Friday, May 17, 2013

PSA: For greater protection from a domain seizure, consider choosing .IS and/or .TO ccTLDs for your Bitcoin-related websites.

Uncle Sam says "If it ends in .com, it’s seizable."

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/feds-seize-foreign-sites/  [wired.com]


Why are .IS and .TO great ccTLDs for your Bitcoin website?


.IS: The .is ccTLD has consistently rated as one of the best run ccTLDs out there. In this piece of news item on the ISNIC web site:


https://www.isnic.is/en/news/view?id=203  [isnic.is]


That basically says that they will take down domains only if one of three conditions is met:


1. Non payment of registration fees

2. If the whois records and registration information is incorrect (the are very strict about the technical setup of domains in whois and dns)
3. If the cops show up with a court order (has never happened in 25 years of the ccTLD

.TO: Tonga is another tiny island nation - .to - but the registry has a web portal for direct registration (so you don't have to use a registrar which may bow to pressure) and they have a very private WHOIS policy. Almost no details can be gleaned from putting accurate information as the registrant contact.


I would recommend any ccTLD that allows direct registration through an HTTPS session. Avoid the registrar middlemen for ultimate control over your domain. However, you will be responsible for manually renewing your domain! And be sure to read the registry's fine print for how they may revoke a domain. Ensure the contact data is accurate so you can get any email / snail mail correspondence. This will help you defend your domain in case of a dispute, and help prevent against unauthorized transfers of the domain. Make sure the email account on record is not easily hijacked.

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