Note: Article [es] by Derechos Digitales originally published in Spanish, translated by Silvia Viñas.
Elmercuriomiente.cl [“El Mercurio (newspaper) lies”], Barrickmiente.cl [“Barrick lies”], Estafadoscorfo.cl [“Scammed by CORFO”] , Estoyendicom.cl [“I’m in Dicom”], etcetera. All these domain names exemplify how Chile has become a battlefield over the right to freedom of expression.
Domain names are the gateway, the cover letter of a website on the broad spectrum of the Internet. Much more than just a brand, they reflect the spirit of its creators, the orientation of its contents. Giving up a domain name carries a great cost to a project. And therefore, raising a dispute over it, thereby getting rid of the contents of a project, is clearly a very tempting resource.
However, the creators of these projects do not buy the idea of the Internet as a place where the discourse of the powerful must prevail. They are not afraid of the Internet: on the contrary, they are convinced that the Internet is a space for democracy and free expression.