news GoDaddy booted AR15.com, cracking down on what they don't believe in.

anantj said:

The issue, *IMO*, isn't that the website sold guns. Look at the post from JB lions. This is the issue! They are organizing another potential riot/insurrection/attack whatever you wanna call it on the website's forums. Therein lies the problem. This does violate GD's ToS and they have the right to boot the domain. IANAL, if not done, they might get into legal trouble for supporting activity.

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That graphic is being passed around on other sites, have no idea if it was on that one. I said:

"If stuff like this was getting passed around, some companies are trying to distance themselves."

If. And as someone pointed out, if it's a legal march, then it's legal. I don't know the laws of each state. I was checking on some other sites and they're telling people not to go, it's a setup from the left to get things popping off and then take your guns. Others are clearly amping things up, trying to start stuff.

BTW others sites like GAB aren't some free for all. Owner said:

"I should add that outside agitators occasionally post awful threats etc in violation of our TOS, a phenomenon known as "fedposting." We happily provide lawbreakers' data to law enforcement when subpoenaed, so if abusing our site is your idea of a fun time you should think twice."

That's what some former Gabbers didn't like, some left. They want no communication with the Feds.

Many want a free for all, which again, isn't going to happen on mainstream platforms.

See this part - "violation of our TOS". Gab has that as well.

Godaddy boots
Amazon boots
Epik boots
Gab boots
etc.

They all have a TOS that they enforce at times.

bmugford said:

What if no registrar will let you register a domain? ICANN should really have some sort of registrar of last resort, that covers this type of situation.

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Why? So what happens if this registrar or last resort allows domains that contain blatantly illegal content (think sexual assault, child porn, malware etc. etc.). Is that okay?

bmugford said:

What if Verisign, as a monopoly, wants to block your registration?

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Yes, verisign is a monopoly. But there are other options for folks - alternate TLDs, TOS/darkweb etc.

bmugford said:

Some businesses that are essentially monopolies, can't discriminate like normal private companies can, for instance regular utilities. If there is only (1) electric company in your area, they are essentially a monopoly and have limited options to reject customers.

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Godaddy is not the only registrar and verisign not the only registry. Neither of them can or should be classified as a utility

-AR- said:

Isn't ICANN responsible for that?

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Actually no. ICANN isn't responsible for "policing" the internet - Very simplistic but there's much more to this than a simple they are not responsible for policing the internet.

-AR- said:

why not give them noticed to move.

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They were given a notice (24 hours)

anantj said:

Why? So what happens if this registrar or last resort allows domains that contain blatantly illegal content (think sexual assault, child porn, malware etc. etc.). Is that okay?

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Things that are against the law, are still against the law.

I am talking about situations involving controversy, not actual objective criminal activity.

Brad

JB Lions said:

"If stuff like this was getting passed around, some companies are trying to distance themselves."

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Fair enough. I've read elsewhere (Can't find the link rn) of related content which is what resulted in this action by GD. No official statement from GD yet so can't state with 100% certainty.

JB Lions said:

Many want a free for all, which again, isn't going to happen on mainstream platforms.

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Exactly. This is pretty much impossible, especially across countries, each with their own laws and cultures.

anantj said:

They were given a notice (24 hours)

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That's not a reasonable amount of time to move. 30 days would have been more reasonable.

bmugford said:

Things that are against the law, are still against the law.

I am talking about situations involving controversy, more than actual objective crimes.

Brad

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Yes. what if the content violates the law in another country? Or the country where the registrar is based out or and the service itself is based in another country?

-AR- said:

That's not a reasonable amount of time to move. 30 days would have been more reasonable.

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A domain can be moved out in under 1 hour. GD allows fast/explicit transfer approval. It IS a reasonable amount of time for a domain movement. Hosting is a different beast but we're not talking about it here

anantj said:

Godaddy is not the only registrar and verisign not the only registry. Neither of them can or should be classified as a utility

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I agree that neither company is a utility in itself, at the same time you could argue that "registrars" are a utility as a collective.

