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Type of site | Private Company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| Predecessor(s) | INamePro, LLC |
| Headquarters | , |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Todd Han |
| CEO | Todd Han |
| Key people | Todd Han (Founder) & (President) |
| Industry | Domain Registrar |
| Products | Web Services |
| URL | www www |
Dynadot is anICANN-accrediteddomain registrar andweb host company founded by software engineer Todd Han in 2002. Dynadot's headquarters is located inSan Mateo, California, with offices inZhengzhou andBeijing, China, as well asToronto, Canada.[1]
On 15 February 2023,Delhi High Court orderedIndian IT Ministry to block Dynadot and other domain registrars overcybersquatting and not complying withIndian IT Rules, 2021.[2][3][4]
Dynadot was founded in 2002, inSan Mateo, California, by Todd Han, a software engineer. Originally called INamePro, LLC, the organization changed their name to Dynadot in 2003. Han was the sole operator of the company during the first-three years of its launch and he had hired the company's first employee in 2005.[5]
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In February 2008, the wikileaks.orgdomain name was taken offline after the Swiss bankJulius Baer Group suedWikiLeaks and Dynadot, the wikileaks.orgdomain registrar, in a court inCalifornia, United States, and obtained a permanentinjunction ordering the shutdown.[6][7] WikiLeaks had hosted allegations of illegal activities at the bank'sCayman Islands branch.[6] WikiLeaks' U.S. Registrar, Dynadot, complied with the order by removing itsDNS entries. However, the website remained accessible via its numericIP address, and online activists immediately mirrored WikiLeaks at dozens of alternative websites worldwide.[8]
TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union and theElectronic Frontier Foundation filed a motion protesting the action taken against WikiLeaks. TheReporters Committee for Freedom of the Press assembled a coalition of media and press that filed anamicus curiae brief on WikiLeaks' behalf. The coalition included major U.S. newspaper publishers and press organizations, such as theAmerican Society of News Editors, theAssociated Press, theCitizen Media Law Project, theE. W. Scripps Company, theGannett Company, theHearst Corporation, theLos Angeles Times, theNational Newspaper Publishers Association, theNewspaper Association of America and theSociety of Professional Journalists. The coalition requested to be heard as a friend of the court to call attention to relevant points of law that it believed the court had overlooked (on the grounds that WikiLeaks had not appeared in court to defend itself, and that no First Amendment issues had yet been raised before the court). Amongst other things, the coalition argued that:[9][unreliable source?]
WikiLeaks provides a forum for dissidents and whistleblowers across the globe to post documents, but the Dynadot injunction imposes a prior restraint that drastically curtails access to Wikileaks from the Internet based on a limited number of postings challenged by Plaintiffs. The Dynadot injunction therefore violates the bedrock principle that an injunction cannot enjoin all communication by a publisher or other speaker.[10]
Judge Jeffrey White, who initially issued the injunction, vacated it on 29 February 2008, citingFirst Amendment concerns and questions about legaljurisdiction.[11][12] WikiLeaks was thus able to bring its siteonline again. The bank dropped the case on 5 March 2008.[13][unreliable source?] The judge also denied the bank's request for an order prohibiting the website's publication.[9][unreliable source?]
