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The Internet Government Politics

Iraq TLD In Legal Limbo 262

Posted by Zonk 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."
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Iraq TLD In Legal Limbo More

Iraq TLD In Legal Limbo

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  • Sovereign nation? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by earthlingpink ( 884677 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @09:42AM (#13509284) Homepage
    Iraq has been a "sovereign nation" for considerably longer than 15 months.
    • More accurately, they were a sovereign nation up until a few years ago, and they are now an occupied nation.
      • Well... they are occupied but I'd hardly consider the Republic of Iraq to be a nation.. there seems to be a lack of national binding qualities in day to day iraqi life...
      • I thought the U.S.'s official position was that Iraq was granted "limited" sovereignty by the U.S.

        Of course, given that "sovereign" means "One that exercises supreme, permanent authority," it seems to me that "limited sovereignty" is a contradiction in terms, like "almost infinite" or "nearly a virgin..."

    • Re:Sovereign nation? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:05AM (#13509508)
      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.

    • But best oxymoron ever- they can't come to agreement about a Constitution that makes everybody happy, but their TLD is .iq.

  • Instabillity My ass (Score:5, Interesting)

    by scenestar ( 828656 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @09:45AM (#13509320) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SatanicPuppy ( 611928 ) <Satanicpuppy@gmai[ ]om ['l.c' in gap]> on Thursday September 08, 2005 @09:46AM (#13509329) Journal
    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.

    • Re:WTF? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Dr. Evil ( 3501 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @09:51AM (#13509381)

      Okay, you're sitting in your office one day, and you see on CNN that Iraq's government has collapsed.

      Some guy calls you up and says "I'm important, please sign over control over the .iq domain to me"

      What do you do?

      • Re:WTF? (Score:2, Funny)

        by Kierthos ( 225954 )
        Tell him, "Fred, quit fucking around and get back to work."

        Kierthos

      • Re:WTF? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by SatanicPuppy ( 611928 )
        Yea, that flies two years ago, but they've got a democraticly elected government now, or so we keep saying.

        What possible reason can we have that justifies holding out control of something like that? If they can't handle a TLD, then they've got serious problems.

        • Umm... They do have serious problems :-)

          It takes a while for buracracies to do anything, much less set up peripheral offices like this.

          I think what it would take is a big telecom provider in Iraq to approach the appropriate office of the government and say "hey, we need to use .iq". Establishing the appropriate office and letting people know about it, might just take that long.

    • There's no clear legitimate government, they've just been invaded, have they even got a constitution yet? Who should have the TLD? Better ICANN holds it for the moment than giving it to the occupying US forces, who are the only candidate for the current government of iraq.

      • Re:WTF? (Score:3, Informative)

        by operagost ( 62405 )
        Um, where have you been? The USA invaded in 2003. It is now 2005, and the Iraqi Provisional Government has been in authority for over a year. A national assembly was elected by the Iraqi people in January to draft a new constitution, which is close to being voted on.

        • Re:WTF? (Score:3, Insightful)

          by m50d ( 797211 )
          The USA invaded in 2003. It is now 2005,

          Point, but AIUI there's still ongoing violence.and the Iraqi Provisional Government has been in authority for over a year. A national assembly was elected by the Iraqi people in January to draft a new constitution, which is close to being voted on.

          How did that government get authority without the country having a constitution? Anyway, the lack of a constitution shows that the country's not yet fully functioning governmentally. Yes it's getting there, and I'd say on

          • Re:WTF? (Score:3, Insightful)

            by ScentCone ( 795499 )
            there's still ongoing violence

            So, should we de-register any New Orleans city-related domains until that mayor and his state's governor can figure which of them works for who under what authority? That seems to be a somewhat contested issue at the moment. You could also say that the Sudan, or Lebannon don't deserve their own TLDs. Or how about the "stans" that operate essentially without any meaningful constitutional democracy. For that matter, what about China? Would you consider that oppressive, totalit
            • But, is there any authority in Iraq that can handle this? Has any entity stepped up and said, "We are able to take care of it now, please."?
              • But, is there any authority in Iraq that can handle this?

                Just because Iraq can't handle every detail of everything they're tackling, and need a lot of international support, doesn't mean they shouldn't be assigned the authority to do so. For example - USAID is helping their Ministry of Communications with an enormous task: getting the local telecom infrastructure up to date. That seems like a natural channel through which to tackle domain admin, even if it's with some help for a while. For some comments

    • Politics and bureaucracy (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lheal ( 86013 ) <lheal1999@yah[ ]com ['oo.' in gap]> on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:15AM (#13509597) Journal
      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.

