.com is run by VeriSign, the company responsible for nearly all domain seizures.
.space is run out of Dubai, by a registrar that once had the US government issue ICANN GAC Early Warnings to every single one of its pending TLD applications.
.win is run by a registrar that was originally a spin off from Lockheed Martin, and is now owned by Golden Gate Capital (and you can guess where that’s based).
We haven’t had to deal with a seizure yet, but this doesn’t look like a very good strategy for preventing it.
Historically, the most robust approach has been to go with country code TLDs that have shown they don't easily bow to pressure.
.ch (Switzerland) and .li (Liechtenstein), which are both operated by the Swiss administrator Switch, has a reasonably good history of not bowing to external pressure to terminate or seize domains.
.me domains (Montenegro) are also very popular with piracy sites, and have proven quite resilient to seizure. The way the registry structure isn't as solid as .ch (there are US companies involved), but the administrator is highly motivated keep usage of .me as open as possible, as registration revenue represents around 2% of total Montenegrin exports.
Whatever you choose, you want to minimize the influence of US courts, and look for the good track records of resisting external pressure to shut down domains.
Not very good choices.
.com is run by VeriSign, the company responsible for nearly all domain seizures.
.space is run out of Dubai, by a registrar that once had the US government issue ICANN GAC Early Warnings to every single one of its pending TLD applications.
.win is run by a registrar that was originally a spin off from Lockheed Martin, and is now owned by Golden Gate Capital (and you can guess where that’s based).
We haven’t had to deal with a seizure yet, but this doesn’t look like a very good strategy for preventing it.
What do you suggest we do?
Historically, the most robust approach has been to go with country code TLDs that have shown they don't easily bow to pressure.
.ch (Switzerland) and .li (Liechtenstein), which are both operated by the Swiss administrator Switch, has a reasonably good history of not bowing to external pressure to terminate or seize domains.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/04/wikileaks-site-swiss-host-switch
.me domains (Montenegro) are also very popular with piracy sites, and have proven quite resilient to seizure. The way the registry structure isn't as solid as .ch (there are US companies involved), but the administrator is highly motivated keep usage of .me as open as possible, as registration revenue represents around 2% of total Montenegrin exports.
Whatever you choose, you want to minimize the influence of US courts, and look for the good track records of resisting external pressure to shut down domains.