Nominet Consults On Criminal Takedowns

Nominet, the UK domain name registry, is asking the nation how best to respond to a proposal from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) to block sites believed to be used for criminal activities.

For the first time, the not-for-profit organisation responsible for the .uk Internet infrastructure will formally consult stakeholders as it drafts the changes to its policy document. This will become standard practice for every important issue facing the organisation in future, Nominet has said in a press release.

Broad Consultation On Key Issues

The new policy-making process will be open to the broadest-possible group of British stakeholders, Nominet said. It will allow more people to become involved in the formation of issue groups that will define the .uk generic top-level domain (gTLD) policies. These groups will discuss specific issues and provide policy recommendations to Nominet’s board for consideration.

In this way, the organisations hopes to make the process more democratic and reflect more accurately the wishes of the stakeholder community.

Domain registrars and Internet service providers (ISPs) are coming under greater pressure to act against sites involved in child pornography and other “criminal” activities.

In some instances, the WikiLeaks case being a good example, a request to block a site would be contentious and organisations like Nominet want to ensure that the policy enforced does not go against the wishes of the majority. The devil is in the detail in such changes and Nominet wants to exorcise these hidden problems as far as possible.

The consultative policy process is being managed by the Nominet Secretariat and all interested parties can sign up for updates.

The current call for comments relates to the fact that, unlike some other organisations, Nominet has no contractual content relating to criminal activity on the Internet. SOCA proposes that a site should be suspended if it is identified by bodies, such as the UK Law Enforcement Agency, as possibly being used to commit a crime.

Blocking requests are expected

In an atmosphere where the UK government is considering cyber security and the US authorities are contemplating the introduction of the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010, it is likely that blocking requests will increase in the future. To discuss these issues, the “Dealing with domain names used in connection with criminal activity” issue group is being formed to hammer out a policy statement if the group decides that the SOCA request is fair and reasonable.

Nominet has called for interested parties to come forward by February 23 for consideration as members of the issue group. Selection will be completed by March 2 and the first meeting of the group will take place later next month.

A second policy change is also being mooted for public discussion. The Expired Domain Tasting group will consider the process by which expired domain names are not only parked by the registrar as soon as they expire but are also auctioned off instead of becoming available on the open market.

This is another contentious issue and the way .uk domains are handled is more complicated in the .uk gTLD than in many other regions. Several changes would need to be made and the issue group will consider all of the challenges involved.