Sedo is suspending Ukrainian members for being nearby to Russia

[urfin]

One day I noticed I couldn't sign in to my Sedo account. Writing to support, I've been requested to attach some docs and proof of my residence. So I've uploaded my Ukrainian ID and the recent bill and got the following response:

Hello ***,

Thank you for your email.

The current geopolitical situation in Ukraine has a direct and indirect impact on business relations with Russian and Belarusian business partners as well as partners in Russian controlled areas.

Due to the current situation, we have to inform you that Sedo has suspended trading and parking for domains under .ru and .by. In addition, we are currently unable to serve customers residing in Russia, Russian controlled areas or Belarus, as well as corresponding bank accounts. The affected accounts will be temporarily deactivated.

We ask for your understanding that, due to the present situation, we cannot guarantee payment processing with Russian and Belarusian business partners.

Sedo disapproves of any kind of hate and violence, as well as anything that radically contradicts our corporate values. Therefore, for the sake of the civilians involved, we hope for an early resolution of this conflict.

Best regards,

Your Sedo Team
Security & Compliance

Yeah, that standard email discussed here - https://www.namepros.com/threads/sedo-just-banned-russian-accounts-how-this-is-not-racism.1268481/

I sent a follow-up explaining that I'm a citizen of Ukraine and reside here, but here it is:

Dear ***,

Thank you for your email.

Although we sympathise with your situation, we unfortunately can't consistently monitor the course of the battlefront and adjust it in our system to reflect the current border. For this reason, we had to close the entire region, although not all cities in your oblast were occupied. We, of course, hope that this will remain the case.

If there are any significant changes, we will, of course, inform you about it and unblock your account.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Best regards,

Your Sedo Team
Security & Compliance

@Sedo did I get it right? You're now banning members for some ridiculous matters that never happened? Is that what you claim to be your corporate values?

 

[donnied79]

What a shame, I'm super sad to read this.
I think that Sedo is making a huge and bad mistake.

 

[kaposzta]

SEDO's an idiot. Who the fuck cares about the battlefront? The occupied Ukrainian land is still Ukraine, even if there are Russian troops there. Or SEDO has just acknowledged the Russian occupation? Are they a bunch of idiots or they just simply support Russia in this war? I can't decide which is worse.

 

[Samer]

Sedo is being lazy. Shame on them.
I like to believe in karma.

 

[Sedo]

One day I noticed I couldn't sign in to my Sedo account. Writing to support, I've been requested to attach some docs and proof of my residence. So I've uploaded my Ukrainian ID and the recent bill and got the following response:


Yeah, that standard email discussed here - https://www.namepros.com/threads/sedo-just-banned-russian-accounts-how-this-is-not-racism.1268481/

I sent a follow-up explaining that I'm a citizen of Ukraine and reside here, but here it is:


@Sedo did I get it right? You're now banning members for some ridiculous matters that never happened? Is that what you claim to be your corporate values?

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your post.

We are not able to see the details of your Sedo account so we cannot comment on this in detail. Just as a general response without seeing your exact location. Sedo has found that the ongoing conflict has made domain transactions unreliable. Our security team is checking on a case by case basis, any accounts which they feel may compromise the ability to provide a swift and easy transfer will be blocked.

This is for multiple reasons, sanctions imposed on banks making money transfers extremely slow or impossible, communication issues etc. We are ensuring no further issues can arise and the best way to do so is by discontinuing the transactions/accounts for the time being with those worse affected by potential delays and issues. This is in line with our corporate values, we want to be reliable for buyers and sellers, transfers should be quick and efficient and this is our aim, of course we do not wish this to be a permanent action and hope that the conflict will resolve as quickly and peacefully as possible for all involved so that transactions can get back to normal as quickly as possible.
Any further questions to email [email protected] from the email address with your Sedo account so we can see exactly where you are located.

Best regards,
Your Sedo Team

 

[urfin]

@Sedo, thanks for noticing this thread and replying.

So you disapprove of any kind of hate and violence, so you suspended all Russian and Belarusian accounts.

You do want to be reliable for the majority of buyers and sellers, and thus you have started blocking Ukrainian accounts, as some of the citizens here are being bombed too often to stay healthy and conduct fair business. Right?

