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Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not

Thanks to letsencrypt and others, now SSL is free, but why same is not happening with domain names?

I think if fraudulent (or lots of) name registrations will be fixed, then it is possible to make domain name registration free (like telegram did for their bot names, max was 20name last time I checked)

( 9 comments | 5 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by smt88 on Thursday January 28, 2016 @01:23AM (#10986670)
OK. Let's say domain registration becomes free. Now I want to register all remaining domain names. What's stopping me? Artificial limits of domains per person? That's not really fair, because some people really need to buy domains to prevent cybersquatting.

The current system isn't perfect, but it's better than open, free registration.

Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by anonx on Friday January 29, 2016 @09:08AM (#10995221)
There is Freenom that let you register free .tk, .ml, .ga, .cf, .gq domains. And the number of scam web-sites IMO discredit those domain zones.

Though according to the feedback online, Freenom to domains is not what Letsencrypt is to SSL. Their business model (cancel domain name registration then ask $xxxx to register it again) looks like fraud to me [1].

[1]: https://www.quora.com/Is-Freenom-a-fraudulent-company

Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by stepanhruda on Thursday January 28, 2016 @01:23AM (#10986672)
What stops anyone from squatting all the domain names possible?
Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by jklein11 on Thursday January 28, 2016 @10:02PM (#10993212)
arent there an infinite number of domains?
Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by afarrell on Thursday January 28, 2016 @11:07PM (#10993422)
> According to the domain registrars, the longest legal domain name is 63 characters starting with a letter or number.

So no

http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/post/the_worlds_longest_domai...

Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by tuyguntn on Friday January 29, 2016 @04:04AM (#10994265)
event though you can generate more than 36^63 combinations, it doesn't make sense to use 63 character long domain name and even now it is difficult to find & register representative domain name.
Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by jklein11 on Friday January 29, 2016 @07:40AM (#10994868)
It would definitely make bookmarking a more important feature for browsers, but we remember street addresses that are longer than 36 characters, why not longer domain names?
Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by stepanhruda on Friday January 29, 2016 @07:43PM (#10999799)
I sure don't remember those anywhere near the scale of app and domain names
Re:Ask HN: SSL is free now, why domain names are not by stepanhruda on Friday January 29, 2016 @07:41PM (#10999790)
There is a finite number of words people understand.