back to article Nominet appoints itself web policeman

Nominet has announced it will suspend the domain name of any .uk website suspected of being involved in criminal activity. Registrars who receive "credible reports" about their domain names can now use a Nominet tool that will immediately "lock" it while they investigate the website. The lock means suspect websites will still …

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  1. The Original Ash
    Joke

    First reports in

    Nominet.org.uk locked as the police investigate reports of fraud regarding locking domains from legitimate businesses which are spuriously reported, and locked with no corroboration or evidence, against ToS's and contractual obligations.

  2. Neil Hoskins
    Thumb Up

    Excellent news

    Nobody else gives a toss about crime on the internet. Yes, it would be better if the legal system or police had taken an interest in it; but they haven't.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A bit late, too little, and the wrong kind to boot

    Well, that's one way to solve it. Had they had an inkling of competence in this field they would've known that for the move to be credible it would have had to have happened before the mass suspension, not after people complained. In fact, for proper governance it would have had to have been in their charter from the start.

    ``Nominet's operations director Eleanor Bradley said: "Nominet is committed to making the internet a safe place for all users.''

    Frankly, that isn't their job. Just like it isn't the vehicle registration database's job to pull registrations on hear-say the vehicle might've possibly been used in anything seemingly or actually untoward. It's not nominet's job to play the police. They're not setup for it and there's no legal cadre to make even a smidge of justice and due process a reality. Instead they're opening the front gates wide for abuse of this policing tool.

  4. ElReg!comments!Pierre

    This is several thousand different kinds of idiotic

    And probably a bit dangerous too.

    "looking at other domain names or sites held by the customer, re-checking the credit card details or even checking the originating IP address from which the domain name purchase was made"

    Sure, these methods will tell you for sure whether a site contains illegal material or not. I foresee a whole world of pain for Nominet and/or registrars as they will be stuck between lawsuits for locking legitimate websites and lawsuits for _not_ locking fraudulent ones. I mean, they're responsible for any illegal content on a .uk domain now aren't they?

    Also it'll be interesting to see where they stop... will "suspicion of illegal activities" stop at online pharmacies and phishing sites or will they also take into account "extreme porn", "domestic terrorism" and the like? I'd bet my shirt on this being wildly abused.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If Labour............

    had there way there would be no need for Courts or Judges because everyone would be guilty ,of something, until proven innocent.

    As for BERR taking over a private non profit company, I would be interested to hear if any other Nominet members are up for issuing legal proceedings on that point.

    1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

      On the other hand..

      ..Nominet can now shut .gov.uk, what happens there has in some cases simply been criminal..

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    NomiNOT...

    If there is snow on the pavement outside my home and somebody slips and hurts themselves, it's their problem. However, if I clear that section of the path and somebody slips and hurts themselves on the section I have cleared, I am potentially liable for damages...

    On the other hand, if I rent out a property and illegal activity takes place there without my knowledge I'm not responsible, however, the moment I become aware of that activity I have a responsibility to inform the authorities and the right to terminate the lease...

    Nominet and the authorities simply haven't thought this through, there needs to be collaboration between them and probably legislation governing that collaboration which clearly lays out the responsibilities on both sides. For Nomonet to take this investigatory and penal responsibility upon themselves is stupid and probably illegal.

  7. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    labour.org.uk

    "Britain's democratic socialist party led by Gordon Brown. The values Labour stands for today, social justice, ..."

    Sounds pretty fraudulent to me - where do I report it again?

  8. Sonny Jim

    DNS only?

    "The lock means suspect websites will still be available if the content itself is not taken down, but only by typing in the IP address."

    Erm, so they are deleting the DNS record and that's it? How long would it take for a miscreant to register a new one and point it at the old IP?

    Still, as heavy handed as this sounds, it's probably still within Nominets TOS so it's not really anything to do with the police.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Rubbish

    "If there is snow on the pavement outside my home and somebody slips and hurts themselves, it's their problem. However, if I clear that section of the path and somebody slips and hurts themselves on the section I have cleared, I am potentially liable for damages..."

    False.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      True-ish

      Your local authority is responsible for clearing snow and ice from the public highway and pavement. Under Section 41(1A) of the Highways Act 1980, the council must ensure that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. If the local authority fails to act, you can apply to the magistrates' court under the same legislation for an order to unblock the highway within a reasonable period - although such orders are very rare indeed.

