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EU The Internet

European Commission Says It Will Cancel All 300,000 UK-Owned .EU Domains (theregister.co.uk) 461

Brexit has hit the internet, and not in a good way. From a report: In an official statement Thursday, the European Commission announced it will cancel all 300,000 domains under the .eu top-level domain that have a UK registrant, following Britain's eventual departure from the European Union. "As of the withdrawal date, undertakings and organizations that are established in the United Kingdom but not in the EU and natural persons who reside in the United Kingdom will no longer be eligible to register .eu domain names," the document states, adding, "or if they are .eu registrants, to renew .eu domain names registered before the withdrawal date." Going even further, the EC suggested that existing .eu domains might be cancelled the moment Brexit happens -- expected to be 366 days from now -- with no right of appeal.
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European Commission Says It Will Cancel All 300,000 UK-Owned .EU Domains

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  • Petty. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @03:53PM (#56349271) Journal

    Is it just me, or does this seem fairly petty and petulant? Yeah, sure, the UK won't be in the Eurozone any more, but all you're doing is (in the best case) generating revenue by making all those domain owners re-register with addresses in continental Europe, and inviting a land rush for speculators and scammers in the worst case.

    Seems pretty stupid.

    • Re:Petty. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:32PM (#56349361) Homepage

      Rules is rules.

      They voted to leave, they've got nothing coming.

      • Who voted to what? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:37PM (#56349385)

        Not all of the people in the UK voted to leave. But way to make them realize they should have, by childishly having an un-elected shadow government steal a bunch of domains.

        This action makes me think less of the EU, which I had thought was impossible.

        • by thaylin ( 555395 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @05:03PM (#56349539)

          your country voted to leave, it is something you should h ave seen coming, as you will no longer be legally eligible for the domain, trying to have your cake and eat it too so to speak

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:00PM (#56349973) Homepage Journal

            Brexiteers assume all rules were designed to punish the UK. Even the ones we wrote, like Article 50, are just an EU plot to frustrate Brexit.

            It's not just ccTLDs either. Today the EU confirmed that we would lose access to the Galileo satellite navigation system. We could negotiate access to some service/manufacturing contacts, but all secrets like military decryption keys would be off limits. As any sensible person would expect.

            • by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @03:27AM (#56351869)

              Brexiteers assume all rules were designed to punish the UK. Even the ones we wrote, like Article 50, are just an EU plot to frustrate Brexit.

              It's not just ccTLDs either. Today the EU confirmed that we would lose access to the Galileo satellite navigation system. We could negotiate access to some service/manufacturing contacts, but all secrets like military decryption keys would be off limits. As any sensible person would expect.

              The EU does not have to punish the UK for leaving, Brexit is a completely self-punishing exercise. Still, it amuses me how the Brexiteers manage to cast every consequence of Brexit as unfair punishment, persecution and dispossession. Just changing the context a bit brings out their irrational entitlement complexes: I'm leaving the golf club and now I'm no longer allowed to make use of club discounts, UNFAIR!!! I'm leaving the golf club and now I'm no longer allowed to get free golf lessons, PUNISHMENT!!! I'm leaving the golf club and now I'm no longer allowed to play their courses for free, BULLYING!! Now for most of us these would be natural and normal consequences of leaving the golf club, to a Brexiteer these are violations of his/her fundamental human rights. The average Brexiteers attitude can be summed up in three words: .... BWAAAAAAH!!! ... BABY WANT!!!

        • It's in the EU's best interest to make leaving it an unpleasant process.

          • Re: (Score:2, Informative)


            What kind of fucking moron cares about the "EU's best interest?" The EU ostensibly exists for the convenience of its members states, and those states exist for the convenience and welfare of their citizens.
            Petty bullshit to prevent leaving is a completely backwards understanding of the purpose of a government. Your viewpoint became obsolete around the same time as the divine right of kings.
            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @05:51PM (#56349909) Homepage Journal

              The EU TLD is for sites based in the EU. The idea is to give EU citizens confidence that it is an EU site operating under EU rules on things like privacy.

              Since the point of brexit is supposed to be ditching those rules and leaving the EU, it makes no sense to allow UK entities to have EU domains.

              If the UK wants to negotiate access and agrees to abide by the rules, fine. But the UK doesn't want that. Agreeing to the rules is one of the government's red lines, although so far they have not meant much.

            • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:22PM (#56350131) Journal

              What kind of fucking moron cares about the "EU's best interest?"

