Acceptable use policy

1. Who does this policy apply to?

This policy applies to every account and every domain registered through Sealname. Sealname is operated by DomaineGoat LLC, an ICANN-accredited registrar incorporated in Panama. The policy is part of our terms of service.

You are the registrant of record of your domains. You are therefore responsible for how they are used, including by anyone you let use them.

2. What is allowed?

Any lawful use is allowed. Private registration exists for people and organisations with a legitimate reason to keep their details out of public WHOIS/RDAP. For example:

• Journalism and research, including sources and investigations that need protection.
• Activism and civil society, including criticism of governments and companies.
• Business: shops, services, crypto and software projects, brand protection.
• Personal sites: blogs, portfolios, family pages, email on your own domain.

Privacy is not a sign of bad intent. An ICANN-funded study, reported by PCWorld, found that banks also use privacy and proxy services. Our rule is simple: private to the public, not above the law.

3. What is forbidden?

You must not use a domain registered through Sealname, or let anyone use it, for any of the following ten uses:

1. Phishing: pages or messages that trick people into giving credentials, payment details or personal data, including pharming (redirecting users to fraudulent sites by tampering with DNS).
2. Malware: hosting, spreading or controlling malicious software.
3. Botnets: command-and-control servers or any other part of a botnet.
4. Spam used as a vector: spam that spreads phishing, malware, botnets or fraud.
5. Child sexual abuse material (CSAM), in any form, on the domain or reached through it.
6. Fraud that takes money from victims: fake shops, investment and crypto scams, advance-fee scams, wallet drainers.
7. Impersonation of a bank, a payment service, a brand or a government, to deceive its users.
8. Sale of stolen data: credentials, card data, personal data or databases.
9. Other illegal goods and services, such as forged documents or weapons sold against the law.
10. Sanctions evasion: using a domain or our service to get around international sanctions.

Uses 1 to 8 are the strict exceptions of our policy: a well-documented report leads to suspension through our abuse process. Uses 9 and 10 are forbidden too, but a complaint about them is not enough: we act on a decision from a Panamanian court (foreign judgments must first be recognised in Panama), as for any content dispute.

4. Which names can Sealname refuse?

We may refuse to register a name that is built to imitate a bank, a payment service, a government or a login page. If such a name is used for phishing, it is suspended like any phishing domain. Typical examples combine a well-known brand with words such as "login", "verify", "secure" or "account".

We may also limit or review bulk registrations. Interisle's Phishing Landscape 2025 found that 37% of phishing domains were registered in bulk. Orders from an account that registers many lookalike or random names in a short time may be held for review.

If we refuse a name before it is registered, its price stays on your balance, for another domain, a renewal or a transfer.

5. What are your duties as a registrant?

• Keep your email working and verified. ICANN requires registrars to verify the registrant's email within 15 days of a registration, transfer or change. Without it, the domain is suspended.
• Do not give false data. A privacy service is legal; false data in your registration works against you. In US law, knowingly giving materially false contact data to a registrar creates a presumption of wilful infringement (15 U.S.C. §1117(e)).
• Check trademarks before you register. A name that copies a trademark can be lost in a UDRP dispute: see UDRP and disputes.
• Answer us when we write about a report concerning your domain.

6. What happens when this policy is broken?

When a breach is confirmed, we act on the domain and on the account:

• Suspension for the strict exceptions. Phishing, malware, botnets and fraud that takes money from victims are acted on within 24 hours of a well-documented report. CSAM is acted on immediately, and the URLs are reported to NCMEC.
• No takedown on complaint alone. For content disputes — copyright, defamation, political content, competitor complaints — and the other forbidden uses, a complaint is not enough: we act on a decision from a Panamanian court (foreign judgments must first be recognised in Panama). Trademark disputes follow the UDRP or the URS, as ICANN requires.
• Associated domains. When a domain is suspended under a strict exception, we check the other domains of the same account.
• No refund of the registration. The price paid for a suspended domain is not refunded. Unused balance stays on your account and never expires, and it pays for new domains, renewals and transfers, but it is not refundable.
• Disclosure only on a Panamanian court order. A suspension does not reveal your data: see the disclosure policy. We tell you before any disclosure, unless the Panamanian court order forbids it.

Every suspension, and every complaint refused without a decision from a Panamanian court, is counted in the quarterly transparency report.

7. How can you appeal a decision?

Write to [email protected] from the verified email of the domain. Give the domain name, the reference of the case if you have one, and the reasons why the decision is wrong. Add any evidence, such as proof that a compromised site has been cleaned. Email replies within 12 hours, 7 days a week, including help with DNS, transfers and renewals.

We review the appeal against the evidence. If we were wrong, we lift the suspension.

Some decisions are not ours to reverse. A suspension ordered by a court must be challenged before that court. A UDRP or URS decision is challenged through the procedure or before a competent court.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy, for example when ICANN rules change. The date at the top of this page shows the last update. The current version applies to every domain from that date.

Prices for every extension are on the price list. Questions about this policy go to [email protected]; abuse reports go to [email protected].