      Private landowners are not obliged to clear snow or ice from the highway, even if the road or pavement passes over their land. Indeed, from a legal point of view it may be risky for private individuals to clear these areas. By sweeping snow from one part of the pavement you can create a danger in another area and if someone is injured, you will be liable for negligence or nuisance.

      On your own land, it is a different matter. You owe visitors a duty under the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 to take reasonable care to ensure that they are reasonably safe. This means that if you know someone (such as the postman) is likely to walk up your garden path, and you also know that the garden path is slippery, you must take reasonable steps to clear the path of snow and grit it if necessary.

      1. Mark 65

        (untitled)

        and herein layeth the reason why the UK is such a PC nanny state shithole these days.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    not a new feature at all

    Errm, this isn't a new feature at all. It's been available to Nominet's registrars for around 6 months or so. It completely locks the domain so that no changes can be to the registrant details, nameserver delegation, and stops it being cancelled while it is under investigation.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Calling all Anonymous: Complain about Scientology .uk sites

    Seriously, can the people of the UK complain about the Scientology .uk sites and get them shut down? If you consider Scientology to be a fraud them complain.

    http://www.scientology.org.uk/

  12. LawLessLessLaw
    Boffin

    Brilliant

    Microsoft.co.uk is a convicted monopoly abuser - a criminal offense

    so *any* business that is taken to criminal court can be reported for DNS stripping while awaiting trial

    I'm rather looking forward to my new hobby, I was getting bored filing ASA complaints

  13. Christoph

    Good news for the crooks

    Hack your competitor's web site, plant dodgy data, then report it. Time it for their busiest period, and watch them lose all their customers.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Not perfect but

    At least they are trying to do something about it. Other registries should do more also.

    1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge
      Thumb Down

      Nope..

      .. it's like giving a loaded gun to a child which is being bullied at school. Wrong method, it will come back to haunt you and it will end up costing you dearly, and rightly so.

      Nominet puts itself in the position of judge and jury, and thus incurs the resulting liability. There is no hiding behind terms & conditions either because you can't unilaterally change a contract, and clauses cannot override the law.

      I'll give this a week before it hits someone with enough money to tear the legs off them in court.

    2. frank 3
      Megaphone

      Teh interwebs is fulla crims!

      Something must be done!

      This is something!

      Let's do it!

      Erm.

      No.

      s'funny how I don't even bother to report the many attacks against our production servers that we spend so much time and money fending off. The local cops wouldn't even understand the nature of the crime, let alone how to tackle it. Strange how they all come from Russia, Singapore, Mumbai, Turkey (insert name of Forn-country here). Odd how they all come from IP addresses and not domains. Apart from the Spam. Oh the endless waves of Spam (actually, can you have a wave of spam?)

      The internet is pretty safe in this country by comparison: no attacks or waves of Spam originating from UK datacentres that I see. I don't need Nominet to be my new big brother.

  15. Ben 5
    FAIL

    No legal protection

    Nominet are opening themselves up to legal action here, with no obvious benefit to themselves. Can't wait.

  16. David 45
    Thumb Down

    Look before you leap

    This sounds a hastily thought-out scheme fraught with potential errors. Everyone seems to jumping on the "accused but not proven" band-wagon. Leave it to the courts. That's what the law of the land is for. Has Mr. Mandelson been consulted?

  17. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Down

    Guilty...

    ... unless you can prove you're innocent.

    Sounds like typical NuLabour.

  18. John Savard

    Viruses

    It all depends what they're locking down. If they're getting rid of the domains of BitTorrent tracking sites, that's one thing. But if they're getting rid of domains used by viruses to take control of people's computers, that should be done as quickly as possible. There should be no botnets out there.

  19. Sir Runcible Spoon
    Go

    Sir

    Well, that's Phorm and BT Retail fucked then, hopefully.

  20. David Gosnell

    "only by typing in the IP address"

    I'd imagine there aren't many websites beyond the biggest corporations that aren't running more than one per IP address. Users wishing to access most sites would therefore not only have to type the IP address, but also create their own hand-crafted HTTP requests to include the hostname.

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