Freenom, a Dutch company, is no longer the registry for the Gabon ccTLD .GA. This is reported by the Domain Incite, referring to the information of AFNIC, a non-profit organization that manages the national domain of France. Freenom, which operates several large domain zones, including, for example, Tokelau's ccTLD .TK, is known for its, loose attitude towards the use of domain names. Anyone can get a domain name for free, which, of course, attracts attackers: domain zones run by Freenom have long become a paradise for organizers of phishing attacks, malware distributors, etc. In addition, the registry reserves the right to seize one or another domain at any time and use it to redirect traffic to various resources, including those of a very dubious nature. This method of monetization certainly brings the company a good income, but it greatly undermines the reputation of the domain zones it manages.
All this overflowed the cup of patience of the authorities of Gabon. The .GA comes under the control of the National Agency for Digital Infrastructure and Radio Frequencies (L’Agence Nationale des Infrastructures Numériques et des Fréquences – ANINF). The agency said in a statement that the move should put an end to the DN abuse that damage the country's image and harm the Internet in general. The process of transferring the .GA domain zone to ANINF has already begun and should be completed this week, with AFNIC providing technical assistance. The domain currently has over seven million registered names, making .GA the world's seventh largest generic top-level domain and the fourth largest ccTLD (after China, Germany, and the UK). The situation, of course, is paradoxical, given that the population of Gabon is 2.3 million people, and the level of Internet penetration in the country is estimated at 62%.
In fact, most of these 7 million domain names are owned by the Freenom itself. Or rather belonged - ANINF has already announced that all these domains will be removed. Taking away the millions of domain names used for monetization is likely to be a severe blow to Freenom's business model. And, apparently, this is not the end of her troubles: Domain Incite draws attention to the fact that the IANA documents have changed the information about the technical contacts of the registry of the Mali ccTLD .ML, also managed by Freenom. Previously, the data of this registry was listed there, but now it is the state regulator of Mali. This is a clear indication that another African country is about to end its partnership with Freenom. Domain Incite approached the company with a request to state its vision of the situation, but representatives of Freenom declined to comment.
