back to article Europe dumps 300,000 UK-owned .EU domains into the Brexit bin

Brexit has hit the internet, and not in a good way. In an official statement Thursday, the European Commission announced it will cancel all 300,000 domains under the .eu top-level domain that have a UK registrant, following Britain's eventual departure from the European Union. "As of the withdrawal date, undertakings and …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So long, farewell...

    It's adi.eu to all that, then?

    1. Commswonk
      Thumb Up

      Re: So long, farewell...

      Oh bloody brilliant. How long have you been waiting to use that?

    2. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
      WTF?

      The EU has a top level domain?

      Who n.eu?

      1. Mark Eccleston

        Re: The EU has a top level domain?

        Sounds like a big scr.eu y.eu to holders of those domains.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The EU has a top level domain?

          These jokes are getting crap.

          Sacrebl.eu

          1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

            EURid

            Well, you can't say there was no warning.

            1. Mark 65

              Re: EURid

              Can't beat a bit of petty-minded spite though can you.

    3. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      For some, the solution is trivial...

      Select the Private Registration option.

      Probably doesn't work for companies with only UK addresses listed on their Contact Us page.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No surprise

    Similar things will be happening with drugs: no UK company currently with a centrally authorised product will be able to retain that marketing authorisation post Brexit, they will need a (genuine) company established within the EU to hold it.

    This was entirely predictable.

    1. Andy 73 Silver badge

      Re: No surprise

      Predictable? Maybe. The act of an organisation you'd want to be beholden to? Maybe not.

      1. oxfordmale78

        Re: No surprise

        >> Predictable? Maybe. The act of an organisation you'd want to be beholden to? Maybe not.

        What do you expect ? That UK companies can keep using .EU domains ? Brexit means Brexit.

        1. veti Silver badge

          Re: No surprise

          What do you expect ? That UK companies can keep using .EU domains ?

          Why not? Icelandic and Norwegian ones can. So clearly, EU membership isn't a requirement.

          1. Richard 12 Silver badge

            Iceland and Norway have EEA membership

            Which would be open to the UK if they wanted it.

            1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

              Re: Iceland and Norway have EEA membership

              Which would be open to the UK if they wanted it.

              I think you're confusing EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) with the EEA (EU + EFTA). The UK is already member of the EEA because it's an EU member, and no-one's quite sure what happens when it leaves the EU. Being in the EEA or the EU is required to initially apply for EEA membership, but there's nothing in EEA membershp rules that say what happens to an existing member which leaves one of the other two bodies, they are still discussing that.

              The UK apparently doesn't want to join EFTA (and Norway isn't keen on allowing it to anyway) but EEA membership is different.

              1. Jess

                Re: Iceland and Norway have EEA membership (EFTA)

                Switzerland is NOT a member of the EEA. (It has obtained a similar arrangement through decades of trade deals, but there are differences such as banking)

                The UK has over 4 times as many citizens as the entire EFTA, so it is unlikely they would be particularly keen on us joining, especially given how much consideration we give to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

                However the EU would bend over backwards to allow us to stay in the EEA.

                But they certainly wouldn't bend over forwards, which is metaphorically what they would have to do to be compatible with Mrs May's red lines.

                So I guess they'll just have to content themselves with 40 billion and a huge chunk of our big businesses.

                On topic, the domain issue makes sense, because we are primarily services and those that rely on the internal market will either have to stop trading or relocate. And those are the ones that would need an EU domain.

                If you are providing a service that does not need to be under the same regulatory system as the users it would make more sense to have a .com because it would not be limited to the EU/EEA.

                1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

                  Re: Iceland and Norway have EEA membership (EFTA)

                  Switzerland is NOT a member of the EEA.

                  You're right, my apologies. It's the EFTA member that isn't in the EEA.

                  The UK has over 4 times as many citizens as the entire EFTA, so it is unlikely they would be particularly keen on us joining,

                  They aren't, especially Norway that doesn't want to lose its "big fish in small pond" status to an incoming shark!

                  it would make more sense to have a .com because it would not be limited to the EU/EEA

                  I wonder how many international businesses with .eu domains don't also have a .com?

              2. 9Rune5

                Re: Iceland and Norway have EEA membership

                I was surprised to read comments here to the effect that Norway weren't keen on letting the UK join EFTA, but according to https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/politikk/i/bpXJd/Norge-vil-ikke-ha-britene-i-EOS---men-kan-gjore-lite-for-a-stoppe-dem that is currently somewhat true.

                What is interesting though, according to that news article, is that none of the nay-sayers believe we can actually stop UK from joining. And quite a few voices here in Norway would actually encourage UK to join.

                I suspect that the pro-EU voices in Norway don't want to acknowledge that there are alternatives to EU membership, and thus do not want to evolve EFTA into a more viable option.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: No surprise

          Does that mean I lose all my .com domains as well?

          1. Ferry Michael
            Joke

            Re: No surprise

            .com domains will go in Brexit phase 2 when we realise that leaving the EU does not give us control so we need to exit the world stage.

      2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: No surprise

        "The act of an organisation you'd want to be beholden to? Maybe not."

        It's all about taking back control. But we don't retain any control over what we're no longer a member of. Didn't you realise that that's how it would work out? And we put British businesses out of scope of the .eu domain unless they establish an EU presence or just move over there.

        Just because consequences weren't intended doesn't mean they don't happen.

        1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

          Re: No surprise

          It's all about taking back control. But we don't retain any control over what we're no longer a member of.

          We didn't have any control when we were a member, and this sort of petty reaction is exactly why we don't want to be a member.

          1. Tom 7

            Re: No surprise

            We had 100% control - we could veto pretty much anything we wanted to. We didnt want to be a player. And now we are out in the bit bad wide world we have no-one who took the opportunity to learn how to be a player.

            1. Wandering Reader

              Re: No surprise

              We had 100% control - we could veto pretty much anything we wanted to.

              We still are a member - so we can veto this?

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: No surprise

              "we could veto pretty much anything we wanted " .....

              Hence the EU commission now pushing for a qualified majority voting based on article 48 of the Lisbon Treaty for legislation on "internal market matters".

              OK, its not going to come into force before 2025 but after that the only control member states have is to threaten to leave.

              1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

                Re: No surprise

                "OK, its not going to come into force before 2025 but after that the only control member states have is to threaten to leave."

                But, surely a majority vote is proper democracy and not allowing a single "voter" to veto the majority choice is proper control?

                What would happen to Brexit under those rules? The "majority" voted leave but I choose to exercise my veto and we get to cancel Brexit?

                1. MrXavia

                  Re: No surprise

                  " The "majority" voted leave but I choose to exercise my veto and we get to cancel Brexit?"

                  Depends on what you mean by majority...

                  Majority of those who voted.... barely

                  Majority of the electorate, definitely not.

                  Majority of the population? No where near

                  To me the lies spread officially on both sides of the debate should mean we vote again...

                  £350 Million a week.... what a farce...

                  1. codejunky Silver badge

                    Re: No surprise

                    @ MrXavia

                    "Depends on what you mean by majority..."

                    The most votes cast were for leave.

                    "Majority of those who voted.... barely"

                    So yes, majority. It isnt a grey area or a flexible term but you accept at your first definition majority.

                    "To me the lies spread officially on both sides of the debate should mean we vote again..."

                    So you support the intentional severe rigging of the vote to remain as Cameron tried? He as the only representative of the UK who could refused to negotiate any possibility of leave. The government set the rules of the vote and then lies their arses off spectacularly to argue to remain. That does not mean revote as a revote will likely result in the lying scum doing it again.

                    If the leave campaign is disqualified for lying then the remain campaign is disqualified. The remain campaign was the government and if their position is so invalidated then the result is leave (as their bias was remain).

                    "£350 Million a week.... what a farce..."

                    How is that any different than the bull from the gov? Claiming by 2030 we will be however much poorer than if we remain (ha!) and that being misinterpreted as we will be poorer. Or claiming that the aim of the BoE and treasury since 2008 (and still today) would be a catastrophe because it will happen on the brexit vote (it did and it wasnt). Or that the gov would officially back leave if Cameron didnt get his damp squib of demands (he didnt). And of course their position pre the referendum that the UK would be perfectly fine outside the EU.

                    And Cameron sticking around even if he lost the referendum. That changed over a period of 48 hours didnt it? What a farce

                  2. .eu registrant

                    Re: No surprise

                    Majority of those who would vote in a referendum now? Almost certainly not, given that opinion has swung toward Remain, partly because most new voters are Remainers, and those who have died since the referendum are believed to have been predominantly Leavers.

            3. Commswonk

              Re: No surprise

              @ Tom 7:

              We had 100% control - we could veto pretty much anything we wanted to.

              Sorry, but that is simply not true.

          2. Pascal Monett Silver badge
            Thumb Down

            Re: "We didn't have any control when we were a member"

            Patently wrong : you had as much control as any other member of the EU.

            It's called sharing. I understand that it's a concept that can be a tad difficult to grasp, but normally that issue is handled in PreSchool.

            1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

              Re: "We didn't have any control when we were a member"

              Patently wrong : you had as much control as any other member of the EU.

              Yes, that's what I said. None.

              It's called sharing. I understand that it's a concept that can be a tad difficult to grasp, but normally that issue is handled in PreSchool.

              Which is also where most children learn to grow out of name calling as a response to arguments that they can't counter.

              1. Dacarlo
                Flame

                Re: "We didn't have any control when we were a member"

                I'll direct your attention here Monsieur

                https://fullfact.org/europe/eu-facts-behind-claims-uk-influence/

                Of course these facts may not jive with emperor farage's new clothes.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: "We didn't have any control when we were a member"

              Re: "We didn't have any control when we were a member"

              Patently wrong : you had as much control as any other member of the EU.

              Patently correct: you had as much control as any other member of the EU.

          3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            Re: No surprise

            "We didn't have any control when we were a member, and this sort of petty reaction is exactly why we don't want to be a member."

            The UK was a prime instigator and backer of a LOT of EU regulations, many of which were then "moaned" about afterwards by MPs as being "heavy handed EU". There's a lot wrong with the EU (accounts sign off anyone?) but there also a lot wrong with the UK and the seemingly decades long campaign to blame all the ills of the UK on the EU.

          4. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: No surprise

            Of course we didn't have control, we had a say, or a vote.

            Now we have nothing, and nobody to trade with either, along with a hundreds of billions of £ of work to spit, billions to pay in fees, an Irish border problem that could lead us back to troubles body yesteryear, and regional subsidies that will try up and not be replaced with anything,

            Still on the upside, there is that 350m a week now going to the NHS

          5. Milton

            Re: No surprise

            Doctor Syntax wrote: "It's all about taking back control. But we don't retain any control over what we're no longer a member of."

            Phil O'Sophical crayoned: "We didn't have any control when we were a member, and this sort of petty reaction is exactly why we don't want to be a member."

            Brexiters, we are again reminded, will say absolutely anything, however wrong and irrational, to "make" their case. To figure whether they are stupid, or liars, or both, is always tricky. Mr O'Sophical above provides another tick in the box.

            First: The UK was one of the most influential members of the EU and had a say in everything, just like all the other paid-up members. It is either staggeringly ignorant or a wantonly stupid lie to state otherwise. Just because the Daily Mail says seomthing doesn't mean it's true. Usually, in fact, it is the opposite. I appreciate, though, that this does not much trouble the mouthbreathers who so love to see their petty hatreds and bigotry reinforced.

            Second: It's a premature and silly action by some pompous little bureaucrats. It will be negotiated to the point of sense, or at least would be, if the UK had a negotiating team that was not a laughing stock of Tory liars, idiots and hypocrites. We wait with bated breath to see if David Davis even understands what a TLD is.

            Third: " ... why we don't want to be member"—nope, speak for yourself, and the 37% of eligible voters who cast their vote based on an avalanche of lies, exaggerations, dis- and misinformation plus their (I must say, understandable) despair over the state of the current Establishment. One must have some pity for those people, since they will suffer more than anyone for their folly, but it is a real pity that even now blind stubbornness prevents more of them from accepting that Brexit is going to be a disaster—of their own making.

            In short, it really does not matter how many times you say "la la la" with your fingers stuck in your ears, the tide is coming in and your feet will get wetter than most. Talking contrary crap simply doesn't alter anything ... though it's occasionally good for a rather saddened chuckle.

            1. Hastinger

              Re: No surprise

              AT LAST! - 'Milton' has highlighted the fact that only 37% of those eligible to vote actually voted to leave. Could some kind Brexiteer now please explain, without the customary insults, how this constitutes a mandate or even a majority?

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: No surprise

                As I've not seen a Brexiteer step up, I'll have a go if that's okay?

                He didn't highlight that fewer people voted to remain. The rest did not vote, or spoiled their vote (me included)

                That's kind of the point: The majority who voted expressed a desire to leave. Cameron took that as a slight against himself and decided to spite the people and took it as a Mandate. He then stepped down and dumped the whole mess on his successor. It's also why there was no exit plan: Cameron didn't want to leave and refused to believe the vote would go as it did.

                Had the whole debacle been better planned and presented: Proper arguments, issues addressed, plans put forwards: This would have been much better for the country. More people would have felt comfortable voting and the outcome could* have been different, but there you go: Politicians don't trust people to make educted, informed decisions so go for the fear option instead.

                *Could, not would, as it didn't happen so we can't know.

              2. codejunky Silver badge

                Re: No surprise

                @ Hastinger

                "Could some kind Brexiteer now please explain, without the customary insults, how this constitutes a mandate or even a majority?"

                >37% voted leave which is many more than those who voted remain as per the rules of the referendum.

                >The first and only vote on our membership of the EU failed to return a threshold majority (thresholds suggested after the result but for the vote was set to 50% of those who vote) so there is no mandate to be in the EU.

                >If the referendum was advisory and not necessary to carry out then there is no reason for another vote, article 50 has been handed over and remainers should be pleased the gov is ignoring them the lower number of the voters.

                >The leave campaign lied and so is disqualified, but remain lied and the government lied disqualifying the rule-setter and so by default the result is to leave either by government disqualification (their position cannot be held due to corruption of the contest) or because there is still no mandate to be in the EU.

        2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: No surprise

          "And we put British businesses out of scope of the .eu domain unless they establish an EU presence or just move over there."

          They may already have done so as the normal part of doing business. I wonder if anyone bothered to check how many of those 300-odd thousand domain owners actually have a presence in what will be the rest of the EU after brexit? I've definitely seen haulage companies lorries with .eu domains on the back and lists of cities they have a presence in across the EU.

          I'd hazard a guess that the big scary number is simply the entire list of UK registered .eu domains and no one at all has bothered to actually check how many may fall outside the T&Cs after brexit (assuming the argument for grandfathering is rejected outright)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No surprise

      Similar things will be happening with drugs: no UK company currently with a centrally authorised product will be able to retain that marketing authorisation post Brexit, they will need a (genuine) company established within the EU to hold it.

      You're seriously suggesting that EU citizens would be denied drugs post-Brexit just because they're proivided from a UK company? That really would be petty!

      1. BebopWeBop

        Re: No surprise

        No they will have to be licensed appropriately - surely a standard procedure?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: No surprise

          >No they will have to be licensed appropriately - surely a standard procedure?<

          Actually, no. Standard procedure for the EU and the USA, but not standard procedure for most of the worlds people, who have the choice of using an EU/USA licensed drug, or no drug at all.

          I don't say that this a a bad thing, just that your standard of reference is narrow and laughably ignorant.

  3. MatthewSt

    Tally

    I'm expecting (hoping) that someone in the EU somewhere is making a note of everything we're complaining about losing, and puts together a proposal that says if we pay them £350 million a week* we can have access to it all. Might make people realise it wasn't such a waste after all!

