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GoDaddy stops selling .ru domains, commits money to support Ukraine
Kevin Murphy,
March 3, 2022, 22:18:21 (UTC),
Domain Registrars
Domain registrar market-share leader GoDaddy will no longer sell .ru domain names, and has reached into its pocket to provide financial support for Ukraine relief efforts.
In a two-pronged response to the Russian invasion, the company outlined several measures aimed at both supporting Ukraine and putting some sanction-style pressure on Russia.
It’s not kicking out existing Russian registrants, but it is, according to a statement:
- Removing the Russian version of our website
- No longer supporting new registrations of .ru and .ru.com
- Removing all .ru domain names from our domain name aftermarket
- Removing the Russian Ruble
“What’s happened in Ukraine is horrible. We do not condone the unwarranted aggression from the Russian Government,” the statement says.
For Ukrainian customers, GoDaddy is renewing their products and services due to expire in the next 60 days for free.
“Customers can also contact us at any time, and if they need something specific, we’ll help them as best we can,” the company added.
It’s also donating $500,000 to humanitarian relief in Ukraine, donation-matching its employees’ gifts, and offering to help pay its Ukrainian contractors’ salaries for the next 60 days.
Other registrars to share their support for Ukraine so far include Namecheap, Tucows, IONOS and Gandi.
Nice donation by GoDaddy
A free and neutral Internet has to accommodate (almost) all voices, including those critical of the “official” versions of events. This is so, among other reasons, because history shows that official versions are often half-truths, if not lies. It is not only about freedom of expression, but also about freedom of thought, which is the only and last bastion of democracy.
I don’t like the homophobic autocrat Putin. But, sorry, the root cause of the current conflict is rooted in NATO’s actions over the last three decades. This is not about alternative interpretations: the historical evidence is there for anyone who wants to see it. But fewer and fewer people want to see it, because they are only informed by three or four media outlets that drink from the same sources because they live from the same financial flows.
It is for all these reasons that I think it is a big mistake that a significant part of those who should defend the freedom and neutrality of the net (in this case, the domain registrars) are undermining it. There are good intentions behind it, surely; but there is also a lack of information. GoDaddy, IONOS and Namecheap should not forget that they are more than just registrars, that they are part of a complex system of geostrategic interests, whether they want it or not, and getting carried away by officialist narratives may go against their own values (with which I identify myself).