Your domain name matters for your digital autonomy
It’s only when things go wrong that dependencies come to light
Digital autonomy is a topical issue. Geopolitical tensions, dependency on big tech corporations, and new European legislation are making people in the business community more aware just how reliant they are on digital service providers and infrastructure. A recent survey by SIDN also found that businesspeople attach increasing importance to digital resilience and autonomy.
Where digital autonomy is concerned, the main focuses for most organisations are cloud platforms, software and social media. Meanwhile, one small but crucial element of the digital infrastructure often gets overlooked: the domain name.
A domain name is more than a web address
A domain name enables internet users to find the related website, mail servers and other online services. In a certain sense, a domain name gives an organisation a degree of digital autonomy, because it’s up to the registrant what services the name points to, and how they’re organised. Yet many businesses know surprisingly little about their domain names’ backgrounds – especially where country-code domains (ccTLDs) are concerned.
.ai isn’t an AI domain and .me isn’t for personal users
The .ai ccTLD is a good example. Within the business community, it’s widely associated with artificial intelligence, and .ai registrations have shot up in recent years. However, .ai is actually the country-code domain for the Caribbean island of Anguilla, a neighbour of Saint Martin. Similarly, Montenegro’s national extension, .me, has become the go-to choice of many people who want to communicate a personal message. So you get domain names such as tag.me or congratulate.me.
Most domains are reliable
And there’s nothing wrong with that: generally speaking, such extensions are professionally run and have strong international reputations. For example, the operation of .ai was contracted out to a professional service provider some years ago, because Anguilla’s own small registry couldn’t cope with the demand for .ai domain names. A professional, US-based company runs .me as well.
It’s only when things go wrong that dependencies come to light
All the same, it’s good to be aware that, behind every domain name extension there’s a particular registry, operating in a particular legal jurisdiction and applying particular dispute resolution rules. Often, organisations only appreciate the ramifications of a domain’s hinterland when something goes wrong.
We saw that in July of this year with Telegram. The popular messaging service uses t.me as a short URL for users, groups and channels. However, on 13 July, the organisation running .me applied a ‘server hold’ to t.me. As a result, all the associated Telegram links stopped working all around the world until the domain was reactivated a day later. The .me operator said that the server hold was applied in connection with US sanction regulations (OFAC).
Although the Telegram app itself was unaffected, millions of external links to Telegram channels and groups were temporarily non-functional. The incident illustrated just how dependent online services sometimes are on a single domain name and the organisations behind it.
Marketing value isn’t all that matters
It’s not the case that businesses should always steer clear of more ‘exotic’ country-code domains. Many of the extensions in question have mature procedures and strong legal safeguards. For example, .ai applies the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the same international dispute resolution framework used for .com and others, and operated by WIPO.
However, it does make sense to find out where you stand before choosing your domain name extension. Anyone making their online brand, customer database or business processes dependent on a particular domain name is well advised to check who the registry is, what rules apply, and what scope there is for resolving disputes and fixing faults.
Digital autonomy means sound decision-making
Digital autonomy doesn’t imply using only services based in the Netherlands or other European countries. It implies controlling dependencies, understanding risks and making carefully considered decisions. And, because domain names are fundamental components of the digital infrastructure, they deserve attention – more attention than they sometimes get.
So, for businesspeople looking for creative or memorable domain names, the message is simply that how good a name sounds isn’t the only thing that matters. Think about the organisation behind the extension as well, and the rules that apply. In short: know who you’re entrusting your online presence to.