    * Yes I know that number is rubbish, but it'll be the only way we might actually get them to admit it if they have to turn around and say it wasn't costing that before!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where are the Brexit fans?

    I guess they will say it's not due to Brexit, or that we don't need the .eu domain.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

      I'm not a Brexit fan, but even I can see that this kind of vindictive stupidity will harden resolve to exit fast.

      1. oxfordmale78

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        As long as the .eu domain transferal is part of the Brexit transition, this is not an unreasonable request to make.

      2. Yes Me Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        What's vindictive about it? Why did anyone register in .eu in the first place? Presumably, because they were starting an EU-wide activity. If they plan to continue that activity after Brexit, they will need an office in the EU anyway, and they can switch the registration to there.

        Nothing to see here, please move along.

        Compared to the multitude of real economic, social and personal disasters that Brexit will cause, this is trivial.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Presumably, because they were starting an EU-wide activity.

          Much more likely that they really didn't care, but didn't want anyone else to get the domain name.

        2. Mombasa69

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Bored of reading garbage I guess.

        3. Dave 15

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          WHY? Why would you need an office in the EU to trade there? No legitimate reason for that, none at all. IF the EU come up with such a demand then we need to demand that BMW, Mercedes, Renault etc have manufacturing plants here employing a minimum of 20,000 people before we will let them do business here. Stop being weak and pathetic, this country is way better than needing to beg from the EU or anyone else.

      3. Martin-73 Silver badge

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        Harden the resolve of whom? the racist core of brexiteers, or the ones who already realize they were lied to, or the older generation (now in their 70s and 80s) who recall a golden age before the EU, when spam and beans was all there was and a real tv only got the BBC and so forth.

        Ranting aside, a thought just struck me, is brexit just a symptom of a 'hankering for lost youth' ?

        I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          You see this is the sort of stuff that sabotages the whole remain argument.

          The remain arguments were at best just as much complete bollocks as the stuff from the exiters, starting with Major coming back from "renegotiations" where he's got stuff all, everyone knew he's got stuff all, but he pretended it was something special, and ending up with what I suspect was one of the turning points, the emergency budget frightener which was obviously clearly and patently nonsense, and everyone knew it, including the person making the statement.

          And those who are old enough to have voted stay in last time - I submit the reasons they changed there minds should be examined more carefully than they have been - are old enough to remember than the arguments of the pros last time and statements about what the EU was and would be were at best less accurate than those of the antis at the time.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          "I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists"

          https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            >I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists

            A little sweeping - though it's certainly an undeniable fact that all thick racists were Brexit voters.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

              t's certainly an undeniable fact that all thick racists were Brexit voters.

              Not by a long chalk. You only have to look at the votes in NI and Scotland, where thick racism is de rigeur

              And in London, which is largely taken over by thick racists at the lower levels.

              Even the New New Labour is full of thick racists, though undecided as to whether Jewish interests are better opposed inside or outside the EU.

              If there is one thing I learnt from Europe

              "Qui accuse, s'excuse". The people who bandy the term 'racist' are the real bigots.

        3. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Ranting aside, a thought just struck me, is brexit just a symptom of a 'hankering for lost youth' ?

          Is Remain just a symptom of immaturity and a reluctance to leave home and parental comfort?

          I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists

          Which, of course, says far more about you and your prejudices than it does about leavers, whom you don't seem to know.

          I didn't have a vote in the referendum, because I've lived outside the UK (in an EU country) for too long. I would have supported the leave vote if I could because one thing living outside the UK, in the EU, teaches you is that the EU is broken. It's an economically and politically failed polity that was never wanted by anyone but politicians, and does more harm than good. We had a Common Market that worked, but that didn't give the politicians the control they needed, so they had to start empire-building. Surely history has taught us what inevitably happens to European empires?

          I do recall an age before the EU, I was 34 when we were forced into it in 1993 without a referendum. I even recall the notably non-golden era before 1973, when we joined the EEC. I'm not in my 70's or 80's, nor racist, and my support for leave is based on a dislike of both the paternalistic "mummy knows best" policies which are eroding our freedom, and the economic disaster of the centrally-planned Euro zone which really only works for its biggest member, Germany.

          Certainly Brexit is going to be a huge challenge, and the first few years after it are likely to be difficult for the UK, especially if we see more of the petty, spiteful, actions that this article describes. I can't blame the EU politicians, of course. A successful Brexit is their worst nightmare, since it would show that they aren't needed and could encourage others to follow suit. They will use every dirty trick they can to make sure that it fails.

          Stiil, I truly believe that it is an opportunity for the UK. It's had a generally better economy than the eurozone average, and this is a chance to build on that. Clearly some people aren't interested in trying, but that's inevitable. There are always people who'll be content with mediocrity if it means that they don't have to do any work themselves.

          As to the topic of the article, the ".eu" domain, there are non-US companies registered as ".com", and many media companies have ",tv" despite not being in Tuvalu. If the registrars for ".eu" wish to restrict it to businesses based in the ".eu" that's up to them. It costs very little to set up a shell company in an EU member state for businesses that really care. It wouldn't surprise me if many of the current domain names are held by companes purely as a defence against malicious use. For example http://www.cocacola.eu/ takes you straight to http://www.coca-cola.com/global/. It's hardly a business with dedicated EU roots, though.

          1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
            FAIL

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            > I didn't have a vote in the referendum, because I've lived outside the UK (in an EU country) for too long. I would have supported the leave vote

            Which now leaves your right to remain in the EU country you reside in fully in the hands of that country's government, who could (if they so chose) turf you out and force you to go back to the UK.

            Something something nose something spite something face...

            1. Dave 15

              Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

              Indeed they could, they could also revoke allowing British driving licences and other similar carry ons. But the BBC and the remainers all seem more intent on forcing the British government to open its cheeks and grease its passage and let the EU residents in the UK stay, stay somehow under EU law instead of British law (I am in Germany under German law - but clearly that doesn't matter to remainers) and allow these residents to continue anything they feel like with no change at all regardless.

              I have no problem with EU people in the UK, I have a problem with UK civil servants, UK politicians and the warlords of the EU who want everything their own way, our cash and free unbridled access to our markets while telling us we can't access theirs.

              1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

                Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

                Indeed they could, they could also revoke allowing British driving licences and other similar carry ons.

                That would be difficult since international recognition of driving licenses is governed by the Vienna conventions, which are nothing to do with the EU, and predate even the EEC.

              2. nsld

                Re: Where are the Brexit fans? @Dave 15

                This:

                "(I am in Germany under German law - but clearly that doesn't matter to remainers)"

                Assuming you are British and still hold a British passport then you are able to live, work, study etc freely thanks to the EU you seem to hate so much.

                Protecting the rights of everyone in the UK is important, Brexit means you lose those rights along with the rest of us.

                So if the UK crashes out with no deal you would be happy to be deported from Germany?

                Cue the British exceptionalism in 3,2,1........

                1. gnasher729 Silver badge

                  Re: Where are the Brexit fans? @Dave 15

                  "Assuming you are British and still hold a British passport then you are able to live, work, study etc freely thanks to the EU you seem to hate so much"

                  Many EU citizens living in other EU countries have gone through the stage where it was legal according to EU law, and entered the stage where it is legal according to the residence state's law.

                  1. werdsmith Silver badge

                    Re: Where are the Brexit fans? @Dave 15

                    "remoaners"

                    "brexit thick racists"

                    insult vs insult

                    Listen to yourselves.

                    Just fucking grow up.

                    1. Anonymous Coward
                      Anonymous Coward

                      Re: Where are the Brexit fans? @Dave 15

                      insult vs insult

                      Listen to yourselves.

                      Just fucking grow up.

                      Right back at you.

                      1. werdsmith Silver badge

                        Re: Where are the Brexit fans? @Dave 15

                        Right back at you.

                        direct from the kindergarten.

          2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            "I didn't have a vote in the referendum, because I've lived outside the UK (in an EU country) for too long. I would have supported the leave vote if I could because one thing living outside the UK, in the EU, teaches you is that the EU is broken....Certainly Brexit is going to be a huge challenge, and the first few years after it are likely to be difficult for the UK."

            Please tell us, are you going to stay living outside the UK in this broken EU or are you going to come back to face this huge challenge that those who think like you dumped on us?

            "Stiil, I truly believe that it is an opportunity for the UK."

            Surely, if you think it's that great an opportunity you'd have been on the first plane back.

            1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

              Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

              Please tell us, are you going to stay living outside the UK in this broken EU or are you going to come back to face this huge challenge that those who think like you dumped on us?

              I'm considering it, but it's not a decision I can arbitrarily take on my own, I have other people to think about. For the moment I'm just looking into UK investments. I certainly expect to return to the UK sometime in the next 5 years or so.

            2. veti Silver badge

              Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

              @Phil: thank you for a reasonably balanced view.

              I'm two parts convinced that Theresa May is trying her damnedest to stop Brexit, the only way that has any chance of working: by taking the country right to the brink, then getting an overwhelming majority to cry off. I don't know how else to explain that farcical election campaign.

              But at this point, I don't think she'll succeed. Manoeuvres like this have done a lot to harden Leave opinion. Much more of this hamfisted bullying, and a clear majority would go for the hardest Brexit imaginable.

              1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

                Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

                I'm two parts convinced that Theresa May is trying her damnedest to stop Brexit, the only way that has any chance of working: by taking the country right to the brink, then getting an overwhelming majority to cry off.

                I don't think she's smart enough, or cunning enough, to do that. She got selected as PM because she was the apparently "harmless" candidate after the post-referendum backstabbing campaign. Like most safe options she's completely out of her depth. She has no real belief or drive about where the country should go, and so is reduced to paying advisers to tell her what she should do. That, more than anything, was the cause of the election fiasco.

                She should have quit, or been thrown out, immediately afterwards while it was still "May's fault" but, by leaving her there, the party made it their collective fault.

                People dislike Boris because he plays the buffoon, and some people have a chip on their shoulder about anyone educated at Eton (it's still a good school, despite educating some high-profile plonkers), but at least Boris & Davis have a genuine committment to Brexit, and some understanding of the world. Either would probably have been a better choice than May to get us through it, even if they had gotten the chop afterwards.

                There's a lot of arguing over hard vs soft Brexit, I can't help but feel that starting with a hard one and then later renegotiating a softening would be easier than signing up for a soft one and then trying to harden it. The EU would be more amenable to the former, I think, but May seems wedded to the idea of a soft, inoffensive one.

                I don't know how else to explain that farcical election campaign.

                I'd blame Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, and May's willingness to give them free rein without having the common sense to work out who their "policies" would offend. She was a turkey who signed up for an early Christmas.

          3. foo_bar_baz

            @Phil

            Yes the EU as an institition has issues. I’d wished the UK had stayed to help improve it. The federalist project is pretty much dead in any case, just a lot of pruning and weeding to do.

            1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

              Re: @Phil

              Yes the EU as an institition has issues. I’d wished the UK had stayed to help improve it.

              I think we tried, but after 25 years it was clear that our views & theirs just diverge too much. My hope for the future is that a successful Brexit will encourage others to follow, that might finally bring the message home that the EU needs to change.

          4. xslogic

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            As to the topic of the article, the ".eu" domain, there are non-US companies registered as ".com",

            US domains are .us, not .com. If you check Wikipedia, you'll find .com is "Commercial entities (Worldwide)"

            I know technically it's US run and it tends to be biased to US firms - but it's still worldwide.

          5. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            Amen to all that.

            Remoaners believe what te EU stooges tell them about brexit voters, and yet not a single one of the reason they ascribe to me and all the other people who I know voted to leave actually apply.

            They have created am imaginary set of people they call brexiteers, and ascribed unpleasant and silly motives to them that are simply not where the leave voters I personally know, are at.

            Like you my primary reason to leave was EU incompetence and lack of accountability, and nothing whatever to do with Europe or Europeans.

            That incompetence reflects itself into things like energy policy, immigration policy and over-regulation to be sure, but that's not the main issue. The main issue is that I cant vote the bastards out. MEPS are overpaid rubber stampers, at best an elected house of lords analogue. The commissioners themselves are a law unto themselves and are as bent as a five bob note, and legislation is sold to whoever can afford to pay for it.

            It is a self legalising protection racket in the pockets of Eurobusinesses. It is not a free trade area, it is a protected unfree trade zone and it was conceived as such. (European coal and stell - google it). It was designed by a communist (Spinelli).

            The only competence it has, because it thought it was the only competence it needed, was in marketing itself as the answer to war, and the instrument of some pansy ill defined concept of 'social justice' as well as making fat German bourgeoisie even fatter.

            The fact that everyone here actually believes the shit that is pumped out about the EU, by the EU and their fully paid up army of propagandists and 'SJW's is tribute to the only thing they are good at.

            Self congratulatory bullshit.

            They are a bunch of smug EuroCnuts and the tide is coming in.

            Europe needs the EU like a hole in the head, and Europe is about to find that out.

            And that is what scares them more than anything.

            The emperors have no clothes.

        4. This post has been deleted by its author

        5. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          "prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists"

          And there it is.... playing the racist card...

          My vote to leave had nothing to do with immigration, While we have a youth that is predominantly work shy then we as a nation need to import labour, while as a nation we cant or wont pay or skilled nursing staff a proper wage and give then decent working conditions then we have to import labour.

          As a country we are relying less and less on EU imports. The amount we import from the EU is falling each year. We import a lot of our fresh fruit from Africa and south America, yet we are not allowed to make trade deals with countries outside the EU.

          facts are that the EU is holding the UK back, but the cost of cutting that tie is that our economy will suffer for a while. But we will recover. we need a government that is committed to making sure or future is solid (I don't think the current one is up to the job). We need to make sure that anything our government spends money on is first of all a British company or is made in the UK. Tax breaks for companies who buy British made products. for example, the police should not be driving around in cars imported from Korea when we make cars in this country. it may cost a little more, but its investment in this country that's need, and the government needs to set an example.

          1. NerryTutkins

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            I know brexitters don't like to be tarred with the racist brush about their views on immigration.

            They say it's just about numbers. Britain is full.

            But I am an UK citizen in the EU. Whenever I raise this in any discussion with brexitters, I end up getting attacked... because apparently I've taken my engineering degree, paid for by the UK (I did it before the appalling fees system came in) and the UK is not getting the benefit of it.

            And yet, when EU citizens bring their degrees, that the UK never paid for, to benefit the UK economy, the brexitters hate that too. They hate EU citizens coming to the UK, and they hate UK citizens going to live in the EU.

            So I really do have a hard time accepting this is really just about numbers.

          2. Jess

            Re: As a country we are relying less and less on EU imports.

            So what?

            As a country we are reliant on selling services to the internal market to pay for all these imports.

            If your position were the Norway model then it wouldn't be totally moronic.

            It would have problems though. (The biggest being getting your voice counted for this option)

            As soon as we can make our own trade deals, rules of origin comes into play, and customs borders are required.

            This would be no problem for a country on the way in from outside, (like Norway, that decided that was where it wanted to be).

            But for a country that has a peace agreement ending a civil war that depends on no border and manufacturing businesses that have developed to treat the entire EU as one country it is not going to be totally beneficial.

          3. nsld

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            "As a country we are relying less and less on EU imports. The amount we import from the EU is falling each year. We import a lot of our fresh fruit from Africa and south America, yet we are not allowed to make trade deals with countries outside the EU."

            No wonder you posted this anonymously because its total rubbish.

            We have over 700 trade deals with countries outside the EU as a result of being part of that bloc. What trade deals are we currently missing?

            Reality is that three trade areas set the global market standards, the US, China and the EU. Once you are outside those you have no power, influence or say and you are dependent on co-operative support at the WTO if something doesn't work for you.

            As for this:

            "for example, the police should not be driving around in cars imported from Korea when we make cars in this country."

