One company on the planet, US-based Afilias, meets the criteria to run Colombia's trendy .co registry – and the DNS world fears a stitch-up

The Colombian government has been accused by its own internet community of fixing a contract so that just one North American company in particular is eligible to operate the .co top-level domain-name registry. In a tendering process that has become increasingly controversial, the Colombian government’s technology ministry …

[imanidiot]

I'm not even surprised

Blatant white collar crime seems to be on the rise and they're getting away with it too. So why wouldn't they try to make a deal profitable for all involved in making it?

[iron]

Re: I'm not even surprised

When the backroom deals for .org clearly involve a large brown envelope stuffed with dead presidents why would anyone think the Colombian registry would be better?

[Strahd Ivarius]

Re: I'm not even surprised

Personally, I would prefer an envelope stuffed with the dead not President...

Easier to fit in the pocket.

[Bronek Kozicki]

This smells funny, indeed

Luckily, American law severely punishes companies, and executives, caught on bribing abroad. But then, as long as the suspicions remains unproven, nothing can be done about it. I won't hold my breath (even though I should because the stink is awful! ouch!)

[Pascal Monett]

Re: American law severely punishes companies, and executives, caught on bribing abroad

Not any more, it doesn't. American law says one thing, Trump and his goons do whatever they want and high-level execs escape scot-free.

And, given who Trump pushed into the Supreme Court, soon American law will be re-written to basically state that anything a multi-billion company does is legal by definition. That is what Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, HP and the rest of them are pushing for.

[suriyun]

Re: This smells funny, indeed

Someone is trying to get rid of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

"It’s just so unfair that American companies aren’t allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas,” Trump said, according to a passage published by the [Washington] Post. “We’re going to change that.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/01/donald-trump-bribery-laws

[Doctor Syntax]

"In fact, the technical requirements listed by the Colombian government mean that just a single company on the planet is eligible to run the .co registry"

Golly! How lucky that there was even one who could manage it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm

Forget the high-seas, modern piracy prowls the much calmer waters of the DNS NGOs. There's tonnes of sunken treasure off the lovely coast of Icann from vessels sank by petty feudal lords, some of whom took up residency in Icann. It's a lovely country, if you can get over the stench of corruption...