Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension • Hacker News Board

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#61

Post by sanskritical » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:03 PM UTC

flipped wrote: post #51

sanskritical wrote: post #17

I recommend Anna's Archive get a Nostr account. Once they finally have a solid court order to seize domains, generally the rate at which they get seized accelerates greatly. Nostr is the only decentralized manner (no, Mastodon/fediverse is dependent on domain names, which are getting seized by courts in relation to this -- it is not decentralized at all when it comes down to it) that people can reliably use to have a…

Better have a .onion. It's almost impossible to seize and you control the keys. YOU ARE THE OWNER, not some for-profit registrar. Onions should be the default, it's secure (you own the keys), decentralized and far better than relying on CAs for encryption.

Tor and I2P are great technologies. ZLibrary, for example, runs an excellent Tor hidden service and it is usually the most reliable way to access news from the site. However, this did not remain true for a while when two of the operators were arrested. Tor and I2P require you to have infrastructure online. The point of "check Wikipedia for news" is that you can have something persist even if you do not have your servers online. Nostr is the best technology available in this category.

> It's almost impossible to seize and you control the keys. YOU ARE THE OWNER

This also remains true for Nostr.

But furthermore, as an operator of several Tor hidden services corresponding to public web services. I can assure you that many users, especially those on mobile devices, will stop using your service in large numbers if you direct them to a hidden service. iPhones don't allow background processes without special dispensation from Apple so the Tor/I2P circuit dies every time someone switches between apps. It's also an extreme development challenge, as they don't allow subprocesses either, and then of course your app will have to abide by the GPL at least for I2P (nonstarter for some). "Just ruin your experience for all iOS users and switch to the GPL for all your client code" is not a realistic suggestion. Not that Annas-Archive has a their own client app.

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#62

Post by supermatt » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:04 PM UTC

sanskritical wrote: post #56

supermatt wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly doubt nostr’s suitability as a petabyte DFS/CDN.

This is a discussion on whether or not it is better to use it to announce new domain names post-suspension than Wikipedia, not if it can sustain petabytes of data.

Given the archives use of BT, probably better to just use BEP-44 on mainline DHT if you want to store an arbitrary address somewhere - or use something like IPNS, or .onion as others have mentioned.

As nostr relies on gossip, there is no guarantee you will have access to latest address.

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#63

Post by dmantis » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:05 PM UTC

sanskritical wrote: post #59

dmantis wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tor and I2P is a better fit. Nostr is very weird. It sells itself as decentralized, but basically all frontends provide same several relays. When those relays get subpoenas and remove your resource, you're done. You can use some unknown relays to publish, but who's gonna use them as clients outside of the defaults? It's effectively designed for shadowbans.

Many clients automatically seek, or prompt an action in 1 click to retrieve content from additional relays that a Nostr pubkey announces if said content is referenced but not available on already subscribed relays. As a publisher, you announce what relays you are currently publishing to in your identity metadata. So even if you don't specifically subscribe to a smaller relay, you can still access the content on it. T…

Where does the nostr pubkey announce it? Let's say you are banned from main default relays. Is there any side channel?

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#64

Post by m00dy » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

flipped wrote: post #53

pkal wrote: post #36

Some sites like Anna's Archive have .onion site for the Tor network, and others do not. Is there a considerable downside (DDOS?) to providing access to their site by those means?

I have seen Tor network take a hit when there's fight between darknet marketplaces. It's certainly an issue.

not anymore. Most recent onion sites have enabled proof-of-work mechanism in place, so DDoS attacks are now expensive to carry out.

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#65

Post by flipped » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

sanskritical wrote: post #61

flipped wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better have a .onion. It's almost impossible to seize and you control the keys. YOU ARE THE OWNER, not some for-profit registrar. Onions should be the default, it's secure (you own the keys), decentralized and far better than relying on CAs for encryption.

