Estdomains. How it was

    Last month, the Russian community of domainers was alarmed by the situation with Estdomains, a well-known registrar in these circles. This story instantly overgrown with a lot of rumors and fiction, so many Internet users do not even know what really happened. Interested in this topic, I tried to restore the situation step by step.

    It all started in early September. It was then that the Washington Post appeared in several publications by Brian Krebs, a leading Internet security column. In them, he drew the attention of readers to the "suspicious domain registrar who provides protection to spammers and virus writers." As evidence, he randomly chose 10 thousand names from domains listed under Estdomains. Almost a third of them ended up in the SURBL.org database, which collects sites seen in the spam mailing list. In addition, according to Brian Krebs, many domains host projects that spread malware under the guise of antiviruses or video codecs. Naturally, one can doubt the real randomness of the sample. However, the publications excited the public.

    Further more. Brian Krebs reminded readers of the story of the Russian Business Network and “deduced” the origin of Estdomains, officially registered in the USA, from the Estonian city of Tartu. At the same time, according to the journalist, the registrar’s general director is a real criminal element who was tried in Estonia for stealing confidential information from several banks.

    Alarmed by this turn of affairs, the Estdomains leadership has begun to actively save its reputation. To this end, reports were circulated stating that the registrar strictly adheres to both ICANN and US law. The registrar implicitly suggested that those clients who have something to fear to pick up their domains. After that, the PrivacyProtect service (designed to ensure the anonymity of domain owners) was turned off and domain name locks were massive. Moreover, it seems that the registrar’s administration acted in a hurry, not really understanding who was right and who was to blame.

    One of the reasons for this situation was the Estdomains policy. This company maintained one of the lowest price levels for domain registration and did not adhere to strict compliance with all formalities. For this, she was really loved by many domainers (including many spammers and virus writers), including from Russia. Another reason was public opinion, formed due to publications in the Washington Post. Now it’s impossible to say for sure whether the Estdomains registrar really was so guilty, or the whole point is that the Americans “burned” on the “Russian Business Network”. One thing is clear - the low price of domains played a significant role. And therefore, if you are planning a long-playing project, do not regret it and overpay $ 5 for your peace of mind.

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