  • Article wrong? (Score:5, Informative)

    by thc69 ( 98798 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @09:47AM (#13509339) Homepage Journal
    According to http://www.icann.org/minutes/minutes-28jul05.htm [icann.org] :
    Resolved (05.70) that the proposed redelegation of the .IQ ccTLD to the National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC) of Iraq is approved.
  • I'm sure this will be taken pretty quick. ;)

  • 51st State (Score:4, Funny)

    by StarTideRising ( 236614 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @09:51AM (#13509383) Homepage
    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
    • Maybe they'll call it New New Jersey. That seems about right.

      • Re:51st State (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I hear New Orleans is up for grabs...
        • Gad, man! Do you realize that you've suddenly solved the problem of where to put the New Orleans refugees?

          After all, my newspaper just informed me today that 126 hurricane refugees showed up in my city, Toledo ... which already has many 1000s of poor Blacks. It only stands to reason that the Bush Administration is probably seriously thinking about moving refugees to another poor area under US control with a dark-skinned population ... hence Iraq.

          BRILLIANT! As the OP said, the TLD for Iraq should be
  • /me puts helmet while the ones racing for test.iq pass him (wonder what that tells about their intelligence... ;) )

  • FP Magazine? (Score:3, Funny)

    by lou2ser ( 458778 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @09:58AM (#13509451)
    "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. "

    Since when is there a First Post Magazine?
    • Since when is there a First Post Magazine?

      Something had to take its place when Hot Grits Monthly ceased publishing.
      • > > Since when is there a First Post Magazine?

        > Something had to take its place when Hot Grits Monthly ceased publishing.

        'Hot Grits Monthly' is still available in Soviet Russia and Korea (although it's only popular with old people there).

  • .limbo (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:04AM (#13509498) Homepage Journal
    The entire country is in "legal limbo". One little invasion can ruin an entire legal system. And then leave a vacuum where the country should be, for years.

    Just this week, the Iraq Constitution talks collapsed [kwtx.com]. That can delay legal niceties like domain names, and even smaller details like ending the civil war.

    • Re:.limbo (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TrappedByMyself ( 861094 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:27AM (#13509700)
      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.

      • Re:.limbo (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @11:06AM (#13510060) Homepage Journal
        Why are you still clinging to Saddam Hussein's now long-gone country? Iraq is America now, has been for years, and will be until we let it go. "Not as bad as Saddam" isn't good enough for me, why is it good enough for you? I note that, while we truly are "not as bad as Saddam", our occupation is, in fact, torturing and executing many people who have nothing to do with any opposition to the rebirth of that country. Or at least didn't, before we tortured and killed them and their families without justification.

        I stated the simple facts: we invaded, we ruined a legal system (which did have nearly-irrelevant redeeming functions like maintaining their Internet presence), and have left a vacuum, rather than a country. Until this week, political leanings twisted the truth with visions of a constitution that would end the civil war. Now that the constitution has collapsed, those twists are just lies.

        Let's leave "our political leanings" for when something debatable is under discussion. To quote Colin Powell: "if we break it, we own it". Iraq was severly dysfunctional before we invaded. But if you don't think our invasion has broken its remains, and continues to break it, you really have nothing to offer in excluding "political leanings" from debate.

      • Re:.limbo (Score:2, Flamebait)

        by CyricZ ( 887944 )
        Yeah, things were much better when the legal system was the torture and execution of anyone who looked at the leadership funny.

        Things haven't changed, you realize. These days it's just young American kids from the southern states, rather than Iraqis, torturing the innocent.

        You do remember the whole Abu-Ghraib scandal, do you not? And that's just what has become public. Who knows how much more torture is actually going on over there, even now.

        • Re:.limbo (Score:4, Insightful)

          by ScentCone ( 795499 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @11:58AM (#13510537)
          These days it's just young American kids from the southern states, rather than Iraqis, torturing the innocent.

          From the "north" are you? Not a chance that any National Guardsmen from north of the Mason-Dixon Line were ever jackasses, not trained enough for a particular task, of supervised by someone who turns out to be a PHB? I live in Maryland. people from the South think I'm from the North, and people from the North think I'm from the South. I get to see the asses on both sides, but it seems that I get to see a lot more condescension, patronizing, and ill-informed elitist psuedo-intellectualism from the North than the other way around.

          I've had plenty of bones to pick with the Bible Belt, but I think sometimes the idiocy in that region is come by more honestly, if you will, than the hypocritical blatherings that I frequently hear from the North (specifically, the Northeast and Northwest). The Upper Midwest is not without its failings, but the people there seem to be a lot more level-headed, honest with themselves, and just more polite than the rest (not counting the South, where - despite what you seem to be suggesting - there are places you'll encounter more decency per capita than in many a New England suburb or Seattle coffee bar).

          And that's just what has become public

          Yeah, yeah. And police in New York all shoot immigrants 40 times (I saw it on TV once, so I'm sure we can extrapolate to the entire NYPD, and all of the citizens that live there, right?). And Howard Dean didn't appoint any African Americans to his administration, so Vermont residents are all racist, right? Get a grip.

