Who's in Control of your Domain?
- By Emily Simonson
- Published 08/18/2011
- Tools and Resources
- Unrated
Last month, the Libyan government seized control of the website vb.ly, a link shortening service geared toward adults. Libyan authorities explained the site was shut down for offensive imagery and promoting adult content on the website. This begs the question: do other countries with popular ccTLDs (.tv, .cc, .co) claim to have the final say over what websites can and cannot exist?
The VB.ly slogan is "The Internet's first and only sex-positive URL shortener." Co founder Violet Blue, explains on her blog that this just means they won't filter website links of a sexual nature. "It was made to be a service where you CAN put NSFW links, but not *exclusively* for non-worksafe links. It was simply a service which openly stated that it won't discriminate against you (by filtering or removing your links) if you do." The "boasting" of the link shortener being "sex-positive" and encouragement of it being used to shorten offensive or explicit links which promotes illegal activity as well as the image of Violet Blue with bare arms and a bottle (seen above) were considered illegal according to Libyan Islamic Sharia Law.
The letter received from the Libyan government after the site was shut down stated "Pornography and adult material aren't allowed under Libyan law, therefore we removed the domain. The issue of offensive imagery is quite subjective, as what I may deem as offensive you might not, but I think you'll agree that a picture of a scantily cl
ad lady with some bottle in her hand isn't exactly what most would consider decent or family friendly at the least." Violet explains that they received no warning before the site was seized and had in fact just renewed their domain name. Founders of VB.ly warn other .ly owners that they are not safe from the same misfortune.
This situation has become cause for attention because the Libyan authorities are regulating the content of a website not just the domain name. The owner of vb.ly Ben Metcalfe said that "We're very clear that the site did not have pornographic or adult content hosted on it; but even if we did, my bigger concern is that the Tripoli .ly domain regulator, is trying to regulate against the content of a website. A domain and a website are two extricably decoupled and separate entities." Other surrounding issues causing .ly owners alarm is that NIC.ly announced in January that 4 letter .ly domains should only be available to residents of Libya. This has Metcalfe wondering whether this attack on vb.ly is an attempt of Libyan authorities to recover premium domains for locals.
This story brings up questions of who should be regulating these domain names and the risky choice to choose a domain with a different country. Be aware when choosing domain extensions what controls they have over your domain name and website. It can be tempting to choose non-traditional domain extensions they sound cute, and chances are better that you can get the short premium domain name that you want but you may just be safer in the long run with the more established TLDs.
The VB.ly slogan is "The Internet's first and only sex-positive URL shortener." Co founder Violet Blue, explains on her blog that this just means they won't filter website links of a sexual nature. "It was made to be a service where you CAN put NSFW links, but not *exclusively* for non-worksafe links. It was simply a service which openly stated that it won't discriminate against you (by filtering or removing your links) if you do." The "boasting" of the link shortener being "sex-positive" and encouragement of it being used to shorten offensive or explicit links which promotes illegal activity as well as the image of Violet Blue with bare arms and a bottle (seen above) were considered illegal according to Libyan Islamic Sharia Law.
The letter received from the Libyan government after the site was shut down stated "Pornography and adult material aren't allowed under Libyan law, therefore we removed the domain. The issue of offensive imagery is quite subjective, as what I may deem as offensive you might not, but I think you'll agree that a picture of a scantily cl
This situation has become cause for attention because the Libyan authorities are regulating the content of a website not just the domain name. The owner of vb.ly Ben Metcalfe said that "We're very clear that the site did not have pornographic or adult content hosted on it; but even if we did, my bigger concern is that the Tripoli .ly domain regulator, is trying to regulate against the content of a website. A domain and a website are two extricably decoupled and separate entities." Other surrounding issues causing .ly owners alarm is that NIC.ly announced in January that 4 letter .ly domains should only be available to residents of Libya. This has Metcalfe wondering whether this attack on vb.ly is an attempt of Libyan authorities to recover premium domains for locals.
This story brings up questions of who should be regulating these domain names and the risky choice to choose a domain with a different country. Be aware when choosing domain extensions what controls they have over your domain name and website. It can be tempting to choose non-traditional domain extensions they sound cute, and chances are better that you can get the short premium domain name that you want but you may just be safer in the long run with the more established TLDs.
Emily Simonson
BrandBucket offers premium domain names. To search a domain for sale from our marketplace, first find domain, next buy the domain name, lastly get it! For more information about Brandbucket visit http://www.brandbucket.com/.
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