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France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

arstechnica.com

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Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#31

Post by mixologic »

themaninthedark wrote: post #24
mercurial wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also known as "enabling domain name squatters".

Perhaps so. But how would you have the issue resolved? Should the domain go to the most well known party? The product a reasonable person expects to find when they type in the address? What happens if I register icar.com for product that syncs your car to the cloud. Then Apple decides they want to compete with Elon Musk, with their new Icar. Who will get the domain? What happens when a large company decides to rebran…

Wow. Nissan.com has a dropdown labled "people's opinions" with 505 pages. Thats.. one way to build a navigation.

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#32

Post by cft »

indigodaddy wrote: post #20
dade_ wrote: post #3

Web.com transfers the france.com they registered for their customer (since 1994) to the government of France without explanation or warning. "on March 12, 2018, Web.com abruptly transferred ownership of the domain to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The company did so without any formal notification to Frydman and no compensation." It is actually just another example proving the warning we have all known/given…

Yeah, I think as soon as he heard any sort of rumblings from those French entities, he would have been smart to transfer away from web.com to a real/first-party registrar. Potentially they would have been less likely to just hand over the domain.

Can you recommend such a registrar? I also had bad experience with Network Solutions / web.com. They seem to blur the distinction between being a hosting company and a domain registrar.

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#33

Post by geezerjay »

Shinkei wrote: post #26
pavlov wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.gov is only available to the United States government. There's no way for France to get france.gov.

I edited my post. I meant to say that governments have assigned/protected names like .fr, .de, etc.

No, they have not. Each country can manage country-code top level donains, but that's just it: a specific top-level domain they are free to use. That doesn't negate them the right of using other domains, just like if you buy a domain name you don't lose the right of using a second or a third one.

It boggles the mind how anyone in their right mind can believe that a cyber-squatter shoud somehow have the right to hold the domain name of a sovereign nation for ransom.

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#34

Post by phereford »

I know we are talking about this in the digital realm, but this also exists in the property realm too. Imminent Domain is used be governments to acquire land, generally below its actual valution, for building of infrastructure.

I wonder if this concept will ever make it to the digital world.

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#35

Post by xkcd-sucks »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #28
lkrubner wrote: post #7

The courts, in the USA, have found that domain names are not property, instead they are like telephone numbers: ---------------- The court found that under the California tariffs, rules, and regulations applicable to public utilities, and under the terms of the contracts, the debtors had no “proprietary right in the number.” https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=0a84b472-c89f... Also: ...under Virginia law,…

We may argue that domain names are different from phone numbers because they are recognisable. They carry trademarks, and unlike phone numbers, are often the way we remember of an internet facing person or company. Also, the practical consequences of losing a phone number are much tamer than that of losing a domain name. I'm not sure the courts would hold the same conclusions for domain names and phone numbers. While…

So the domain owner should have registered a business called "France.com"

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#36

Post by rrdharan »

phereford wrote: post #34

I know we are talking about this in the digital realm, but this also exists in the property realm too. Imminent Domain is used be governments to acquire land, generally below its actual valution, for building of infrastructure. I wonder if this concept will ever make it to the digital world.

Minor nit I believe you mean Eminent Domain. Imminent Domain somehow sounds even scarier (and would be a great band name).

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#37

Post by gattafrettolosa »

geezerjay wrote: post #33
Shinkei wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I edited my post. I meant to say that governments have assigned/protected names like .fr, .de, etc.

No, they have not. Each country can manage country-code top level donains, but that's just it: a specific top-level domain they are free to use. That doesn't negate them the right of using other domains, just like if you buy a domain name you don't lose the right of using a second or a third one. It boggles the mind how anyone in their right mind can believe that a cyber-squatter shoud somehow have the right to hold…

Individuals should have more rights and more freedoms than nations.

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#38

Post by gaius »

mercurial wrote: post #14
gaius wrote: post #8

My memory is hazy now but I recall in the mid-90s Gap (the clothing company) suing Genesis Access Point (an ISP) over gap.com and winning. First come first served is the only fair way to run domain names.

Also known as "enabling domain name squatters".

Ermm how exactly was an Internet company named Genesis Access Point domain-squatting a clothing company that didn’t even know what the internet was at the time they bought it? Did you think this one through?

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#39

Post by [deleted] »

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #35
loup-vaillant wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We may argue that domain names are different from phone numbers because they are recognisable. They carry trademarks, and unlike phone numbers, are often the way we remember of an internet facing person or company. Also, the practical consequences of losing a phone number are much tamer than that of losing a domain name. I'm not sure the courts would hold the same conclusions for domain names and phone numbers. While…

So the domain owner should have registered a business called "France.com"

[deleted]

Re: France seizes france.com from man who's had it since 1994

#40

Post by jkaplowitz »

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #35
loup-vaillant wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We may argue that domain names are different from phone numbers because they are recognisable. They carry trademarks, and unlike phone numbers, are often the way we remember of an internet facing person or company. Also, the practical consequences of losing a phone number are much tamer than that of losing a domain name. I'm not sure the courts would hold the same conclusions for domain names and phone numbers. While…

So the domain owner should have registered a business called "France.com"

He did operate such a business. From the article: "For over 20 years, Frydman built up a business (also known as France.com) [...]."

I don't think we've routinely required ".com" to be part of the business branding of .com domain owners, but Ars Technica says he had that.

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