Nominet Proposes Formal .UK Domain Deletion Policy for Criminal Activity

in Registrant Registrar Registry by David Goldstein — November 30, 2010 03:17 | no comments

Nominet, the registry for .UK domain names, is considering changing its Terms and Conditions to allow it to delete domain names that are used in connection with any activity that would constitute an offence under UK Criminal law.

The proposed policy changes are being discussed by an issue group that will discuss whether proposals should be put forward to change Nominet’s Terms and Conditions to give a contractual basis to suspend domains where Nominet has reasonable grounds to believe they are being used to commit a crime (e.g. a request from an identified UK Law Enforcement Agency).

The request comes about following the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) tabling a plan for Nominet to be given the domain closing power, BBC News reported.

Currently there is no clear obligation on Nominet in its registrant Terms and Conditions that a domain name should not be used in connection with any activity that would constitute an offence under UK criminal law. This is in contrast to many registrars and a number of registries including .ORG and .BIZ.

Nominet believes that formal policy advice is needed to underpin proposals for a change to the Terms and Conditions.

Currently law enforcement agencies expect that Nominet will respond quickly to reasonable requests to suspend domain names being used in association with criminal activity and Nominet has been working with them in response to formal requests. An example of this cooperation saw over 1200 domain names being suspended because they were used for criminal activity following a request from the Police Central eCrime Unit in December 2009.

In the brief for the issue group, it states that action is expected to be taken by the registrar in the first instance. Action at the registry level would only be required if the incident was urgent or the registrar failed to comply.

Comments on this issue are being sought by Nominet. To do so email policy@nominet.org.uk and include the title “Dealing with domain names used in connection with criminal activity” in the subject line. Comments will be fed into the Issue Group and may be referenced.

More information can be found at www.nominet.org.uk/policy/issuegroups/current/domainsassociatedwithcrime