Aral Balkan
RE: https://piaille.fr/@benjamin/117171947304939705
So maybe launching with small-web.org and having small-tech.org is not a good idea after all…
So what are safe TLDs? Is there even such a thing? Any TLDs not controlled by the US in one form or another? Any anti-fascist TLDs.
Hey @EUCommission, maybe this is the sort of thing you should be looking into given all your “digital sovereignty”, talk, hmm? Pretty easy one to fix this one.
Aral Balkan
@EUCommission To answer my own question, if you’re not a fascist in the EU, consider registering a TLD from a non-US registry with no ICAAN registry contact:
EU/EEA ccTLD registries (non-US operators, no ICANN registry contract):
• .de – DENIC eG, Frankfurt (cooperative)
• .nl – SIDN, Arnhem (foundation)
• .fr, .re, .yt, .pm, .tf, .wf – AFNIC, France
• .eu – EURid, Brussels
• .be – DNS Belgium
• .at – nic.at, Vienna
• .cz – CZ.NIC, Prague
• .pl – NASK, Warsaw (state research institute)
• .se, .nu – Internetstiftelsen, Sweden
• .dk – Punktum dk
• .fi – Traficom (Finnish state agency)
• .it – Registro.it / IIT-CNR, Pisa
• .es – Red.es (public body)
• .pt – DNS.PT
• .ie – IE Domain Registry
• .gr, .ελ – ICS-FORTH, Crete
• .hu – ISZT · .ro – ICI Bucharest · .bg – Register.BG · .hr – CARNET · .si – Arnes · .sk – SK-NIC (owned by UK-listed Team Internet) · .lu – Restena · .lv, .lt, .ee, .cy, .mt – national academic/foundation registries
Nearby non-EU, non-US: .is (ISNIC, Iceland)
It’s also important to use non-US payment systems like SEPA, Aero, national payment systems – iDEAL (NL), Bancontact (BE), Blik (PL), Bizum (ES), MB Way (PT), Swish (SE), MobilePay (DK/FI)) – or non-proof-of-work (because environment) cryptocurrencies.
If you have any other suggestions, etc., please reply to the thread.
Aral Balkan
@EUCommission Also, some of you were scratching your heads when I mentioned last year that the Small Web will be using web numbers at launch, not domain names.
Maybe it makes a bit more sense now?
https://ar.al/2025/06/25/web-numbers/
#WebNumbers #SmallWeb #SmallTech #antifascism #decentralisation #TLDs #ICAAN #centralisation #USA #fascism #tech
Aqua Maureen
@aral @EUCommission baby this is ~~keke palmer~~ an IP address (it's great I love it thank you :ablobcatheartsqueeze: )
Aral Balkan
@mooooooo @EUCommission Yep. About 90% of the challenge is making this stuff usable by everyday people who use technology as an everyday thing. And a huge part of that is trying to make it approachable. Otherwise, all these problems are solved and we can just point people to a few repos on sourcehut and tell them to fire up git and build it all from source. I personally know the three people who do that and they seem quite content :)
Bruno Scheele
@aral Moved my own personal domain to .nl and my business domain to .eu recently, though a Dutch registrar. Slowly moving away from US-based stuff 👍
Aral Balkan
@EUCommission On the same note, have any of you tried Stancer for online payments?
• https://european-alternatives.eu/product/stancer
• https://www.stancer.com/fra/en/online-payment
Because I’m thinking it’s probably best to get off of Stripe too.
Aral Balkan
@cesarb @EUCommission I’m not too sure about that: when the US says “jump”, Ireland asks “how high and would you like a blowjob with that, sir?”
Cesar
@aral @EUCommission The safest TLD is nearly always going to be the ccTLD from your own country of residence. For instance, as a Brazilian I can use a .net.br or .com.br domain (.org.br is restricted to registered non-profits), pay with Boleto Bancário (a traditional local payment method) or PIX (the very popular new local instant payment method), and only be subject to Brazilian laws and courts (which I already am subject to, since I live here).
Aral Balkan
@EUCommission In the same vein, any experiences with Creem?
• https://europealternative.com/compare/creem-vs-paddle/
• https://www.creem.io/
Tacháaan!
@aral
Do you really expect that
@EUCommission is going to answer or even read posts at all?
I would put some hope on Europe if they interact, but I've never seen anything from them but their own posts and no interaction whatsoever.
Aral Balkan
iwein
@aral
I know everyone hates crypto now, but decentralized payments still make more sense to me than EU controlled ones at this point.
Aral Balkan
@iwein @EUCommission Yeah, I have zero issues with non-proof-of-work cryptocurrency in theory (and many with the folks who are usually involved in these things and their companies) but the real challenge there is, again, usubility. You’re up against “press this button and we’re done” (Apple Pay, etc.) or, at worst, enter three numbers and press a button (credit card checkout, when done right).
That’s very hard to compete with using:
1. Find out how all this works
2. Get a wallet
3. Find an exchange
4. Fund your wallet (guess how – that easy system that works as described above)
5. Pay using your wallet
6. What? You sent someone your private key by mistake?… Oops!
I mean you have to either be really dedicated or entirely out of options to be using crypto right now (right libertarian get-rich-quick artists, aside.)
But yes, in theory… :)
Aral Balkan
@EUCommission Right, well, I’ve registered small-web.eu and small-tech.eu as backups for now.
Thankfully, as of what I’ve been building this year, the Small Web doesn’t need TLDs to work (see https://ar.al/2025/06/25/web-numbers/) but still, here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that because it will be a right hassle to move stuff over.
Buy, hey, better safe than sorry.
And I’m definitely reconsidering my choices when it comes to payment services/merchant of record for Catalyst (the free/open Small Web hosting app I’m building).
#US #fascism #ICAAN #TLDs #internet #web #BigTech #BigWeb #EU #SmallWeb #SmallTech #webNumbers
Aral Balkan
@470m @EUCommission If we can achieve the usability of a phone book, I think we’ll be fine. No one remembers phone numbers these days because we don’t have to :)
atom
@aral @EUCommission Never thought we'd be going back to the pre-DNS /etc/hosts days, but I'm here for it!
Aral Balkan
@iwein @EUCommission Aren’t theories just peachy? :)
iwein
@aral "in theory", yes well put... In theory the UX and scams could be solved by a government without turning it into a centralized currency with extra steps 🤣
lj·rk
@aral @EUCommission I'm yet to see evidence that ICANN or the PIR/.org was involved. I'm of the impression that their registrar (Gandi) stepped which is also what would make sense since they're the easiest to pressure and with the clearest legal case. Registries and ICANN don't have a contract with I/A plus ICANN/PIR are mamaged by international law rather than US. The registrar has direct business relationships (thus falling under sanctions) and can be pressured by US law directly.
I'd be surprised if ICANN was involved. Further, all domains end up being tied to ICANN in some way. I'm not sure whether this is key to what happened here.
Giulio Cesare Solaroli
@aral @EUCommission @alberto_cottica
Back in 2013 we had a major issue (https://clipperz.is/blog/2013/12/28/leaving-the-us/) and moved our DNS to Island.
We initially tried to move also the applications there, but the available providers were sub-par.
We have been happy with that choice ever since.
Even with the current anti-EU feeling running around , Island seems still a safe bet with regard to freedom of expression.
Aral Balkan
@gcsolaroli @EUCommission @alberto_cottica Thank you for sharing your experience Guilio and sorry you had to go through that. Sounds like a nightmare.
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