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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Is the .to (Tonga) domain completely rogue and should be removed?
On October 1, 1998 at 16:13 [email protected] ([email protected]) wrote: > > Flames aside, I think it's safe to conclude that removing the .to TLD > would have roughly zero effect on spam, yet plenty of negative effect on > the thousands of legitimate users of the TLD. Not clear. Obviously .to is being run in a very unusual way. Among other things, I guess the spammers can instantly sign up new domains for their web sites as fast as .to can take them down (which isn't very fast, but for discussion's sake.) That's quite unusual, and the entire activity seems to have nothing to do with the Kingdom of Tonga or any entitites within that country except inasmuch as they seem to look the other way and probably get some money for it (others have claimed this.) But the proof is in the pudding, ADULTSIGHTS.COM is finding the way the .to domain is being managed very useful to their mass spamming and other criminal (e.g., domain hijacking) activities. Taken togther, I say that's a problem. What should be done about it is yet another question, of course. Also, I'm not sure I agree with your characterization that businesses etc which have registered a Tongan domain, but have no other relationship with Tonga, are "legitimate". They may be banal, harmless, other than what may well be prima facie evidence of intent to defraud by advertising a business etc in a country they don't actually have any presence in, but that doesn't necessarily make the usage "legitimate". I don't think I'd want to be on the wrong side of a court case, even if unfair, with the other side pointing out that I was doing business via a network address in the Kingdom of Tonga, unless I really had a good reason for doing so other than "I thought the name was cute". The law doesn't tend to look kindly on businesses which purposely obfuscate their identity and whereabouts. > > Truly a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water, IMHO. > James Smallacombe PlantageNet, Inc. CEO and Janitor > [email protected] http://3.am > ==================================================================== > ISPF, The Forum for ISPs by ISPs. October 26-28, 1998, Atlanta, GA. > Three days of clues, news, and views from the industry's best and > brightest. http://www.ispf.com/ for information and registration. > ==================================================================== -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | [email protected] | http://www.world.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD The World | Public Access Internet | Since 1989 *oo*
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