What if I have an existing website that does not break the law, but for some reason no registrar will allow me to registrar it?

This is more of a thought experiment, because it seems unlikely that if you are not breaking laws that you would be in a scenario where no registrar will take your registration.

Brad

anantj said:

Yes. what if the content violates the law in another country? Or the country where the registrar is based out or and the service itself is based in another country?

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Yes, that is a valid point as well as every country will have different laws. This is certainly a potential grey area.

With different laws, you basically come back to a TOS and are in the same position once again..lol

Almost any decision is going to require some subjectivity, outside the most egregious cases.

Brad

bmugford said:

What if I have an existing website that does not break the law, but for some reason no registrar will allow me to registrar it?

This is more of a though experiment, because it seems unlikely that if you are not breaking laws that you would be in a scenario where no registrar will take your registration.

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The latter is the important point. Do we really think if ALL registrars are booting some content, it is still possible that the content is kosher? And if it really is possible, then a legal challenge to the booting should and can hold up in a court of law as well?

anantj said:

The latter is the important point. Do we really think if ALL registrars are booting some content, it is still possible that the content is kosher? And if it really is possible, then a legal challenge to the booting should and can hold up in a court of law as well?

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Logically, is there a scenario where acceptable content would be rejected from every single registrar? No.

That is why it is a thought experiment. It might have no real world application.

Brad

-AR- said:

How is it Godaddy's job to police the internet? Isn't ICANN responsible for that? I hope people learn from this and move their domains away from Godaddy. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to host or do business with a client that you do not like however given that they were already on the platform why not give them noticed to move.

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And the thing is most people do not even know what a registrar is, they understand the hosting part but the domain registration part goes over the heads of most common folk. They might check out the hosting service and question them or ask them to block something but the registrar is usually a last resort.

Personally I think GoDaddy is taking a risk now, can I register the domain gunsdontkillpeopledo.whatever or do I have to worry godaddy will give me the boot?

So now we have to worry with every registration if some dickhead at godaddy agrees with what we registered. As long as the domain is registerable and not restricted godaddy is hired to do a job and they need to get into the business of doing their job and checking their censoring attitude at the door.

Let the people and the courts judge the website and let godaddy do the job at hand.

Personally I do not want to be judged by the flavour of the day sitting behind a desk at godaddy!!!

MapleDots said:

And the thing is most people do not even know what a registrar is, they understand the hosting part but the domain registration part goes over the heads of most common folk. They might check out the hosting service and question them or ask them to block something but the registrar is usually a last resort.

Personally I think GoDaddy is taking a risk now, can I register the domain gunsdontkillpeopledo.whatever or do I have to worry godaddy will give me the boot?

So now we have to worry with every registration if some dickhead at godaddy agrees with what we registered. As long as the domain is registerable and not restricted godaddy is hired to do a job and they need to get into the business of doing their job and checking their censoring attitude at the door.

Let the people and the courts judge the website and let godaddy do the job at hand.

Personally I do not want to be judged by the flavour of the day sitting behind a desk at godaddy!!!

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Can liking your comment get them to delete my names? I think we are close to that being the norm.

MapleDots said:

Personally I think GoDaddy is taking a risk now, can I register the domain gunsdontkillpeopledo.whatever or do I have to worry godaddy will give me the boot?

So now we have to worry with every registration if some dickhead at godaddy agrees with what we registered. As long as the domain is registerable and not restricted godaddy is hired to do a job and they need to get into the business of doing their job and checking their censoring attitude at the door.

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I don't think a registrar or a registry should have *any* say in what domains can be registered or not. There are lots of registries with certain domains blocked from registration and it is so frustrating. Like, they have no idea why someone wants to register that domain and they oppose it just because. There is content that is illegal, hateful or outright evil but it's just that, content. Courts and hosting companies can and should deal with that. But a domain is just a name until it's directed to some content. If I register e.g. pedophilia.something, the registrar or the registry has no idea whether I'll use it to promote it, or condemn it, or set up a honeypot to lure and report. They're not the thought police even though they'd like to be.