            All those foreign owned car makers building stuff from imported parts, once rules of origin become an issue for export you are going to be left with Caterham and Ariel Motors for your Brexit approved plod mobiles, as long as they don't stick the Honda engines in them!

          4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            "My vote to leave had nothing to do with immigration, While we have a youth that is predominantly work shy then we as a nation need to import labour, while as a nation we cant or wont pay or skilled nursing staff a proper wage and give then decent working conditions then we have to import labour."

            1. In other words, bring in the darkies to do the jobs "we" are too lazy to do ourselves and to do the jobs that are too shitty and/or too low-pay to do ourselves. Because "we", being us obviously deserve better, because reasons.

            2. You don't "import labour". You let in people. You know, actual human beings.

            So, no, of course nothing to do with immigration. Or, heaven forbid, racism.

          5. m-k

            Re: And there it is.... playing the racist card...

            whoosh, and whoosh again :)

            what?!

            WHOOSH :)

        6. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          is brexit just a symptom of a 'hankering for lost youth' ?

          It's definitely related to "Make America White Again".

          Hmmm, just wondering if there are any large, former communist countries out there that would really like to break up the EU and/or NATO?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            No, remoaning is a hankering for lost youth. The innocence of being able to trust Mother Merkel to tell you what to do, translated into trusting the EU to tell you what's right and wrong, what to do how to behave and what to believe.

            When I became a man, I put away childish things (well apart from a few bigger toys) . The kindergarten mentality that is endangered by a catheterised dripfeed of Eurosocialist political correctness seems harmless enough - it keeps the masses stupefied enough to be easily manipulable - but there is a serious downside. It renders whole generations unable and unfit to manage the world they find themselves in if that world deviates from the kindergarten they have been brought up in.

            The utterly banal nanny state mentality epitomised by 'jeux sans frontieres' is utterly incapable of dealing with knife wielding testosterone stimulated Asians to whom Europe is a matter of not believing your luck, or how stupid Europeans are.

            Something had to give.

            Wherever the strong leaders come from, it wont be from the state indoctrinated remainer snowflake generation.

            One hopes it won't be from people selling the virtues of FGM, Sharia law, child brides and women as chattels and sex objects alone, guys. But it would be no less that the nation deserves.

        7. Jess

          Re: I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists

          I don't think it's as simple as that.

          My hypothesis is that it was a perfect storm.

          Obviously there were a number of thick racists.

          There were a large number of gullible people who accepted untruths as facts. (And the fact that they accepted these lies about foreigners without question, obviously raises the possibility of low level racism. i.e. thinking the worst of people from elsewhere.)

          Then there are the vested interests. They know that this Brexit will decimate (at best) the UK economically, socially and Internationally. But that would be to their advantage.

          Lawyers and Logistics firms are obviously going to make a mint during the transition.

          Investors buying up bankrupt businesses (or even those where the value has dropped for the intellectual property) have a huge opportunity.

          Russia would obviously benefit from the UK leaving the EU and no longer disproportionately influencing it in favour of American interests.

          There are almost certainly a large number of oligarchs whose profits have been seriously hit by the EU sanctions which we championed. It would certainly make good business sense the invest a sum of money to remove the UK from the EU to prevent such things happening again. (And the added benefit the the UK would effectively place economic sanctions on its biggest sector, poetic justice.)

          And they could be pretty sure Putin would not interfere with any such projects.

          And Russia is certainly not the only foreign power that the UK out of the EU would benefit.

          1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

            Re: I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists

            My hypothesis is that it was a perfect storm.

            So looking at your categories you're basically assuming that the only possible reasons for voting leave were racism, stupidity, or greed? Have you considerd that that may be more a reflection of your blinkered mindset than of reality?

            I could argue that many of those who voted to remain are lazy, scared to leave their comfort zone, happy to settle for mediocrity in the interests of a quiet life, or simply have no clue what the EU actually does. I wouldn't suggest that everyone felt that way, though. I can accept that some people genuinely believe the future will be better in the EU, for economic or political reasons. I think they are wrong, but I'm not going claim they are stupid or gullible for believing it.

            I would have voted leave, if I could have done, because I think it is in the UK's best economic and political interests not to be beholden to an economically stagnant,closed, polity. That's my analysis based on my personal experiences of it.

            1. Intractable Potsherd

              Re: I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists - @Phil

              "So looking at your categories you're basically assuming that the only possible reasons for voting leave were racism, stupidity, or greed?"

              I am willing to accept that some leave voters had some thoughtful reasons based on democracy etc - you seem to be one of them. However, of the people I know who voted to leave (unfortunately, most of my family and friends), racism, stupidity (in the sense of not thinking about consequences, or actually knowing what they ultimately wanted), and greed are the primary reasons they state. All of them cite the fact that there are more non-Asian foreigners in their town centres (the fact that my family and some friends live in Rotherham makes this complaint somewhat bizarre!). Others just went with the number of "Pakis" as justification. One of my friends worked for Tata Steel, and somehow the fact that they are closing his location down was a reason for voting leave (no, I really don't understand). Those with trades seemed to focus on how much more they will be able to charge if there weren't so many EU workers available. So, there you have it - a reasonably large and varied sample which indicates elements of racism, stupidity, and greed.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists

            "Obviously there were a number of thick racists."

            And obviously a number of intelligent racists too. Farage is pretty intelligent.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: I'd prefer that to my usual hypothesis that it's a bunch of thick racists

              But Farage is not a racist. He is very internationalist in his outlook.

              Really racism and brexit are not congruent sets at all.

              People who claim they are are simply making emotional statements, ad hominem attacks - unsupported by facts.

              I understand the insecurity and denial that makes them do that, but I don't excuse it. It is hard to accept that you might have been wrong, been lied to and been led up the garden path all your life, and that you have been used by people who didn't give a damn about you. And that you can remain in denial about that by projecting all that onto people who know better, so you stay in your safe little space.

              Yes, I understand that the price of accepting Brexit as a reasonable decision made by reasonable people is simply too high for snowflakes to pay.

              It is an observed fact that the vast majority of people prefer comfortable lies to the inconvenient truth. I mean let's face it, if we are rational materialists what purpose or point is there to us, the universe or any of our actions? We invent meaning and purpose in order to survive, The reality is we are meaningless emergent phenomena, scum, surfing a wave of probability and entropy.

              So remoaning is all about an emotional statement, the horror at realising that not everybody is as indoctrinated as you are, and the terrifying prospect that in fact everything you thought you knew for sure might have been put there to keep you under the control of those who run the mass media. It is akin to the dilemma faced by the religious when faced with the prospect not that someone else's Gods are better than your Gods, but that all this God stuff is in fact childish nonsense and its time you grew out of it.

              It is high time remoaners grew OUT of the EU consciousness and woke up. smelt the coffee and settled down to address the real problems in the real world.

              Don't put Britain's future in the hands of the EU, take it onto your OWN hands.

              If you want the world to be a better place, dont put your trust in politicians. Make your little bit of it better.

              Take some effing responsibility, instead of moaning that you won't have the EU to take it for you.

        8. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Well a remarkable display of normal remoaner bigotry.

          How can not being part of a political organisation be racist?

          We are not leaving Europe. We are leaving the EU.

          Unless the EU is ( it considers itself to be, perhaps) a race apart, this cannot be 'racism'.

          I voted to leave. Simply because as a systems engineer, I understand that large systems with high overall feedback are ultimately less stable and more sluggish than smaller systems with more localised feedback.

          If the EU gets something wrong, it gets it wrong in a big way and takes a long time to correct.

          Brexit is simply part of that correction.

          Political systems are designed by ideologues, not engineers. If they were, they would be only as large centralised and complex as what is necessary to fix a particular issue that had common approval from the vast majority of those it affected.

          I cannot understand it - not a day goes by in this magazine, where the incompetencies inherent in large organisations that would have destroyed smaller ones, are not exposed., From government funded NHS databases to attack vectors built into to CPUS, the world is awash with problems brought about by badly managed oversized organisations who are protected from the consequences of their actions because they are 'too big to fail'.

          Is it just an example of the old adage that 'you can believe everything you read in the papers - except the one subject you actually know something about'?

          You all are willing to concede gross incompetence in IT, because you understand IT, but you preserve a roseate delusion about political structures, because you are in utter ignorance of how they actually work, as opposed to how they tell you that they work?

          Well, as some tart once said, "they would say that, wouldn't they?"

          The EU is a bunch of incompetents just like your local council is, making poor decisions about irrelevant issues based on ideological principles with almost zero understanding of the problems at the coal face. In short they are as incompetent as any other over promoted middle manager in an large organisation is. Who thinks 'mamnagemnt; is about 'controlling the staff' and 'having meetings'. Because that is all they have seen managers do.

          Not realising that behind these superficial emergent properties is a massive amount of research and analysis strategic planning, costings and plan reassessment, plus assessing what resources are available and their optimal deployment, And that the final tip of the iceberg is 'having meetings and telling people what to do',

          The incompetent manager merely has the meetings and tells people what to do without any of the above preceding it.

          IN normal life incompetent managers are unproductive, dont solve the problems they are there to solve and get fired, or their departments get closed or their companies go under.

          In politics they get voted out so a new bunch of incompetents can have another crack, and occasionally you get a reasonable one.

          The EU cannot fail. It cannot be voted out. It cannot be affected. It is, literally, a law unto itself.And if you really believe that the likes of Juncker are competent reliable politicians, you have never had an alcoholic relative.

          The EU is finished one way or another. Humans declared it too big to fail, but it is too big to succeed either. It is simply an inappropriate 19th century bureaucratic empire of ideology that is totally unfit for purpose in the 21st century, where we need to look forward to the real challenges of the age, which are by the way not fox hunting, racial intolerance, animal cruelty, gender identity, social injustice or climate change.

          They are more how we actually keep a crumbling infrastructure working as we build layer of complexity on layer of complexity that no one actually now understands at all, nor is capable of managing, and that applies to the economics of the Western world as well. When we do not educate people to take responsibility to come to grips with this complexity and exercise reason, we educate them to be emotional stupid sheep like consumers who will vote for whoever has the deepest pockets and the most creative marketing.

          I have lived a long life, and seen the effect of gross incompetence at every level of business and politics. I do not believe that the mere fact that someone has by whatever means achieved a position of unaccountable authority makes them somehow any more competent than a traffic warden. In fact, I consider the reverse.

          Government is not the answer to all our problems. In many cases it is the cause of problems that did not exist until government created them. In general the less government the better, and the more local to the issue and the more accountable to the electorate, the better.

          This is a classic example. .eu is just two letters on a domain name. Like .me or .tv

          Who, honestly, cares?

          Well some incompetent EuroCnut seems to. Another exercise of petty vindictive authority that wont really make a difference to anyone who is halfway sensible, but will just cost a bit to get sorted.

          Probably what will happen is that some one will set up a small business in Europe to host and maintain all these domains and redirect requests to a .uk, or ,com domain instead.

          Or some lawyer will maintain that in fact .eu applies to geographical and not political boundaries.

          sheesh. Talk about storms in tEUcups..

        9. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Oh, that'll be me, then.

        10. Dave 15

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          No, we are NOT racist nor are we thick.

          We have the ability to look at cold hard numbers. IF we were to simply replace all those imports from the EU we would not only need to make more than we export but would be massively better off.

          Replacing the imports with home made goods - by, for example, not buying French passports because some stupid illiterate burke of a civil servant can't cope with understanding best value is not cheapest and DOES allow us to make decisions regarding our national security, employment and strategic requirements to override pure cheapness - would employ some of the 20% of British people currently not working (and therefore costing the British tax payer a fortune).

          Those wanting to leave also notice that we are PAYING for the chance to buy from the europeans while they do NOT buy from us. This is clearly not a necessary expense. I do NOT pay an entrance fee to Tesco or Asda.

          Those wanting to leave also note that we currently are 'not allowed' to decide where and what to invest in.

          We also seem unable to decide on what basis we want to trade with who in the rest of the world

          We face the prospect of our armed forces (the 2 or 3 people left) being subsumed into a european armed forces so we wont even be able to use them to defend the Falklands or Gibraltar

          Then there is the move to have our foreign policy dictated by Brussels - so we will probably be told to 'give' Gibraltar to the Spanish and the Falklands to the Argies regardless of what the people living there actually want.

          Sorry, it is time to put the stupid and deluded tag where it clearly belongs - on the remainers.

          As for everything else, in our 'youth' many people voted to remain in the EEC (after Heath took us in without asking and lied to us about what it was all about). If the 'old' were the main 'leave' voters it is because we were bought up in a school system that taught us to read, write, add and subtract, one that even allowed us to think for ourselves rather than follow the pack. We are the ones who have the ability to analyse and avoid following the 'social media' postings of (I want a job when I leave Westminster) politicians and EU (I am happily on the gravy train) bureaucrats.

          To the remainers on here I say if you like the eu that much sod off to the eu and dont bother coming back here again. Racist I am not, but pissed off with the spineless moaning idiots that have spent 50 years turning this country from one of the leaders of the world to a pointless owned state I certainly am.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        "It's clear the EU is in the wrong here"

        On what basis? Because they're not doing what you want?

        Farage, Gove, BoJO etc. may have told you you could vote leave and still hold onto any bits of EU membership you still fancied. Everyone else told you it wasn't so. Well, it wasn't so. It's becoming demonstrably clear that it wasn't so and yet you still believe Farage, Gove, BoJo etc. Why?

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. pɹɐʍoɔ snoɯʎuouɐ
      Coat

      Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

      The brexit fans are all here, but just dont want to engage in the remoaners petty bickering...

      facts are, the EU is a broken, corrupt organisation, which has a very questionable future, who has plans for the EU to become a United states of Europe taking control of everything. A lot of the plans they have were kept very quiet before the referendum for fear it would push the leave vote up.

      Only a stupid person would think its all going to be roses and unicorns when we leave, its going to take time, but the uk, with strong leadership, will recover. Its going to take everyone getting on board with it and stop fighting aginst it. Its happening and that cant be stopped. The only problem with all the moaning is that its giving the EU a stronger hand at the table.

      I'll get my coat before the remoaners start.....

      1. Martin-73 Silver badge

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        Make sure it's not CE marked

      2. Snar

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        Strong leadership?

        That is a fucking joke.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          ---------------------------------------------

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Strong leadership?

          That is a fucking joke.

          --------------------------------

          no, its not a joke, the country needs strong leadership.... nobody said the current one was up to it.. they are not even up to what's needed to negotiate,...

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            "no, its not a joke, the country needs strong leadership.... nobody said the current one was up to it.. they are not even up to what's needed to negotiate,..."

            And sadly, we are stuck with May because of the stupid snap election she said she'd not call. But she called it anyway to make sure there'd not be another election so close to the end of the process. Instead we have a confused and weak leader with huge undue influence from the tiny DUP. You'd almost think it was a bit like the EU. Lots of people making choices and few influential players calling the shots.

      3. Ole Juul

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        "its going to take time, but the uk, with strong leadership, will recover."

        I'm not in Britain and not a historian, but it seems to me that the time with strong leadership there is a thing of the past.

        1. MagicWand

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Any leadership would be nice!!

        2. Dave 15

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Strangely enough I am going to say May is strong but massively devious. She is a remainer, always has been. If you look at what she has done through that lens it is remarkably sensible...

          a) Appoint a bunch of people without any civil service support or much of a clue about negotiation of any sort to be in charge of Britains exit.

          b) Call an election she doesn't need then insult and abuse just about everyone who ever has voted conservative in order to ensure that single handedly she loses the almost unlosable majority despite the ridiculous opposition of Corbyn

          c) Give upteen years worth of money to the EU despite not needing to in order to ensure that any financial benefit of leaving is destroyed

          d) Give in on every single point the EU raises in order to ensure the 'deal' is terrible

          e) Postpone the exit with a stupid 'transition' idea because she wants to postpone it as long as possible

          This was all agreed at the first meeting between her and the EU and is designed to lead to parliament throwing out the ridiculous mess which she will claim is a deal. She will then stomp around and call another referendum - take the shit deal or stay. She will then ignore the actual votes cast and pretend we changed our minds.

