context
- coronagraph is a telescope that blocks the light of a star inside the instrument so that objects close to the star can be observed.
- domain purchased during the week of a solar eclipse.
- purchased thecoronagraph.co.uk via namecheap who naturally took the money pre-registration.
- registration was accepted and became active in root zone / whois / DNS.
- domain then suspended by nominet.uk (not Namecheap) post acceptance (6 minutes later) with the following email:
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2021 13:37:48 +0100 (BST)
From: [email protected]Subject: Notification of suspension of your domain thecoronagraph.co.uk
Our records show that the domain name thecoronagraph.co.uk was registered by you on 12-Jun-2021 13:31:39.
Since July 2018 all newly registered .uk domain names are checked by an ‘anti-phishing’ initiative called “Domain Watch”, with the aim of further increasing the security of the .UK zone and to protect end users from malicious phishing activity.
When a .uk domain is registered you agree to the standard terms and conditions of registration http://www.nominet.uk/go/terms. Section 10.1.2 prohibits registration of domains which are likely to be used to distribute viruses and malware, or be used for phishing activity or facilitating distributed denial of service attacks, or endangering other internet users.
Your registration has failed our registration checks and we have therefore suspended the registration. This means that your domain name will remain registered to you but that it will not work as an internet address until you have contacted us and we agree that it should be activated.
If you wish to activate your domain please email [email protected] with an explanation for your registration of this specific domain.
We will also need to be able to validate the registrant data provided to us, and for that reason we ask that you provide us with a copy of some identification such as a valid driving licence, valid passport, national ID card or recent utility bill.
Our experience is that those people who are registering a domain name to attempt to engage in phishing are often adept at creating and providing faked identification, and as a result, we need to ‘set the bar’ quite high.
If submitting identification as part of a review request, please can you provide a close up photograph or scan of the identification, and also a photograph of you holding that identification.
Yours sincerely
.UK Customer Services.Tel: +44 (0)1865 332244
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: https://www.nominet.ukNominet UK (trading as Nominet) is a company limited by guarantee (no.3203859) registered in England.
This message is intended exclusively for the individual(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, or confidential. If you are not the addressee, you must not read, use or disclose the contents of this e-mail. If you receive this e-mail in error, please advise us immediately and delete the e-mail.
Nominet UK has taken every reasonable precaution to ensure that any attachment to this email has been swept for viruses. However, Nominet cannot accept liability for any damage sustained as a result of software viruses and would advise that you carry out your own virus checks before opening any attachment.
this shows in whois as follows:
# whois thecoronagraph.co.uk
WHOIS lookup made at 19:17:53 12-Jun-2021
Domain name:
thecoronagraph.co.uk
Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant’s name and address against a 3rd party data source on 18-Nov-2020
Registrar:
Namecheap, Inc. [Tag = NAMECHEAP-INC]
URL: https://www.namecheap.com
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 12-Jun-2021
Expiry date: 12-Jun-2022
Last updated: 12-Jun-2021
Registration status:
Registered until expiry date.
*** This registration has been SUSPENDED. ***
Name servers:
dns1.registrar-servers.com
dns2.registrar-servers.com
nominet has also been very vocal about how it believes it is saving the Internet from bad domain names keeping a close watch on coronavirus domains It’s highly likely that those who did not respond were intending to use their domains to manipulate a public in need of information.
“Eleanor Bradley” (interim CEO who was shortly after sacked from the board)
problems
- based on sole judgement of a few individuals and their perceived “intent” beind the arrangement of alphanumerics of various possible meanings.
- assumption of guilt if one does not appeal.
- using less than ideal communication methods through which to accept appeal.
- based on a wide range of keywords pre-existing any recent events.
- from a member organisation operating a granted a national resource not subject to FoI.
- from a member organisation operating a granted a national resource who does not comply with GDPR.
- zero transparency.
- zero oversight.
response
I have sent the following response to their request:
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2021 19:30:43 +0100
To: [email protected]
Subject: Abusive suspension of thecoronagraph.co.uk
Hello Nominet,
This email has been sent from, the same address to which the notice was sent to.
I hereby request re-activation of the domain thecoronagraph.co.uk which you have abusively suspended based on a false assumption of intent under 10.1.2 of the terms and conditions of a registration.
I have no reasonable method through which to prove intent and no legal offense can have been committed through the arrangement of alphanumerics in the zone alone.
I am unable to provide any further identification over insecure methods or to your organisation generally, as it has been repeatedly shown your bar is set low / you have no respect for this information in your repeated failures to respond to DSAR.