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Iraq TLD In Legal Limbo

Posted by Zonk on from the can-i-borrow-a-cup-of-domains-please dept.

tcd004 writes "FP Magazine is reporting that despite the fact that Iraq has been a sovereign nation for some 15 months its top-level Internet domain, .iq, has been in a legal limbo. Until now, ICANN has refused to hand over control of the TLD due to the nation's instability." From the article: "But one Baghdad political insider says that the imbroglio is likely to end 'imminently'--possibly by the time this magazine hits newsstands--with ICANN handing over .iq to the new government. It's unclear why ICANN may reverse its earlier decision, whether it be from mounting political pressure or a different position on the legitimacy of the new Iraqi regime. The organization refused repeated requests for comment. But officials affiliated with the Iraqi government indicate they expect the domain's return soon."

8 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Sovereign nation? by earthlingpink · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Iraq has been a "sovereign nation" for considerably longer than 15 months.

    1. Re:Sovereign nation? by agurkan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ask yourself this question. Could the "government" of Iraq function as it does now, e.g., holding those meetings for the new constitution requirements if there were not any US troops there? Then ask the similar question for Japan, Turkey, Germany etc. It is the function of the troops, not merely their presence which defines sovereignity. But I can also accept the argument that the presence of foreign troops hurt the sovereignity of a nation to some degree in any case.

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      ato
    2. Re:Sovereign nation? by neomac · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or Korea?
      Or Saudi Arabia?
      Or Germany?
      Or Louisiana?

      The presence of US troops does not constitute an "occupation," whereas the democratic election of a government is reasonable justification for declaring Iraq a "sovereign nation."

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  2. WTF? by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How can a country be too unstable to use a TLD? Is the TLD going to run amok, strap some viruses around itself and nuke some other unsuspecting nearby TLD like .kw or .ae?

    Sounds idiotic to me. Or, more likely, like some country doesn't want Iraquis to be able to express their opinions attached to the official domain of the country.

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  3. Re:Perspective... by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a tech news site. If you want the "Hard" news about the cleanup after Katrina or the problems in Iraq, news.google.com has a bunch of nice links. You can also go to the website of CNN, MSNBC, or the BBC for information on the less tech news out there.

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  4. Re:Perspective... by gowen · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This is a tech news site
    For very small values of "News". It's really a Tech Trivia site.
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  5. Politics and bureaucracy by lheal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are doubtless folks at ICANN who hope that the new Iraq-CAN'T. Those folks would doubtless like to avoid legitimizing the Iraqi governement, with the only little power they have, awarding domains.

    Also, recall the flap over the USA keeping control over the root servers? Not awarding the .iq TLD to Iraq is a little dig at George Bush. They know they have to do it eventually, unless the terrorists and factions manage to destabilize the new government.

    Bureaucrats also hate to make a mistake.

    They appear to have realized finally that they were for no good reason failing to perform their primary function.

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  6. Re:.limbo by TrappedByMyself · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One little invasion can ruin an entire legal system. And then leave a vacuum where the country should be, for years.
     
    Yeah, things were much better when the legal system was the torture and execution of anyone who looked at the leadership funny.
     
    Not making excuses for the war, but just want to be sure we don't use our political leanings to twist the truth.

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