Criminal '.co.uk' domains to be shut in days, Nominet proposes

After years of wrangling, UK national Internet registry Nominet looks set to agree to a new fast-track process that will make it easier for the police to quickly shutter domains being used by criminals for fraud.

Currently, police are required to have a court order before Nominet feels liable to act on ‘.co.uk’ domains being used for criminal purposes, something that can slow down the process of closing problem domains to a crawl.

This has led to accusations of bureaucratic complacency over the issue of problem domains - including those used to sell counterfeit goods, non-existent event tickets, and pharmacy products such as Viagra - which are typically only active for a period of weeks or even days.