It's 2019, so any political party that wants to reach the electorate is going to have a digital footprint of some kind. The bigger and better organised parties will invest heavily in a full digital strategy. This is not new. What's also not new is politicians, lobbyists and political activists setting up various websites that use domains that are a little misleading. Over … [Read more...] about Domains and the 2019 UK Elections
Brexit
Nominet and Brexit
Nominet, the .uk domain registry, is well aware of the possible implications of Brexit. Earlier today they sent out a reminder email to registrars to underline the options: In the case of a "no deal" BrexitIn the case of Brexit with a deal, but without specific provisions covering the transfer of personal data Essentially if the worst comes to happen then they will … [Read more...] about Nominet and Brexit
More Brexit Fun and Games for .EU Domain Registrants
While the Brexit situation remains at best "unclear" the future of UK based .eu domain name registrants has finally received a little bit of clarity. It might not be the best of news, but it's relatively clear. Of course in common with anything that is linked in anyway with Brexit and what form it might take, the entire thing is still "up in the air". EURid have … [Read more...] about More Brexit Fun and Games for .EU Domain Registrants
EU Domains in the UK Post-Brexit Just got More Confusing
While many domain name registries are run privately quite a few country code registries (ccTLDs) have links to government. In the case of .eu, however, the registry is operated under contract to the European Commission, so it is operated on behalf of the entire European Union. The impact of Brexit on the .eu ccTLD is something I've spoken about a few times in the past. The … [Read more...] about EU Domains in the UK Post-Brexit Just got More Confusing
New Brexit Party Misses Out on Domain
Nigel Farage's latest political vehicle The Brexit Party launched last week. However you'll notice that it's using a .org domain name. The exact match .com domain name was snapped up by a group of pro-EU campaigners: TheBrexitParty.com was registered with GoDaddy on October 26th 2018, while the domain Farage's party is using is TheBrexitParty.org which was … [Read more...] about New Brexit Party Misses Out on Domain
EURid Pauses Brexit Plans
When the UK announced its intention to withdraw from the European Union it was clear to some of us that this would cause complications with .eu and possibly other domain name extensions. Over the past year it's become clear that the European Commission, who mandate the .eu domain name policy, weren't interested in providing a "soft landing" for impacted registrants of .eu … [Read more...] about EURid Pauses Brexit Plans
Data Transfers Post-Brexit Are Going to get Complicated
If the UK proceeds with a "no deal" Brexit, or any kind of Brexit at the end of March data transfers to the UK from EU countries will become much more complicated. At present all members of the EU are covered by the same laws (more or less) so transferring data around with the EU's boundaries isn't a problem. After Brexit the UK will be considered a "3rd country" and if you … [Read more...] about Data Transfers Post-Brexit Are Going to get Complicated
EURid Updates Post-Brexit
Brexit will impact many things. One that has not been getting much attention however is domain names and more specifically .eu domains. Under the current regulations you need to be a resident of the European Union to register a .eu domain name. As I covered in a blog post last year there is the potential for hundreds of thousand of .eu domain names being pulled … [Read more...] about EURid Updates Post-Brexit
Nominet GDPR Consultation Closes Tomorrow
Nominet, the registry for .uk, is conducting a consultation on how it will handle whois data once GDPR comes into force. It's worth noted that the consultation is only related to the *.uk namespace and is not about any of the gTLD registries on the Nominet platform. While that is the main focus of the current consultation they're also using it as an opportunity to make a few … [Read more...] about Nominet GDPR Consultation Closes Tomorrow
European Commission Wants to Kill Off Thousands of EU Domains due to Brexit
After the Brexit vote I posited that there could be an impact on EU registrants based in the UK. Over the past year the UK government has been engaged in negotiations with the EU to navigate the application of Article 50 and the UK's exit from the European Union. While there has been a lot of focus on issues like the customs union and the border between Ireland and Northern … [Read more...] about European Commission Wants to Kill Off Thousands of EU Domains due to Brexit