          Weak, nope, but a typical modern politician with no respect at all for anything democratic that doesn't agree with her views.

      4. Noonoot

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        "its going to take time, but the uk, with strong leadership, will recover."

        Well, UK ain't gonna be 'lead' for sometime, unless it's down the garden path.

        What leader would that be? Reesy Moggy?

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Say "Remoaners" three times and you automatically win the argument!

        @person with mangled name; "but the uk, with strong leadership, will recover"

        What will it do with the likes of Theresa May then- a leader who is both weak and incompetent?

        Weak- beholden to bribing the DUP to prop up a minority government- because of her own incompetence in calling an unnecessary election she thought would increase her majority and instead wiped it out following an (also) utterly incompetent campaign.

        This is the same person now driving the "cake and eat it" campaign of hardball with the EU.

        Strong leadership? Does anyone remember the shameful vacuum of power that immediately followed the unexpected "Leave" vote when it was obvious no-one in the Tory camp (that had driven and used the entire process- and future wellbeing of the United Kingdom- as a football purely for their own party political ends until it got out of control) had a clue what to do and were running around like headless chickens?

        From the same people now trying to buoy up how "well" the Brexit process is going, despite the fact there's less than a year till the deadline and it's still not clear what shape it will take?

        "I'll get my coat before the remoaners start....."

        Indeed- better to get the usual name-calling in and shuffle off like you're being driven out by Those Nasty Remoaners before they can do something horrible like picking holes in your arguments- right?

        1. Mage Silver badge
          Coffee/keyboard

          Re: despite the fact there's less than a year

          Actually everything needs finalised by October 2018, about 6 months, less holidays.

          Yet none of the difficult issues have any UK proposals other than fantasy. The EU is waiting for workable proposals from the UK. Brexit is a UK decision.

          Scotland, N.I., London, City of London, NHS, Universities, fruit pickers, Ireland etc are not very happy about the total lack of research (apparently) and decisions what to do before calling referendum or invoking Article 50. It seems the UK cabinet can't agree what Brexit is or how to achieve totally conflicting aims.

          This domain thing is a minor issue, easily solved compared to the other unresolved issues.

      6. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        "The brexit fans are all here, but just dont want to engage in the remoaners petty bickering"

        The Brexit fans are indeed here. They're here complaining about the consequences of what they voted for.

        As these details - ESA a few days ago and now the .eu domain - come to light they complain. It wasn't logical to think that the UK would continue to fit into these entities after Brexit. It isn't even logical that one would wish to remain in them if one wishes to be out of the EU. It isn't even logical to want to have been in them in the first place if they didn't want to be in the EU. But nevertheless here they are, doing the one thing they know how: complaining about the EU even as the consequences of their previous complaints unfold before their eyes.

        It was your idea. You voted for it. Stop complaining about getting what you voted for.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          I'm not complaining. Merely pointing out that this was exactly what we voted for. To get away from stupid petty vindictive interference by incompetent Cnuts in the EU and get on with global trade and mutual co-operation.

          Your views is based on a moral precept, that the EU have every RIGHT to do this.

          My view as a brexiteer is pragmatic. They may have the right but it makes them look like the bunch of stupid petty incompetents that they are, and further reinforces the desire to have nothing to do with them.

          Its is the exercise of petty authority for its own sake, and that is the classic trademark off over promoted incompetent middle management, which is essentially what we have running politics in Europe these days.

          Its like being stopped by a traffic warden and told to cross the road 50 yards up because that's where the pedestrian crossing is, even though the lights are all red and traffic is at a standstill.

          Its making trouble just because you can.

          And its the reason why opinion polls say that 65% of those that actually give as shit want us to just get on and leave, if that's what the referendum result was. Even if they voted to stay themselves.

          People are more sick of people opposing the valid legal political process, than they love the EU. They are seeing massive political interference at every level in this decision. They are sick of people telling them they are racists because they 'voted to leave Europe' when they actually voted to leave the EU. They are sick of being told that only uneducated people voted brexit, when they hold first class degrees from prestigious universities, they are sick of being told that they are stupid xenophobes, when they are unhappy being elbowed off the pavements by people who don't even understand English, and above all they are sick of being told that trade with Europe will come to a halt when we leave without a deal, because patently trade with India, China, Canada, S Africa, Kenya,Uganda, Morocco, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, Western Samoa, Goa, Brazil, the USA, Australia.. has not stopped because those countries are not, and never were, in the European Union.

          And the staggering thing is how vocal and active are the (paid?) trolls online who insist that this will be the case.

          WE voted to leave. The sky hasn't fallen, and nor will it. Britain will modify its international status from a part of te EU to a part of the rest of hte world, and it will be probably economically slightly better off as a result initially as has proved to be the case by letting the pound slide, and probably if racist Comrade Corbyn gets thrown out of the racist labour party and racist labour doesn't win an election, moderately better off in the future. Or if the desire to actually restructure politically leads to new leaders and new political memes, it could do a lot better, to the point where the next generation will wonder how stupid people had to be to want to remain in the EU.

          I understand what drives remoaners. Its not what they say it is, its the fact that they are in complete denial over the dawning realisation that they have been mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed on bullshit, and they cannot accept just how badly and how cynically they have been lied to all their lives by people who they put their trust in.

          Well snowflakes, that's life. If you haven’t been raped, you didn't have much to offer in the first place.

          We felt the same way about Nixon, about the Suez Crisis, about Profumo...but we shrugged our shoulder and grew up, and the Who wrote 'wont get fooled again'

          But you lot, didn't listen, did you?

          All politicians are corruptible and most are corrupt., The purpose of a democracy is to remove the need for bloodshed to rid yourself of the very worst of them. The problem with the EU is that it is ultimately undemocratic. We could not remove the corrupt political class in charge, because they have no party that can be voted out and there is ultimately no way to remove them.

          If there had been we would probably not have agitated to leave the EU.

      7. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

        >> but the uk, with strong leadership, will recover <<

        And that strong leadership is going to come from... where?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

          Well probably not a little anti-Semitic Austrian corporal.

          Although it might be a little North London anti-Semitic communist.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

            "Although it might be a little North London anti-Semitic communist."

            But I thought he supported the Palestinians. Or did you mean the Europeans that pretend to be semitic?

    4. maffski

      Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

      We've already applied to ICANN for .xeu

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

      Well frankly its about as pertinent to the real world as fox hunting or gay marriage. Or what colour our passports are or where they are printed.

      And its a further example of the Peter Principle of Utter Irrelevance from a terminally incompetent political class., and smacks of petty vindictiveness.

      In short everything we are leaving the EU to escape.

    6. Dave 15

      Re: Where are the Brexit fans?

      It is to do with Brexit but you guess right, the next statement is we dont need the .eu crud

      We can't sell squat in europe - just go there, go shopping and find there is NOTHING British anywhere. And unlike our government who seems to think it is somehow clever to buy German police cars, German ambulances, German fire engines, German busses, German council trucks, French army trucks, French passports, French IT consultancy, Belgium guns, Swedish guns, American planes, Chinese army uniforms - even Chinese china for Royal weddings... one thing you can be sure of is that the German police and army is equipped exclusively with German vehicles, the French use only French vehicles and even have laws to prevent French passports being made abroad, the Americans change the requirements for their planes when a european plane wins... Get with it and real, we would be better off completely closing our borders to ALL imports and saying stuff it to the rest of the world (just check our trade deficit).

      The europeans have made it clear they are happy to take our money but are going to stop us participating in the space program we are paying for, they are going to continue to export to us and charge us for the joy but stop us participating in any rule making... and the list of insults continue but May is too much a remainer and has the sniping egits from Scotland and Wales backing the EU regardless of who actually funds their glossy posts with ENGLISH tax payers money

      1. nsld

        Re: Where are the Brexit fans? @Dave15

        Just on this:

        " the French use only French vehicles "

        I spend quite a bit of time in France in the mountains and I had no idea that the Subaru's driven by the plod in the Alps are French, or the Toyota 4WD's used by the lift companies are French, Or the Piste bashers from Germany etc etc etc.

        A significant amount of UK lamb production goes to Europe, we flog boatloads of shellfish, I could go on.

        And this gem:

        "they are going to continue to export to us and charge us for the joy but stop us participating in any rule making"

        This is completely wrong, as a third country we set our own standards and rules on whats acceptable in our sovereign market after Brexit, but here is the issue, unless we are going to RAISE standards above those from the EU27 then the producers in the EU won't face challenges to export to us.

        However, the reality is that the divergence wanted by Mogg and Redwood and the rest of the ERG mob is to lower standards so that the emerging market producers they are heavily invested in can take advantage of the plan from Minford and economists 4 leave to lower inward tariffs/quotas to 0%. Effectively making the UK a dumping ground and wiping out manufacturing and agriculture.

        The EU rules are irrelevent, the standards they follow will be higher and I doubt even the most ardent eurosceptic is going to tell an EU producer to make crappier stuff for the UK!

        And the piece d' resistance:

        "we would be better off completely closing our borders to ALL imports and saying stuff it to the rest of the world (just check our trade deficit)"

        Yeah, who needs gas, oil, cement, medicines etc. etc. ad infinitum.............

        Have to be honest Dave you aren't helping the argument that Brexiteers are the sharpest tools in the shed

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is the popcorn box half full or half empty?

    Half empty for me. Pronunciation finally shifting to "breaks it"?

  6. Jim Mitchell

    did anyone put in a bid with ICANN for ".exeu"?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      ...or possibly .f.eu

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    OK How To register fuck.the.sodding.EU

    We need a top level registration .fuck.the.sodding.eu and block all access to .eu addresses as they are worth less than nothing.

    1. Steve Knox
      Boffin

      Re: OK How To register fuck.the.sodding.EU

      Just register sodding.eu and exercise your right to manage your own subdomains.

      Or just get over what is an entirely predictable response to an entirely stupid move on the part of uk.gov.

    2. Tom 7

      Re: OK How To register fuck.the.sodding.EU

      So you are going to start up an entity in the EU to have a rude domain name and pay taxes etc there?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: OK How To register fuck.the.sodding.EU

        Sounds like a good business to me. I'd pay £10/year to have a subdomain of sodding.eu

        Perhaps could be registered by a company in Austria?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: OK How To register fuck.the.sodding.EU

          <pre>

          $ whois fucking.eu

          ...

          Name servers:

          ns3.openprovider.eu

          ns2.openprovider.be

          ns1.openprovider.nl

          </pre>

          Registered to a company in the Netherlands. The contact details, if you want to negotiate for an E-mail account or subdomain, are here

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: OK How To register fuck.the.sodding.EU

            $ whois fucking.eu

            Error: eu.is.fucking.us

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh dear

    Can't wait to tell the bosses about this one in the morning. We use one such domain very heavily.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh dear

      If its so valuable to your company, then move to the EU and brexit yourself.

      I suspect its not any where near as valuable as you think.

      1. John Crisp

        Re: Oh dear

        Another anonymous Brexiteer sock puppet. All mouth and no trousers.

        Easy to say if it isn't your job on the line.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Oh dear

          Honestly how much dies it cost to register a European business name with a European accountant, and a PO box in Brussels that can validly hold your domain name for you, and still have it point to exactly the same servers.

          I've got enough family over there to run a Euroshell company, and take over anyones .eu domain for a fiver a year.

          What amazes me is how DELIGHTED people seem to be at the sort of mindless bureaucratic interference in the internet that they decry when it happens in China..

          I have not seen this level of vindictive political hatred displayed since the Cold war. Where did it come from, and who is engineering it?

      2. H in The Hague

        Re: Oh dear

        "If its so valuable to your company, then move to the EU and brexit yourself."

        Actually mate, my company (with a .EU domain) is currently based in NL but I was thinking of moving to Sussex when I semi-retire. But perhaps I should just stay here and contribute to the Dutch economy instead.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: Oh dear

          "Actually mate, my company (with a .EU domain) is currently based in NL but I was thinking of moving to Sussex when I semi-retire. But perhaps I should just stay here and contribute to the Dutch economy instead."

          As happened when the referendum result was announced, I suspect the £ will take another hammering at the point of Brexit, possibly taking much longer to recover. In your position, I'd keep the business running in NL and retire to what will be a much cheaper to live in UK (from the point of view of someone with an income in Euros)

      3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Oh dear

        "I suspect its not any where near as valuable as you think."

        I suspect it's not the OP who thinks it's valuable, it's his bosses.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh dear

      I'm in Spain, so could run it for you at a totally reasonable rate. Or you could lie on the form.

    3. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      NI to the rescue?

      This could be one of those situations where the ambiguous status of NI (with both UK and RoI accepting it as 'theirs') could be useful. A UK company could just use an accommodation address in Belfast & register the domain for "Belfast, Ireland". Hard for the EU to complain about that while it's also objecting to a hard border.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I thought .eu was geographical, we will still be in Europe, we are not moving continent, just will not be not part of this political union that turned into a monster.

    1. oxfordmale78

      .eu is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the European Union (EU).[1] Launched on 7 December 2005, the domain is available for any person, company or organization based in the European Economic Area. Thanks to May we will be leaving the EEA as well.

      1. Stuart Grout

        Thanks to the British voters?

        Thanks to the democratic will of the British people we will be leaving the EEA was what you meant.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Thanks to the British voters?

          "Thanks to the democratic will of the British people "

          All 14.5% of them - 51% of the votes in a 29% turnout*.

          *Roughly rounded figures

          1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

            Re: Thanks to the British voters?

            *Roughly rounded figures

            You rounded 72.21% to 29%? That's rough all right!

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Thanks to the British voters?

            All 14.5% of them - 51% of the votes in a 29% turnout*.

            Still, only 48% voted to stay, so even fewer wanted that.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Thanks to the British voters?

              You so conveniently forget all the British expats on the continent, a lot of which where disenfranchised ... I was not allowed to cast my vote, for example ... silly, how the only British citizens with EXPERIENCE ON THE MATTERS were not allowed to vote, hey ?

              Granted, 14.5% voted to leave, roughly the same voted to stay and ~70% did not feel concerned by that stupid question ... democracy in action!

              Anyway, who cares, au revoir!

              PS: It is totally reasonable for the EU to milk the UK as much as possible as they walk out the door ... all the concessions we made and you kept complaining ... good riddance! Close the door, please ...

              PPS: The best schools in Frankfurt have been submerged with registration forms from British nationals and rents have skyrocketed. In France, Dordogne estate agents have never had it this good. My parents moved abroad as well ...

          3. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

            Re: Thanks to the British voters?

            Those who don't vote when a vote is offered are assumed to be happy with however the decision turns out. Logically, it can't be anything else.

            So the non-voter figures should be added to the figures of whoever the winner is.

            In this case it comes out to (in round figures): 17,410,742 + 12,927,000 = 30,337,742 = 65%

            Which is a good mandate....

            1. Richard 12 Silver badge

              Re: Thanks to the British voters?

              Gods no. Adding the abstentions to either side is either ****ing stupid or the act of a dictatorship.

              The only thing you can say is that they either didn't think voting was worth their time, couldn't decide, don't agree with any available options or were unable to vote.

              Question: What does drawing a cock and balls on the ballot paper indicate?

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Thanks to the British voters?

                Question: What does drawing a cock and balls on the ballot paper indicate?

                That you're 12? Or don't have anything useful to contribute to the debate?

                1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

                  Re: Thanks to the British voters?

                  "That you're 12? Or don't have anything useful to contribute to the debate?"