              Well, the extant members of the EU for one.

              If you don't like the rules of a club and decide to leave and stop paying your fees, you can't really complain when you can't use the gym any more. Or the pool. and the sauna's off limits too. Yep and the sports massage even though you had to pay extra for it.

              Oh and you also don't get the affiliate discounts at the loca supermarket either.

              SERIOUSLY HOW THE FUCK IS THAT A SURPRISE TO ANYONE???

              "we" (ha!) voted to leave, now the people who voted to do so are throwing a total shit fit about not getting al the cool shit we got as members. .eu domains are for members of the EU, end of. Not members and random whiny hangers on. Just members.

              • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                by alex3772 ( 5334951 )

                .eu domains are for members of the EU, end of. Not members and random whiny hangers on. Just members.

                Actually that is not entirely correct. .eu domains are also usable by residents/entities in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. However these countries are EFTA members and abide by the rules of the EU.

              • Did I say I was surprised? No, I said it was petty bullshit, because it is. There are two major approaches to Brexit: 1) make it as awkward and painful as possible in order to dissuade further members leaving. 2) work on minimizing the damage of Brexit, creating a series of treaties and agreements that mean that the UK basically remains in in most of the useful ways, with a little window dressing of greater autonomy.

                1) is about preserving the EU as an institution. 2) is about preserving the trade agre

            • by hazardPPP ( 4914555 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @02:01AM (#56351713)

              What kind of fucking moron cares about the "EU's best interest?" The EU ostensibly exists for the convenience of its members states, and those states exist for the convenience and welfare of their citizens.

              The "EU's best interest" is shorthand here for the "best interest of its member states" i.e. "the best interest of the citizens of the EU member states".

              This is what UK Leavers don't get - that in the other 27 EU states, people don't generally hate the EU and don't want to get out, and feel that they have a common interest to defend. This is demonstrated by the EU27 maintaining a common front in the Brexit talks, whereas the UK side thought it would be easy to play them against one another to get a good deal for the UK.

        • Not all of the people in the UK voted to leave.

          Yes, they call themselves, "Scots" . . .

        • by gravewax ( 4772409 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @05:22PM (#56349681)
          ".EU is the domain extension for the country code EU. It is a ccTLD (country code top level domain) for the European Union. It's open to organisations or residents that reside in the EU member states". The UK is leaving the EU, why should organisations and regulations change in the EU to accommodate the UK?
          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by SuperKendall ( 25149 )

            The current domain holders should be grandfathered in to allow ownership of domains already purchased.

            Otherwise, in the same vein of thought, why should EU visa holders continue to be able to work in the UK? UK is allowing for that, any two reasonable organizations would reach some accommodation.

            But as we've seen, the EU is far from reasonable or adult.

            • Going to a .EU website is an assurance that the website is based in the EU and is accountable to EU laws. UK voted to leave EU largely because they didnâ(TM)t want to follow EU law anymore. So I donâ(TM)t see any issue with this. The rules were there when they voted to leave, so in part their vote was to give up their domains.

            • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:51PM (#56350307) Journal

              The current domain holders should be grandfathered

              Oh they should, should they?

              Why? The rules specifically state that owners must be in the EU (plus Norway etc).

              It was an obvious consequence of Brexit that we would lose access to this. Because it's in the fucking rules of the registrar which are public.

              Getting pissy because you didn't bother to figure out what actually leaving meant before voting leave isn't going to help. If you voted against your own interests out of ignorance and stupidity it's not the EU's fault or their job to fix it for you, especially when you're determined not to lift a finger to fix it for yourself.

              That's you in the general sense, not you specifically since IIRC you are in fact American.

          • by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:02PM (#56349989) Journal

            To register a .Eu domain, you're supposed to have some connection to the EU. You do not have to prove every 30 days that you're still in the EU to prevent it being cancelled. It makes since to say "UK residents without any connection to the EU can no longer register EU domains". That's no what they are doing.

            These domains were properly registered by EU people, who have built communities and businesses under these names. Taking them away, after they were properly and legitimately registered and may have been in active use for several years is petty.

            Additionally, they are cancelling all the domains registered to organizations with UK addresses - who may also have offices throughout the UK! Many companies with a UK address are also active in other parts of Europe and may very well qualify for .Eu domains. Heck, the EU itself has offices in England, who have registered at least one domain. I wonder if the EU leadership realises they are cancelling their own domain.

