The Freename Forum

The announcement by the .nl registry SIDN that part of the technology behind the management of .nl domains would be transferred to Amazon Web Services (AWS) has caused great unrest in 2024. Critics fear for the digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy of the Netherlands. In response, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy commissioned a quick scan, including a privacy impact assessment, to investigate these concerns; at the same time, SIDN committed not to take any irreversible measures for the time being. On January 17, 2025, the ministry published a statement. Based on the Dutch and European cloud services market, the privacy impact assessment and a risk analysis by the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), SIDN has been given the green light to use the public cloud services of AWS, subject to certain conditions and changes to the previously discussed project. No Dutch or European cloud service provider is currently in a position to fully meet the specified legal, technical and functional criteria. A solution based on the integration of several Dutch and European services would be very difficult for SIDN to implement and would entail considerable costs and risks. However, the zone file must be hosted by a Dutch cloud service provider. For the rest, SIDN can continue with the project; the new domain registration system is scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of 2026.

The statement of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy on .nl can be found here:
https://www.sidn.nl/en/news-and-blogs/p ... m-proposal