Category: Domains and (Geo)Politics

The world of domain investing has always been entangled with the larger currents of global commerce, regulation, and technology, but one of the most underestimated forces shaping its boundaries is international sanctions. In particular, the role of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, commonly referred to as OFAC, looms large. While sanctions are usually…

The evolution from WHOIS to RDAP in the domain name system is more than just a technical upgrade, it is a reflection of broader political, legal, and economic currents that intersect with issues of privacy, sovereignty, and commercial risk. For decades, WHOIS served as the primary protocol to query registration information about domain names. Investors,…

The eruption of war in any region sends shockwaves far beyond the battlefield, disrupting economies, currencies, supply chains, and financial systems. What often receives less attention, but is no less important in the digital age, is how conflict reshapes the landscape of domain names. These intangible assets, seemingly detached from the tangible violence of war,…

The debate over DNS abuse policies represents one of the most contentious intersections of internet governance, cybersecurity, and digital property rights. At its core lies a struggle between two imperatives that are often difficult to reconcile. On one side, security advocates, regulators, and civil society groups argue that domain registries and registrars must take stronger…

The European Union’s Digital Services Act, or DSA, has been heralded as one of the most ambitious attempts yet to regulate the digital sphere, bringing transparency, accountability, and oversight to online platforms that shape information flows, commerce, and communication. Its provisions target large platforms and intermediaries like social media companies, online marketplaces, and hosting services,…

The global domain name market operates in a digital space that often seems detached from the borders, currencies, and tax jurisdictions of the physical world. Yet domain transactions, whether they involve a registration fee, a secondary market sale, or revenue from domain parking, are deeply entangled with international tax policy. As governments around the world…

The Domain Name System Security Extensions, widely known as DNSSEC, were designed to address one of the most fundamental vulnerabilities in the internet’s architecture. DNSSEC provides cryptographic assurance that DNS responses have not been tampered with, defending against attacks such as cache poisoning and man-in-the-middle interception. In principle, DNSSEC is a technical safeguard intended to…

The internet has long been imagined as a borderless medium, where websites and digital services can be accessed from anywhere, transcending the physical boundaries that divide nations. In reality, however, the digital world is increasingly shaped by territorial rules, regulations, and restrictions, with geo-blocking emerging as one of the most visible expressions of this fragmentation.…

The domain name system was designed as a neutral technical architecture, a hierarchical mechanism for resolving names into numbers. Over time, however, it has become a central point of leverage for governments, corporations, and rights holders seeking to enforce laws and policies across borders. One of the most controversial trends in this evolution is the…

The emergence of blockchain-based naming systems has injected a disruptive energy into a domain name ecosystem that has long been governed by the centralized stewardship of ICANN. For decades, the DNS hierarchy, with its root controlled through ICANN’s multi-stakeholder model, has operated as the global directory of the internet, managing top-level domains and ensuring technical…