Gabon’s National Agency for Digital Infrastructures and Frequencies (ANINF) announced that from June 7, 2023, it is taking back the .ga registry from Freenom, and free .ga domains registered through Freenom will be forcibly reclaimed.
ANINF published its announcement on May 31, 2023. Original (French): http://aninf.ga/communique-nouvelle-gestion-internationale-du-domaine-de-premier-niveau-ga. Translated:
New international management of the .ga top-level domain
The National Agency for Digital Infrastructures and Frequencies (ANINF) informs the public that, starting Wednesday June 7, 2023, it will carry out the technical migration related to the management of the national extension .ga.
This transition responds in particular to two (02) priority concerns:
- Providing quality service that complies with the industry reference rules of registry operators;
- Ending, with the will and support of the Gabonese Republic, the abuses that have negatively affected the country’s image on the internet.
This operation will cause disruption for .ga holders in Gabon and internationally. Furthermore, the ANINF registry wishes to assure its users that, with the help of national authorities in the sector and international institutions, all necessary measures have been taken to ensure service continuity.
In addition, the registry began a few weeks ago an accreditation campaign with registrars to ensure the conversion and management of the .ga zone according to the highest standards of service quality and security.
However, registrars are reminded that current .ga holders may be taken on as customers, as well as customers holding .ga domains through the Freenom operator: from June 6, 2023, the international .ga zone is now managed by ANINF. The registry invites them to contact its technical services at www.mon.ga to avoid any inconvenience following this operation.
Finally, ANINF recalls that this strategic decision is part of the continuity of its mission to provide users with quality, reliable and secure services. It also demonstrates its commitment to strengthening Gabon’s digital sovereignty and ensuring responsible management of digital resources.
This event is really a sequel to my previous post: Meta (Facebook) sues Freenom, halting .tk/.ga/.ml/.cf/.gq new registrations. Freenom’s free-for-all antics tanked the reputation of the domains it operates — almost all garbage and scam sites — and after Facebook sued, registration was suspended across all of them.
Gabon is the first to react: reclaiming the registry from Freenom to end the abuse and stop the country’s image from being dragged through the mud online. A wise choice. I expect other countries will quietly do the same.