As I understand, you don't want to monitor the course of the battlefront, so you have defined your own borders and declared your own sanctioned regions. To my knowledge, Ukraine is not sanctioned by the USA, EU, or any other countries where Sedo may have its official registration. Could you share a list of sanctioned/blocked Ukrainian regions as I didn't find it anywhere on your website?

Referring to bank transfer issues, I have Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Swift, and various e-payment providers officially registered and working. I've been doing business with you since 2011, and now you've just shut down my account without warning.

 

[Tatiana_B]

Greeting from Ukraine! Glory for Ukraine!

@Sedo Right now I'm check my account and my boyfriend acc too - both blocked! Is it joke?


@Sedo Do you support the annexation of Ukraine by Russia?
I am forced to work in the media of Ukraine (because of the situation that happened to me and because now there is nothing to live for since all my domains were stolen by the registrar) and I am very interested in listening to your answer and I have similar situation with name.com - when they use for us sanctions for russians in time when we was be in Mariupol and hiding from bombs by russia. It was be in march-april 2022 so I'm lost all my domain names and future with this great domain names registrar.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/sanctions-for-ukrainians-from-name-com.1268259/ - here is my thread from Mar 7, 2022 and it is closed

the registrar gave us two weeks to transfer domains from them, because the city of Mariupol and the Donetsk region were indicated in our registration data. As if they were not aware that at that time our city was leveled and we could not transfer domains because there was no light, no water or the Internet.


Acquaintances recommend writing a lawsuit and sending it to the registrar name.com and to ICAAN.
Are there lawyers or domain specialists here who can help in filing a lawsuit?

The ruzzians took our homes and relatives from us, and the registrars like Name dot com - took our future! We kept our most valuable domains with them, and where are they now? Sold and owned by other people!


Best Regards
Tatiana

 

[Future Sensors]

@Sedo Right now I'm check my account and my boyfriend acc too - both blocked! Is it joke?

You mean you cannot sign in at all, just like OP of this thread is experiencing?

 

[Future Sensors]

Suddenly blocking logins is quite serious, even if it is communicated as a temporary measure (how long is temporary?).

I do understand that Sedo may be subject to sanctions regulations, requiring them to perform more KYC investigations. But do so in a neat manner, where you can continue to log in and provide any supporting documents. This doesn't feel right.

 

[Tatiana_B]

Yes, I can't . First time I'am was seeing that I can't log in in end of march and today trying to enter with both accounts and can't log in.

But on name.com situation is not as at sedo, they write to me that my account is closed:

As for sedo - I lost nothing there, only they lost two customers who sold our domains. Me and my boyfriend. But the nameDOTcom, they blocked my account that year during the bombing of Mariupol and when I got out of the city, I could not log into the account and lost access to my domains that I bought at auctions and which I planned to implement in case of war.

No one answered my attempts to contact name.com and return my domains during April 2022th and March 2022, except for automatic messages. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that it is necessary to cover this situation in the press, using my additional work, and also plan to create lawsuits with the help of competent lawyers and we will see what will come of it.

In march-april of 2022 - any sanctions of the world don't work for Mariupol because in those time period city is be Ukrainian, and if someone accept sanctions for Mariupol then they accept territorial annexion by ruzzia putlers pigs-crew!


Best Regards
Tatiana

 

[Future Sensors]

The list of EU sanctions is here:

Sanctions adopted following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine​

https://finance.ec.europa.eu/eu-and...ussias-military-aggression-against-ukraine_en

 

[Sutruk]

The list of EU sanctions is here:

Sanctions adopted following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine​

https://finance.ec.europa.eu/eu-and...ussias-military-aggression-against-ukraine_en

So it appears it's not just a Sedo policy. Look at "Restrictions on trade and investments with certain territories".

"The respective Council Regulations identified below are addressed to all individuals, organisations and bodies under EU jurisdiction, for which they create legal obligations."

"In 2022, restrictions on trade and investment were also imposed regarding to the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of Ukraine. The measures therein are very similar to those concerning Crimea and Sevastopol."

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

So it appears it's not just a Sedo policy. Look at "Restrictions on trade and investments with certain territories".

"The respective Council Regulations identified below are addressed to all individuals, organisations and bodies under EU jurisdiction, for which they create legal obligations."

