People's Court

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Mali is taking back .ml, might need to change domain (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Would like for us to get ahead of this instead of having to scramble

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

What exactly is meant with "taking back"? Does that mean only entities connected to Mali will be allowed to use .ml TLDs? I looked through the Lemmy thread, the only sources cited for the whole thing was this, which just sounds like fearmongering about Mali being friendly with Russia, and this article about Gabon intending to delete "millions of domains" after getting the .ga back from Freenom, which cites this (archive link because website didn't load for me) official communique, which says it will "put an end to abusive practices", which I assume would be their stated reason for deleting the TLDs, but doesn't say they will outright delete every TLD or disallow foreign registrations of .ga domains.

Automatic translation of the communique

New international management of the .ga top-level domain

The National Agency for Digital Infrastructures and Frequencies of the Gabonese Republic (ANINF) informs the general public that from Wednesday, June 07, 2023, it will carry out a technical migration relating to the management of the national extension .ga.

This transition responds in particular to two (02) priority issues:

Offer quality services that comply with the reference rules of the registry operator profession;
Put an end to abusive practices, through the will and support of the Gabonese State, which have had a negative impact on the image of the country and its influence on the Internet.

This operation will cause disruptions to .ga holders. in Gabon and internationally. Also, the ANINF Registry wishes to reassure its users that all the necessary measures to promote continuity of service have been taken with the assistance of national authorities and international bodies in the sector.

In addition, several weeks ago the Registry began an accreditation campaign with registrars to ensure the switchover operation and management of the .ga zone according to the highest standards of quality of service and security.

However, Registrars likely to have current .ga holders as customers, as well as customers holding a .ga domain name via the Freenom Operator, are reminded that as of June 6, 2023 the international .ga zone will now be managed by ANINF. Also, the Registry invites them to contact its technical services, via the address www.mon.ga, in order to avoid any inconvenience after this operation.

Ultimately, ANINF recalls that this strategic decision is part of the continuity of its mission to offer its users quality, reliable and secure services. It also demonstrates its commitment to strengthening Gabon's digital sovereignty and ensuring responsible management of digital resources.

(Which is all about Gabon, a different country. But it can be seen as a precedent.)

My opinion? I don't think there is enough information to warrant taking such a drastic action as changing our domain preemptively. The only actual fact we know is that control of the .ml domain is going to Mali instead of a Dutch company. The linked Lemmy thread honestly reads like a bunch of Redditors stirring up panic. But there is actual reason for concern, since we simply don't know what they'll decide to do with existing registrations, and definitely should make a backup plan, for the case that Mali does decide to not let us have the .ml TLD.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wasn't exactly sure either. The fear is coming from what the FMHY instance owner is saying. I just wanted to make sure the admins were aware, if we had like admin mail I just would have sent through that

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I see. I actually think it's good you posted this on here, so that we all are aware that there might be problems/downtime in relation to this and possibly a domain change. I'm sorry if I sounded too annoyed in my previous comment, that was annoyance at some of the Redditor types over there, not annoyance at you.

Does the FMHY owner have any information on what exactly happened? Did they get notified that the registration for their .ml domain got canceled? Any stated reasons? Or it just stopped loading one day and they figured that it's related to that? It would be good to know, for deciding how big of a concern it really is for Lemmy. (Sorry if all this is a stupid question, I'm not sure how exactly domain registration works.)

I'm also kind of confused when this taking back is happening. The FMHY post says "ongoing", while the domainincite.com article makes it seem like it's a thing in the near future. Any actual sources (especially any official statement by the entities involved) would be good. Searching for phrases like "Mali taking back .ml TLD" or "Mali TLD transfer" doesn't find me anything.

Though it does find this weird cluster of recent articles suddenly complaining about people misspelling .mil as .ml:

(spoiler because the image takes up too much vertical space)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I found this earlier, seems like they really have no clue what exactly is happening either: https://very.bignutty.xyz/notes/9hf13it1ced3b2za

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Unless the domain was bought from a registrar the Malian government recognizes as legitimate there is no reason to think it won’t be seized if the rationale is similar. It’s unlikely they particularly want a bunch of western communists using their ctld or will see any value in allowing it especially if they’ve not earned one cent from this fact.