In the UK a new law passed at then end of last year and which will take effect this summer effect domain names.
The Digital Economy Bill, contains a provision that gives the Britsh Government the ability to intervene in domain name registration disputes and registrations.
Under the Bill Secretary of State may intervene in “.uk” domain name registration where there has been a misuse of domain name registration procedures and the registry has failed to deal adequately with the abuse.
The Bill enables the Secretary of State to intervene in cases where the registry has been unable to satisfactorily resolve a domain name registration dispute or where “further measures are deemed to necessary for the wider public benefit.”
Under the Bill abuses in which the Secretary of State may intervene include cybersquating, misleading domain names or spamming.
Presently “.uk” domain registrations and disputes are handled and resolved by Nominet, making the industry self-regulating.
I don’t own any .Uk domains, but if you do you need to check out this bill in detail and see how it may effect you.
Quote from the explanatory notes [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldbills/001/en/10001x-a.htm]
“87. Possible examples of unfair practices would be cyber-squatting (that is, registering domain names which are of economic value to other people and then charging those people high prices to buy them or use them for their own purposes); drop-catching (that is, waiting until the expiry date for an existing registered domain name, snatching it and then charging the previous owner to buy it back); or pressure sales tactics.
88. Possible examples of the misuse of internet domain names would be registering intentionally misleading domain names, perhaps using them for phishing (a form of internet fraud); distributing malware or spyware, which are computer viruses; spamming; intentionally misleading the public into believing there is a connection between the domain name owner and other organisations (or that another organisation owns or authorises the use of the domain name).”
Michael, I don’t believe this bill has passed:
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/digitaleconomy.html
It was proposed last year, and I recall writing a story about it because it could inadvertently affect other registries such as .tel. However, they are proposing an amendment that would specifically exclude Telnic.
Andrew
Any .UK investors need to pay attention to it.
The carve out for .Tel isn’t going to comfort domainers.
JS
# 87 is some pretty scary stuff
That’s “affect”. Twice. Hugs!
and many think .cn is dicey? sounds like uk is about to trump .cn with this nonsense. potential major blow to uk values.
Best.
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I can see government intervention coming in the U.S. as well.
Back in 2007 (as a newb), I predicted that if the industry didn’t clean itself up, eventual government intervention was inevitable.
It looks as though this has started in the UK.
Some scary stuff.
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I’m just saying the bill hasn’t passed yet. There’s still time for people to urge their politicians to make changes.
“I can see government intervention coming in the U.S. as well.”
As long as they regulate .us which is USA cctld it’s OK. Gtld’s however are GLOBAL extensions and should not be regulated by any particular government.
Andrew
I for one don’t live in the UK and none of the people making that decision is “my politician”, I don’t vote for them and they don’t give a crap about my opinion.
I’m sure there are a lot of domain investors in the US and outside the UK in that extension that can’t influence the politicians.
Also I read a blog post today from the UK that made it sound that it already passed.
I don’t live in the UK and don’t have .UK domain but if any investors do they better keep on top of this
UPDATE
This bill is now before Parliament
http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=ec980ca2-659b-41fd-9d14-2d3cc743d718