Your own privacy-aware, personally controlled server, part two

Authors Jason Self

Plaintext

jxself.org

Your own privacy-aware, personally controlled server, part two Home

This is part two of a series. I'm going to assume that you've already read part one, and Linux-libre
continue.

You've got the computer you're going to use as your server, you've got your copy of GitWeb
Trisquel, you know why you're running your own server, and why it's important to do
that with with free software. Now what? How To
Domain Name Registration Articles
The very first step is establishing your server is to choose your address. This is also
known as a domain name. Domain name registration should be done carefully, since RSS Feed
there are various important elements to take into account at this point.
About Me
• Choosing the Top-Level Domain (TLD)
Contact Me
The top-level domain is the final part of a domain name. The ones you're probably
familiar with include .com, .net, and .org although there are many more. Some are
GPL enforced
generic, but each country and territory in the world also has its own specific TLD.
Some are TLDs open to registration by anyone, while others will only allow those
meeting specific criteria to register a domain name. There are many organizations that If you appreciate any of the things I
can register a domain name for you in a specific TLD, in exchange for payment of a am doing you can make a donation.
fee, which brings up my next point.

• Domain Name Seizures

The United States government has started seizing the domains of people and
organizations they do not like, as part of things like Operation In Our Sites. To avoid
the potential for your domain name to be seized it's important to select a TLD that has
no association with the United States (VeriSign, a U.S. company, operates both .com
and .net for example), since the United States government claims that they can seize
any domain name that has any kind of connection with the United States.

In addition, some domain registrars (such as GoDaddy) supported legislation (like
SOPA) that was harmful not only to the technical infrastructure of the internet, but to
human freedom itself. GoDaddy later changed their position after many of their
customers left but the fact that they did support it and only changed their position due
to financial concerns is reason enough to not do business with them. If you also
consider the government-sponsored domain name seizures, I urge you to not use a
TLD or domain registrar that has any affilitation with the United States.

A TLD such as .me should be safe since it's associated with Montenegro and
operated by an organization named doMEn, but then you'll also need select a domain
registrar that has no connection with the United States. There are other TLDs which
meet these criteria, so it pays to do your homework in this area.

However, recent developments indicate that this may not be enough.

DNS

As you register your domain name you'll encounter another thing that you may not be
familiar with: DNS. DNS, short for Domain Name System, is like a telephone book for
the internet. It serves to change human-friendly names like example.me into IP
addresses, which is a string of numbers (or a string of letters and numbers if we ever
start using something called IPv6.) Domain names are easier for people to remember,
but meaningless to the computer. DNS is used for translating URL and email
addresses. The IP addresses tell the computer exactly where to go on the internet to
find the connected information.

There are lots of places that will offer to handle the DNS for your domain. Your domain
registrar may even offer to do so, but I recommend declining that and simply "parking"
your domain name with them for now when you register it. It's much better to do it on
your own, and I'll cover that in later segments. Stay tuned.