UK gov't wants to ban dirty words in UK domain names; tell them to #£@* off



Tony sez, "The UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport is supporting a review of the .uk domain name registration process, suggesting that restricting offensive words in .uk domain names will help to prevent abusive behaviour on the internet.

Nominet has already done a great job of debunking why this is not an effective solution and is now seeking comments from the public."

It will therefore be apparent that Nominet has intentionally taken a non-restrictive approach to the
words and phrases that may be used in a domain name. Nominet has historically not made any value
judgement as to the use to which domains are put, or whether they might be offensive or in poor
taste. This is also the practice adopted by other open registries such as .com, .eu and .org, and in
many other ccTLDs. In some ccTLDs however, such as .ie (Republic of Ireland), there are naming
policies which state that a domain name must not be offensive or contrary to public policy or
generally accepted principles of morality. In .cn (China) there are restrictions on content, including
pornography and gambling.

Nominet announces registration policy review

(Thanks, Tony!)

(Image: oh ( —- )!!!, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from debaird's photostream)