            • Additionally, they are cancelling all the domains registered to organizations with UK addresses -

              That's not what is happening. They aren't saying they are going to cancel anything. That's a fiction made up by the Guardian writer.

              Read the story. The actual statement from the EC says that at the time brexit happens those domain holders will no longer have authorization to have a .eu domain. It does not say they are going to cancel them, it only states the OBVIOUS fact that people who are not in the EU have no authority to have a .eu domain name.

              What the EC ACTUALLY said is that holders of .eu domains w

        • This action makes me think less of the EU, which I had thought was impossible.

          Just hand over part of a package for nothing in the middle of a negotiation process?
          Just have a rules based organisation like the EU ignore rules?

          SuperKendall you and I disagree on a lot of things, but until now I haven't thought of you as someone stupid. I honestly wonder how you thought this could possible go any other way, even if the roles were reversed (the UK also pulling everything they can for negotiations and the UK also being a hugely rules based bureaucracy).

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @05:30PM (#56349745) Homepage Journal

          TLD admin organizations can set whatever rules they like. Some countries allow anyone to register, some require them to be resident. The EU is one of the latter.

          So once outside the EU, naturally they will not suspend the rules for the UK unless the UK negotiated that as part of the post-brexit deal. Since the UK has a very weak position and desperately needs things like financial service access that are near impossible to get, .EU domains are going to be way down that list of things to ask for.

          Plus, the UK would have to contribute to the registra operating costs, which would just further annoy Brexiteers.

          By the way, the EU is not a shadow government or unelected.

        • by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

          Not all of the people in the UK voted to leave. But way to make them realize they should have, by childishly having an un-elected shadow government steal a bunch of domains.

          Yeah, they should have voted to leave, and then the UK would... still... be leaving... just like... it is now.

          So why should the EU care, again?

    • Is it just me, or does this seem fairly petty and petulant?

      Politics are petty and petulant. It's all about appearances.

    • It's not petty at all.

      This is not a retaliatory move; it's the law.

      The UK will not be part of the .eu, right?

      They can get .uk

      • The UK will not be part of the .eu, right?

        Yes, with the UK leaving the EU Common Market, this could be misleading. For instance, a UK company that currently sells dishwashers in the EU might be called:

        dishwashers.eu

        However, after the Brexit, and before a trade deal is agreed on (which will take forever), the UK company will only be selling dishwashers in the UK. So it would make more sense for them to call themselves:

        dishwashers.co.uk

        They can get .uk

        "Let them eat UK!" -- Marie Antoinette

        "England is a nation of shopkeepers! They taste awful!" -- Napolean

    • Is it just me, or does this seem fairly petty and petulant? Yeah, sure, the UK won't be in the Eurozone any more, but all you're doing is (in the best case) generating revenue by making all those domain owners re-register with addresses in continental Europe, and inviting a land rush for speculators and scammers in the worst case.

      TFA is written to sound like the EU is being petty and that any UK citizens owning .eu domains were not already aware and are having to suddenly scramble to save their websites, but that is far from the case.

      This was one of the consequences that were known from the start. The vast majority of them have had plans and all the machinery in place to switch their domains since very shortly after Brexit passed.

      This is much ado about nothing. It's a click-bait article.

      Strat

    • Is it just me, or does this seem fairly petty and petulant?

      No, it is not just you. I wanted to say the same thing: petty. "Petulant" is an SAT-word and didn't come to my mind, but now that I've looked up the meaning, I agree, it is that too.

      For example, Soviet Union has, thankfully, been dead for almost 30 years now, but the top-level domain (.su) continues to exist with plenty of sites [google.com] under it.

      • That example would be fine if the EU no longer existed. .EU means that the company or person resides in the EU and hence is under EU trading regulations. This is not new, or petty, it is simply the requirements for an EU domain name. the UK no longer belonging to the EU means any domain for individuals not in the EU under this name would be deceptive.
        • by mi ( 197448 )

          .EU means that the company or person resides in the EU and hence is under EU trading regulations.

          Does it? I do not see any such language in the domain's governing document [europa.eu], but I may be tired and just not seeing it.

          But I doubt, it is there, because, when the document was written in 2004, nobody could even imagine a country leaving the EU.

          The meaning you propose is too limiting — being registered under .EU may also mean, that the company or person used to reside in the Union.

          Just as the number of compa

          • You ARE tired. Try again tomorrow (it is there in the salutation).
            • by mi ( 197448 )

              Please, site the clause you are referring to. Thanks!

