Removal

[Simon Friedberger]

There are a couple of open PRs to remove entries which look like they might have been repurposed.

Indicators we have:

• The domain registration is after PSL submission. This indicates that the owner might have changed.
  
• The _psl DNS record is missing. This indicates that people are not following our guidance but we haven't enforced it so it's common.
  
• The domain is offline.
• The organization website is offline.
• The contact e-mail is unreachable.
  
• No subdomains have been discovered. This depends on the likelihood that we would discover them.
  
  • Search engines indicates no active site in use.
  • CT logs indicate no active sites in use.
• Virustotal or similar indicate abuse.

I would like to formulate a policy for older entries on how to proceed.

The most obvious to me would be:

1. If we think your entry might be unused we send you an email and ask if you still need it.

2. If we get no reply we try to find a different contact using the organization website.

3. If no contact can be established and we cannot find any evidence of subdomain use we remove the entry.

The last point is a bit too handwavy for my taste but maybe it's sufficient.

BR

Simon

[William Harrison]

That process of removal seems good to me.

One thing, would it be a good idea to setup some form of automated flagging system to automatically flag domain names based on those indicators?

Some more things we need to consider in this possible policy are:

- Should the removal of expired domains be prioritised due to the potential chance of abuse if re-registered by another registrant?

- Should we flag domains submitted by ghost accounts (deleted users)?