to a new register by ignoring some TLS warnings and transferring them. As of July of 2022, I have not heard from "ML" and I assume that he passed away. I don't know their identity or what became of them. All I know is that their name is/was Mark.

mikeyouse 5mo ago
The internet is weirdly good for creeping on people with this level of detail — https://nationalpublicdata.com/people/l/mark-lord/nv/reno/pdmjeo6bnd2giyz88hy4dosz40gc5k/ https://nationalpublicdata.com/people/l/mark-lord/nv/reno/pd... Looks like you can reach him at mark84@gmail if you want to say ‘hi’.
- fullstop 5mo ago
  I had found that person, and thought that it could be him. The site that I used did not provide an email address, though. Even the link that you provided shows other addresses than that to me.
  - mikeyouse 5mo ago
    Yeah it’s weird how they obfuscate some and surface different emails - this one seems to have both in normal and incognito mode: https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/mark-lord_id_G-4145583711754654630 https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/mark-lord_id_G-414558371175...
    - fullstop 5mo ago
      It's probably an attempt to maximize search hits. I wonder if they would always be provided if your user-agent matched google's webcrawler UA. The last email address in your link, the sbcglobal one, is for someone else entirely. She's involved in the church in Springfield, IL. I assume that she got tied in by Mark's surname.

1vuio0pswjnm7 5mo ago

"RIP Jon." In the 90s when learning about the internet I remember reading stuff written by "Jon Postel", a univeristy employee in California Today, a curious student trying to learn about the internet would probably end up reading stuff written by "Big Tech" and/or academics who have financial relationships with these or other so-called "tech" companies I remember Postel and one other person, perhaps at SRI, I forget her name, had a plan for these sort of hierarchical geographical domainnames. I recall it was _not_ commercial in nature. It "seemed like" Postel saw the internet, including DNS, as a public service. Needless to say, any such non-commercial vision was not realised ICANN DNS became a money grab If Postel had survived to today, would he have sold out like so many of his peers I like to pretend he would not but I have no idea

donmcronald 5mo ago
> ICANN DNS became a money grab It’s too bad more people don’t understand how the domain industry is structured under ICANN. IMO, the registries are ICANN’s customers, the registrants are part of the product being sold, and the registrars are a liability shield. One day there will be a grab for .com.
- Barbing 5mo ago
  Fun fact (you probably remember), you used to report phishing sites with one simple email and they would actually be taken down. These days I get the feeling a lot of the registrars are essentially/effectively in on it (at least by inaction). A well-run ICANN feels needed, who can track takedown compliance.
  - donmcronald 5mo ago
    Abuse handling is a mess. AFAIK, the registries, registrars, and ICANN all share responsibility in terms of mitigation. There’s no consistency.
  - ocdtrekkie 5mo ago
    The entire domain squatting/parking industry exists because filing an ICANN dispute costs more than paying the squatter. Absolutely insane.

tiffanyh 5mo ago

Super interesting. Naive question, what do you use the locality domain for?