.UK has been in the news quite a bit lately for a variety of reasons, now the latest headline is the roughly 28,000 domains that Nominet, the operator of .UK has suspended over the course of the year. While this might sound like a lot, the number has actually decreased since last year.
Here’s the scoop:
Over 28,000 .uk domain names were suspended in the last year over reports of criminal activity. Nominet, which is responsible for keeping the .uk internet infrastructure secure, can suspend domains following notification from the police or other law enforcement agencies that the domain is being used for criminal activity.
Domains that are suspended cannot be used as part of website or email addresses.
The number of domains suspended between 1 November 2018 and 31 October 2019 was actually slightly lower than in the previous year — 28,937 compared to 32,813. This represents around 0.22% of the 13 million-plus .uk domains currently registered and was the first time suspensions had fallen since 2014, Nominet said.
Nominet said it had received requests to suspend domains from five different agencies: the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), which co-ordinates requests relating to IP infringements, made 28,606 requests followed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (178), Trading Standards (90), the Financial Conduct Authority (48) and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (31). (Source – ZDNet)
Along with suspending names, Nominet is pretty much printing money when Trademark holders want to get domains back that violate an existing Trademarks.
Fresh from banking a £100m windfall through its controversial dot-UK cash grab, Nominet is now making more money – from firms forced to defend trademarks via the UK registry’s domain name dispute resolution service. (Source – The Register)
So it’s safe to say that it has been a busy year for Nominet and a strange year for .UK. While I know some domain investors are bullish on this extension I personally don’t think I’d touch it with a ten foot pole at this point given all the complexities how it’s being regulated.
What do you think? I want to hear from you, comment and let your voice be heard!
