After claiming the German registry DENIC had deleted the domain name wikileaks.de, it now turns out the problem lies with Wikileaks themselves.
The background to the story is thus. The domain name wikileaks.de was hosted by the registrar Beasts Associated in Hamburg. Beasts Associated also provided the name server service for the domain.
In December 2008 the wikileaks.de domain holder, Theodor Reppe, tried to commence a transfer of the domain name bnd.de (the German FBI). This caused Beasts Associated to cancel all the contracts with this domain holder with effect of March 31, 2009. Beasts Associated also informed Reppe to move his domains to another registrar or alternatively they will place the domains in transit after March 31.
Beasts Associated have released a statement on the issue saying that "As a result of Mr. Reppe behaving in a manner that contravened the terms of the contract, notice of termination of his contract was issued as long ago as the start of December 2008, with the contract due to end on 30 March 2009, once the period of notice expired.
"No objection was submitted in respect of the termination, and no legal action is pending against the termination."
Beasts Associated have also issued a subsequent statement denying any involvement of any authority, currently available in German only. The statement also says Beasts Associated is amazed with the Wikileaks version of events, saying they are untrue.
And this is precisely what happened. The domain holder did nothing when requested. The registrar put the domain name in transit and the name service was disconnected.
For more information about the transit, see:
- www.denic.de/en/faqs/transit_faqs/index.html [DENIC FAQ about Domain-TRANSIT]
- beastsassociated.com/download/pr/20090413_wikileads_en.pdf
- beastsassociated.com/download/pr/20090414_wikileads_de.pdf [statement dated April 14, 2009 in Germany only]
- www.wikileaks.com/wiki/More_detail_on_WikiLeaks.de_suspension
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