Texas Company's Legal Troubles Hold .iq In Limbo 337
aducore writes "According to The Inquirer, the (American) company running the Iraqi .iq domain name .iq is under criminal indictment and cannot transfer control. So no Iraqi organization can get a .iq domain name, including the government. Iraq's National Communications and Media Commission and the U.S. administrator in Iraq are trying to get ICANN to free up the domain."
What does this mean? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What does this mean? (Score:2)
That's what Al Jazeera TV is for. They wouldn't like the competition...
huh (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:huh (Score:5, Funny)
Pish Posh. Must of been a typo.
Re:huh (Score:2, Insightful)
ALL YOUR BASE... ;-) (Score:3, Funny)
(sorry, somebody had to make that reference, grin..)
Re:huh tsarkon reports communism alert (Score:5, Funny)
Re:huh tsarkon reports communism alert (Score:2, Informative)
We lost our 4th & 5th Amendment rights well before The PATRIOT Act.
Re:huh tsarkon reports communism alert (Score:2)
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
Re:huh (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:huh (Score:3, Insightful)
A TLD is virtual property and is owned by the creator. So whoever thought up the TLDs gets to control them. The interesting thing that could happen is if Iraq were handed control of the
Re:huh (Score:2, Interesting)
What existing entries? The
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps so, but it looks like some domains were, in fact, registered [google.com]. I'm sure there's a lot more than the twenty some-odd entries indexed by Google and someone paid for 'em.
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
No, but they should be involved in domain name registration. At the time this happend (if you'd bothered to read the article), Iraq was blocking all internet access to the country and so stewardship of the
Re:huh (Score:2)
Or are countries no longer allowed to sell their resources anymore?
Re:huh (Score:2)
why is an american company running the iraqi tld?
If you'd RTFA, you'd know.... Oh yeah, this is Slashdot. And you got modded interesting for that?!?
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
Who modded this insightful?
The practice is the same all over the middle east. A foreign company leases an oilfield from the government for a set number of years, and pays them a fee per barrel extracted. At no time does control over the oil transfer from the government to a company until the oil is sold on the open market. If a company misbehaves, its lease can be cancelled and it'll be stuck with a pile of equipment on someone elses land that it had better shift sharpish so someone else can use the field.
Also, the proceeds from Iraqi oil are presently going into a trust fund, which will be spent on rebuilding. That fund isn't growing as quickly as it ought as local terrorists are intent on cutting the volumes.
Re:huh (Score:2)
I think there might also be a $20 billion dollar "accounting error" involved [christianaid.org.uk], to say nothing of the cost of no-bid contracts.
Re:huh (Score:2)
Re:huh (Score:5, Informative)
Are they? I mean, do you have any sort of reference for money from the trust fund going into the Pentagon's budget? Or is this just what Michael Moore told you to think?
The question has to be asked... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:2, Informative)
In the Neocon world, the
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:5, Interesting)
Infocom... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:5, Informative)
|According to a report from AP, the problem started
|in 1997, when Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was
|blocking access to the Internet.
|An ICANN body granted responsibility for the ".iq"
|domain to InfoCom a Texas-based company and
|purveyor of computers and Web services in the Middle East.
So they gave it to them because the rulers of Iraq did not allow internet access at the time.
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:2)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's like delegating management of the +964 country code to a business that gets into legal trouble, then they decide they want to sell the area code back to the country it represents. They're effectively blocking access to that country through normal means. It ridiculous. ICANN should be able to redelegate the management of the TLD to someone capable of
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:2)
Re:The question has to be asked... (Score:5, Informative)
Just gonna post this here since it would address about 40 posts.
From CNN reports about Infocom, it seems that the primaries at the company were "Ghassan Elashi, 49; Bayan Elashi, 47; Basman Elashi, 46; and Hazim Elashi, no age given."
Remember, kids - living in Texas != American, and since said Texans are now awaiting sentencing on charges of illegal export of computer equipment and funding Hamas, I'm pretty sure they are *not*, in fact, friends of Dubya.
Now mod this up to +5 informative so those jackasses down there will see it.
Re:Michael Moore called . . . (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Michael Moore called . . . (Score:2)
Suggested domains (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Suggested domains (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Suggested domains (Score:2, Funny)
www.weaponsofmassdestruction.iq
and/or
www.wmd.iq
make sure you reserve your emial address:
info@weaponsofmassdestruction.iq and
search@weaponsofmassdestruction.iq
Re:Suggested domains (Score:2)
www.wmd.iq
Oh, didn't WMD mean Weapons of Mass Deception?
Re:Suggested domains (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Suggested domains (Score:2)
Should redirect to whitehouse.org [whitehouse.org] (somewhat unsafe for work -- whitehouse/christian parody).
Re:Suggested domains (Score:2)
No hurry? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Hey, someone is blocking
"Hey, someone is blocking our watersupply!"
Re:No hurry? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:No hurry? (Score:3, Insightful)
As fucked up as some terrorists might be, it doesn't give the US some right to be fucked up in return (such as abu ghraib prison or however it is spelled). The US needs to set an example if they are expecting to get any kind of respect from other countries around the world, especially in the fight against terrorism.
