7mo ago

When privacy expires: how I got access to tons of sensitive citizen data after buying cheap domains

inti.io When privacy expires: how I got access to tons of sensitive citizen data after buying cheap domains

As part of a large-scale privacy investigation, I have bought more than 100 domain names previously belonging to social welfare and justice institutions in Belgium. What I observed was unsettling.

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33 comments

It’s also such a waste of public money paying for x different domain all for the same municipalities, haven’t they heard of subdomains?
- Considering how little a domain name costs it would probably be a waste of public money to coordinate the use of a shared domain.
  
  They're also under .be. Is Belgium not the registrar for those?
  
  Why is that relevant?
  
  Typically free of charge for the country's public services to get a domain if the registrar is based within the country.
  There are other countries that don't actually own their TLDs like .io, .tk, .ga, .cf etc. Mali recently forcibly reposessed their .ml domain from overseas ownership IIRC
  
  Honestly, domains are cheaper to buy than it is to prove you are eligible for that unless you need large numbers of them at once.

33 comments