                  I think it is usually taken to indicate that you think a cock and balls would be preferable to any of the options pre-printed on the ballot. That may not be an actionable opinion under electoral law, but you are entitled to it and if the politicians find it upsetting then perhaps they should raise their game.

            2. Ken Hagan Gold badge

              Re: Thanks to the British voters?

              "Those who don't vote when a vote is offered are assumed to be happy with however the decision turns out. Logically, it can't be anything else. So the non-voter figures should be added to the figures of whoever the winner is."

              You were fine right up to the beginning of the third sentence. The non-voter figures should simply be ignored.

            3. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Thanks to the British voters?

              Those who don't vote when a vote is offered are assumed to be happy with however the decision turns out. Logically, it can't be anything else.

              So the non-voter figures should be added to the figures of whoever the winner is.

              Doesn't work like that. I'd say, "those who don't vote when a vote is offered are assumed to be happy with the status quo" which is the historical reality.

              1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

                Re: Thanks to the British voters?

                "those who don't vote when a vote is offered are assumed to be happy with the status quo"

                That doesn't work when the vote is a binary choice: change the status quo, or not. Not voting in that case is explicity not choosing the status quo, it is saying "Meh, I don't mind".

              2. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

                Re: Thanks to the British voters?

                ..Doesn't work like that. I'd say, "those who don't vote when a vote is offered are assumed to be happy with the status quo" which is the historical reality.....

                No. you are completely wrong. If the vote is 'status quo or change' then it is NOT TRUE that a NO vote means 'status quo'. This is just self-delusion on your part.

                1. veti Silver badge

                  Re: Thanks to the British voters?

                  @Dodgy: "status quo" was explicitly one of the options on the ballot, and it's the one that lost. If non-voters wanted it, they bloody well should have voted, I have zero sympathy for them.

          4. TheVogon

            Re: Thanks to the British voters?

            "in a 29% turnout*."

            In a democracy if you dont bother to vote, your opinion doesnt count. So lets cut that remoaner bs. It was 52% in favour of leaving the EU.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Those living by the "Leave the EU" result will die by fact that's *all* it said.

          @ Stuart Grout; "Thanks to the democratic will of the British people we will be leaving the EEA was what you meant."

          This line of argument has been repeated ad nauseam by those attempting to legitimise a hard Brexit. However, it's a blatant power grab.

          The "democratic will of the British people" was that they would leave the EU. No less- and no more. (#)

          There was no clear indication at the time whether or not that would include leaving the EEA- in fact, there wasn't *any* clear, agreed indication of what sort of form Brexit would be expected to take before the vote.

          Mainly because the Tories- especially Cameron- who drove the process purely as a sop to their own party's hard right, didn't expect it succeed, didn't have a plan for what a "Leave" vote would mean, and we're now paying the price for them using the future of the UK as a political football.

          This hasn't stopped Hard Brexiteers from trying to claim that the UK (supposedly) voted for their same hard-right vision. However, those whose legitimacy lives by the sword of that 52/48 election result, must also see it die by what the vote was actually for... rather than what they claim.

          tl;dr- Take your power grab and attempt to legitimise a "Hard Brexit" by claiming the election result was for something it wasn't and shove it.

          (#) Actual wording of the ballot paper:-

          Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?

          Remain a member of the European Union

          Leave the European Union

        3. Jess

          Re: Thanks to the democratic will of the British people we will be leaving the EEA

          Where is the democracy in asking one question then acting as though a different question were asked?

          And that is before we start thinking about Cambridge Anal. or the illegal campaign overspend.

      2. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
        Coat

        .eu is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the European Union (EU).

        Now that's an interesting note, is that from an official EU document?

        European Union is an English phrase. Given suggestions from politicians within the EU that once the UK leaves they'll be able to forget about English, won't they then be "L'Union européenne", in which case they should take over ".ue" and force everyone to move to that. Problem solved! Well, except for Venezuela I suppose...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "once the UK leaves they'll be able to forget about English,"

          No they wont. Its still the defacto language of business, diplomacy and navigation. Using the language of a country not in the EU would probably save no end of EU bun fights too!

          1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

            No they wont. Its still the defacto language of business, diplomacy and navigation.

            Of course it is, not to mention being an official language of Ireland and Malta, but that didn't stop polish MEP Danuta Hübner (chairwoman of the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee, no less) from proposing it, nor French MEP Jean-Luc Mélenchon supporting it.

            1. itzman

              that didn't stop polish MEP Danuta Hübner (chairwoman of the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee, no less) from proposing it, nor French MEP Jean-Luc Mélenchon supporting it.

              Talk about Zen and the Art of deckchair rearrangement...

          2. Jess

            The French are highly protective of their language, no way will they be happy with the legacy of their relenting on their (ultimately proven justified) blocking the UK joining the EU being their language being of a lower status than before we joined.

            1. This post has been deleted by its author

            2. TheVogon

              ""The French are highly protective of their language"

              Because almost no one else cares about it. Whereas anyone who is anyone speaks English.

              See the future:

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO_1dEOkb_U

        2. foo_bar_baz

          English

          Don’t be so self congratulatory. It’s called English but it’s really Merkin.

        3. codejunky Silver badge

          @ Phil O'Sophical

          "Given suggestions from politicians within the EU that once the UK leaves they'll be able to forget about English"

          At one point Junker was saying this in one of his speeches (I think to Italians or Spanish?) and to make his point he had to switch to English so he could be understood. It was almost like watching stupidity as a physical entity.

    2. TheVogon

      "I thought .eu was geographical, we will still be in Europe, we are not moving continent"

      It is. The geographical region is the European Union though not Europe.

      However as there are zero checks on the information that is provided on most DNS registrations and no reliance on it being a real address I imagine circa 300,000 registrations are going to get updated to exotic but genuine EU locations like Buggerru, Via dei cunt, Wank, Pissy, Anus, Arse, Barstardo, Bendova, Titz, Llabia, Piles, Fucking, Rectum, Poo, etc. etc. etc.

      1. M Mouse

        "exotic but genuine EU locations like Buggerru ..."

        I wouldn't waste my money but I can see how the idea may appeal to some.

      2. georgezilla Silver badge

        " ... The geographical region is the European Union though not Europe. ... "

        So the Brits are rewriting history and redrawing all the maps?

        I though that the geographical region is Europe. And that the European Union was the union of countries that were IN Europe.

        The UK left the union, just how/why the eff did/do they think that when they left they should still get the perks. If I leave my current job, should I still get my health perks? Or keep getting the company to contribute to my retirement?

        You left the EU snowflakes. Suck it up and get over it FFS!

    3. casey1

      ' just will not be not part of this political union that turned into a monster.'

      So you will be part of it then ..

  10. Ian 69

    Honest question

    How much use do these domains get? I originally imagined it was primarily EU institutional organisations that would use that suffix and thought everyone else would be on .com/net/org or their country code but that doesn't seem to be the case.

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: Honest question

      I'm sure that many were registered by the "big names" just to make sure no-one else got them.

      The only truly EU ones are those under ".europa.eu" which is the EU administration itself.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Honest question

      Well I tried to register the .eu version of my ltd company name in the sunrise period (when those with a legitimate claim get priority subject to evidence and a higher fee). It's a made-up name and not registered in any other TLD except .com (with no web site).

      Jumped through all the hoops, paid the fee (£100 if I recall). Got no subsequent correspondence until at the very end of sunrise an email to say "rejected" no appeal, no reasons, no refund. By which time sunrise had ended and someone else had bagged it (but it's still not in use). I later found someone else with exactly the same story. Conclusion: an insider treated the applications as their way of identifying names he might be able to resell at an inflated price.

      Maybe a lucky escape for me except in practise .eu names are so seldom seen in real world use that ordinary internet users will regard with caution. When I did a search many of the .eu domains actually routed traffic straight to another TLD apart from "official" eu bodies. My advice is stick with .uk (or your own home country) or .com.

  11. Nick Kew

    It's not in anyone's interest to b***er up existing legitimate users.

    I expect this one will be relaxed as part of an eventual deal. At a guess, what'll happen is that the criteria for qualifying will require only token EU presence for existing good-faith users.

  12. EveryTime

    Isn't this trivial to bypass?

    It's typical for a single agent in Caribbean to have many thousands of corporations registered to their one room office. As long as each one pays their modest registration fee, the locals involved each pocket a bit of the money and pretends it's all above-board.

    Is it going to be that easy?

    And what is the perception there? Is this a F-off move? Or is it "if you leave it will be painful, so you might as well stay"?

    1. TheVogon

      "Isn't this trivial to bypass?"

      Yes, just lie.

    2. M Mouse

      "Is this a F-off move?"

      I'd say so, and good luck to them (I doubt any bargaining will make the burocrats alter their decision).

      I am rather surprised if the figure is as high as 300,000 and can imagine quite a few registrants being annoyed, both in being forced to lose the domain (when it happens) and because they are unlikely to have expected a "leave" result.

      I have only a marginal academic interest in knowing whether registrants bother to renew before their potential banishment from .EU registration, and would appreciate a link to anywhere which tracks the count of registrations, so as to see each "end of month" figure over the next 12-15 months...

      Those whose renewal is due within 3-6 months might simply renew, hoping there will be a delay before withdrawing their right to registration during the "transition period" while those in months 7 to 12 might be resigned to the fact that if the registration is simply cancelled, over 50% of what they paid will have been wasted, had they bothered to renew...

      To find they have been in use for 10+ years has been a bit of a shock to me as I have yet to see one in use.

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "It's typical for a single agent in Caribbean to have many thousands of corporations registered to their one room office. As long as each one pays their modest registration fee, the locals involved each pocket a bit of the money and pretends it's all above-board.

      Is it going to be that easy?"

      Yes. Luxembourg and the other tiny nations in the EU already have form for this. Obvious example being Amazons "huge" European presence in Luxembourg.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "And what is the perception there? Is this a F-off move? Or is it "if you leave it will be painful, so you might as well stay"?

      Its just mindless posturing - like virtue signalling but vindictive instead. Its just saying 'we have power, and we can use it,. so watch out'

      Its like watching a 5 year old saying 'if you don't buy me that raygun I will wet my pants an you will be sorry."

      To which one replies 'we would be more sorry if we bought you the gun. Piss away and by the way, change your own wet stinky underwear'.

      Is this really the best the EU can come up with as a disincentive? Commercial disruption to score a minor political point?

      It is truly pathetic.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        It is truly pathetic

        Why?

        One of the conditions of holding a .eu domain is to be homed in an EU state. If that condition is not met then the ownership is rescinded and is a natural and logical consequence. Nothing to do with vindictiveness.

        1. codejunky Silver badge

          @ werdsmith

          "One of the conditions of holding a .eu domain is to be homed in an EU state. If that condition is not met then the ownership is rescinded and is a natural and logical consequence. Nothing to do with vindictiveness."

          Interestingly this is actually theft. The service which has been paid for will not be allowed to go to completion nor will there be compensation for those losing the service they have paid for. All because we hurt their feelings.

          And while I doubt losing access to that TLD will be much of an inconvenience to the UK the willing theft by the EU, the act of doing this without consulting the people involved and the act of removing potentially a tenth of their easy income it does add another reason for private individuals and business to distrust the EU.

          1. werdsmith Silver badge

            Re: @ werdsmith

            Interestingly this is actually theft. The service which has been paid for will not be allowed to go to completion nor will there be compensation for those losing the service they have paid for. All because we hurt their feelings.

            It's nothing like theft, if you purchase the right to use the domain with a contractual condition that you agree to at the time of purchase, you break the contract you lose. Absolutely nothing to do with anyone's feelings, that's just juvenile thinking.

            1. codejunky Silver badge

              Re: @ werdsmith

              @ werdsmith

              "It's nothing like theft, if you purchase the right to use the domain with a contractual condition that you agree to at the time of purchase, you break the contract you lose"

              Well said. So where is the contract broken? The contract being private business/individual to EURid. This is the state (EU) dictating, to the surprise of EURid, that those private entities will have their service cut off without compensation for the loss of service from EURid.

              "Absolutely nothing to do with anyone's feelings, that's just juvenile thinking."

              So if you pay for something good or service you expect that to continue. Then you are told that although you made full payment you will only receive the service up to x date and you will not be compensated. The contract broke by the other party not you. And its not their fault but the state confiscating your product/service. Now what states in the world like to confiscate private assets? Venezuela comes to mind.

              Is the state confiscation of private assets something you agree with? Be honest. Yes and you justify such actions, no and your disagreeing with the EU.

              1. Roland6 Silver badge

                Re: @ werdsmith @codejunky

                Re: 'theft'

                I've not been able to track down a definitive source to say just what the ownership position is with respect to domain names. Although it seems they are being treated in the same way as telephone numbers, personalised numberplates etc. where you own the right to exclusively use etc. for the agreed term, but you don't actually own the number/registration outright.

                I suspect that EURid will take the easier path and simply apply the (revised) residency rule when the current registrant either wants to renew or transfer the registration. Given the maximum term is 10 years, this might take a while.

                I note the EURid T&Cs do grant EURid the right to change the registration rules and if you disagree then Belguim law applies...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    who cares, a .EU address is meaningless anyway. Just get a .com and be done with it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Just get a .com and be done with it."

      People may assume you are in the US though and all the lack of data protection and poor consumer protection issues that go with it.

      1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

        Nonsense!

        The .EU registration stands for Europe - the .COM registration can stand for the Commonwealth.

        Perhaps we should set up a .EMP one for Empire?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Let's register .ukip

      2. Wandering Reader

        People may assume you are in the US though and all the lack of data protection and poor consumer protection issues that go with it.<br>

        something.eu.com

        1. TheVogon

          "something.eu.com"

          If you want to ask the owner to rent you a subdomain ? It's not a TLD and is already taken.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        As opposed to having a post-Brexit ".co.uk" address once the US has Theresa May (or her similarly-incompetent successor) over a barrel and having to accept the US's piss-weak standards on numerous things- including lack of data protection and poor consumer protection issues that go with it?

        (And just a bit too f*****g late for them to realise why the US prefers to deal with smaller countries in desparate need of a deal indvidually rather than with a trading bloc comparable in size to itself.)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          (And just a bit too f*****g late for them to realise why the US prefers to deal with smaller countries in desparate need of a deal indvidually rather than with a trading bloc comparable in size to itself.)

          That is true, in general, but now our Beloved Leader ["Not a bully at all"] thinks that bilateral agreements are better from everybody rather than multilateral deals. And he's going to negotiate them all himself cause he's so amazingly amazing!

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        People may assume you are in the US though and all the lack of data protection and poor consumer protection issues that go with it

        Oh really?

        'people may' is shorthand for 'any idiot who stopped to consider knows that people wont., but I want to win the argument and perhaps no one will notice what a complete fool I am.

        try entering:

        bbc.com

        jaguar.com

        RollsRoyce.com

        samsung.com

        nissan.com

        in any web browser and watch as the reality that these are all American companies...dissolves into the fantasy of your fevered imagination.

        if you are international, you have a .com. I have a ,com. My old housename.com as it happens registered on a whim.

        Even http://youparklikeacunt.com is demonstrably British.

        1. Alphebatical
          FAIL

          > nissan.com

          If you'd bothered to actually visit your link, you'd realize that it does, in fact, belong to an American company.

        2. TheVogon

          "try entering:

          bbc.com"

          It redirects to bbc.co.uk

          Most of the others are placeholders for .co.uk sites or are the us site.

  14. Mephistro
    Facepalm

    I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

    ... but still can't see how this move could be described without using the words heavy handed, bullish and stupid!

    I hope this is just a move to apply more pressure on the ongoing negotiations, and that the EU will drop it as a token of good will before the final exit agreements are signed. Crossing my fingers on that one, though. 8^(

    1. Mephistro
      Angel

      Addendum:

      The ideal outcome would be that the EU backs down on this statement in exchange for some worthless trifle, like, say, the heads of BJ* and NF.