              • by bingoUV ( 1066850 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @01:47AM (#56351671)

                For eligibility, it refers to Article 4(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 733/2002. Which says

                (b) register domain names in the.eu TLD through any accredited.eu Registrar requested by any:

                (i) undertaking having its registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the Community, or

                (ii) organisation established within the Community without prejudice to the application of national law, or

                (iii) natural person resident within the Community;

          • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @06:32PM (#56350183) Journal

            This looks more like spouses divorcing and threatening each other's items out of sheer spite.

            Why don't people understand? We are LEAVING. We chose to leave (for some reason). that means we don't get any of the stuff any more.

            That's what fucking leaving means.

      • For example, Soviet Union has, thankfully, been dead for almost 30 years now, but the top-level domain (.su) continues to exist with plenty of sites [google.com] under it.

        And all of them spammers.

    • by Zocalo ( 252965 )
      The rules of the .EU domain are pretty clear - registrants are meant to have a connection to the EU, something many of the UK registrants will cease to have come Brexit. The revenue's not the issue here - a few €m per year is nothing in the scheme of things - so this is entirely about sticking the letter of the law and (possibly) an attempt to get another bunch of UK citizens to directly feel some pain from Brexit, of which some will hopefully complain about it and further weaken the UK government's o
    • Yeah, sure, the UK won't be in the Eurozone any more,

      The UK was never in the eurozone, nor does being in the eurozone have anything to do with being able to register .eu domain names.

    • by Hylandr ( 813770 )

      Living in America and receiving a highly filtered / edited newsfeed on the brexit topic I am going to guess that this isn't the first time something like this has happened, and that Brexit didn't happen for no reason at all. it takes a lot to move an entire nation to agree in the polls against the push of popular media even.

      So far this action tells me that Brexit may have been the best thing to happen to the UK for quite some time. Right now it's just the .eu TLD. ( that we know of ) With a clearly petulant

      • "it takes a lot to move an entire nation to agree in the polls"

        How much of "a lot" is due to micro-targeted propaganda using stolen data by Cambridge Analyticica?

      • With a clearly petulant EU leadership that's appointed and not elected

        . . . just like the Upper House of Parliament in the UK, the House of Lords, who are appointed, and not elected.

        For the US folks . . . how would you feel if instead of voting for your State Senator, he or she was appointed by a gang of old, white men, who are supposedly truly concerned about the best interests of the country . . . ?

        Oh, and who voted for the gang members . . . ? Themselves . . . ?

        But that's a moot point. The folks in the UK can choose whatever form of government they think is best for

      • Re:Petty. (Score:4, Informative)

        by hazardPPP ( 4914555 ) on Friday March 30, 2018 @03:18AM (#56351853)

        So far this action tells me that Brexit may have been the best thing to happen to the UK for quite some time. Right now it's just the .eu TLD. ( that we know of ) With a clearly petulant EU leadership that's appointed and not elected I shudder to imagine where the line would be drawn between necessity and atrocity.

        You have a bunch of misconceptions here.

        The EU commission is no more "appointed, not elected" than the UK government.

        First, the UK head of state is an unelected, herediatery monarch (this is not criticism - I happen to think this is good thing, actually - just a statement of fact). No equivalent of this exists at the EU level. There is no King of Europe.

        Second, the UK has an upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, which is totally unelected - it's a mix of heredietary and appointed positions. Appointed, ostensibly, by the Queen, but in reality nowadays by the Prime Minister. There is no equivalent at the EU level - the EU has a unicameral, fully democratically elected (directly by the citizens of each country) parliament.

        Third, while we think of the UK government as "elected", legally speaking it is appointed. By custom, the Prime Minister and the other ministers are all of Members of Parliament (although this is not legally required), however technically no one elected David Cameron or Theresa May Prime Minister in a nationwide vote - they were elected MPs for Whitney and Maidenhead, respectively, only by the voters in those constituencies. The Queen appoints the Prime Minister and his government. This is different from other parliamentary systems, where the president/king proposes a prime minister and a government, and the parliament approves or explicitly elects it - the UK parliament does not approve a government before it takes office - however it can pass a motion of no confidence in that government and bring it down. That is why, in order for the government to function, the Queen must appoint a government that can "command a majority" in the House of Commons. So, the government is de facto, indirectly elected by the MPs, while the MPs are directly elected by the people - so the government is de facto, indirectly elected by the people.

