Libya Takes Hard Line On Link Shortening Domains 354
Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that Libyan government has removed an adult-friendly link-shortening service from the web, saying that it fell afoul of local laws in a crackdown that could come as a blow to other url shortening services such as bit.ly, which is particularly popular on Twitter where all messages have to be limited to 140 characters. 'Other ly domains are being deregistered and removed without warning,' says Co-founder of vb.ly Ben Metcalfe. 'We eventually discovered that the domain has been seized because the content of our website, in their opinion, fell outside of Libyan Islamic/Sharia Law.' Alaeddin ElSharif from NIC.ly, the body that controls Libyan web addresses, told vb.ly co-founder Violet Blue that a picture of her on the website had sparked the removal. 'I think you'll agree that a picture of a scantily clad lady with some bottle in her hand isn't what most would consider decent or family friendly,' says ElSharif. 'While letters "vb" are quite generic and bear no offensive meaning in themselves, they're being used as a domain name for an openly admitted "adult-friendly url shortener." It is when you promote your site being solely for adult uses ... that we as a Libyan registry have an issue.'"
The Picture in Question (Score:5, Informative)
Won't anybody stop this insanity and think of the adults who crave link-shortened pictures of "a scantily clad lady with some bottle in her hand"?
I wouldn't even call her 'scantily clad' but you can judge for yourself here [talkingpointsmemo.com].
Re:The Picture in Question (Score:3, Informative)
> I wouldn't even call her 'scantily clad'
Her head isn't covered and her arms are bare. The bottle is also quite offensive to conservative moslems as it implies alcohol.
Re:The Picture in Question (Score:5, Informative)
I wouldn't even call her 'scantily clad'
While not being an expert, Islam in general expects at least modest dress for women that includes not having bare arms. So the definition of scantily clad is region dependent.
Different culture, different opinions (Score:5, Informative)
Depends on what you consider moral or immoral in your culture.
A lot of folk howled with laughter in Europe when middle America made a fuss about Janet Jackson showing off her body during Superbowl one year, in mainland Europe you'll see advertising hoardings promoting perfume, moisturisers etc with half naked models and nobody even blinks. While on the other hand a lot of Europeans freak out at aspects of US gun culture that pass without comment across the Atlantic. All over the world people have different opinions on what is right and what is wrong.
You want to use a Libyan DNS, I guess you have to abide by Libyan rules.... A classic case of a global economy confronting local norms and attitudes. Who is right and who is wrong? how do you decide? (wish I had the answer but alas I don't.....)
Well, I Did Include It in a Summary Before pickens (Score:5, Informative)
Ah, good, thanks for the link, you'd think it would be something that would be incredibly obvious to include in the story, but apparently not.
I included it in my summary [slashdot.org] that I submitted a half hour before pickens but they selected his instead because mine was voted down to purple in firehose for some reason. Guess I wrote the wrong headline as I've got the same quotes he does plus the picture.
Re:The Picture in Question (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Different culture, different opinions (Score:5, Informative)
SSDD (Score:5, Informative)
This type stuff has been going on for years. It is nothing new! I used to own xg.nu, on it I ran a large anon server averaging 3.5 million unique hits a month and 500,000 messages a day. .nu domain notified me that Anonymity was not permitted and took the domain back. Point is, this happens a lot more than it is reported. There is no real recourse for this, you live, learn, and move on.
The island state of Niue Who owns the
Re:The Picture in Question (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, Jesus too, he tells women not to touch him in John 20:17 presumably because they are unclean, and commands a man to touch him ten verses later.
Not really, it looks more like this was a translation error [dtl.org].
Actually, she was clinging to him (not merely intending to touch him), and he basically told her: stop clinging to me, but instead go out and preach the word.
Re:The Picture in Question (Score:4, Informative)
I read a report about a Millersville PA government school teacher being FIRED for having a similar photo online - drinking alcohol. They said it sends the wrong message to her students.
>>>you don't want to let any religion get their hands on your government -
And yet we already do (see my last sentence).
Right... (Score:3, Informative)
So, the US and NL and BE and DE etc governments have NOT sought out such control over the domains for their countries BUT this means nothing to you. That LY HAS sought out the control and uses it, is just the same as western countries NOT seeking such control and not using it.
An Islam-apologist, you are doing it great.
Re:The Picture in Question (Score:5, Informative)
That being said, can we please not make this story about Islam?
This has nothing do to with Islam or cultural relativism and everything to do with Lybia being a totalitarian regime. Gaddafi [wikimedia.org] is the local thug and dictator, but he is not an islamist by far. He's an arab nationalist, an ideology that is largely secular (very much like Saddam Hussein was), yet he has supported and backed terrorism several times in the past (Lockerbie Bombing [wikimedia.org]). Please try to have a wider perspective, most of the dictators in power in Muslim countries don't give a shit about Islam, they are only looking out for themselves. They might use religion to try to legitimize their regimes or as a populist tool to fight their democratic opponents.
This is what happen we you do business with autocratic regimes that have no respect for the law or for basic human rights and liberties. The only real rule is the whim of the local leader/prince.
Switzerland learned the hard way, when Lybia kept two Swiss nationals hostage during several months [wikimedia.org] as retaliation. This because the Swiss police arrested Gaddafi's son for beating his servants and treating them as slaves.
Bottom line: If you do chose to do business in authoritarian non-democratic countries, be prepared to pay the cost and lose it all at any point in time.
Re:ly sites smackdown (Score:3, Informative)
No, its not "more useful" to us. It's a stupid grammar hack that people think is funny. It's the FIPS 10-4 code for Libya -- https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_FIPS_country_codes [wikimedia.org] -- and I'd argue that keeping with in FIPS and ISO standards is more "useful" than being able to have the domain going-swimming.ly or whatever stupid shit the kids are doing these days in goatse.cx-like fashion.
Re:The Picture in Question (Score:3, Informative)
GP is correct in a sense that Sharia does not specifically prescribe any form of dress for females (or males, for that matter). It only says that it should be "modest":
And say that the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex
So it's all a matter of interpretation, which is why actual observance of this practice in different Islamic countries varies so much.