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Iraq TLD In Legal Limbo

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."

17 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 Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      Iraq has been a "sovereign nation" for considerably longer than 15 months.

      That fact that this was put in "Politics" should tell you all you need to know about the spin on this. This is Slashdot afterall, where "Bush = Monkey" gets 5+ insightful EVERY time.

    2. Re:Sovereign nation? by anaesthetica · · Score: 5, Funny

      In a technical legalistic sense, it always was a sovereign nation, it just depended on who held the sovereignty. Saddam did, and then the U.S. military did, and then they handed over sovereignty to the Iraqi government, and the U.S. military remains there at the request of the Iraqi government. That's the de jure explanation, while we all know that the de facto explanation is that the U.S. military still calls a lot of the shots.

    3. 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.

      --
      ato
    4. 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."

  2. Instabillity My ass by scenestar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ICANN is using Iraq's political mess as an excuse.

    We all know they just want to sell the tld to the highest bidder so it could be used by organizations such as mensa.

    --
    perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
  3. Re:The most sought after Iraqi domains... by Zocalo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Given the current situation in Iraq I think it's actually more likely to be "fanat.iq"...

    --
    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  4. 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.
  5. Article wrong? by thc69 · · Score: 5, Informative
    According to http://www.icann.org/minutes/minutes-28jul05.htm :
    Resolved (05.70) that the proposed redelegation of the .IQ ccTLD to the National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC) of Iraq is approved.
    --
    Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
  6. 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.

    --
    Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  7. 51st State by StarTideRising · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps they're waiting to see if the name gets changed in the next few months. It'd be embarrasing to release the TLD .iq if it should instead be iq.us

    --
    I have heard it said that in order to go anywhere, one must leave the place where he is and arrive somewhere else.
  8. 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.
    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
  9. Re:Huh??? by bedroll · · Score: 4, Funny
    15 months? Isn't time for Slashdot to stop accepting submissions form idiots?

    Would those be the ones who don't use preview and proofread their posts?

  10. 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.

    --
    Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
  11. What is a Sovereign nation? by iambarry · · Score: 5, Informative

    see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_nation

    Seems like Iraq is now, and has been for some time, a De jure sovereign nation.

    However its not quite a de facto sovereign nation.

    Note: I'm not commenting on the legitimacy of the merging of the three provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra to form modern Iraq by the British in 1918. That is a thread of its own, and not a subject I'm too familiar with.

    --Barry

  12. 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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    Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
  13. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! [1] by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Informative

    [1] Well, all about speculation about something that will have already occured by the time you read it.

    From the summary: "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."

    I have to commend the article writer, the submitter, and the editors for giving us 'news' that is obviously (obviously as in noted in the article summary) outdated. When an article tells you itself that it is outdated, that's a really, really big hint that some more research is in order before the article gets submitted and/or posted.

    Of course, that's what the readers are for -- to do the research themselves and post comments with updated information.

    This website has the text of a CNN article from last June explaining why .iq has not been made available to Iraq, and why reassignment has been problematic: http://forums.hostmysite.com/about228.html

    Here's some news from 8/5 (over a month ago!) about the .iq reassignment: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/new s/editorial/12314495.htm

    And here it is again: http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml ?articleID=167600327

    A couple seconds with Google is all it took.

    Please, submitters, you should be checking your submissions for accuracy and 'datedness'.

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai