(From the official itch account on Bluesky) I kid you not, @itch.io has been taken down by Funko of "Funko Pop" because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain

(Continuation via Twitter) Also, for transparency, we did take the disputed page down as soon as we got the notice because it's not worth fighting stuff like that. Regardless, our registrar's automated system likely kicked to disable the domain since no one read our confirmation of removal

you can't make this up

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Can someone explain? How does Funko have such ability?

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's mainly a failure on the part of the register, if it's automatically banning websites based on number of reports there's a strong possibility this is going to keep happening, potentially for nefarious reasons.

This actually does happen a bit from time to time, it's a bit of a weak point in the internet infrastructure.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It's definitely a huge failure on the registrar part, but I wouldn't say "mainly", because it makes it sound like it's normal for a company to send random blanket claims in all directions just in case something sticks.

I'm sure it's not what you meant, but there definitely needs to be some sort of penalty for bad actors (including mass unsupervised automated claims).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Well it kind of was what I was getting at in a way, though distribution of fault is pretty debatable. I think the majority of fault lies with the company putting a failable automated system into production for something this, but I can't help but wonder if there is potential for abuse if this is all it takes for the registrar to delist a legitimate business. I guess I tend to come from the perspective that security is primarily on the service provider, because everyone using the service can and will either abuse or break shit in a spectacular fashion.

Penalities would be a good start I think, like you mentioned. Business sometimes can only understand the language of money after all. It's possible this is the exception to a system that functions quite well behind the scenes also.

I also appreciate the benefit of the doubt on this, it's refreshing compared to the usual internet instant rage.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

It seems like it was a DMCA takedown request. Anyone can submit these to content hosters and the hoster has to follow the process, which typically means removing the content until it can be proven that it isnt violating copyright. The problem isn't the takedown request, but that it was given to itch.io's registrar instead of itch.io itself. It'd be like asking to takedown youtube from the web because someone reposted your video on it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Unmonitored automated systems can do a lot of damage.

Although maybe register important business domains with an actual large company you've heard of and not "iwantmyname".