Recent Posts
- The Swiss can register .swiss domains from next week
- .ai up to 425,000 domains
- A million “free” .music domains up for grabs
- D3 to get $5 million in crypto to apply for .ape gTLD
- Alibaba hit with ICANN breach notice
- New Vegas conference “Davos for Web3 interoperability”
- ICANN content policing power grab may be dead
- Cable company unplugs its dot-brand after acquisition
- Germany crosses 10,000 dot-brand domains milestone
- Founders out as Com Laude gets equity injection
- PIR’s Diaz to leave domain industry
- Some registrars have already quit ICANN’s Whois experiment
- ICANN opens $217 million Grant Program
- Internet could get one-letter gTLDs (but there’s a catch)
- .ai registry fights deadbeats with tweaked auction rules
- Amazon and Google among .internal TLD ban backers
- .ai registry advises buyers not to use GoDaddy
- .post liberalizes with new sunrise period
- Team Internet spends $41 million on content farm
- Epik backtracks on Kiwi Farms claim after legal threat
- .austin names launch on blockchain
- Freenom shuts down 12.6 million domains — report
- GoDaddy’s next .xxx contract may not be a done deal
- GlobalBlock blocking 2.5 million domains
- Microsoft moving its cloud apps from .com to .microsoft
- ICANN 79: anonymous trolls and undercover lawyers
- ICANN scores win in single-letter .com lawsuit
- Cosmetics brand terminates its gTLD
- Up to 70 jobs on the line at Nominet as .uk regs dwindle
- Governments back down on new gTLD next round delay
- Private auctions could be banned in new gTLD next round
- ICANN meeting venue “insensitive and hurtful”
- GoDaddy to start selling graphic.design domains
- GAC spinning up new gTLD curveball at ICANN 79?
- GoDaddy’s GlobalBlock supports blockchain names
- Police .uk domain takedowns dive in 2023
- GoDaddy wants to cut the bullshit from .xxx
- Dueling domain blocking services to launch at ICANN 79
- Freename tries to bridge DNS and blockchain
- Olive retires from ICANN
- Whois policy published without life-saving disclosure rule
- UK gov takes its lead from ICANN on DNS abuse
- Tucows reports 2023 results
- Twitter “completely unresponsive” on clickable domains
- ICANN spends $5 million more than planned in first fiscal half
- .art takes a million domains off its premium list
- KeyTrap ‘the most devastating vulnerability ever found in DNSSEC’
- Freenom settles $500 million Meta lawsuit and will exit domain business
- New gTLD lottery to return in 2026
- First GlobalBlock prices revealed — they ain’t cheap
- Domain universe grows on new gTLDs despite .com shrinkage
- D3 signs up crypto gTLD client number five
- GoDaddy reports strong domains growth
- How to qualify for a $40,000 gTLD
- Registry service provider evaluation handbook published
- WebUnited inks deal to “mirror” country’s TLD in the blockchain
- GoDaddy project unveils brand-blocking calculator
- Report: Monster “misappropriated” millions from Epik
- .com is shrinking but Verisign raises prices again anyway
- D3 announces fourth crypto new gTLD client
- Donald Trump loses second UDRP case
- UK cybersquatting complaints hit record low
- No excuses! PIR to pay for ALL registries to tackle child abuse
- ICANN insists it is working on linkification
- Namecheap sues ICANN over .org price caps
- GoDaddy offers free Ethereum blockchain integration
- Epik reveals who is running the company
- Epik gets acquired again! The plot thickens…
- Airline gTLD crashes and burns
- First chunks of new gTLD Applicant Guidebook drop
- Epik to reveal its owners soon
- Another crypto firm to apply for a new gTLD
- Monster and Royce are NOT involved in Epik?!
- Nominet to overhaul .uk registry, turn off some services
- Russia blames DNSSEC, not Ukraine, for internet downtime
- Team Internet says revenue beat estimates
- Sold for over $20k, insure.ai and dog.ai back in .ai’s expired names auction
- .ai helps UDRP cases rise in 2023, WIPO says
- Freenom’s domains land at Gandi after termination
- .ru domains fly off the shelf as Western sanctions bite
- ICANN picks its first ever Supreme Court
- Lebanon’s ccTLD going back to Lebanon after ICANN takeover
- ICANN picks the domain it will never, ever release
- ICANN approves domain takedown rules
- Has Epik gone “woke”?
- First bits of new gTLD Applicant Guidebook expected next week
- ICANN bans closed generics for the foreseeable
- You can’t use money to buy .box domains
- After 14 years, ICANN practices what it preaches on IDNs
- Weak demand for private Whois data, ICANN data shows
- .ing doing way better than .meme
- DNS Women barred from ICANN funding?
- Dev releases free open-source TLD registry platform
- INCO flips a gTLD to Identity Digital
- Anguilla fears the .ai junk drop
- Five more gTLDs get launch dates
- $10 million of ICANN cash up for grabs
- Almost 50,000 .ai domains sold in a quarter
- ICANN threatens to regulate your speech [RANT]
- Life insurance company kills dot-brand
- ICANN finds new home for Lebanon’s TLD after founder’s death
- ICANN begs people to use its new Whois service
- Shiba Inu outs itself as crypto new gTLD applicant
- Over 50,000 .ai domains sold in three months
- Amazon planning new push into registrar market?
- Registries and registrars vote ‘Yes’ to new DNS abuse rules
- ICANN predicts flattish 2025 for domain industry
- Fast-growing Gname buys another 150 registrars
- GoDaddy service to let you block domains in over 650 TLDs
- Did I find a murder weapon in a zone file?
