- GoDaddy warns India's crackdown on fake websites may reduce global internet security
- Delhi High Court ordered domain registrars to stop default privacy protection
- GoDaddy challenges the order, citing risks to legitimate website owners' privacy
GoDaddy, the world's largest domain registrar, has warned the world that India's crackdown on fake websites impersonating well-known brands could make the internet less secure for legitimate business and could have global implications.
The court has asked domain registrars to stop offering privacy protection by default. GoDaddy has challenged the direction before a larger bench of the Delhi High Court, arguing that the move could have unintended consequences, according to Reuters.
Why Is GoDaddy Challenging The Court's Direction?
Reuters reported that the most domain registrars currently offer privacy protection services that prevent the personal information of website owners from being publicly accessible.
The Delhi High Court decision, however, would require to make registrars such details available more readily under certain circumstances.
GoDaddy said that the change could expose legitimate website owners to privacy and security risks. According to the company, making personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers and email IDs easier to access could increase the risk of spam, harassment, stalking and other forms of misuse.
The company has also raised concerns over the wider impact of the order, saying domain registration is a global business and not limited to India. The company warned that complying with the court's direction in one jurisdiction could require changes to its practices in other markets as well.
The US company further said that complying with the requirement to disclose registration details within 72 hours would be difficult because there is no clear mechanism to determine whether a person requesting the information has a legitimate "interest in obtaining" it or not.
Court records show that GoDaddy is not the only company contesting the Delhi High Court's direction. Domain registrars Namecheap, headquartered in Arizona and hosting concepts based in the Netherlands, have also filed challenges against the order.
Reuters, however, said that they could not solely verify the specifics of their appeals and neither company respondend to its request for a comment.
The legal battle began after more than 20 companies approached the Delhi High Court, alleging that fake websites impersonating their brands were harming their businesses and misleading consumers. Amazon, Microsoft, Xiaomi, McDonald's are among the companies that sought the court's intervention.
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