Latest registrar to boot Daily Stormer — Namecheap is

Registrar known for free speech protection makes a tough decision.

Domain name registrar Namecheap is the latest registrar to take action against The Daily Stormer, a hate site that has moved domains multiple times since the unrest in Charlottesville a week ago.

GoDaddy told the domain owner to find a fresh registrar. It moved the domain to Google, which suspendeded it. Then it moved to the dark web and Russia, then someone registered a .lol domain at Namecheap to point to the site.

Namecheap is known as a protector of free speech. It’s also a supporter of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has come out against the decision GoDaddy and Google made.

Nonetheless, Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall decided to kick the domain out. He stated that statements on the site crossed the line to inciting violence.

You can tell this was a difficult decision for Kirkendall. Following writing a blog post outlining his decision, he added an addendum that shows his angst over the decision.

I wonder if Uniregistry, the registry for .lol domains, will be pressured to suspend it? Uniregistry’s terms of service (like those of many fresh TLDs) are fairly open-ended to allow deletion of domains for basically any reason.

In an NPR interview the prior week, I noted that registrars don’t want to get involved in these issues since it’s a slippery slope. We can all agree that the content on Daily Stormer was truly abhorrent. I usually don’t like slippery slope arguments, but you can see how it could easily come into play with domains.

DailyStormer.lol has been transferred to Instra, which is part of Centralnic. The domain is resolving to an Instra holding page.