        How does this compare to the EU? How is the European Commission appointed? It starts with the EU parliamentary elections. Then, the European Council, "taking into account the elections to the European Parliament" (Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty), proposes a candidate for the President of the Commission. The candidate is chosen by qualified majority voting. The European Council consits of the heads of state or heads of government of each member state, who are all either directly elected (e.g. the President of France) or indirectly elected (e.g. the Prime Minister of the UK) by the people. So the council proposes a candidate to the European Parliament. The Parliament must then explicitly approve, i.e. elect the President of the Commission - an absoluty majorty of MEPs must vote in his favour. The MEPs are directly elected by the people in the member states. Then the President must propose a Commission to Parliament - i.e. the other commissioners, one for each portfolio. Each potential commissioner is then scrutinized in front of the relevant committes in Parliament. Finally, Parliament votes on the Commission as a whole, and an absolute majority of MEPs must vote for it to be approved. Then the European Council, again by a qualified majority decision, appoints the entire Commission. So you see, on paper, this is actually more democratic than the UK process for appointing a government. No unelected heads of state are involved. Each candidate for a post gets parliamentary scrutiny (like hearings in the US senate before secretary appointments). The parliament must explicitly approve i.e. elect the commission.

        Finally, in the UK people indirectly vote for a Prime Minister because they know that their local candidate for MP which they are voting for is a member of

    • Is it just me, or does this seem fairly petty and petulant?

      No that's just misinterpretation of what the EU is. Regardless of what anyone thinks of it positively or negatively it is still fundamentally a majorly rules based bureaucracy. I don't think this is petty as much as it is a realisation that it is either kick off the domains, or dig out and take yet another legal document through an update process to make exceptions.

      Also worth remembering is that the EU and UK are in the process of negotiating exit terms. Nothing is petty in a negotiation, it is all just par

    • Is it just me, or does this seem fairly petty and petulant?

      Yeah, the headline certainly makes it seem so. But the headline is typical /. muckraking. The summary tells a better story: no new registrations and no renewals of current registrations. And one comment that they MIGHT cancel existing ones, but that's only a maybe that they're thinking about.

      making all those domain owners re-register with addresses in continental Europe,

      If they're not eligible for a .eu because they're UK-based, then they aren't eligible for continental Europe domain names either.

      I see no issue here. Who else but the EU registrar is authorized to determine who is all

    • Is it just me, or does this seem fairly petty and petulant?

      Of course. Pettiness and petulance from Brussels is why the British left the union.

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @03:57PM (#56349287)
    so far none of the benefits of Brexit have materialized and all of the promises have been walked back. I doubt they'll even get to cut back on immigration. Immigrants are usually brought in for cheap labor, I can't see the ruling class giving that up. It looks to me like you've got all the downsides and none of the up. Just do a second referendum already.
    • by rahvin112 ( 446269 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:35PM (#56349377)

      It's too late, they already initiated the withdrawal. It happens now regardless. The only thing left to do is negotiate some type of trade agreement if possible.

      To get back into the EU the UK would have to make some major concessions, including adopting the EU currency. I'd imagine the rest of the EU would extract a pretty penny from the UK to be let back in and they'd always be a second class member afterwards unlike the first class founding member they were before leaving.

      No, Brexit is happening, there's no turning back and it's going to hurt the UK far more than the Brexit campaigners claimed. The UK is likely to lose half their banking industry to this.

      • by klingens ( 147173 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:46PM (#56349453)

        No, the UK could go back if they wished. The brit rebate by "I want my money back!" Thatcher however wouldn't be reinstated. That would probably be the main concession demanded by the others. Basically, no more special circumstances for the UK, they have to be a member like any other which there were not anymore for many years. So it would cost the UK a lot monetarily to go back. The Euro is a non-issue. No one would force them to join it.
        The problem however is not money in any form, it's UK politics. It would kill the tories, split them up basically. And of course would sink PM May.

        The UK is no founding member of anything. They joined the EU in 1973 or so. Very much a Jonny come lately. Founding members of what became today's EU were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany in 1957 in Rome. This morphed into the 1967 "European Communities" which is what the UK joined in 1973 together with Denmark and Ireland.

        • No, the UK could go back if they wished. The brit rebate by "I want my money back!" Thatcher however wouldn't be reinstated.

          Which is one of the reasons why the UK as a whole will never wish to go back in my view.

          The EU as it exists today is not really the same organisation as the European Communities/Common Market which existed before the Single European Act and Maastricht Treaties. That was much more of a trade block based on mutual recognition of differing national standards and a customs union with a common commercial policy which retained internal border infrastructure (including duty free zones in between countries, for exa

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        There are on going legal cases to determine if it can be undone, but realistically if the UK did change its mind the EU would accommodate it and change the rules if necessary.

