Original post is here: eklausmeier.goip.de
Microsoft brought down no-ip.org and many other domains with a court order. Here is the text from No-IP’s Formal Statement on Microsoft Takedown: [more_WP_Tag]
We want to update all our loyal customers about the service outages that many of you are experiencing today. It is not a technical issue. This morning, Microsoft served a federal court order and seized 22 of our most commonly used domains because they claimed that some of the subdomains have been abused by creators of malware. We were very surprised by this. We have a long history of proactively working with other companies when cases of alleged malicious activity have been reported to us. Unfortunately, Microsoft never contacted us or asked us to block any subdomains, even though we have an open line of communication with Microsoft corporate executives.
I am a long time user of no-ip.org and found their service very valuable. Apparently Microsoft wants to annoy not only those poor guys who have to use Microsoft products, but also those who want a presence in the internet. This reminds me of the following funny advertisement poking on Microsoft.
[youtube] 7rALVkx0UAU [/youtube]
Now even the whole website of no-ip.org or noip.org is completely down, confirmed by websitedown: Is this website down for everyone or just for me.
Addendum 03-Jul-2014: After two days of spoiling Microsoft had enough and released my domain. It is time to look for alternatives which do not fall under US jurisdiction.
Addendum 11-Jul-2014: No-IP posted some explanation here: Details on Microsoft Takeover. EFF also has a detailed description of Microsoft's failure: What Were They Thinking? Microsoft Seizes, Returns Majority of No-IP.com’s Business.
Addendum 21-Feb-2018: no-ip.org is now noip.com.
Added 25-Jun-2023: See Susam Pal: Sinkholed for some other unpleasant experiences when losing one's domain.
Despite the successful resolution, it was still quite unsettling that a domain name could be transferred to another registrant and sinkholed for some perceived violation. I thought there would be more checks in place to confirm that a perceived violation was real before a domain name could be transferred. Losing a domain name I have been using actively for 12 years was an unpleasant experience. Losing a domain name accidentally should have been a lot harder than this.