Bitcoin Forum

I know they can grab .com's, I assume .net and .org just the same.   Bodog casino had their .com snagged, they moved to .eu so I assume these are safe.  However, I am guessing you don't want to buy it from a US based domain registrar as they could be forced into revealing who owns it and into taking it down.  Can anyone recommend a registrar that I'll be reasonably safe from the US government?  And for that matter, a hosting company with inexpensive VPS servers that won't cooperate with the feds?

ahh so thats what namecoins r about? buying anonymous websites so u can broadcast what u want. nicice.. thought they were some type of scam. ill look into this. very interesting.

.cc is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian territory. It is administered by VeriSign through a subsidiary company eNIC

Not so sure it's immune to being taken offline. But probably safer than a .com

.cc feels scammy to me at a glance.  I like .eu, just don't know a good place to buy the domain and hosting.   Like, where is thepiratebay hosted, or some bitcoin casinos or similar

I would say just learn how to host your website through the Tor network, People can still access it via the tor2web out proxy.

.co.cc is probably what was being referred to. It's not a TLD in itself, but a South Korean company specializing in free web domains provided under the co.cc TOS. Sites registered with these domains will look like x.co.cc, where x is the domain name you provided at the moment of registration. Sites registered here are also removed from Google search results, which you can use to somewhat augment your privacy.

As for the ideal domain/VPS integration you want to use, you're probably going to keep getting vague answers until people know exactly what you want to use the site for. Unless you're involved in illicit drugs, porn, or plan to have a static repository for copyrighted material, I don't think you have enough reason to be concerned about federal law enforcement touching your online content.


His site could be down or unusable for inexcusable amounts of time owing to the heavy traffic transmitted over Tor, just saying. Additionally, any interruption in Tor service on his end would disrupt the site.

Namecoins are the way to go.
Although right now theres only a small handful of technically savvy people who use/know what they are, hopefully theyll catch on. (so if your website doesnt target that audience I wouldn't put to much stock in it).
But ultimately it's a dns type pointer that a government can't cease. Although the end user needs to know about the .bit dns entry.

You could try Offshore web-hosting but limits you to only pornography and torrents/piracy. The best choice is hosting on .tor

Depending on who you buy from, .ru would be your best bet.
Lots of ISP's I know block .ru :P

http://www.101domains.com/ <use this to find available domains

.gov

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=6427.0

Maybe he can help you with TOR?

I'm reasonably sure that they can grab anything they want to. Recently, they actually arrested and charged a US citizen with the murder of his wife. Normal, until you consider that the crime was committed, planned and executed in my country. Our government did not consider the evidence worthy of an arrest at this time. He went home and... Is charged with killing his wife in another country.

Think about that when you ask questions regarding where you can get a domain that the US cannot touch.

^^ worth noting that they twisted something so that because her life insurance policy was taken out in the US the 'conspiracy' part of the charge actually hols up. Be warned, they can twist this so you can be charged despite where your site actually is.

Government can block access to your site, legal or not.
I haven't seen this happen in USA or Canada, but think pretty much ANY OTHER country.

Hi,

My opinion is a little biased but I would recommend you to look into OrangeWebsite.com (http://OrangeWebsite.com). They are Iceland based hosting providers, offering shared-, VPS-, dedicated hosting solutions and domain registration services outside of the USA. You can sign up 100% anonymously and use Bitcoin as a payment method.

Hosting your website in Iceland is something you might want to consider. They are famous of their ultra modern online freedom of expression legislation and strict privacy policy.

P.S. It should be alright for you to use .com .net, .org domains, just use a domain registrar outside of USA.  ;)

This sounds pretty good.  To people asking what I will be doing with the hosting, I want to host a bitcoin casino, but owning an online casino in the United States is illegal, and the domains regularly get seized by the US Gov (bodog.com, pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com, etc) and the operators get arrested

That seems to be good option, but i have to ask, who are they reselling?
After all ICANN is us based and don't they have control over all domains? or they give jurisdiction to specific countries?


also JohnnyCashout since bitcoin is not actually money according to the governments, if a casino is taking only bitcoins is it still illegal?
I'm not well informed on the topic but legally playing a game with bitcoin should be the same as using money in farmville on facebook or i'm missing an angle here?

