Listers Apologies for cross-posting. An interesting case of the above is playing out in Costa Rica. I'm copying below verbatim email communications that has been sent out by the Costa Rica ccTLD Registry. Attached you will find the Letter send by ccTLD .cr to GAC / ICANN CEO / ICANN President Costa Rica Ministry of Commerce, Costa Rica Ministry of MICITT (ICT) A fragment of the letter: “The representative of the United States Embassy, Mr. Kevin Ludeke, Economist Specialist, who claims to represent the interest of the US Department of Commerce, has mentioned threats to close our registry, with repeated harassment regarding our practices and operation policies and even personal negative comments directed to our Executive Director, based on no clear evidence or statistical data to support his claims as a way to pressure our organization to take down the domain name without following our current policies”a You can get your own conclusions Related with domain name thepiratebay.cr **Attached is the letter. This raises interesting questions and potential for precedence setting. 1. Should a Registry take down a domain simply by being asked to? Even if that domain is clearly violating laws? 2. Shouldn't laid down procedures for take downs be adhered to? 3. What recourse do the offended have in this case? 4. Should a foreign entity/country threaten to shut down a Registry? Regards ** *Ali Hussein* *Principal* *Hussein & Associates* Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> 13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing, Chiromo Road, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya. Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with.