"In 2022, restrictions on trade and investment were also imposed regarding to the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of Ukraine. The measures therein are very similar to those concerning Crimea and Sevastopol."

Thanks for clarifying this. It would be good to see if Sedo confirms this. It's possible, whether one likes it or not, that their hands are being tied by sanctions. If so, the matter may be out of their control.

Either way, it's sad that this situation has arisen. My sympathies to the opening poster on this thread, and all---Russians and Ukrainians--being impacted by the continued war and sanctions.

 

[Future Sensors]

Being able to prove that you live in a Ukrainian controlled area will work out differently for each individual.

As mentioned elsewhere, there are also organizations that —precisely because of the difficult circumstances in a country at war (power failures, no Internet, other things on your mind than your domain names, etc.)— act more leniently.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Being able to prove that you live in a Ukrainian controlled area will work out differently for each individual.

As mentioned elsewhere, there are also organizations that —precisely because of the difficult circumstances in a country at war (power failures, no Internet, other things on your mind than your domain names, etc.)— act more leniently.

So, with the international sanctions in place, the issue does become complicated. Areas of Ukraine, now declared annexed under Russia's control, may have their IP address reassigned to reflect that? And the local ISP's may be the ones that change that designation? Interesting, indeed!

Thanks for the links. It' was good to see that some of the research was in collaboration with the New York Times.

 

[Recons.Com]

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your post.

We are not able to see the details of your Sedo account so we cannot comment on this in detail. Just as a general response without seeing your exact location. Sedo has found that the ongoing conflict has made domain transactions unreliable. Our security team is checking on a case by case basis, any accounts which they feel may compromise the ability to provide a swift and easy transfer will be blocked.

This is for multiple reasons, sanctions imposed on banks making money transfers extremely slow or impossible, communication issues etc. We are ensuring no further issues can arise and the best way to do so is by discontinuing the transactions/accounts for the time being with those worse affected by potential delays and issues. This is in line with our corporate values, we want to be reliable for buyers and sellers, transfers should be quick and efficient and this is our aim, of course we do not wish this to be a permanent action and hope that the conflict will resolve as quickly and peacefully as possible for all involved so that transactions can get back to normal as quickly as possible.
Any further questions to email [email protected] from the email address with your Sedo account so we can see exactly where you are located.

Best regards,
Your Sedo Team

You should be ashamed of yourselves. Punishing the victims of occupation on the ridiculous grounds!!! If you had any moral compass, you'd be finding ways to make it possible and easy to still do business in Ukraine instead of making it prohibitive and forcing more refugees out of the country.

 

[Future Sensors]

Areas of Ukraine, now declared annexed under Russia's control, may have their IP address reassigned to reflect that? And the local ISP's may be the ones that change that designation? Interesting, indeed!

It is being tried. But RIPE NCC is watching closely. A lot of useful info can be found on their website:

The RIPE NCC and Ukraine/Russia​

https://www.ripe.net/participate/member-support/the-ripe-ncc-and-ukraine-russia

 

[tonyk2000]

"In 2022, restrictions on trade and investment were also imposed regarding to the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of Ukraine. The measures therein are very similar to those concerning Crimea and Sevastopol."

I am wondering is Sedo willing to:
1) restore accounts where "country=UA" if the customer is able to prove that (s)he resides in a territory controlled by UA government?
2) restore accounts where original country was UA or RU by changing the account country if so asked? Many Russians and Ukranians, as a matter of fact, leaved their countries. In particular, many ukranians are now in Poland.
@Sedo

 

[Sedo]

Hello,

Our security team is reviewing such accounts and appeals to reopen accounts on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, we kindly request that you reach out to our security team at [email protected] from the email address associated with your Sedo account and explain your individual situation so that our security team can decide if the account can be allowed or not.

Thank you for your understanding.

Your Sedo Team

 

[phaethon]

Well, yeah it's not fair, but who sells on Sedo anyway? Only Twiki lol. What about Afternic, any similar sanctions?

 

[Recons.Com]

Hello,

Our security team is reviewing such accounts and appeals to reopen accounts on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, we kindly request that you reach out to our security team at [email protected] from the email address associated with your Sedo account and explain your individual situation so that our security team can decide if the account can be allowed or not.

Thank you for your understanding.

Your Sedo Team

The transformation from sedo to sedon't.