.US Launches New Efforts to Tackle Illegal Online Sales of Opioids

In February 2019, U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) described the opioid crisis as one of the largest and most complex public health issues of our nation. As the Administrator of the .US domain name, we have long held strict polices on malicious use and abuse of domains including the illegal sale or distribution of pharmaceuticals.  With recently spearheaded additional efforts to continue fighting illegal online opioid sales, we are working diligently with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the FDA to identify new approaches and technologies to ensure a safe and secure online environment.  A little over a year after .US announced practices for enhanced enforcement of the .US acceptable use policy during the FDA’s 2nd Online Opioid Summit, .US is proud to unveil the launch of a pilot program to further curb illegal online sales of unapproved opioids.

In partnership with the NTIA and FDA, a new voluntary Trusted Notifier program has been developed to alert participating registry operators about the existence of websites that are illegally selling opioids. The FDA will act as a Trusted Notifier to provide credible and accurate information about illegal or abusive website content where we may act based on identified pre-approved methods according to its policies and procedures. 

The pilot program launches today, June 8, 2020 and will run for 120-days, after which the effectiveness as a potential solution to dealing with the illegal sale of unapproved opioids online will be reviewed with the participating parties involved.

 

Staying Ahead of Malicious Actors

As the internet itself evolves, so do our policies and approach to operating the .US namespace in the public interest and for the benefit of all users. We continually review its policies under the direction of the NTIA for the .US domain to ensure they are comprehensive, accurate and actionable.