Mali offers free .ML domains to anyone. What could *possibly* go wrong?

If news reports are to be believed, the West African country of Mali is planning to let anybody register .ML domain names for free.

Yes, you read that correctly.

For free.

Here’s how The Register described the plan:

The .ML domain will be carved up in three phases, with a “Sunrise” phase in May and subsequent June “Land Rush” during which hundreds of generic and premium domain names will be released. Applicants are asked to contemplate “strategic partnership opportunities” during that period of time. Come July 15th, the world+dog can take their pick.

At first I thought it might be a late April Fool’s joke, but it appears that a press release from Freedom Registry confirms the plan…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.