Domain Name Wire for Ardhi Is Your ccTLD Safe?

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Domain Name Wire for Ardhi
April 6, 2011
Is Your ccTLD at Risk?
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Welcome to the DomainNameWire.com newsletter.

Is bit.ly safe?

The popular URL shortener powers millions of links on the web.
But it also depends on .ly, the country code for the war-torn
Libya.

The answer is that it's not really safe.

Even back in 2009 people were asking questions about the
stability of a business built on a Libyan country code domain name:

http://domainnamewire.net/click.html?x=a62b&lc=Yo4i&mc=BR&s=wYcHs&y=v&

When the uprising began in Libya, bit.ly said everything was fine.
It pointed out that there are multiple root nameservers for
.ly, including two in Oregon. So even if Libya "turned off"
the internet, .ly would still resolve, just as it had in Egypt:

http://domainnamewire.net/click.html?x=a62b&lc=Yo4X&mc=BR&s=wYcHs&y=K&

But this ignores a bigger issue. Even if the root servers are
running, Libya could just get fed up with bit.ly and delete
its registration.

Then all of the root servers would be "told" not to resolve it.

http://domainnamewire.net/click.html?x=a62b&lc=Yo4v&mc=BR&s=wYcHs&y=2&

In other words, bit.ly would be toast.

The company also says it has backups to the domain name. But
there are millions of existing links that wouldn't work; each
would have to be updated.

Letter.ly went down earlier this week when it had trouble
renewing its domain name:

http://domainnamewire.net/click.html?x=a62b&lc=Yo4K&mc=BR&s=wYcHs&y=Z&

So it's not smart to start a commercial web site on .ly. But
what about other country code domain names?

We've seen lots of country codes commercialized. .TV was an early
example. .Me and .Co are more recent.

Are they safe?

Yes and no. I have more faith in these commercialized ccTLDs
than others because the government is profiting. Still, we know
that the government of Tuvalu is upset with VeriSign over
its commercialization agreement.

Also, if a country ceases to exist, technically the ccTLD
will be decommissioned. (In practice I doubt a popular
ccTLD would meet this fate.)

Another example of challenges: Argentina retroactively
enforced registration limits on its .ar ccTLD.

http://domainnamewire.net/click.html?x=a62b&lc=Yo42&mc=BR&s=wYcHs&y=e&

The answer: a ccTLD is only as safe as the country it belongs to.
And that can change on a dime.

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Be sure to stop by DNW.com to read these other
domain industry stories:

-Go Daddy Suspended 150,000 Websites Last Year
-ClickZ Loses Domain Dispute for UK Domain Name
-Domain Registries Blast ICANN Over .Jobs Breach Notice
-From A.com to Z.com, Single Letter .Com Domains Have Been Gamed at the Trademark Office

These stories are just a sample of what you can read at DomainNameWire.com.
Domain Name Wire is read by domainers, domain registrars, attorneys,
public officials, and Fortune 500 company domain managers.

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