New policy .info names

From November 6, there will be a new registration policy in force on .info names. This was announced by Afilias, the central .info registry. This new policy prohibits people who register a .info domain name to ‘abuse’ it.

Abusing a .info name includes: sending spam, distributing child pornography, the use of botnets, the distribution of malware, … This new policy allows Afilias to remove .info names that are used for these purposes and to report the abuser to law enforcement.

This policy is a necessary measure. In June 2008 a survey of McAfee showed that 12% of .info names were misused. This makes .info the 3rd most ‘dangerous’ extension in the world after .hk (20%) and cn (17%)!