[CPWG] Fwd: Cloudflare loses 22% of its domains in Freenom .tk shutdown

Sat Mar 16 20:20:24 UTC 2024

FYI -- that shutdown is a bit abrupt. I wonder if the users of the 
domains under these TLDs were aware of the problems or whether this is 
really affecting them. It certainly makes it look like some ccTLDs are 
very unstable indeed.
Not ICANN's realm, but do end users know?
Kindest regards,

Olivier

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Cloudflare loses 22% of its domains in Freenom .tk shutdown
Date: 	Sat, 16 Mar 2024 12:11:21 GMT
From: 	Netcraft <noreply at netcraft.com>
Reply-To: 	noreply at netcraft.com
To: 	ocl at gih.com

Cloudflare loses 22% of its domains in Freenom .tk shutdown
View in browser 
<https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx56K5kvg0W69t95C6lZ3p6W1XGtV577gzsnW8vXpPJ566pNDW6Ghcv_4WmXFQW8D5GrW6m5kyqW6PpDCd7tQV-HW4T6T4B4vNGtnW7b5n2x233NNcW8smmss82SkfBW5vXNlw4Qh72rW3dkBYk4FZdcGW2PYNbC2vVNKJW357xYF5r80YRW7vqt5H3yFX1NW6S6PCl5Wcg-pW1-kMWS364Qk5W52h-M82w0mbjN3_BPNy49FdcW84LgsW4c3Mw-VYsz-x6KF7Q_W6J4kWY1Kq_KqW2lDZsl8Nfj1nW4WXpCS2H014NW979hbQ9hrL9cW7LCNWs582ghRW8yZ39y624FgtW3_zhBp188yJvW8nhXPm8Tph7QN5-jMHVqT3n8W4sTLH939lMgtN58JBJRjYyxJW4y15h_1J_8smW2pVl5J5lhTWnW56H6Rs1rVmbhW44GSTz4Gn5cTW6jxd9m5lhh_TW6nKsV72PLLF2f44m3hF04> 

netcraft_LOGO_COLOR_01

    Cloudflare loses 22% of its domains in Freenom .tk shutdown
    <https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx57C3lYMRW7Y8-PT6lZ3llV67BkT6LFBgNW2tdWmn7KRrsYW8yM9S16GxmV8W31LCQy9624hfV5ylsR8R4prvW1Ll4wS2PBnTpW7tnD6m1Lh63nW6-bZKQ5HBQz4W1ZlYym9ldlTQW8zSGVz8TML9zW8w1jQm6g5mlZW49YbsY2t_rfjW8wB1xt13n8xsW45br3g5MWwyLW58km1D21qNXNW85M8921qh8r-W7RDhGS775sqFV_pD-F3nQ7sdW8yJWlF1B5X7QVVVlmT7HDj-XW4nHqVl6_hBNhW34dlmS2LLRmYW3HWbCn4FRcYVW8yVb_25rLmBYW7k1SGV2pw2WZVNPL0V4K-xV8f3kg3_K04>

Friday, March 15, 2024 2:20 PM

A staggering 12.6 million domains on TLDs controlled by Freenom 
<https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx56K3lYMRW69sMD-6lZ3kXW8D9kXd3-54LrW5pm72x1wnHq-W7wssP11zpyLVN6MVDDSNS-bhW52qvPm6L4QVPW1S8cTr4FYwqnW1_R6mr95NFlBW19QgVv7QPjlsW35qbVc1-m9szW2s5-wn1lb3v6N5VYKBNw1hS6W8JyyBz6Q5B8xW6z3VLJ7rPzd0W8l816j32Blr7W2C6S6S2ZyZWkVCLzpq1_6q05W1FX_P18THTWVW4Jt-bl8jzbgJW1yk88K4-brxdVNG_NK5-0-Nsd28PdW04> 
(*.tk*, *.cf* and *.gq*) have been shut down and no longer resolve, 
leading to a significant reduction in the number of websites hosted by 
Cloudflare 
<https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx56q3lYMRW5BW0B06lZ3nhW8wWXNL72V4pKW7Z5Jsw5Z0pKKW5dglhh15J2hPN2LJntZtQfV1W49BXyp7X8GwVW3JnYfb4P50FQN88qH_2t4gHqW532Tnv4T1KpBW805MNw64X70xW6NMtv14YgsV2W16R32Q4xbXHJW3h8kjC2-Rf6mW2MpHGn5_HjGCW8lj0Pv4Q95-yW46swbJ767ZdwW1FfGKn2vrbx4W3k0zPC6yc4szW967lhJ446tvwf1CZrfz04>.

The disappearance of these websites was spotted during our monthly Web 
Server Survey and represents a 98.7% drop from the number of Freenom 
domains that were resolvable last month.

Nearly all *.tk*, *.cf* and *.gq* domains have effectively disappeared.