      * Note: Not our Big John!

      ;^)

      1. The Nazz

        Re: Addendum:

        Hey Mephistro, couldn't you europeans just take Tony Blair off our hands. Please. Pretty please.

        Apparently he'd make a fantastic President.

        Citation? His own verbals.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: Addendum:

          "Apparently he'd make a fantastic President.

          Citation? His own verbals."

          To give him his dues, he's said that almost since being a teenager and is still campaigning against Brexit. One of the few principles he's stuck by, even if it is for his own self interest. Few politicians manage to retain any principles for that long, even, or especially, the slim ones.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Addendum:

          "Apparently he'd make a fantastic President."

          How did he do as Middle East peace envoy? Last time I checked, the Israelis were still bombing, shelling and shooting the Palestinians on a daily basis.

    2. Martin-73 Silver badge

      Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

      It's heavy handed, yes... but deserved. I have NO sympathy for my own country over brexit, but lay the blame where it belongs. At the feet of those who voted for brexit. They should never be allowed to forget their part in the economic damage they KNEW would happen. Vile people, every one

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Roll on Brexit

        It's not economic damage, it's economic realignment, think longer term. You may have forgotten that we made sacrifices when our economy was first aligned with the EEC, but soon made the best of it. The media is full of negative hype but this isn't a big deal. If you must have an .eu domain there are probably ways to have a representative in the .eu register it on your behalf.

        1. Martin-73 Silver badge

          Re: Roll on Brexit

          @ AC re: rep in the EU... i am speaking more broadly than the precise import of this article. If the brexit peeps stole my birthright? I think they need to be reminded of that at every single opportunity. Brexit was a selfish move by selfish people. With NO benefits for anyone. Period

          1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

            Re: Roll on Brexit

            Considering your comments, I feel that hurting you MUST count as a benefit....

      2. Mephistro
        Unhappy

        Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

        Mmhh... I agree that brexiteers are to blame, at least partially, but given the unprecedented campaign of traditional media and social media manipulation perpetrated by the likes of Murdoch and Cambridge Analytica, there are far more important culprits.

        This doesn't bode well for our democracies. Our only hope is that this error will teach Brits -and the rest of Europeans- a few important lessons regarding the trust we can put on some media outlets, social media in general, and politicians giving easy solutions to complicated issues, in such a way that the next wave of populist maggots is received by "we the people" with a huge salvo of rotten vegetables.

        1. Stuart Grout

          Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

          And you think that ignoring the will of the majority "bodes well for our democracies"?

          As for the "manipulation" of the vote the Remain campaigners with full backing of the Government and the BBC were far more influential and spent vastly more than the Leave campaign. They also used almost every "celebrity" to endorse Remain in addition to many world leaders to tell the British people what was best for us.

          But if you want to believe that the vote was stolen despite the overwhelming evidence otherwise then you really don't believe in democracy.

          1. Mephistro

            Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

            And you think that ignoring the will of the majority "bodes well for our democracies"?

            Sorry, but your straw man is a stillborn. You'll have to make another one.

            What I think is that one of the sides (pro-Brexit) fed you -as in "you, the British public"- almost exclusively with a deluge of manipulation, misinformation and downright lies, while the other side told you mostly the truth, although in a clumsy and disorganized way. The Remain side didn't hire media manipulation outfits to reinforce your preconceptions and target your -"you, the voters"- psychological traits by caging you in in a myriad echo chambers, something they managed to do using lots of your stolen private personal data.

            ...and spent vastly more than the Leave campaign

            A big difference is that the Remain side did it by legal means and telling -mostly- the truth, while the other...

            As for the money spent... you aren't factoring what's owed to Murdoch and other similar scum for their role in this shebang. Unfortunately when you finally learn about the true price paid, it'll probably be too late to do anything about it.

            Seriously, mister Grout, if after all these months of information regarding the consequences of Brexit you can't still see how you have screwed up, perhaps it's you the one who hasn't got a clue about what a democracy is/should be.

            1. itzman

              Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

              A big difference is that the Remain side did it by legal means and telling -mostly- the truth, while the other...

              If you truly believe that I feel unbelievably sorry for you.

              May you never lose that innocence...

          2. Jess

            Re: But if you want to believe that the vote was stolen

            Of course it was stolen.

            Targeted lies, illegal levels of spending and an ambiguous question.

            If you believe the vote is sound you don't believe in democracy.

            Either we should be going for the Norway model or there should be a second referendum which actually states leaving the EU & EEA.

            And if it turns out that the vote really is sound, then the result would be the same.

            But you know it isn't, and don't want your preferred result overturned.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Joke

              Re: But if you want to believe that the vote was stolen

              > Either we should be going for the Norway model or there should be a second referendum which actually states leaving the EU & EEA.

              The Norway model would be a mistake - they pay far too much. We should aim for the Switzerland model - as they pay *much* less. :-)

              http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2016/07/20/how-much-do-non-eu-countries-give-up-for-access-to-the-single-market-more-than-brexiteers-will-like/

              1. agw

                Re: But if you want to believe that the vote was stolen

                The "Switzerland model" was the best model. For Switzerland.

                Which is why it's going away, also for Switzerland. It's not sustainable.

                So if someone thought they could get that model, that's even more stupid than thinking to get a completely new special model.

        2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

          "Our only hope is that this error will teach... a few important lessons regarding ... politicians giving easy solutions to complicated issues"

          If that lesson wasn't learned generations ago - and it obviously wasn't - it never will be.

          1. itzman

            Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

            "Our only hope is that this error will teach... a few important lessons regarding ... politicians giving easy solutions to complicated issues"

            If that lesson wasn't learned generations ago - and it obviously wasn't - it never will be.

            Back in the fading days of Apartheid when I worked in a factory NOT surrounded by 10ft high razor wire with 24 x7 armed response guard contracts as a condition of insurance, my Zulu colleague who (when not camping illegally in someone's 'garden boy' house) lived in Soweto told me that the Cuban agitators promised that communism, delivered by the ANC would deliver a 'swimming pool and a Mercedes for every black man'.

            Well a Mercedes for every black man who wants one is a simple matter of acquiring a lethal weapon and stealing one, but swimming pools are not so portable. ...looking at the current water crisis in Cape Town, one can see how magnificently the ANC have delivered on all those promises.

            What every black man has got these days, is electricity that no one pays for and a satellite dish.

            I am not excusing apartheid. Merely pointing out that the alternative chosen has not been a great deal better, and in many cases is a great deal worse.

            Anyone who puts their trust in politicians promises deserves all they get.

            In general all they want is your vote. And they wont love you in the morning.

            What are we leaving? a bunch of corrupt political Cnuts. And no doubt our own corrupt political Cnuts will make a similar mess BUT we at least can sack the bastards.

            Which is why we voted to leave.,

      3. M Mouse

        Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

        OK - Martin-73

        Feel free to call me vile then, as I certainly felt happy when I placed my "leave" vote.

        I had a banner (tied to my trees) torn down by some person(s), who felt that I was not allowed to have an opinion different to them, and that's about as democratic as the way the EU handles some things.

        I would have no hesitation to vote the same way again.

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

          "I would have no hesitation to vote the same way again."

          It hasn't actually happened yet, so at the moment you might say you'd have no hesitation.

          What you might do in the future is a matter for conjecture.

          1. codejunky Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

            @ Doctor Syntax

            "It hasn't actually happened yet, so at the moment you might say you'd have no hesitation."

            At what point does this stop? Feel free to say never, I understand, there is a guy in town with a sign who shouts about the end of the world being now (every week, for at least a year now).

            We were to have a recession the day after the vote, didnt happen. The excuse "we aint done article 50 yet!". Article 50 is served, still no recession. The excuse "we are still in the EU wawawaaaa!". Then we were told its when we leave (I am sure you guys are just awaiting the normal business cycle recession due approx every decade). Then what? What is the next goal post?

            And then we again have the glee of the remainer that the EU do something dumb and childish and you cheers them on. This was apparently done by the EU without asking the experts and without considering the cost of losing potentially a tenth of their registry's easy income to the EU. Woo victory?

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

        OK, Martin-73 but stop the ad-homs.

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

        > lay the blame where it belongs. At the feet of those who voted for brexit. They should never be allowed to forget their part in the economic damage they KNEW would happen. Vile people, every one

        When a referendum is held in Switzerland, for example, the authorities go to great lengths to provide a detailed, unbiased, clear document explaining the pros and cons for and against. For a decision as significant as a country leaving the EU, I would expect such a document to run to at least a hundred pages. Not everyone need read the whole thing, and there is no reason why abridged versions couldn't also be provided, but at least there would be no excuse for not being informed.

        By contrast, the UK provided effectively nothing: a small pamphlet with a few bland statements. The press, instead of calling-out the politicians on this woeful lack of information, or doing their best to fill the gap themselves, chose to behave like jeering morons.

        And you believe that those who voted to leave knew what the consequences would be?

      6. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I'm an European citizen and I hate Brexit and its perpetrators, ...

        Oh dear. That'll be me, then.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Retaliation is the answer

    Obviously EU based companies shouldn't be allowed to own .uk domains after the divorce.

    (This was something else the divorce people didn't bother to tell us about. What's next?)

    1. codejunky Silver badge

      Re: Retaliation is the answer

      @AC

      "Obviously EU based companies shouldn't be allowed to own .uk domains after the divorce."

      Why not? Its easy money and it flows into the country. Just because the EU doesnt want UK money supporting EU jobs because their little feelings got hurt doesnt mean we need to be as stupid. If they want to throw rocks in their own harbour thats fine, it doesnt mean we should do it to ours (its not a good idea).

    2. LeeH

      Re: Retaliation is the answer

      No, no, no, we should charge them 'the special' rate.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Retaliation is the answer

        Try registering a .ie domain if you don't have a legal entity or are not resident in Ireland.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Worthless tld anyway.

    I can't name one big online site sitting on an .EU that isn't some sort of quango EU department...

    Just get your 301 redirects in place now to your .uk

    There better be no concessions made for this junk.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    looks like

    Its time for UK to do the same with co.uk sub-domains as well...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: looks like

      not just co.uk but anything .uk

      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        Re: looks like

        Indeed. I have long believed that an internet service should not (*) use a TLD that does not indicate a legal jurisdiction that its owner can be sued in. To operate out of a .uk name if you can't be sued in a UK court is to mis-represent who you are and an angry customer might well reckon that it had been done with fraudulent intent.

        (* Note that I advance this idea as a legal option, not a technical one. Actually making it impossible for "foreigners" to expose services through a particular TLD is quite hard and probably requires Chinese levels of arm-twisting. Merely making it "evidence of malicious intent" and "grounds for kicking out when we notice you doing it" on the other hand is easy.)

  18. pɹɐʍoɔ snoɯʎuouɐ
    Flame

    Transition what?

    This sort of reporting really yanks my chain..... The eu saying they are going to pull the plug on .eu registrants in the uk in march 2019.. But where in the report does it say that this is entirely against the terms of the transition period.

    Next year, we officially leave the EU. but there is a transition period afterwards where everything stays the same to give everyone time to adjust and to switch to the new rules, because right now we don't actually know what the new rules are going to be...

    so saying the EU are going to pull the plug on .eu TLDs is just scaremongering. its pathetic and i thought el reg was above that... (oh wait).. and the EU actually threatening it is total bulshit and its this sort of bullying that prompted me to vote leave. I do some trade in Europe with my business, and yes, its going to affect that when we leave, how its going to be affected I don't know, but I will wait and see.

    1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Transition what?

      You do realise that there is no agreed transition period/deal yet, right?

      "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed", remember?

    2. nsld

      Re: Transition what?

      The transition is when we are outside the EU but bound by the rules.

      As we will be outside the EU we don't qualify under the rules we will be bound by.

      1. itzman

        Re: Transition what?

        If we are bound by the rules we haven't left the EU.

        BRINO

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    register now...

    I may just register a few .eu TDL's while I can, and if they do cancel them 365 days from now, I will take great pleasure in kicking up a massive shit storm when they breach the terms of the EU withdrawal transition period.

    1. Tom 7

      Re: register now...

      I think you will find any contract you sign for an .eu domain will already have riders in there to allow them to do what they want with their TLD.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Manchild, will you ever win? (Spoiler- the answer's "No").

        Keep your facts out of here!

        After AC has "taken great pleasure in kicking up a massive shit storm", the EU will be so shamed by the awesome power of his negative PR that it'll see the error of its ways and give the United Kingdom endless cake that we can both have *and* eat.

        (I'm totally *not* visualising this as some delusions-of-grandeur manchild kicking up a tantrum and screaming thinking they'll get their own way while everyone ignores them or thinks "what a pillock").

  20. frank ly

    read the fine print

    "... without submitting the dispute to any extrajudicial settlement of conflicts."

    What about a judicial settlement? Probably expensive, I know.

  21. pɹɐʍoɔ snoɯʎuouɐ

    Business oppertunity.

    Set up an office in Europe to be a europiean address for people outside of the EU who need a .eu tdl

  22. Pangasinan Philippines
    Stop

    Not EU? - Declare a new continent

    UK should declare itself a new continent.

    Stops all arguments about 'are we in or out?' (depends).

    Lets have a .imp TLD which would be shorthand for IMPERADOR a new continent.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

      We could call it "Atlantis".

      (Plenty of jokes for the remoaners to use there).

      I voted out, I am not a racist and I am not an octogenarian; for far too long the UK government has been blaming the EU for its own bad governance; once we are out of the EU they wont have this excuse and (hopefully), people will start to realise what a bunch of money grubbing little shits ALL the politicians are, and vote them out of office.

      That and the fact that we were one of the few EU countries to actually FOLLOW the rules; the French, Germans, Spanish, Greeks, Polish etc; all regularly give the rules the middle finger, yet nothing gets done to pull them into line.

      It was Bulgaria that broke the camels back for me; they were given BILLIONS in EU aid to modernise their farming systems; they spent it all on ski resorts instead.

      Instead of that money being declared as used fraudulently, the EU amended the aid agreement.

      This .eu story is just another example of EUcrats being spiteful; nothing new then.

      1. deive

        Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

        "for far too long the UK government has been blaming the EU for its own bad governance; once we are out of the EU they wont have this excuse and (hopefully), people will start to realise what a bunch of money grubbing little shits ALL the politicians are, and vote them out of office."

        This is the first (and so far only) argument that I agree with and can believe for exiting.

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

          "This is the first (and so far only) argument that I agree with and can believe for exiting."

          OK, so what happens in an election following Brexit? You're presented with a ballot paper with a list of politicians' names on it. You have a choice of voting for one of them or not voting at all. Even if the general public chooses not to vote the politicians will vote for themselves and so will a few family or friends (or vote for one of the other politicians if they want to express personal animosities).

          How does converting every constituency into a rotten borough vote all politicians out of office?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

            It is time for new parties.

            Go and form one. "The Brentford Peoples Collective Against White Male Supremacists"?

            Promise free houses, like Clegg did with education. That will probably get you elected. People are stupid enough to vote for anything that sounds good even if its completely impossible. Look how many labour governments we have had since WWII....

            Then you can sit and be an R Sole on a fat salary and a fat bottom and do bugger all.

      2. Richard 12 Silver badge

        Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

        While very true, that's very much in the realm of proboscis removal.

        DEFRA are indeed the reason why so many farmers are in the shit, that little piece of crap Farage not bothering to turn up to meetings is why fishing quotas are poor...

        Lots of examples. I'm sure you can come up with hundreds.

        However, EU regs also act to protect you from the UK government.

        They're why your employer can't work you into the ground, why you have any privacy rights at all...

        Hundreds of examples.