Yeah what this guy said. I used them a few times.

I smell next forum or other shit involved in fraud.

what do you mean?

Try the iceland based orangewebsite.com. They accept BTC and do not require any name, ID etc. They register your domain outside an EU country. No guarantees but it is probably one of the safest places to register a domain.

-cb

OrangeWebsite looks cool. Why are you biased, using or working for them?

What's Iceland standing for online gambling, and how much they like to cooperate with US? Do we have any precedents there already?


p.s.
DOJ seizes domains by just making Verisign change the nameservers directly, so i guess it doesn't matter who resells them.
Verisign controls, .com .net .name .jobs  .cc  .tv according to wikipedia but i suppose also  org. .us .biz and .info (correct me if it's someone else?)


By the way who controls .eu?
I suppose for the country codes it's a private or goverment company from within the country?

Seriously, why not just run through tor - and then nobody needs to know how you're hosted.

Tor means that your site will get 99% less traffic.

how about .bit  (namecoins)

is their domain name registry decentralized?

to access them you have to set something on the PC, so again as tor 99% of the potential visitors won't ever bother

Both are great for top anonymouty but if you want usability as well, they are on the other end.
We are looking for something balanced.

What are you going to be doing that you're worried about seizures?

That being said, If you're going to be using a URL the government could always kill/redirect your dns. Of course they wouldn't have the server. Depending on the content there might be other better and safer ways to deliver it.

Best way is own your own server and use some vps to relay traffic. Then if it's taken from you, or redirected, you just have to grab a different relay and put it back up.

.ag Antigua is a domain to keep an eye on. They used to be THE place for online gambling. Until they were shut down by the US. However they have recently applied for and been given permission from the WTO to suspend the US' intellectual property rights. Meaning that they could potentially be able to sell pirated media without having to pay royalties or any other taxes.
They have not implemented this yet, but are instead using the permission as a bargaining chip to make the US backdown over the Online Gambling issue which has been ongoing since the late 90's

In the meantime there is one system that you could implement to make you as close to untouchable as possible.

Firstly, i agree with firefop, running your own server is the best way to start. It means that you don't go through any companies who will offer you up to governments as standard practice if they think what you are doing is a bit dodgy.

Secondly, get your hands on a nice wallet of Bitcoins and use them to register your domain, under a pseudonym. Domain Resellers and Registrars don't have the resources to check if those details are authentic, all they do is verify that you own your email address. To add another layer of anonymity to the formula go for a registrar who offers a trustee service, meaning that they will put their own details on the registration form, the same info which pops up in a Whois query. The difference this makes, is that instead of your bogus info being public and easy identified as false by anyone who investigates, the info will be of your registrar. This info will check out and be more trusted than your own.
BEWARE, the registrars who offer this service will most likely require a signed contract (written or e-sign) to protect themselves from your online activities.

Finally, if you complete the first two steps there is a third step which could be used. It's a bit of a nutty idea, but here goes. Don't publish any links to your site. Instead send marketing emails and post the link address, but don't actually hyperlink it to your site (www.yoursite.co rather then www.yoursite.com). Its a bit like the first two rules of Fight Club! Also host the site on a subdirectory (www.yoursite.com/gambling/ rather than www.yoursite.com). Your traditional homepage can be just a single image with the subdirectory address depicted (not text, not hyperlinked). All of this stops google or other webcrawlers from crawling your site and flagging your purpose. Crawlers are only able to read your root, which will allow them to read your default.html/index.php or alternative. these files will refer them to your subdirectories and their pages. If you dont link to the subpages a spider won't be able to crawl your site. PROBLEM - terrible for marketing purposes, its almost anti-SEO.

But all of this is like building a house of cards. In theory it works, but all it takes is someone to flag your IP or for you to make a silly mistake and it could cost you big. Its all very well for frivolous activities, but it will definitely not stand up against an anti-terrorism or online criminal investigation.

Probably just easier to have the hosting and register the domain anywhere gambling is legal, e.g. the UK.