Friendly reminder that GoDaddy's CEO sits on the New York Times Company Board of Directors.

anantj said:

Personally I do not want to be judged by the flavour of the day sitting behind a desk at godaddy!!!

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Correct, its a very dangerous precedent they have set and I do not think they have really thought through the long term implications. There is nothing wrong with not wanting a certain customers business however reasonable amount of notice is something like 30 days or 90 days not 24 hours.

What if we decide to forward our domains to a cause that Godaddy does not like? Do they get deleted if Godaddy does not like the cause the domain was forwarded to?

I mean what value do domains have when companies like Godaddy decide to delete them by giving 24 hours notice!!?? It's a bit like having your house demolished instantly because you have built an illegal extension....in a normal world you are given notice to rectify the issue by a local authority or government.

From my point of view Godaddy have made a clear statement and that is: "Buy your domains from us, however we think domains are trash and we will treat them like trash and not like an investment"

AR15.com is now at Epik.

-AR- said:

Correct, its a very dangerous precedent they have set and I do not think they have really thought through the long term implications. There is nothing wrong with not wanting a certain customers business however reasonable amount of notice is something like 30 days or 90 days not 24 hours.

What if we decide to forward our domains to a cause that Godaddy does not like? Do they get deleted if Godaddy does not like the cause the domain was forwarded to?

I mean what value do domains have when companies like Godaddy decide to delete them by giving 24 hours notice!!?? It's a bit like having your house demolished instantly because you have built an illegal extension....in a normal world you are given notice to rectify the issue by a local authority or government.

From my point of view Godaddy have made a clear statement and that is: "Buy your domains from us, however we think domains are trash and we will treat them like trash and not like an investment"

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For some reason your quote was attributed to me but it was actually @MapleDots . Not sure why NP linked his comment's quote to me

Ironic morality is spreading like a corona virus in the tech area. The leftist morality actually destroyed more US cities last year, the violent riots damaged several federal buildings and even churches than what happened this January by the so-called right wing "extremists".

@GoDaddy

Won't there be any legal problems for GD?

Exactly!

How many Registrars allow you to initiate and complete inter-registrar domain transfer in 24 hours? Still takes at least 48 hours even when you have authorised/accepted the transfer.

-AR- said:

That's not a reasonable amount of time to move. 30 days would have been more reasonable.

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bulkdomainz said:

Exactly!

How many Registrars allow you to initiate and complete inter-registrar domain transfer in 24 hours? Still takes at least 48 hours even when you have authorised/accepted the transfer.

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I noticed that GoDaddy are slower than ever. Normally with 4L .coms or more valuable names, they will email you to confirm the transfer-away. This used to happen the day after the request was made. Now I received the email three or four days after making the request...

Uniregistry used to allow transfer away after six days, but no longer. I transferred some names away that had been transferred in just before New Year without problem, but some names that had been transferred in in early January were not allowed to transfer out.

Fabulous still allows transfer away without having to wait 60 days. Not sure if Epik still allows it as well or not.

GoDaddy was always an overpriced registrar. It seems to be a good thing that others are drifting away. Everyone is entitled to first amendment in the US, for now...

JB Lions said:

Just heard something on TV, heard AR-15 mentioned. It might be about that armed protest at the 50 state capitols deal. The timing fits. Checking out the forum, some topics came across a little "channy" 4chan, 8chan, whatever chan. Not sure.

If stuff like this was getting passed around, some companies are trying to distance themselves.

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Not sure why you would promote this -- your allegiances are showing @JB Lions .

That event was almost certainly a nonsense psy-op. Thankfully almost nobody showed up. Alt-Tech helped get the word out so that nobody was dumb enough to walk into that trap.

Far-Left extremist John Sullivan was arrested on Jan 6 for his role in the DC Capitol nonsense was very possibly also tied into planning the events at the 50 states capitols.