The Freedom of Information Act ensures that the US Government and its officials remain transparent about their activity.
Citizens can invoke the act to request information that is made available to the public and that it’s not otherwise classified.
A fine fella named Donald Triplett III utilized this method to request a list of 10 years’ worth of non-renewed, canceled or deleted dot .GOV domain names, along with the reason behind their cancellation.
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
A list of all requests or applications for “.gov” or dot-gov domain names that were rejected within the last ten years preceding the date this request is processed, including the names of the organizations, the rejected domain names, and any reasons for rejection. If a list is not available, please provide copies of all rejected applications and any notices of rejection.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Donald Triplett III
After a few months of back and forth, the information was released.
The deleted .GOV list contains such ‘gems‘ as 4GIRLS.GOV, AMERICORPSE.GOV, MALL.GOV and hundreds of others; in all, 26 pages containing more than 900 .GOV domains that have been deleted in the 10 years prior to December 31, 2014.
You can view the documents here.
