I posted this in Nominet Community forum first and it promptly generated a strong response from the community. Nominet said they are "preparing to address it". They initially emailed me today to notify that this new re-registration was again suspended and requested a) to confirm how the domain will be used; b) to verify myself with a selfie..etc. In a few hours they have rationally acknowledged it is no longer necessary "as they know the registrant" and domain was re-activated
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Okay, here is an example of a domain and the baffling reason Nominet has suspended it:
999callfornhs.org.uk
My name is X X and I am reaching out from Nominet's Compliance
team with regards to the 999callfornhs.org.uk domain name.
I can see that you're one of our registrars and have picked up the
domain name once it was cancelled by the previous registrant.
We have added a suspension onto the domain after discussions with Law
Enforcement as there is a very high risk to life if the registration
were to get into the hands of a third party. The risk of someone
mimicking the genuine 999 service which could ultimately put lives at
risk is too great for the domain to be active.
The previous registrant was good enough to keep it suspended until it
was cancelled and I would kindly ask if you could do the same.
I can see it is currently up for auction, but again there is a high risk
of someone buying it and then impersonating the 999 service.
Therefore the domain will remain suspended on our database. It is newly
registered, so you could look to delete the registration from your end
if you so wished.
If you do plan to delete the domain please can you let us know so we can
be ready for any re-registration.
I hope you can understand our concerns with the domain and appreciate
you working with us to protect the .uk namespace.
This domain was originally registered by my client, who agreed to delete it to avoid any confrontation. However, I re-registered it immediately (apologies, Nominet) because this claim is utterly farcical and must be challenged.
“999 Call for NHS” was a website dedicated to a
campaign against the privatisation of the NHS:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220813031757/https://www.999callfornhs.org.uk/ 2
https://web.archive.org/web/20220808164814/https://www.999callfornhs.org.uk/HOMEPAGE2020 2
How would anyone experiencing a “risk to life” even end up on this website? And what would they expect to find there? Searching for a phone number to reach the NHS? Heck - this is already in the name.
Need to reach NHS? Call 999.
Perhaps a visitor, in the middle of a life-threatening situation, expects to find an online emergency booking system on this website instead of calling 999? Sorry, that doesn’t exist—even on
nhs.uk.
Need to reach the NHS? Call 999.
As for Nominet’s claim of someone attempting to “impersonate the NHS”—completely bogus. To the best of my knowledge, there’s no profit in impersonating the NHS. (Unless, of course, a qualified doctor wants to impersonate the NHS and offer better service? Hmm…)
Let’s consider how anyone might even land on this website. What search queries would lead them there? “NHS phone number”? “NHS 999”? Would Google—or any search engine—rank this website in the top results for these searches? Absolutely not.
The only way someone might end up here is through its historical links, perhaps while reading about or researching the non-profit group it represented. Articles like this one highlight its former purpose:
'Jarrow March' ends in pro-NHS rally in London - BBC News 1.
Nominet issuing a suspension notice on such dubious grounds is absurd. They don’t even consult the registrant about their plans for the domain. What if I was a member of the original group and wanted to restore its website for historical or sentimental reasons? How would that be illegal or a “risk to life,” given that the site was never about the NHS emergency hotline in the first place?
Maybe my intentions are commercial. Suppose I restore the original content and sell a couple of links in the footer. If Nominet creates a precedent for suspensions like this and such actions go unchallenged, we risk seeing frivolous preemptive suspensions of domains merely for hypothetical misuse.
Nominet cooperates with about a dozen government agencies, which often lack understanding of what domains represent and how they’re used. Someone in one of these agencies must think that “999callfornhs” is equivalent to blocking a phone number like “1-999-CALL-FOR-NHS,” imagining it’s a real emergency support line.
It’s unacceptable for the registry to accept unverified claims without proper validation or a court order. Actions like this set a dangerous precedent and completely undermines trust and accountability.
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