          Things haven't changed

          You're right, of course. The US is busy, right now, looking for replacements for Saddam's two genius sons so that we'll still have someone to put political opponents through industrial shredders while their families watch, to torture the Iraqi national soccer team when they lose games, and a whole new crew of heavy equipment operators to dig mass graves for the ethnic cleansing of Kurdish villages that we're so busy carrying out.
      • Yeah, things were much better when the legal system was the torture and execution of anyone who looked at the leadership funny. - you may just be describing the great democratic US of A 25 years form now. How do we know that all political systems do not lead to the same conclusion at the end?

      • Yeah, things were much better when the legal system was the torture and execution of anyone who looked at the leadership funny.

        OK, not a troll here, just a question, for which I do not have the answer.

        How does the number of Iraqis killed by Saddam stack up against the number of Iraqis killed by the US?

        I realize there's a lot of subjectivity here, for instance under which column do we put all the deaths caused by the sanctions? But has somebody analyzed this question?

  • Am I the only one who thought the trolls had gotten their own publication?

  • Kind of Significant (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Comatose51 ( 687974 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:15AM (#13509598) Homepage
    It's kind of cool that they're asking for the domain back as a sovereign part of their nation. It's kind of weird in the sense that a name space is just some abstract string of data. On the other hand, certain combinations of characters in the domain is given the same or similar status or importance as a piece of land. How times have changed... and it will only become more so over time.
  • Just take a look at google's list [google.com].

    My favorite being, myshoesizeisalargernumberthanmy.iq

  • ICANN power trip? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:23AM (#13509670)
    Since when is it ICANN's job to decide whether or not a sovereign government is "legitimate" or not? Is this just another ICANN power trip?

    • ICANN's FAQ explains away any Star Chamber ideas (Score:4, Informative)

      by ianscot ( 591483 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:47AM (#13509890)
      ICANN does have the chartered role of deciding which registrar in a given country gets to dole out the domains. In this case apparently back in 1997 they made a previous "delegation" for Iraq -- I don't see which element of Saddam's government had that authority. Now they're changing the registrar to the National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC) of Iraq.

      It seems a little less Star Chamberish, given that we can review their minutes [icann.org] and look at the FAQ that explains their role [icann.org].

      (Don't blame them for SPAM or Web gambling, folks. They're just the cabal of international bankers and Star Chamber judges who decide who gets to map the IP addresses to the domains.)

  • ``despite the fact that Iraq has been a sovereign nation for some 15 months''

    Huh? So these days you have to be invaded and conquered by the USA to become a sovereign nation?

    Zonk, my boy, you've done it. First the dupes, then the misleading headlines, and now this. This is the last drop. I can't stand your editorship anymore. Zonk, I hereby award you the dubious honor of being the first editor whose stories are banned from my /. homepage.

    • Re:Ok, that's it. (Score:3, Informative)

      by NaDrew ( 561847 )

      Zonk, my boy, you've done it. First the dupes, then the misleading headlines, and now this. This is the last drop. I can't stand your editorship anymore. Zonk, I hereby award you the dubious honor of being the first editor whose stories are banned from my /. homepage.

      While I tend to agree, you should note that the "sovereign nation" reference is a quote from TFA [foreignpolicy.com].

  • Extra! Extra! Read all about it! [1] (Score:5, Informative)

    by Red Flayer ( 890720 ) on Thursday September 08, 2005 @10:46AM (#13509881) Journal
    [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 [hostmysite.com]

    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 [siliconvalley.com]

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

    A couple seconds with Google is all it took.

    Please, submitters, you should be checking your submissions for accuracy and 'datedness'.
  • ...all about GWB and the war and such...

    And of course the time it is taking for Iraq to get a stable post-Hussein government and constitution. Two points to remember people: first, the USA didn't invent the constitution overnight, it really took years of wrangling prior to the Declaration of Independce straight on through the Bill of Rights afterwards and if you really want to get into the lineage of it, it goes back before the Magna Carta. Representative democracy isn't something that happens overnight a

  • Alternative TLD = .gwb (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 08, 2005 @11:17AM (#13510142)
    ICANN has offered .gwb as an alternative domain for Iraqi sites.

    Look for the following sites soon:

    haliburton-iraq.gwb
    myiraqioil.gwb
    mideasttx.gwb
    wmd.maps.google.gwb

    And my personal favorite...
    ifwarwasforoil.whydoesgascostmorethanbefore.gwb

  • The guy they had running the .iq addresses was arrested for funneling money to terrorists. Instead of just finding a replacement from another official they chose to run it themselves - and by that I mean not let anyone use it. Now that the US is pretending to show people they care about the Iraq citizens by giving them back their internet and supplying McDonalds we need to have ICANN place another palestinian in control of the .iq's.

    I think the problem is that ICANN is NOT an independant body nor "quasi-ind

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