Tor and I2P are great technologies. ZLibrary, for example, runs an excellent Tor hidden service and it is usually the most reliable way to access news from the site. However, this did not remain true for a while when two of the operators were arrested. Tor and I2P require you to have infrastructure online. The point of "check Wikipedia for news" is that you can have something persist even if you do not have your serv…

Operational excellence is of course dependent on the operator but I would still think it's far easier to bring up onion as it's disposable and works behind NAT'ed VMs which makes it further easy to run.

I don't know anything about Nostr since it does not focus on anonymity and isn't as old as Tor (more than 2 decades of research and application), I wouldn't rely on Nostr for anything serious.

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#66

Post by quietsegfault » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:10 PM UTC

flipped wrote: post #51

sanskritical wrote: post #17

I recommend Anna's Archive get a Nostr account. Once they finally have a solid court order to seize domains, generally the rate at which they get seized accelerates greatly. Nostr is the only decentralized manner (no, Mastodon/fediverse is dependent on domain names, which are getting seized by courts in relation to this -- it is not decentralized at all when it comes down to it) that people can reliably use to have a…

Better have a .onion. It's almost impossible to seize and you control the keys. YOU ARE THE OWNER, not some for-profit registrar. Onions should be the default, it's secure (you own the keys), decentralized and far better than relying on CAs for encryption.

I’ll never use Tor because I have no idea what the Tor client is actually doing. Is it enabling someone to use my network connection for cybercrime without my knowledge? No thanks.

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#67

Post by jeroenhd » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:10 PM UTC

ishanjain28 wrote: post #25

hliyan wrote: post #13

Is this an abuse of the ServerHold status? Was this the same mechanism used to delist a Gaza video archive recently? > This status code is set by your domain's Registry Operator. Your domain is not activated in the DNS. > If you provided delegation information (name servers), this status may indicate an issue with your domain that needs resolution. If so, you should contact your registrar to request more information.…

Yes. Genocide.live is under clientHold status by namecheap and they are trying to transfer it out.

I don't know much about the story or that site, but I can just open it from my end? Whois information also doesn't seem to show any special status.

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#68

Post by dmantis » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:11 PM UTC

quietsegfault wrote: post #66

flipped wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better have a .onion. It's almost impossible to seize and you control the keys. YOU ARE THE OWNER, not some for-profit registrar. Onions should be the default, it's secure (you own the keys), decentralized and far better than relying on CAs for encryption.

I’ll never use Tor because I have no idea what the Tor client is actually doing. Is it enabling someone to use my network connection for cybercrime without my knowledge? No thanks.

Clients are never used as relays in TOR. You never route anyone's traffic until you setup it yourself. And you can't miss that part, and it's not a default, and requires additional configuration.

Also relays (not exit nodes) are pretty safe to operate and running them is a decent thing, supporting free internet instead of a corporate ads machine, let's not frame it as a "crime support".

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#69

Post by reorder9695 » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:13 PM UTC

quietsegfault wrote: post #66

flipped wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better have a .onion. It's almost impossible to seize and you control the keys. YOU ARE THE OWNER, not some for-profit registrar. Onions should be the default, it's secure (you own the keys), decentralized and far better than relying on CAs for encryption.

I’ll never use Tor because I have no idea what the Tor client is actually doing. Is it enabling someone to use my network connection for cybercrime without my knowledge? No thanks.

Using Tor browser and running a Tor node are different things, by using the browser you are not contributing to the network, you're just accessing it. If you're worried about someone using your network connection for cybercrime you shouldn't run a Tor node (although there is significantly less risk with a relay node), but you shouldn't worry about using regular Tor.

Re: Anna's Archive loses .org domain after surprise suspension

#70

Post by jbstack » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 1:13 PM UTC

arowthway wrote: post #42

Excuse my FUD, but are they really non-profit as described in FAQ? I find it a little hard to believe given how aggressive they are at marketing the paid version.

As someone who runs a charity, it surprises me how often people equate "non-profit" with "doesn't get paid" or "does everything for free". Non-profits still need money, they just don't use that money to make profit that is paid to shareholders. Instead, they use the money to further the stated objectives of the organisation.

NB: I'm not trying to imply anything about whether Anna's Archive is non-profit or not. Just that the fact that it aggressively tries to raise money isn't a relevant factor.