Was there some sort of assurance that nothing was going to happen when the contract expired, and this expectation was changed? Freenom hasn't been registering domains since Jan 1.

It's seeming a little odd to me that this is catching people with their pants down.

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[–] rhythmicotter@midwest.social 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

It's very irregular for a country to take back top level domains. Even refusing to renew registrations is unheard of.

ML, tk, etc broke ground by offering free country code TLDs starting 10 years ago. This was possible until Meta sued Freenom this year for issuing domains to the majority of all sources phishing traffic.

Basically, the internet got used to getting TLDs for free, and that was great, except the issuers of said domains (African countries with not a lot of money) have no obligation and no incentive to keep doing that forever. Especially after it became a liability.

[–] DmMacniel@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago

Is it? Because pretty much every ccTLD is owned by their given country. They have all rights over it, but some registrars took it to themselves to issue those domains on the countries' behalf, that probably didn't even know about it way back.

Free TLDs may have been great for hobbyists, but also great for spammers, phishers and other unlawful activities. And as usual, the bad bunch killed a good thing.

If you want a good TLD, use a generic one (org, name, space, etc.) or use a ccTLD that represented by your own country.

[–] LazaroFilm@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Wouldn’t be surprised if they had a monetary incentive provided by a company cough Meta to do so.

Edit: or leaked user info as an incentive.

[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Basically, the internet got used to getting TLDs for free

That's a very general statement.