14 DAY TRIAL // Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA), Open Rights Group (ORG) and the London Internet Exchange (LINX) accused Nominet, a UK domain registrar, of failing to make sure no domains will be taken down based only on demands made by authorities, but without a court order.
It seems as the four organizations have tried to reach a conclusion on the matter but so far they didn't manage to come to an agreement.
ORG is unhappy with the fact that each time Nominet is requested by law enforcement to take down a certain domain, there were never given full details on why the shutdown occurred, instead, only a summary explanation was made available.
“Law enforcement have argued that Nominet must take responsibility for acting once they are informed of suspensions, in some cases threatening them with potential liabilities under the Proceeds of Crime Act,” says Jim Killock, Executive Director of ORG.
While the rights group tries to convince Nominet and its stakeholders on the fact that court orders should be demanded in order to terminate domains, the authorities argue that they can't provide such documents due to a lack of resources.
The registrar even tried to create a process that would help them deal with law enforcement requests, but no conclusion was drawn.
“This process has been unable to reach agreement. ISPA, LINX and ORG have each separately decided that domain suspensions need to take place after receipt of a court order, and informed Nominet of this today,” Killock added.
ORG now wants to know how will the company act on future request coming from authorities and whether or not they will demand a court order. They also want for detailed arguments to be published whenever a domain is taken down, but also, they're interested in the matter of a possible new legislation that might be sought by law enforcement.