Thursday, October 14, 2010

Libya Deletes Vb.ly Domain Name Without Warning or Notice

Vb.ly, the first URL shortener meant for NSFW (Not Safe For Work) links is not more. Beyond talking about freedom of speech and expression around the world, it is important to take this as a warning. While we generally do not think of websites of having a physical presence or location in the world. In fact, your Top Level Domain (.com, .net, .us ...) is controlled by a specific company. If you use their TLD your site is subject to their rules and laws; regardless of where you live or host your site. It is not something people generally think about when registering a domain name, but is it something to bear in mind; especially as certain countries start to exercise some of that power.

http://thenextweb.com/me/2010/10/06/libya-deletes-ly-domain-without-warning-or-notice-bit-ly-en-garde

"Vb.ly also known to the world as the “World’s First and Only Sex-Positive URL Shortener” has been taken 0ff-line by NIC.ly (the domain registry and controlling body for the Libyan domain space ‘.ly’) due to the content having fallen “outside of Libyan Islamic/Sharia Law”.

The domain was claimed by sex writer Violet Blue as a URL shortener for links to adult sites and other “NSFW” links. Blue’s partner and co-founder of vb.ly Ben Metcalfe stated on his blog today the domain was deleted by NIC.ly “without warning or notice on or around September 23rd 2010″ which they contested only to be informed by the Libyans that their site’s content was “in clear violation of NIC rules and regulations” relating to “text referring to adult content and offensive imagery from [our] main page”.
"

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Like what you read; Subscribe/Fan/Follow