- ICANN drops the “man” from Ombudsman
- Have your say on police domain takedown powers
- Most registrars are shunning ICANN’s new Whois system
- Nominet to take over .gov.uk
- ICANN picks Istanbul for 2024 meeting
- ICANN’s private Whois data request service goes live
- .au regs slide on 2LD anniversary
- ICANN accused of power grab over $271 million auction fund
- A registrar is getting blamed for an Israeli war propaganda site
- Two more dot-brands bite the dust
- Google sells five-figure AI domain and six-figure .ing hack
- .blackfriday is still a bit rubbish
- Internet Naming Co acquires five more gTLDs
- Domain universe grows despite .com drag
- Did somebody spend a million bucks on a Google domain hack?
Anti-terror rule dropped from new TLD guidebook
Kevin Murphy,
September 27, 2010, 13:24:23 (UTC),
Domain Policy
ICANN will cut references to terrorism from its Draft Applicant Guidebook for new top-level domains, after criticism from some Arab stakeholders.
The ICANN board of directors decided on Saturday at its retreat in Trondheim that it will revise its policy of doing background checks on new TLD applicants:
The background check should be clarified to provide detail and specificity in response to comment. The specific reference to terrorism will be removed (and the background check criteria will be revised).
The reference to “terrorism” first showed up in DAGv4, the latest draft. It caused a bit of a stir, with at least two Arab community members harshly criticizing ICANN for its inclusion.
Khaled Fattal of the Multilingual Internet Group told ICANN it would “be seen by millions of Muslims and Arabs as racist, prejudicial and profiling” while Abdulaziz Al-Zoman of SaudiNIC observed that’s it’s not globally accepted “who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter”.
It appears that their complaints have been heard.
Will “background checks” include Domainers and Domain Bloggers who censor their blogs ?
Will gTLDs be operated by people who censor others?
Are people going to make an “investment” in a domain and BRAND when they find the gTLD operator could take their work product in a fit of jealously ?
Keep your comments on-topic and reasonably comprehensible, and I’ll happily approve them.
It was a silly inclusion in the first place and would have had a negative impact on a lot of people ..
Who?
It was more than silly, it was arrogant, Ethno Centric, disrespectfull, as it was poorly thought out, if at all, from the IDN regions’ perspectives.
A statement will be issued on this development shortly with More detail.
Khaled Fattal
Khaled,
I agree that it was silly and poorly thought out, but I think your claims that it was racist or “ethno centric” are way off the mark.
I don’t recall hearing or reading the words “Arab” or “Muslim” from ICANN once.
It just said “terrorism”.
There’s lots of different terrorist groups in the world, and they’re not all staffed by Arabs.
I look forward to reading your statement.
Kevin, The keywords are: from the IDN regions’ perspectives.
We will let you know when the statement is issued.
Regards
Ah. Well that certainly makes a lot more sense. Thanks for clarifying.
Kevin
There are indeed a lot of “terrorist” groups in the world, there are also a lot of controversial political movements who some consider to be evil. None of us agree on which ones are terrorists and which ones are legitimate resistance fighters. A terrorist background check is an attempt to use control of the domain name system to control speech and political expression.
If a group is proven to be criminal and terrorist, whether it gets a domain name or not is rather irrelevant – its members should be apprehended, tried and convicted for whatever illegal activity they can be proven to have committed. Can you imagine Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda providing all the information and money needed to
apply for and get a TLD? The notion is ridiculous. If they surfaced enough to do that they would be apprehended and caught.
So what is this “terrororist background check” – conducted by ICANN staff, no less – supposed to accomplish?
It can be only one thing – to prevent certain groups from expressing themselves.
If the expression is legal, it’s none of ICANN’s business. If the expression is illegal or the people applying are criminals, prosecute it/them under law. Simple as that. No need for ICANN to set itself up as a combination CIA/FBI/FCC regulator.
I doubt that the terrorism clause was inserted into the DAG specifically in order to limit freedom of expression.
That doesn’t ring true to me at all.
Here is the language from the DAG v4: “The background check may include, but is not limited to, any of the following areas: Corruption and bribery; Terrorism; Serious and organized crime; Money laundering; Corporate fraud and financial regulatory breaches; Arms trafficking and war crimes; Intellectual property violations.”
How was this poorly thought out? How is it disrespectful? How in the world is terrorism “Ethno Centric”?
If anything, it was just honest. If you’re on the U.S. Treasury department’s list of persons and entities with this U.S. companies may not do business, you’re not getting a TLD.
Yeah — after all, terrorism and the slaughter of innocents in the name of Islam is an ancient and respected part of Muslim culture around the world. How dare the civilized world try to impose values that contradict the divine sanction for violent jihad that is found in the Quran?
That’s not what ICANN was trying to do. Not even close.
LOL. My, my,my how we forget our history… terrorism on a different scale and the slaughter of innocents also happened in the name of Christ throughout time! Isn’t it amazing how we erase all those hundreds of years from our memory banks!
Racist? What race is “terrorism”? Can anyone tell me that please?
@Bret Fausett
“you’re not getting a TLD”
To be more clear, “you are not getting ICANN to sell you a TLD Registry Franchise”
How does ICANN get around the U.S. FTC Franchise Laws ?
The U.S. FTC Franchise Test
1. Franchisee pays money
2. Franchisee uses the logo, brand of Franchisor
3. Franchisor controls Franchisee
Where are the ICANN Franchise disclosure documents ?
What happens if ICANN is indicted on “Corporate Fraud” ?
[…] I reported in September, the AGB no longer contains the explicit mention of “terrorism”, which had caused […]
I guess the site in this article meets the “shut down” policy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8111448/Radical-website-publishes-MP-death-list.html
Nope. The site in the article has nothing to do with top-level domains.