        Remove that brake, and Reese Mogg will have your kidneys for dinner and give you a daily whipping.

      3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

        "remoaners"

        ...and unless you are happy to be identified as one of the galloping Brexiteers, you should stop using an insulting term for everyone who happens to hold different views to you.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

          I am PROUD to be identified as one of the galloping Brexiteers

          1. Dave Schofield

            Re: Not EU? - Declare a new continent

            >I am PROUD to be identified as one of the galloping Brexiteers

            But not proud enough to not hide behind AC?

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Alternative TLD

    Is .fu available?

  24. Snar

    At least

    We will get our blue passports...which really were black...But fuck it, lets just wave a flag as our ship sinks.

    Happy days.

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: At least

      technically a so-very-dark-blue-as-to-appear-black but nowhere like the blue we are likely to get.

      At one level switching to 'blue' passports will be a useful thing. At European entry points the border control will see us coming at a distance and be able to put on a sympathetic so-you-went-through-all-that-for-a-different-colour-piece-of-card face.

      1. VinceH

        Re: At least

        Time to start practising the "I know, I know - but I voted to remain" shrug with which to respond.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: At least

      What's worse than scum wanting to pretend it's still the pre-Suez 1950s over such bullshit trivialities at the minor expense of the future of the UK is that it's all based on a lie anyway (#); we could easily have kept our blue passports if we'd wanted to, but chose not to do so of our *own* volition.

      (#) Oddly, much like the "£350m for the NHS" claim, which Farage all but admitted the day after the vote.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: At least

        "Oddly, much like the "£350m for the NHS" claim, which Farage all but admitted the day after the vote."

        Yes if they took the correct net figure it would have been £160 million a week for the NHS. Doesn't really change the point though. We pay the EU a lot more than they give us back.

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: At least

      "We will get our blue passports[*}..."

      [*} made in France

  25. Odin2001

    They're clearly forgetting their own citizens rights deal. It's all 4 freedoms not cherry picking

  26. John Sager

    Plenty of venom still

    Lots of venom in these comments, so Brexit is still a very sore point for some.

    As far as .eu goes, I guess, as Mr Worstall says, their gaff, their rules. It does seem a bit petty though to threaten to cancel them all next March. I would be quite happy with no new ones from UK and possibly no renewals.

    However it's all of a piece with the notion, almost a religion in the Commission, that EU is a very important symbol of the underlying dogma, and wishing to leave is heretical. Hence the excommunication. At least we don't have the Brussels Inquisition yet

    1. MonkeyCee

      Re: Plenty of venom still

      "Lots of venom in these comments, so Brexit is still a very sore point for some."

      Well, I live and work in the EU as a EU citizen of the UK.

      Despite assurances from both sides* there still has not been an agreement on citizens rights. You know, those very fundamental things that should be pretty easy to agree on. So I don't know whether I'll be allowed to stay in my home (despite owning it) with my wife and son. When a potential employer asks if I can commit to a five year stretch of work, I can't honestly tell them I can, since it would involve working in several EU countries.

      And no-one can help me. All advice I get is "we have to wait and see what happens in the negotiations" which is just plain scary. Every time there is a published agreement, the UK politicians rush to explain how when they agreed that black is black, that what they actually meant was that black was not white, and any suggestion that black is black is just balderdash.

      The whole Irish question has the same insanity going on. There are *only* four solutions that currently exist:

      1. The UK is in the single market and customs union, situation remains the same as today.

      2. The UK is in the customs union, but not the single market. There is a border in Northern Ireland for people, but goods can pass.

      3. The UK is not in the customs union, but NI is (and possibly the single market), there is a hard border at the Irish Sea

      4. The UK is not in the customs union, there is a hard border between NI and Eire.

      This is pretty typical choices for brexit, the EU will support what Dublin wants and regards the other probems as being an internal UK issue. 1 would be like the current situation, albeit with everyone a bit pissy about it. 4 is probably not acceptable to EIre or the UK due to the Good Friday agreement. 2 is also possibly not going to fly if Eire says no. 3 is not acceptable to the DUP, and thus the government majority.

      So it's all shitty choices for the UK government. So they've agreed to 3, unless a magic fifth option presents itself. They've signed an agreement to 3 in fact. But all they are claiming is that the fifth option is what is going to happen.

      So yes, many of us who are having their lives turned upside down over this are still sore about it. Because the pain hasn't started yet, it's just been kicked down the road. Follow that up with leave voters telling us how in the future it'll all be amazing**, yet still don't have an answer to any of the important questions.

      In case you get the wrong impression, I'm not the biggest fan of the EU. It's government, and all the crap that entails. However, it's often the only thing that stands between me and getting fucked by a national government.

      * the EU is generally sticking up for people in my situation, which is somewhat reassuring

      ** in the EU, now that the UK won't be able to use it to push it's unpopular domestic legislation through as directives

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Plenty of venom still

        @MonkeyCEE

        Agreed (and up-voted for good measure)

        I have been told by the company currently employing me that they will need proof that I am a lawful resident and worker of the country where I reside once Brexit comes into effect. To this day, I cannot prove anything. Ok, a year to go ... but, crikey, can they not just settle that ? Oh, nooo, UK wants to leverage that for other deals ... thanks, guyz.

      3. Outer mongolian custard monster from outer space (honest)

        Re: Plenty of venom still

        MonkeyCee, upvoted also. Summarises the situation precisely for me also.

        I come on here, comment on security stuff because that's my speciality, yet when the words "brexit" or it seems a article by Kieran arrives, there's this big flood of new usernames and anon posters. And the usual names who only ever comment on brexit stuff (Phil O, Leadswinger etc).

        I should just not bother reading anything brexit related on el reg, which Ive decided to do hereon (though I'm going to hit submit for one last time). Easier to just move on I guess, and thats my entire attitude to brexit now, when they accept my citizenship application that puts me beyond expecting some politicians to do the right thing I'll be able to do that.

        1. itzman

          Re: Plenty of venom still

          Yep. Its well orchestrated astroturfing

          Designed to make anyone who doest support brexit feel in a small minority.

          It is conscious manipulation of the nations political consciousness by a small group of seemingly well paid astroturfers

          Why do they feel they need to do that?

          When the truth is not good enough, tell lies.

          Brexit may be bad for Britain, but its unbelievably worse for the EU. 30% of their gross income GONE if its no deal. 30% of their export market at a serious disadvantage if there is no deal.

          There are trillions of losses at stake within the EU purlieu. That's why they spent a billion or so on the remain campaign.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: . There are *only* four solutions that currently exist:

        But what will actually happen is 4, except that the hard border will be purely theoretical and won't exist on the ground.

      5. Lomax

        Re: Plenty of venom still

        @MonkeyCee: I feel your pain; not much fun being an EU citizen living in the UK either, which I've done for the last 20 years. I have two businesses registered here too, and own multiple .co.uk domains. Despite repeated promises from the UK govt conditions a year from now remain opaque. Consequently I have no choice but to make plans for leaving. At least I'll still have access to the remaining 27.

    2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Plenty of venom still

      "Brexit is still a very sore point for some."

      Not half as sore as it's going to get.

    3. itzman

      Re: Plenty of venom still

      At least we don't have the Brussels Inquisition yet

      WE have had it for years.

      You have to pass it to get a job anywhere in the public sector,

  27. mark l 2 Silver badge

    My suggestion for anyone who has an EU domain that wants to continue to use it after Brexit is to get a PO box / maildrop address in an EU country and update your registration details to that before the changes come in. I agree its a bit of a crappy reaction from the EU but if you have a built your business online presence around the domain name it will be the easiest way of continuing without having to change the domain name.

    These big multinationals that have 'offices' in Ireland, Netherlands, Isle of Man etc don't actually have physical offices with staff there 99% of the time. Its just a mailbox at a virtual office provider that they pay to receive their mail then forward it onto their actual offices. No one is going to go knocking on the door of the registration address to see if anyone is actually there, worst case scenario they will send a letter by snailmail which you will need to enter an activation code online, which you would still receive from your mailbox address.

  28. Dieter Haussmann

    .eu out to denote Europe the continent not European Union (which will no longer exist by the end of 2021 anyway - you read it here first)

    1. Tom 7

      Re .eu out

      there's already one for that - 404.

  29. Stuart Grout

    Who ever visits .eu domains?

    As a fairly average net user I can safely say that I haven't visited a .eu site in the past year, which is a far back as my logs go.

    I have however visited numerous .fr and .de which I trust more than a site hiding behind a .EU where you have little idea who you are dealing with.

  30. skswales

    So much for EU citizens' rights then...

    Demand the right for EU citizens to move to, and stay in, the UK, and can't then register a .eu domain?

  31. Fihart

    Small minded.

    There does seem to be an element of spite in some of the EU's recent pronouncements. I guess no good turn (World War 2) goes unpunished.

    However, perhaps we can look forward to www.something.sco, eng, wa and ni.

  32. pleb

    So if they are taking their ball home...

    EU? Ironic that they continue to use the English name for the organisation. Surely after we leave they should be denied that privilege and be forced to change the TLD to .UE, or whatever language they can agree upon from within their own pot. Or, erm, does the common concept of Grandfather rights seem relevant here?

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Colin Miller

      Re: So if they are taking their ball home...

      The UK isn't the only EU member-state who has English as an official language.

    3. SVV

      Re: So if they are taking their ball home...

      Croatian: Europska unija

      Czech: Evropská unie

      Dutch: Europese Unie

      Finnish: Euroopan unioni

      German: Europäische Union

      Hungarian: Európai Unió

      Slovak: Európska únia

      Slovene: Evropska unija

      Swedish: Europeiska unionen

      Now THAT'S irony for you.....

  33. JakeMS
    Meh

    Not too bothered..

    To be honest, I'm not too fussed about losing our .EU domain. All it has ever done is redirected to our .co.uk one anyway (as does the .com/.uk/.net etc).

    Guess it's just one less expense. That's how I see it anyway. The majority of people in the UK when writing company url's will first think ".co.uk" followed by ".com" and then any of the others like .org etc.

    1. JimC

      Re: Not too bothered..

      One might almost wonder, though, if there has been a significant contribution to someone's funds from www.imacybersquatter.eu, who fancy the idea of having all these nice active domains to use to host link farms, malware and other dubious content...

  34. Stoke the atom furnaces

    One more thing.

    Chalk this up as another thing that VoteLeave kept very quiet about during the referendum campaign.

    1. John Sager

      Re: One more thing.

      I don't suppose Vote Leave gave it a thought, or the Remain campaign for that matter. It wouldn't have affected the vote one iota.

      There will be plenty of 2nd order effects like this, but we'll just work through them.

  35. Mad Jack
    Joke

    Eire Nationals?

    Interested to know how this would play if the registrant is an Eire National domiciled in the UK?

  36. LeeH

    Another Friendly Gesture from the EU

    I saw this new diktat coming ages ago because it is in the small print of the license that .eu registrants must be resident in the EU or have a physical EU business presence (something like that). Surprised people are shocked by it.

    As to why people bought them I can answer from a web developer's perspective. The .eu ccTLD has been offered at basement prices frequently by registrars. Some of us developers registered them simply because they were cheap when registered and useful to use as staging domains that would receive very very little traffic (.eu not being popular and all that). Similar story for .info and other TLDs. We can use sub domains and host files etc... but a cheap domain has its benefits.

    Seeing this coming I disabled auto renewal of my .eu domains just before this ruling was pronounced. I really don't care about my .eu domains.

    I do think it is a petty decision. I feel for those who invested in .eu domains and spent thousands or millions in traffic generation for their .eu domains but maybe they can sue the EU for damages. I'm sure there will be a regulation that allows the EU to be taken to court.

    I won't be sad to see EU bureaucrats getting ramroded up in Brugge with one of their many flag poles. Their pettiness is beyond measure. The apparatus of the EU could do with some s**t cleaning.

  37. BeerTokens

    Headline should read .eu saves uk £3000000 a year post brexit

    It's not about facts but how you spin them!

  38. bish

    Meh

    They're just taking back control. It's entirely ridiculous and utterly petty, but then, that's Brexit.

  39. Tubz Silver badge

    Good luck getting any cash back from an EU doman registrtaion, I bet they have a keep the cash clause !

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You miss the point.

      Annual renewal is around £10 p.a. per domain, there are about 300,000 domains so that makes £3million that Brits won't be able to remit to the EU registry. But in any case the .eu TLD is a total irrelevance, I expect 99% of the .eu domains registered to uk businesses/individuals actually 301 redirect to the corresponding .co.uk

      This is a petty act by a failed organisation, the rats are leaving a sinking ship and surely that is the rational thing to do (whether a rat or not).

  40. Joerg

    The EU mafia .. they are dumb as hell!

    The EU mafia .. the dumbest ever.

    You can buy domains of any country from any country.. and they ban the UK from owning .eu domains ? WHAT ?

    So the US should ban anyone not living in the US owning a .com domain perhaps ? And so on ?

    1. LeeH

      Re: The EU mafia .. they are dumb as hell!

      You won't know this unless you regsiter domains regularly, but:

      1) .com is a gTLD with 'com' representing commercial, not restricted to the US. The US has a ccTLD of .us.

      2) There are a couple of nations/regions with ccTLDs that restrict registrations to only persons, businesses and entities with a physical presence within the region the ccTLD represents. I can't recall which regions have such restrictions but have seen it in the past when registering domains.

      3) .org, .biz, .edu and .gov, for example, similarly have (or previously had) restrictions about who and/or what can register them.

      As I said in an earlier comment, I think the EU's ((over)re)action is petty but I understand the EU's take on it.

      It is petty because they had a discussion about whether or not to deregister .eu domains in UK hands post Brexit. Had there not been a meeting about this and a decision made based on current registration restrictions, or had there been a broader conversation over opening .eu registrations to persons and entities outside of the EU then it would not have been considered petty.

      The fact a meeting to discuss this matter was held at all shows how petty and bureaucratic the EU is. The EU is a sham.

      1. Roland6 Silver badge

        Re: The EU mafia .. they are dumb as hell!

        Re: You won't know this unless you regsiter domains regularly, but:

        Whilst many are going on and on about ccTLD's, we shouldn't forget about second level domains (SLDs) that have rules about what sorts of organisations can use them:

        .ltd.uk

        .plc.uk

        .ac.uk

        .gov.uk

        .net.uk

        .org.uk

        .mod.uk

        .mil.uk

        ,nhs.uk

        .police.uk

        .nic.uk

        .sch.uk

        Naturally, if your organisation ceases to qualify, Nominet(UK) has the right to terminate your registration ...

  41. Whit.I.Are

    I love it

    I love the bitching about Brexit. Brexiteers think that remoaners are a bunch of w@nkers. Remainers think that Brexiteers are a bunch of w@nkers. So, democratically speaking, that makes all of us a bunch of w@nkers - it must be so, coz we voted for it!

    Meanwhile while we all blame each other for this f*cking mess, this country is going further and further down the toilet - NHS, education, defence, law and order, public transport, you name it, it's shit, always has been shit and it's getting shittier by the day.

    So keep on arguing, if only for my amusement.

    1. Dave 15

      Re: I love it

      Yup, the country is going down the toilet BECAUSE of being in the EU. It has got progressively worse since we joined - the trade deficit, unemployment, debt all getting worse because the idiots in the civil service want to get their jollies and back pocket handouts without giving a shit about this country, and the europeans hate us and all we have been so do their best to destroy us.

      Frankly May and her cabinet should be hung as traitors along with most of the civil service for failing to obey the democratic will of the people

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who would have thought

    Just another example of how the EU misuses the power that it has. So damn glad we are leaving.

  43. caitlin.bestler

    Not in the spirit of other decisions.

    In the same way that UK and EU citizens already residing in the other domain will not have to pack their bags in exactly one year the obvious solution would have been to stop accepting *new* registration requests from UK citizens, but to allow already registered .eu domains to remain.