      • It's too late, they already initiated the withdrawal. It happens now regardless.

        That has been a matter of legal debate given how poorly drafted the leave article was. There is reason to believe that they could still cancel Brexit. That said there is zero reason to believe they will. The UK will sooner stubbornly drive themselves to hell before back pedalling on something like this.

      • by Ichijo ( 607641 )

        It's too late, they already initiated the withdrawal. It happens now regardless.

        Really? The citizens of the UK can vote to start the process but they cannot vote to stop it? That seems rather undemocratic. Who wrote that rule, the UK or the EU?

        • Who wrote that rule, the UK or the EU?

          Article 50? I believe it was us what wrote it.

          Anyway we didn't vote to eave, we voted to get the government to tell the EU we're leaving. We can vote to get the government to tell the EU we don't want to leave any more.

    • One hard benefit the UK is receiving is not having to pay the EU membership fee - savings of around 8.5 billion pounds.

      Not sure what other promises you think are being "walked back". Not having to be members in a government that would pull such a petty stunt seems like a huge win. You are who you partner with, after all...

      • by Luthair ( 847766 )
        Stunt? The TLD required registrants to be located in the EU - this is not uncommon and many ccTLDs require it.
      • Just a few examples:
        Dan Hannen - leaving the EU will not jeopardise our place in the Single Market
        £350m to the NHS
        Basically "have all the benefits and none of the bills" - thats whats been "walked back"

        If you want more examples visit https://brexitlies.com/ [brexitlies.com]

        Most brexiters didn't have the capability to work out who was responsible for the UK governments mismanagement of the UK so they blamed the EU.
    • I doubt they'll even get to cut back on immigration.

      Ironically enough some of the truly baffling talk about immigration in the UK is that they are pissed of with a) illegal immigration, and b) muslim immigration. The former won't change, and the latter will actually get worse with Brexit thanks to the UK being able to use it's immigration quota without having to accept EU migrants. ... the majority of which are Poles and everyone is fine with that because someone needs to build houses and do plumbing.

  • by brianerst ( 549609 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @03:58PM (#56349289) Homepage

    Yet another reason not to use country (or region) level domains.

    A good old fashioned .com domain has none of these issues.

  • by Tokolosh ( 1256448 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:39PM (#56349399)

    Unless you domain was pee.eu

  • sacrebl.eu! (Score:5, Funny)

    by trb ( 8509 ) on Thursday March 29, 2018 @04:39PM (#56349401)

    will be up for grabs.

    https://whois.eurid.eu/en/sear... [eurid.eu]

  • I'm rather surprised that there are 300,000 .eu registrations at all, not least from the UK. Who would want one? I don't think I've ever used any site with a .eu TLD; everything is .co.uk/.org.uk/.fr/.ie/.de for the most part. I always thought it was a waste of time to bother with a .eu registration. Doesn't sound like a big loss, just some noise to create some token bargaining chip for some negotiation concession.
    • Yes. I had assumed until now that it was reserved for the institutions of the EU itself as those are the only domains I've ever seen using it. I suspect a very very large number of the 300,000 are domain squatters who registered the ".eu" version of a ".com" etc. with the hope of selling it to the owners of the .com.
  • by tronicum ( 617382 ) * on Thursday March 29, 2018 @05:14PM (#56349613)
    there are some, very few, country domains that have such requirements. Often this leads that domain name registrar (or their resellers) offer a trustee setup that, for a small fee, register the name but you stay in control of it. I was suprised that .EU has such requirements, they are quite well hidden in the "registration policy" (not the "rules for domains" or "terms and conditions").

    relevant part of the registration policy:
    In this first step the Registrant must verify whether it meets the General Eligibility Criteria, whereby it must be:
    (i) an undertaking having its registered office, central a dministration or principal place of business within the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, or
    (ii) an organisation established within the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein without prejudice to the application of national law, or
    (iii) a natural person resident within the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.

    So that are rules that are not new or changed because of the brexit...

    • ...within the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein...

      i.e. the EEA states. Odd that the domain is ".eu" and not ".eea" therefore. Also why didn't they just say "EEA"?

  • Besides the TLD entities themselves, Governments and well! less than honest individuals and entities, use any of the non .com, .net or .org domains?

    Just my 2 cents ;)

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