Police to ask Nominet to close 'criminal' domains

This is of concern to me.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11845961

While it is right, proper and for the common good for criminal sites to be removed, there is a danger that 'grey' area websites will fall foul of this law.

For example, if a website is set up to provide hacking tutorials, discussions and tools to the community, it might be deemed by the police that the site is 'criminal' and it's registration removed without any recourse for the owner. It is conceivable that such a site, while possibly frequented by criminal hackers, it could also be a hugely useful resource for ethical hackers and security professionals.

There are plenty of other sites that could be described as 'dual purpose' to one degree or another and having the police decide which remain and which go is suggesting the principal of 'Innocent until proven guilty' is all but dead.

About Bogwitch

In my real life, I am an Information Security Consultant. I have worked primarily in the Central Government sector but I have worked for commercial organisations and charities alike.

As Bogwitch, I have been commenting on InfoSec issues on many forums and boards so I thought it was about time for me to start blogging about what interests me.

My particular areas of interest include cryptography, user security awareness and UK specific InfoSec related law. Primarily, these areas interest me as I see them as being the aspects of Information Security that are most liable to mature significantly over the next few years.

[edit]

No longer working as a consultant, bored rigid of producing paperwork, performing audits and dull stuff like that. Now I'm an IT Security Architect in the commercial sector. My focus has shifted to stuff like cloud security but I remain interested and I keep a watchful eye and useful contact in the HMG arena, particularly MoD.