The non-profit organization Afnic, the registry of the French national top-level domain .FR, has announced new measures to fight the illegal use of domain names. First of all, the General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) is now allowed to take down domains. From now on, the state regulator can directly instruct the registry to suspend domains being used for illegal purposes pending court decisions. According to Domain Incite, the registry Nominet managing the national TLD .UK in the United Kingdom made a similar decision some time ago.
A complete ban on registering -gouv.fr domains is another important innovation. French government organizations and agencies have to use third-level domains ending in .gouv.fr. However, fraudsters often register similar-looking -gouv.fr domains for phishing purposes. Now, this possibility will be totally out of the question.
