GoDaddy fears government’s fake website crackdown could make the internet less safe

The world’s biggest internet domain seller, GoDaddy, has ​warned that India’s crackdown on fake websites impersonating famous brands will make the internet less safe for legitimate businesses and carry global ramifications.

The world’s biggest internet domain seller, GoDaddy, has ​warned that India’s crackdown on fake websites impersonating famous brands will make the internet less safe for legitimate businesses and carry global ramifications.

Soaring smartphone and internet use has coincided with a worsening ‌problem of online fraud in India. It’s a key challenge for government, which ​last year received 2.4 million complaints of alleged cyber fraud.

Starting in 2019, lawsuits were brought by dozens of ⁠Indian and global firms - Amazon against fake shopping sites trading on its name and McDonald’s complaining against bogus sites offering franchises. In December, an Indian court blocked more than 1,100 such websites.

A Delhi HC judge however went further, ordering sweeping new measures that tech experts say have rewritten rules of internet governance: Domain sellers should not offer buyers free privacy protection by default, the ‌buyer’s details should be released to anyone with a “legitimate interest” within 72 hours, and website addresses that are variations of protected brand names must be prohibited.

U.S.-based GoDaddy has challenged the directives before a larger Bench of judges at the Delhi High Court, according to a Reuters review of ‌non-public filings. It says the ruling will affect legitimate businesses that have names similar to big brands.

Stopping privacy-by-default features, GoDaddy said, will result in public disclosure ‌of ⁠name, address, telephone and email of legitimate website owners, exposing them to “foreseeable privacy and security risks” such as stalking and harassment.

As domain names ⁠operate globally, not locally, the order could force GoDaddy to regulate website addresses across the world, it said.

On the court’s order imposing a 72-hour deadline on companies to provide registration details to anyone with “legitimate interest”, GoDaddy argues it has no wherewithal to assess who has legitimate interest or not.