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.YE ccTLD – Formal Redelegation Request to ICANN/IANA

Article news.ycombinator.com

.YE ccTLD – Formal Redelegation Request to ICANN/IANA

We are the FreeTheDotYE campaign, a volunteer-led effort to address a long-standing failure in internet governance. We have submitted a formal request to ICANN/IANA for the redelegation of Yemen's country-code top-level domain (.YE).

The full request can be viewed here:

https://freethedotye.org/letter

The Core Problem:

The IANA Root Zone Database lists TeleYemen as the manager for the .YE ccTLD. Since the Houthi militia's takeover of Sana'a in 2014-2015, TeleYemen's infrastructure has been under their control. This means a non-state armed group is the de facto operator of a sovereign nation's digital identifier.

The Basis for Redelegation (RFC 1591 & ICP-1):

Our request is grounded in established internet governance principles that the current operator has clearly violated:

1. RFC 1591: Requires a ccTLD manager to serve the entire local community as a trustee.

2. ICP-1: Requires the operator to be neutral, competent, and serve the public interest.

Demonstrable Governance Failures & Real-World Abuse:

* Failure to Serve the Community: The .YE namespace exclusively serves the Houthi militia. Yemen's internationally recognized government and civil society are forced onto generic TLDs (.com, .org), while militia-run portals occupy .gov.ye and .edu.ye.

* Weaponization for Military and Extortionist Purposes: The control over the `.gov.ye` namespace is being actively used to threaten international maritime shipping. The Houthis have established a website at `hocc.gov.ye` (Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center) which acts as a front for their maritime operations. Through this site and associated emails like `info@navy.gov.ye`, they issue military threats and run what amounts to a digital extortion racket under the guise of a state authority. This is a direct abuse of a national resource for military coercion.

* Loss of Neutrality: The .YE domain is used to run propaganda outlets (e.g., saba.ye), and the same authority uses its control over telecommunications to censor and surveil activists.

* Instability and Risk: The entity controlling .YE is documented for severe human rights abuses, including the kidnapping of journalists and detention of UN staff. An operator associated with such acts cannot be considered a stable or trusted steward.

Our Formal Request to ICANN:

1. Initiate a formal review of the .YE delegation.

2. Temporarily redelegate .YE to a neutral international trustee until a stable, legitimate national authority can assume stewardship. There is a precedent for this (e.g., the .SO Somalia redelegation).

This is a critical test of whether the principles of a multi-stakeholder, community-led internet can hold in a conflict zone where a ccTLD has been turned into an instrument of war.

Links:

- Campaign Website: https://freethedotye.org

- X profile: https://x.com/FreeTheDotYE

Discussion 0 comments · 8 points · FreeTheDotYE · 2025-09-19
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