Live data from Hacker News

Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

nic.eu.org

81–90 of 210 posts

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#81
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not paying taxes on your property is different from not owning something and missing a recurring payment.

Not really. With property taxes, you lease the title to “your” land from the government.

Except that if you don't pay your taxes, they might not take your house.

If you fail to pay your lease then they will reclaim that particular item.

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#82
post #4

> individuals should be able to have and own their own domain names We should probably remember that no-one "owns" a domain, at least not in the traditional sense of ownership.

Ownership is a nebulous concept with many interpretations. I'm guessing your referring to private property (from a capitalist interpretation) as "the traditional sense", in which case domain names are fairly similar: once you acquire the domain, it's reserved for you as long as you pay your dues (just like property taxes for land). If you don't, it will be put back on the market for other people to enjoy. To be clear…

> Ownership is a nebulous concept with many interpretations

It may have become that, but was it always that way, though?

I grew up being pretty clear on the distinction between purchasing a book in a bookshop and borrowing a book from the school or public library.

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#83
post #78
post #4

> individuals should be able to have and own their own domain names We should probably remember that no-one "owns" a domain, at least not in the traditional sense of ownership.

Something something blockchain! I believe for "real" ownership of domain names, a blockchain would actually make sense.

How would the blockchain saying that you "own" a domain make you own it more than currently?

It is impossible for the blockchain to prove anything about anything that originates from outside of that particular blockchain.

This is the reason why wanting to apply blockchain to everything such as land ownership is laughable and shows how little blockchain fanatics understand about the very technology they praise.

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#84
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's a ridiculous cope, they rent the car they do not own it, the bank owns it

By this standard, nobody owns anything: as long as you pay property taxes, you're just renting from the State. I don't entirely disagree with this interpretation: as others have pointed out, whatever you "own" can be quickly expropriated by local powers to build a highway, airport, stadium...

And local powers can be dismantled, or see part of its territory being annexed by an other sovereign power. As we say, nothing lasts forever.

In that regard, ownership is more like "sizing the window in a large enough shape so that all stakeholders are convinced that it will never be required to put special attention on it again, despite ineluctable changes".

Maybe privileges, responsibilities and liability are less delusional terms for that matter.

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#85
post #77
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the site "The main goal of EU.org is to provide free subdomain registration to users or non-profit organizations who cannot afford the fees demanded by some NICs." They don't claim to be issuing domain names at all.

And? Since they're on the public suffix list, they might as well be issuing domains. Subdomains work differently in a browser compared to a domain and since the eu.org stuff is handled as domain by browsers I see no issue describing it as such.

As far as I can tell I can visit eu.org (which redirects) but not .com .

How are browsers handling it differently?

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ownership is a nebulous concept with many interpretations. I'm guessing your referring to private property (from a capitalist interpretation) as "the traditional sense", in which case domain names are fairly similar: once you acquire the domain, it's reserved for you as long as you pay your dues (just like property taxes for land). If you don't, it will be put back on the market for other people to enjoy. To be clear…

> it's reserved for you as long as you pay your dues (just like property taxes for land). If you don't, it will be put back on the market for other people to enjoy. No, rent is not tax.

That's debatable, but in all cases domain name fees is certainly not "rent" in the traditional sense. At least most registries cannot by law/contract take your domain away from you as long as you keep paying your dues. Of course the same applies for rent depending on your local housing regulations: the difference is you cannot undergo serious modifications in an apartment you rent, but you can modify whatever you want in your domain zone. In that sense, domain names are closer to "ownership" than to "rent".

Moreover, as was previously mentioned, domain name fees were previously introduced as administrative fees, not rent. It's a very modern invention that domains should be a profitable field.

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#87
post #71
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Domains, if you check the public suffix list, the eu.org stuff is entered as public suffix, so it counts as a domain like any other to the browser and the eu.org part is just the TLD.

From the site "The main goal of EU.org is to provide free subdomain registration to users or non-profit organizations who cannot afford the fees demanded by some NICs." They don't claim to be issuing domain names at all.

Since the site is the one that made the title, they are inconsistent in how they describe the services.

One way to define a distinction is to look at liability and legal standing. Do users under eu.org have any rights, and if there is abuse, how much legal liability do eu.org have? To take an example, HN users can be kicked out of here at the whims of ycombinator. TLD's usually don't do that and generally require a court decisions before a persons domain can be taken away (assuming fees have been paid).

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#88
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something something blockchain! I believe for "real" ownership of domain names, a blockchain would actually make sense.

How would the blockchain saying that you "own" a domain make you own it more than currently? It is impossible for the blockchain to prove anything about anything that originates from outside of that particular blockchain. This is the reason why wanting to apply blockchain to everything such as land ownership is laughable and shows how little blockchain fanatics understand about the very technology they praise.

When you accidentally lose it (by losing your private keys), it will be impossible for anyone else to get it back for you. In a sense, this will prove to you that you did really own it and no-one else did.

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#89
post #85
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And? Since they're on the public suffix list, they might as well be issuing domains. Subdomains work differently in a browser compared to a domain and since the eu.org stuff is handled as domain by browsers I see no issue describing it as such.

As far as I can tell I can visit eu.org (which redirects) but not .com . How are browsers handling it differently?

eu.org is a public suffix (check the list), which means that every domain below it is treated as it's own seperate security context. Meaning cookies are not shared between domain-a.eu.org and domain-b.eu.org.

If they weren't on the public suffix list, cookies would be shared.

This also affect a myriad of other contexts that the browser applies against the public suffix list.

Re: Eu.org, free domain names since 1996

#90
post #85
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And? Since they're on the public suffix list, they might as well be issuing domains. Subdomains work differently in a browser compared to a domain and since the eu.org stuff is handled as domain by browsers I see no issue describing it as such.

As far as I can tell I can visit eu.org (which redirects) but not .com . How are browsers handling it differently?

Technically "com." or even just "." could include a A record with a website. However browsers tend to strip the last "." and treat empty or names without "." in them as search terms.

There exist people who disapprove of this behavior.

Post reply on HN