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Year in Review: Domain names and free speech

by — Policy & Law 12 Comments

Registrars continue to grapple with thorny questions about content.

Free Speech

What role do domain name organizations play when it comes to free speech? This continued to be a hot topic in 2018.

In the United States, the government cannot limit free speech. But businesses are not obliged to do the same.

Domain name companies try to stay out of thorny issues about content on websites but they have limits. Last year, GoDaddy told the operator of the white nationalist site Daily Stormer to move his domain off the platform after the death during the Charlottesville rallies. The website’s content wasn’t hosted at GoDaddy, but GoDaddy faced lots of pressure. The kicker was when GoDaddy determined that the site was inciting violence.

This year GoDaddy took similar action with Gab.com after the person who murdered people in a Pittsburgh synagogue was found to have posted hate speech on the site.

Rob Monster, the founder and CEO of domain name registrar Epik, welcomed Gab.com onto his platform. Although he doesn’t agree with much of the commentary on the site, he believes that sites should not be “de-platformed”. The decision to accept the domain brought a lot of heat and a subpoena from Pennsylvania’s attorney general.

It will be interesting to see how domain companies approach this thorny issue going forward. Will registries get more involved on various types of domain takedowns?

Pennsylvania Attorney General subpoenas Epik over Gab.com domain name

by — Domain Registrars 35 Comments

AG asks Epik to hand over communications with Gab.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has asked domain name registrar Epik to send it information about its interactions with Gab, the social network that came under fire after one of its users shot people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Gab.com was registered at GoDaddy before moving to Uniregistry, and then to Epik. Epik founder Rob Monster got in touch and invited Gab to move the domain to its service, but he said he didn’t take the decision lightly.

It’s not clear what the Attorney General is looking for, but he is asking for all communications between Gab and the company, information about people working at Gab, and any complaints about Gab that Epik has received.

Gab disclosed the subpoena on twitter.

Update: Gab has deleted the tweet about the subpoena.

Rob Monster exits DigitalTown, George Nagy takes over CEO role

by — Uncategorized 6 Comments

Rob Monster has left DigitalTown.

Monster pares CEO roles down to one.

Rob Monster has resigned as CEO of DigitalTown, a company that provides community building platforms. The company owns a large portfolio of domain names, including 11,000 .city domain names.

Monster told Domain name Wire that the move has been planned for a while. In an email, he said that new CEO George Nagy, who was the COO, “brings significant experience with running and selling public companies and with working with institutional investors, both which will be highly relevant for the next phase.”

He was CEO of both DigitalTown and domain name company Epik. He will now have more time to focus on Epik and other endeavors.

He noted:

As a general statement, my competency leans more toward vision, strategy and corporate development. Over the last 2.5 years, we completed 7 acquisitions with which we assembled the technology and team that has allowed us to start rollout of DigitalTown around the world as well as secure deals with both private developers and government clients.

Blockchain, Crypto and Decentralized Apps are a logical response to the pattern of winner-take-all and the policies that allow it. Timing-wise, I believe the world is on the cusp of a major catalyzing event that will make DigitalTown a lot more relevant. The economic situations that are unfolding in Puerto Rico, Turkey, Venezuela and Argentina are not isolated events.

Looking ahead, I continue to be a significant DigitalTown shareholder with 18 million shares and to be an informal advisor. I have high hopes for George and the team we built. Epik continues to manage DigitalTown’s domain portfolio and will help accelerate progress on selling domains into the hands of end-users, an area that was lower priority while I was running both companies.

On the personal side, after 3 years of working 100 hour weeks while running 2 companies, I am looking forward to devoting more time to equipping Epik for the next phase. I also plan to devote more time to Christian ministry and philanthropy. My family doubts that I will slow down. Regardless I am taking a measured and Spirit-led approach to what comes next.

Epik Acquires Domain Development Company DevRich

by — Services 8 Comments

Epik adds to development capabilities.

Rob Monster’s Epik has acquired domain name development company DevRich. The transaction was an all-equity transaction and the valuation was not disclosed.

This is both a talent acquisition and a technology acquisition. Luke Webster, President of DevRich, will become SVP Operations of Epik. He will continue to run DevRich, which will be a division of Epik.

I met Webster and his business partner at DOMAINfest this past January, where they presented in PITCHfest.

DevRich will mass develop your domain names for about $5 each. As Monster points out in a blog post about the acquisition, mass development only gets you so far. The thinking is that by developing your domains on DevRich, you can figure out which ones have the most potential. You can then use some of Epik’s (and DevRich’s) more advanced solutions for product portals and directories to expand your sites.

Epik Buys JustDropped

by — Expired Domains 8 Comments

Epik buys drop catching search and registration tool.

Rob Monster’s Epik has acquired JustDropped, an expired domain search and drop catching service.

Last week at the SedoPro event in Key West Monster and JustDropped owner Dan Rubin were glued at the hip. I chatted with both of them about the future of Epik, but assumed the reason they were so tight was that Monster was using JustDropped for catching domains for his Epik network. Apparently it was a little bit closer than that.

Currently JustDropped is an information service with separate drop catching software. But Monster told me this afternoon that the site will add functionality to let individuals make backorders directly through the service.

This is the second technology acquisition Epik has announced in the past couple months. In August it acquired the DNKO auction platform.

Epik is quickly assembling key pieces to the domain ecosystem. Of course, the trick is pulling them altogether.

By the way, Rob, if you’re looking to acquire a blog… 🙂