Longtime Slashdot reader GeorgeK and author at FreeSpeech.com writes: ICANN and Verisign have quietly proposed enormous changes to global domain name policy in their proposed renewal of the .NET registry agreement, which is now open for public comments. They've proposed allowing any government in the world to cancel, redirect, or transfer to their control applicable domain names. This is an outrageous and dangerous proposal that must be stopped, as it does not respect due process. While this proposal is currently only for .NET domain names, presumably they would want to also apply it to other extensions like .COM as those contracts come up for renewal. "This proposal represents a complete government takeover of domain names, with no due process protections for registrants," adds Kirikos. "It would usurp the role of registrars, making governments go directly to Verisign (or any other registry that adopts similar language) to achieve anything they desired. It literally overturns more than two decades of global domain name policy." Furthermore, Kirikos claims ICANN and Verisign "have deliberately timed the comment period to avoid public scrutiny." He writes: "The public comment period opened on April 13, 2023, and is scheduled to end (currently) on May 25, 2023. However, the ICANN76 public meeting was held between March 11 and March 16, 2023, and the ICANN77 public meeting will be held between June 12 and June 15, 2023. Thus, they published the proposal only after the ICANN76 public meeting had ended (where we could have asked ICANN staff and the board questions about the proposal), and seek to end the public comment period before ICANN77 begins. This is likely not by chance, but by design."

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Online image hosting service Imgur is updating its Terms of Service on May 15th to prohibit nudity and sexually explicit content, among other things. The news arrived in an email sent to "Imgurians". The changes have since been outlined on the company's "Community Rules" page, which reads: Imgur welcomes a diverse audience. We don't want to create a bad experience for someone that might stumble across explicit images, nor is it in our company ethos to support explicit content, so some lascivious or sexualized posts are not allowed. This may include content containing: - the gratuitous or explicit display of breasts, butts, and sexual organs intended to stimulate erotic feelings - full or partial nudity - any depiction of sexual activity, explicit or implied (drawings, print, animated, human, or otherwise) - any image taken of or from someone without their knowledge or consent for the purpose of sexualization - solicitation (the uninvited act of directly requesting sexual content from another person, or selling/offering explicit content and/or adult services) Content that might be taken down may includes: see-thru clothing, exposed or clearly defined genitalia, some images of female nipples/areolas, spread eagle poses, butts in thongs or partially exposed buttocks, close-ups, upskirts, strip teases, cam shows, sexual fluids, private photos from a social media page, or linking to sexually explicit content. Sexually explicit comments that don't include images may also be removed. Artistic, scientific or educational nude images shared with educational context may be okay here. We don't try to define art or judge the artistic merit of particular content. Instead, we focus on context and intent, as well as what might make content too explicit for the general community. Any content found to be sexualizing and exploiting minors will be removed and, if necessary, reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). This applies to photos, videos, animated imagery, descriptions and sexual jokes concerning children. The company is also prohibiting hate speech, abuse or harassment, content that condones illegal or violent activity, gore or shock content, spam or prohibited behavior, content that shares personal information, and posts in general that violate Imgur's terms of service. Meanwhile, "provocative, inflammatory, unsettling, or suggestive content should be marked as Mature," says Imgur.

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