    If I had been a UK citizen I would definitely have voted to Remain, but the EU is just being petty here.

  44. mgrds

    I'm not sure why this is news. Europes rules have always been clear on this. Nothing is changing except our status of no longer being an EU member It may be possible to negotiate for continued access to those domains - but clearly our Brexit negotiators have done nothing about that yet. Endless internal wrangling and in fighting and delay in the government, while at the same time insisting on a hard fast Brexit without extended transition - means there are shedloads of places where we wil lose our privileges by default. The EU could change there rules to include us with Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway who can access EU domains - but we have to ask for it first.. And of course, the pugilistic language of much Brexit discourse will mean the EU won't want to give anything away outside of the negotiations. It will put its own members first. As we take back our own sovereignty we have to act as a sovereign nation and negotiate with the EU - not just expect to be spoon fed if we cry enough anymore!

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The dump actually started with .uk domains

    Interestingly, you mention the grandfathering of .co.uk domains into .uk as an example, but you omit to note how these rules were recently quietly changed to exclude EU entities. Under the previous rules, any EU entity could register a .co.uk domain, and then take the equivalent .uk domain.

    1. LeeH

      Re: The dump actually started with .uk domains

      I have a few .co.uk domains. I didn't know registrants were grandfathered into .uk domains. Who do I complain to?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The dump actually started with .uk domains

        "Who do I complain to?"

        Your registrar who should have told you about your right to them and how long they were reserved for? Mine did.

        1. LeeH

          Re: The dump actually started with .uk domains

          Thank you.

  46. Nick Leaton

    "As a result of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, a holder of a domain name does no longer fulfil the general eligibility criteria... the Registry for .eu will be entitled to revoke such domain name on its own initiative and without submitting the dispute to any extrajudicial settlement of conflicts."

    ================

    So lets see. Dual nationality. Irish and UK. What's the EU going to do?

    Hasn't it worked out EU nationals live in the UK and will do after Brexit?

    Expect lots of court cases.

  47. JohnG

    Pro-EU impact

    Whilst there are a few Leave supporting websites using .eu domains, it seems likely that many of those affected will be Remain supporting, pro-EU organisations.

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The linked document actually says...

    No longer eligible to register or renew.

    (NOT: cancel as soon as leave is official )

  49. GrapeBunch

    Chips & Stakes

    Give them enough years of stasis, and even bureaucrats can become creative. They just created a bargaining chip, favourable only to EU, where there was no chip before.

    What's the closest thing to .eu ? Why .fu, of course. I foresee some creative DNS-ing and address translation.

    UK needs more new bargaining chips. What could the UK dump on Brussels, something that everybody would normally be thankful that they did?

    1. Hans 1
      Coat

      Re: Chips & Stakes

      Give them enough years of stasis, and even bureaucrats can become creative.

      Short answer: as a Brit, you have absolutely no say when it comes to surveillance, your opinion does not even count.

      Long answer

      You do not like the Stasi ? Sad, really, since you are aware of the snoopers charter, May's brainfart, right ? Well, the ECJ was telling the UK off about that, as you can read in news from years ago ... we do not have any of that scale surveillance in other EU countries. Well, we are all snooped upon from the 5 eyes installations on UK ground, thank you very much ... I guess that once you will have left we will be taking special care of the UK on those grounds ... it will get bloody, we could not before as UK was a member ... I think it would be wise to dismantle them before Brexit comes into affect. Nobody wants a 500 million neighbour pissed off at your doorstep, thought so!

      Next, you are gonna pull the democracy BS, and as a Brit, you have absolutely no say on that, House of Lards, anyone ? Right ... Britain is stuck in the 18th century, politically ...

  50. Charles Smith

    Payback

    To own a .co.uk or .uk domain you should of course be a person domiciled in the UK or a business registered in the UK. In future this will help us distinguish EU companies masquerading as a UK company. To be honest once we've left the EU, why would anyone in the UK want a .eu domain other than for nostalgia. It's a bit like wanting a .zw domain.

  51. Grumpy Guts

    Assuming reciprocity, I presume EU individuals and companies (VW, Mercedes, AEG, etc.) will have their .co.uk domains cancelled...

    I guess we can also look forward to a few million cars in the UK having to replace their EU number plates...

  52. Smoking Man

    Brexit means Brexit.

    Simple as that. You want it, so you may get it.

    Rejoin with your colonists over the pond, get a .com domain or whatever.

    Get real and stop whining.

  53. bbott

    such a trivial subject, such stupid comments

    I have a .eu domain, I live in tenerife, so in the EU and I voted for Brexit.

    If I need to I'll register a new domain, when I voted for Brexit I knew it might mean future difficulties for me, but the future of the UK and my grandchildren was more important.

    Why is it that you can't behave like rational human beings, just get on with life and if you want to know what it's really like for pensioners and under 30s trying to get a job in the EU then do some homework.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: such a trivial subject, such stupid comments

      >If I need to I'll register a new domain, when I voted for Brexit I knew it might mean future difficulties for me, but the future of the UK and my grandchildren was more important.

      But not important enough for you to live in the UK.

  54. bertiefox

    So what happens to our ten year old business on which we depend?

    We have an .eu domain and website, established for ten years or more, and on which our French gites business utterly depends. So what happens to us?

    Our domain registration is through the British internet hosting company which hosts our website, though we are resident in France where we have lived for 15 years. In fact, we will very shortly be getting French citizenship!

    Not only would this affect our website with its ten year history of links and contacts which would be irreplaceable, effectively ruining our business and us in the process, but we have large numbers of domain based email addresses, distributed to friends, colleagues, businesses and even banks and investment companies.

    This move by the EU is utterly CRAZY. Just what are we supposed to do. And WHY is the first we have heard about this? How can there be a public consultation when the holders of the EU domains are not even contacted?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So what happens to our ten year old business on which we depend?

      If you have a French address all you have to do is to transfer your registration to an EU domiciled registrar - https://eurid.eu/en/my-eu/#nav_transfer

  55. Miss Lincolnshire

    361 days until we exit and.......

    .................Johnny Foreigner still hasn't realised that we are British, exceptional and better than them.

    It's almost as though we are a medium sized nation under the mistaken impression that we are a big nation that gets to be in charge of everything isn't it?

    Who'd have guessed?

    1. Nano nano

      Re: 361 days until we exit and.......

      Well, we were pretty much that as an EU member ...

    2. Dave 15

      Re: 361 days until we exit and.......

      Depends how you measure size and what you are comparing against.

      In surface area we are pretty small... probably near the bottom of the league.

      In terms of economy we are near the top - within the top 10, now I know that includes the over inflated house prices but most countries include their own over inflated property in their measure. Now do you take a cut off point of say 75% of the biggest economy to make your 'medium size' or do you take a % band in the whole list... almost regardless we still class as big

      In terms of might of arms we really have let things slip, primarily because we think the states will ride to our aid (er... we clearly didnt learn much from the Falklands or the Americans active hostility to Suez, or indeed the fact that a large portion of Americans hate the Brits so much they funded the IRA and used WW1 and WW2 as a way of attempting our destruction). However although with our armed forces in their current pathetically impoverished state we can do little we would still be able to delver a fairly unpleasant nuclear based sting to someone)

      I do contend though that all in this makes us a large nation about to take charge in a good number of areas.

  56. Trollslayer

    Another bargaining chip

    Typical.

  57. Slx

    You're leaving ... Leave and stop moaning!

    Despite all the abusive terms like "remoaners" all I see is a group of commentators who think they should leave the EU, yet have absolutely everything remain exactly how it was.

    There are consequences to massive structural changes like this. The UK is leaving the world's largest and the most complex, entirely voluntary and peacefully created intercountry organisation that has ever existed.

    The consequences aren't "punishment", they’re reality. Unfortunately, reality isn't a strong point amongst tabloid writers (I'm hesitant to use the term journalists), Brexiteers, Trump supporters and so on. Everything's about rhetoric and spin and private ownership of facts, that are just rebranded opinions.

    1. John Stirling

      Leave/Remain rinse repeat.

      I voted remain, because I felt that the second world war was a bad thing, and Europe doesn't have a great track record of not starting wars over any 50 year period in non politically contiguous geopolitical entities (we have definitely been part of Europe in that respect). I suspect our exit will indeed doom the EU as suggested by many exit voters, and I suspect that will lead to adventurous activities in Europe which will be very unpleasant. I sincerely hope I'm utterly wrong.

      I respect the exit voters who voted as they did for morally defensible, and aspirational reasons, even though I believe their hopes are trumped by not dying in our (our being the human species) millions. I respect the remain voters who believe in the EU as a flawed but ultimately worthwhile entity.

      I really don't respect the invective or pejorative comments which simply seem to suggest to me that my concerns about how people react to one another when not bound together by common goals are valid.

      This nonsense about EU domains seems pretty small beer which will be sorted in one of several ways, probably including an extended transitional period for those where it is an issue, but who for some reason cannot use an EU geographically located registrar. It seems a simple fix - and it is only that most people will ignore it until their website stops working that makes it even marginally inconvenient.

      1. Dave 15

        Re: Leave/Remain rinse repeat.

        No european country has the forces capable of going to war. We all have Americans stationed on our soil, its not to protect us from the Russians but to remind us who holds the military muscle now - largely because they took all of Britains money while we protected the world from Hitler. The American navy represents over half the whole worlds fleet of naval vessels as one example of why we will do what they say. There will be no european war because we have a head master standing over us all with a huge cane, one that wont hurt but will completely remove our entire backside if we dare to speak loudly to each other

    2. Dave 15

      Re: You're leaving ... Leave and stop moaning!

      Nothing abusive in the phrases used for those who want an exit? Typical comment.

      And NO, I dont want everything to remain as it is. A massive bill for a huge and growing trade imbalance, companies moving to eastern europe to enjoy the subsidies we provide while there is no barrier to sending the goods back to us (Range Rover production is but the most recent of many that have been going on since long before any talk of leaving). A massive labour supply for a dwindling number of jobs means that today I am being offered software contracts at rates of only 75% of the rate I was earning 20 years ago. Yes thats right, considerably LESS despite inflation. And I am not the only one to see wages fall, ask anyone in manufacturing, building etc. etc.

      Yes, I am looking for a massive structural change, a change back to a situation where WE are in control of our destiny and able to make decisions about investment to ensure we have the capability to employ our people and pay them well. Look at China and Brazil, both growing with massive tariff fences to protect their home producers backed up by rules requiring people to set up factories in country to access their markets (Brazils is smaller than ours), these countries are getting factories set up, investments made, people employed and exports growing - a very different situation to our own. Not everyone can have a degree in maths and a job gambling on stocks and shares, we need real people doing real jobs producing real things and making (not hording) real money.

      We are voluntarily part of a very large outfit, but one that seems intent on ensuring German manufacturing supremacy and French farming sloth before amalgamating all of us into a united states of europe. This is not what the bulk of the British want and even those frightened or deluded into voting remain first in '75 and then again in the last vote seem to not understand where we are going and the damage already done and the worst that is to come from staying in.

      I have no issue with having immigration when I am no longer paying unemployment benefits to 20% of the working age population, seeing another 30% supported by tax credits because their employer wont pay a decent wage and they can only find part time work, never mind the bloated 30% who work for the government mainly in made up jobs that arent needed. In Victorian times a much smaller Whitehall ran an empire covering the globe, now they cant run London without help.

      We DO make decent products and have shown repeatedly that we can make world beating ones, yet the Europeans will NOT buy from us, I am in Sweden at the moment, their government buys alcohol for Sweden (pubs dont go direct to breweries), ALL the IPA in Sweden is imported from America, flown over the country that invented the ale and produces the best IPA in the world, thats just how much our 'friends' support or want us. While we invest billions a year in Merc and BMW for our Police, Ambulance etc etc the Germans do not have 1 single foreign vehicle purchased by any government department at all. Balanced trade? Same rules? Reasonable? No to all.

      Yes we will still travel to the EU, they have visa free access for 3 month holidays to a number of outsid countries, 99.9% of Brits dont go to the EU for more than 2 weeks a year. Yes they will still visit us because we will do the same. There will still be immigration in both directions because neither side is going to block visa applications from people coming to work and contribute in areas where the skills are required, this is no different to skilled people moving to the US, Australia or frankly anywhere else. Yes we will still buy their stuff (all be it that a tariff will be charged so we will buy less), they will still buy most of the paltry amounts they buy despite tariffs. Because we are setting up new we can set (and later adjust) our tariffs to suit our needs, so high on cars and maybe lower on some food , raw material etc.

      We will be able to negotiate trade deals for ourselves, we are a huge market, we can set those deals up so that we have neutral or maybe positive trade balances with the other countries because we dont have to worry about German cars, French cheese and Italian wine. We can set government purchasing policy to exclude buying from abroad (quite legal if we are open about it). Some of those we in theory can do in the EU, most not. That which we can do we are told by our spineless foreign loving British hating politicians (after all wouldnt you rather an expenses paid working trip - cough cough - to a nice southern european beech resort to a wet day in Glasgow with that Scottish woman ranting in your ear) that it is not possible because of EU rules to invest in Rover, LDV, ERF et al, that the French, Germans, Italians and Spanish governments invest in their industry doesnt appear to disprove them, but not having the EU rules to hide behind we will be able to insist on what is best for the country .

  58. Dick Emery

    They seem a little salty

    It must be that 'English' channel. Vive L'Angleterre!

  59. StuntMisanthrope

    I'd like to change the frequency.

    thelistofdemands.eu #puttingthestickabout #yourstacknotmycode

  60. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Vacated EU Domains

    Let's say I have a popular domain called for the sake of discussion blockchain.eu which I will be forced to rescind if I cannot prove entitlement to it.

    What rights do I have if some entity that does have entitlement to register comes along and does precisely that when my entitlement lapses?

    (I see that I've picked at random a parked domain being offered at $$$. If the current owner is not resident in the future eu region they will need to dispose of it pretty sharpish).

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Vacated EU Domains

      >What rights do I have if some entity that does have entitlement to register comes along and does precisely that when my entitlement lapses?

      Zero! For exactly the same reasons why simply holding blockchain.eu gives you no rights over any domain names of the form blockchain.<TLD>

      Even within the UK, holding blockchain.co.uk doesn't give you any rights over blockchain.uk, although the .co.uk domain holders were offered first refusal on the .uk name.

      1. TheVogon

        Re: Vacated EU Domains

        "although the .co.uk domain holders were offered first refusal on the .uk name."

        So a right to take it then.

        1. Roland6 Silver badge

          Re: Vacated EU Domains

          >So a right to take it then.

          Well only if you registered your unique (.co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .plc.uk or .ltd.uk) domain prior to 08:00hrs on 10 June 2014. However, you only have until the 10 June 2019 to exercise your right and claim the reserved domain.

  61. Bill Stewart

    Set up .eu.uk in a hurry?

    Nominet could set up .eu.uk in a hurry, to give UK companies that used to be .eu a transition location, in case the similar .co.uk name is already taken. They could either be nice and do it free for a short time, or charge a nominal ten pounds a year or a soak-the-businesses few hundred pounds. And they could either be precise and let you register if you show your .eu registration and UK address, or sloppy and just zone-transfer the whole .eu to start off, not worrying if you're really a UK company.

    (Or whoever owns .eu.co.uk could do that, if they wanted.)

  62. Nano nano

    Brexitosity

    No doubt the Brexiters will proclaim this is all Fear, we can change "frictionlessly" to .commonwealth or .britishempire ...

  63. Floydian Slip
    Mushroom

    DOT EU IS Going

    Probably not a great surprise - in fact some of us have already looked at the consequences, implications and solutions.

    https://dot-eu-is-going.uk/

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