Removal of unused reserved 2LDs

[wdhdev]

Should we consider removing 2LDs that are not available for registration and do not have any usage?

e.g. com.io is listed, however it has no usage as registration is restricted to the residents of the territory the ccTLD is from, however there are no residents of said territory. Also, there is no active domains registered as far as I'm aware.

Another TLD that doesn't appear to have usage on its 2LDs is .aero (according to the comment left 07-2024).

We should keep 2LDs that are planning to be used in the near future, however if there is no planned usage they should likely be removed.

[groundcat]

Personally I think for now there is no harm in keeping entries in the PSL as long as the registry intends to retain them as suffixes, even if there seems to be no usage. However, we would cause harm if we mistakenly remove a suffix that is in use.

I do agree that if there is no current usage AND no planned usage, confirmed directly by the registry, they should likely be removed. Just ensure, as always, the registries confirm this, since not all usage has detectable traits like certificate transparency or search engine results.

Edit:
Although we have been taking many proactive steps recently, the responsibility should primarily lie with the registries to submit their PSL changes -- to make sure these modifications are fully intentional. When we do the work for them and request confirmation, there is room for human error or misunderstanding, as some registry contacts are unfamiliar with the PSL. In my experience, many registry contacts do not fully grasp how adding or removing an entry affects their TLD and users, and they occasionally make mistakes when confirming such information.

Ideally, registries should handle all these actions themselves. Our current approach of doing their work and making inquiries is a nice thing to do but not an optimal approach. I think it is acceptable to maintain the status quo for low-usage suffixes, but we should probably intervene and contact the registry in specific cases, such as when an ICANN section domain expires and falls into malicious hands.