The *.tk*, *.cf* and *.gq* TLDs are country code top-level domains 
(ccTLDs) for Tokelau, Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea. 
They were officially intended to be used by entities connected with 
these countries, but this was very rarely the case.

The huge drop is likely the culmination of a series of events that 
started last year, when Freenom was sued by Meta for ignoring abuse 
complaints 
<https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx57j3lYMRW7lCdLW6lZ3pxW66gDK366zw8vW34Sc_z1Vv6dzW7KRQlD5xh6WFV1mBKm3SCH8NVWvQmB1CfWfCW3Dwjp-8cbn6kW5qDxkP6-wsK8W5ypSF73v7SkwW7bV4JP7yFLpDW8P4v9118Dj9DW5srVqq2z2GN2V3ScQ83zfnR5N3Zkf1WTqNZPW5_cFKm3ZfzYBW1Qsn-_19ZB9yW2t2-Bt1Q16tsVTzZt16k8lt6V7TqNd19p90PW1W5Ghy2Rrvb3W45fTN92YZf-_W29Mmg61XR9lLW4qGxBq1bvJLnW7XRR231jhy55W5yJrC116J-8nf1SWFDl04>. 
Freenom subsequently paused new domain registrations in March 2023, and 
Netcraft noticed a dramatic reduction in the amount of cybercrime across 
two TLDs that later moved away from the provider (*.ga* and *.ml*).

Finally, on 12 February 2024, Freenom announced that it had decided to 
exit the domain name business, including the operation of registries. 
The same press release (which has since been removed but is archived 
here 
<https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx57W3lYMRW8wLKSR6lZ3kCN7mY1p4DP78-W7TdqPP3Zk981W4Rgtsz8lr4yVW7DV2sX6dj6kmW69m0tX6v905bW6h8dG53zk0ggN6Ghsm_M9cPjN54_6pCqZj8qW8T3cd33S_S2kW8kbsq77hm-yBN7MTrZ0Qn1PFV64l1v7BWccyW8SHwWk5PRZL6W2GLXlX3XYgG9W6kjVkL88jWPqW7LGHY94FpSBVW5FKyrN5jzSdvW8ppvXj1ny133W3X45CV7_6cTFW94t1jj4Y1yTGW8Cy4r43kvcrMN7gb6qkmyjK-VFKLZg3jXKdkW3gcsm65kvHRMN2l2gNCzQ-HGN55Pdt6BPb5DW3kdG4-40QtjjW2fqFwG4D5Q2Ff2f-F_v04>) 
also announced that Freenom had resolved the Meta lawsuit on 
confidential monetary and business terms.

      Cloudflare losses

The affected domains represent a big loss for Cloudflare 
<https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx56q3lYMRW5BW0B06lZ3kFW28B_nC83bhXfW38vX1T2wtwL2W3mChmZ7cg9_sW1hjKnD1sCq6cW3KtMS622WNrJW7gPHCQ4v6CT-V3z7KT760JMMVP7S3T38FmcvW8SW-6395h_m8W8gkMXr6WSZ9hW5v95ym8PMZ7kW5JK0m974T13tW8lB_Yz8N-bJ9W9fSl4S7zD8LHW3tt4Fb2NSPc9W9dr5964vCjFhV4ddN68_6wr6W2N_f-b23qn6jf3f0bg-04>, 
with *.tk*, *.cf* and *.gq* previously accounting for 23.1% of all 
domains hosted on its platform – and nearly all of these have now gone.

The combined amount of *.tk*, *.cf* and *.gq* domains hosted by 
Cloudflare has fallen by 99.8% since our March 2024 Web Server Survey, 
leading to a noticeable 22.0% ...

Read more » 
<https://info.netcraft.com/e3t/Ctc/5F+113/d2-gCK04/VVMCw92Ws_SrW3-cBCV92VC2-W1f4B6k5bLb_sN8Qx57C3lYMRW7Y8-PT6lZ3q4W65ZX2h1NS-w_W2_0KGF2y7RpXW6LmDvs6T7nJTW6FWRrB3BZTMLW88M83B21xLFmW6Zr5D-4gM_FnW1bZVyd2gDT0vW95py6Y1rDYgtW1s1KyS97c3kKW2dVzNJ242V_FW5h1xf38xsR00N4JmzJnHh8Y0W9jJmSf6GF05cW9fFx276J8Rt_W980GhZ1qHSd0W6v0v1G8pLpkmW2wwgnr3WQHRTW4ZVY9d37VY5_W2mkV2P3BJrPZW3nnfVl6Wq9wZW5l2wfN98Y7wnW6LHzfP31ws6GW5g1Cjh2HCZHqW5Mfgjv6pfHfcW8QZYSp7DxxkQW43-Plf1qCfbJf5ZlY3q04> 

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