“Seven Dirty Words” Restriction Policy Lifted from .US Domain Name Registrations

Home / News

“Seven Dirty Words” Restriction Policy Lifted from .US Domain Name Registrations

By CircleID Reporter
September 14, 2018, 2:20 am PDT Views: 16,985 Add Comment

Neustar, the registry operator of the .US domain and NTIA have reversed course, allowing the inclusion of previously restricted “seven dirty words” from future .US domain name registrations. The decision came after EFF and the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law School intervened in the cancelation of a domain name containing a restricted word. The domain name registered by Mr. Rubin was suspended by Neustar calling it a violation of an NTIA “seven dirty words” policy—“a phrase with particular First Amendment significance,” said EFF.

Cyberlaw Clinic explains in a blog post the significance of the case: “As a general rule, First Amendment law makes clear that the government cannot impose content-based restrictions on speech. The well-known case, Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978), held that the Federal Communications Commission (‘FCC’) may regulate over-the-air broadcasts of the so-called ‘seven dirty words’ comedic bit made famous by George Carlin. But, that ruling is limited to broadcasts over public airwaves and is inapplicable to other forms of media distribution. It thus surprised [us] to learn that NTIA and Neustar had a policy of using the Pacifica list of seven words to police domain name registrations. NTIA and Neustar saw fit to cancel [Mr. Rubin’s] registration in accordance with that policy upon noting that it incorporated the ‘f-word.’”

By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
Visit Page

Filed Under

Comments

The Weekly Wrap

More and more professionals are choosing to publish critical posts on CircleID from all corners of the Internet industry. If you find it hard to keep up daily, consider subscribing to our weekly digest. We will provide you a convenient summary report once a week sent directly to your inbox. It's a quick and easy read.