Without peace, reconstruction stalls (Score:3, Informative)
--
Rebuilding Iraq
Without peace, reconstruction stalls
May 13th 2004 | BAGHDAD
From The Economist print edition
Why it is proving so hard to rebuild the country
[Image] [economist.com]
IF THE Americans left Iraq today, their most obvious physical legacy, in the eyes of ordinary Iraqis, would be concrete blocks. The big slabs protecting ad
Re:Without peace, reconstruction stalls (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh, what are you smoking? The Economist might be slanted towards pro-globalization and pro-free trade, but I usually find their op-eds well balanced - if they do take positions, they usually justify it quite well, and they present facts from both sides.
You want heavy, conservative right-wing? Try Time or Newsweek!
Re:Without peace, reconstruction stalls (Score:2)
Fox News and the Wall Street Journal must also be left-wing, for the same reasons. Why bother reading them, when we can just use "logic" to prove our point?
Re:Without peace, reconstruction stalls (Score:5, Insightful)
</sarcasm>
The economist is neither left-wing nor right-wing, nor are they unbias. I wouldn't really call them libertarian either (look at their recent write up on the libertarian candidate to see that he is not treated as one of their flock). They have a unique bias that you don't find in other papers. If I had to charaterize it, I would say that they care first and foremost for the economy as a whole as well as world stability. This is contrasted with traditional conservatives who put the "rights" of individual businesses first and foremost. Sometimes these interests coincide and sometimes they don't. They are pragmatic, acknowledging that market forces, while overwelmingly positive, sometimes have negative effects on society. However, unlike liberals, their proposed remedies always involve fixing the root supply-and-demand cause of the problem, rather than trying to enforce expensive brute force legislation that must constantly fight against the market forces. Furthermore, I must agree with your parent, that when they do write opinion pieces they do a much better job of backing up thier point of view than most. Even though I don't always agree with them, they always make me think.
Lastly, they do attempt (and in my opinion usually succeed) in presenting unbiased reports of the other points of view. They do this because they have a genuine interest in understanding the dynamics of the political and economic systems that we are engulfed in. They are above all pragmatic and realise that you cannot develop an educated opinion or course of action if you ignore the elements that make up the situation.
Re:Without peace, reconstruction stalls (Score:2, Insightful)
Americans:
Re:Without peace, reconstruction stalls (Score:5, Insightful)
The Economist may be highly opinionated, but it's definitely not the "conservative, right-wing" mouthpiece.
Re:No hurry? (Score:2, Insightful)
While you are right, it doesn't mean that this is not weird (if not stupid or outright outrageaous). The Iraqis should have that domain.
My opinion by the way about building up a country is that it can and should be done in parallel, so work at everything at the same time, if possible. Not sequential; first the water, then electricity, etc. Perhaps there are regions where it is relatively quiet and water and electricity is working more or less okay. They will want that TLD and start building up an informati
Re:No hurry? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:No hurry? (Score:2, Insightful)
> there's been a couple of reporters who mentioned they can get some kind of dsl service there at like 256k
Yes, Uruklink has 256kbps ADSL available to some parts of Baghdad, the Iraqi LUG guys mentioned it on /. (AFAIK, the rest of the city and all the country is still on dialup, except perhaps in the Kurdish-controlled zone). But how many people can afford the service ? The fact that cybercafes are described as ``packed'' is reminiscent of Africa, where residential Internet access is still unusual.
But surely... (Score:5, Interesting)
If ICANN can remove control from Saddam and grant it to InfoCom, it can take it back as well..?
It's not as though they would have got permission to take it in the first place, so, why would they need it this time?
Re:But surely... (Score:2)
At least I would have wanted such a clause, so I wouldn't go bankrupt overnight. On the other hand, ICANN should probably have seen this problem coming earlier.
Bizarre (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Bizarre (Score:5, Funny)
Is an iRaq the cabinet where you keep your beowulfed iMac's?
:-)
Re:Bizarre (Score:2)
Re:Bizarre (Score:2, Funny)
yes.. and let's not forget why this happened.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Second, "to a member of the Islamic extremist group Hamas" draws doubt to me. Ok, they were sending computer parts to Libya and Syria.. (oh no.. embargo.. and for, *GASP*, computer parts!) How is InfoCom supposed to know their customers background? How many customer(s) were involved in Hamas and how were they connected to InfoCom (if the money was funneled, why haven't we heard of any sort of medium or who/what the money was funneled through).. I mean.. an IT company based in Texas.. only just after 9/11 convicted of funding terrorists?
And why why why does the media never tell us the entire story? etc..
Again.. just my 2 cents.. and no.. i'm not unpatriotic.. I speak based on what I observe..
Re:yes.. and let's not forget why this happened.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Reminds me of when the story about BT blocking child pr0n sites was up and everyone who was raising concerns about the ramifications of that felt compelled to state they didn't condone child pr0n.
It's a dangerous path we're treading - where to raise a question immediatley pus you under suspicion of guilt...
suspicion of guilt... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hicksville, population:2000.
A woman gets raped.
The police, after a long investigation, are at a loss.
They decide to run a wide-scale voluntary DNA test (can't force them anyway, at least not here).
700 of the men fit in the age group that the woman could at least identify the rapist into.
699 cooperate and have a DNA sample taken.
1 does not cooperate.
No matter what excuse this 1 person comes up with (civil liberties, slippery slope, dangerous path, yadda yadda), please tell me how the police should just say "Okiedoke, your fair right" and not have a closer look and see if maybe there's a different/another reason for him not to cooperate ?
And that is the police, who at least have to live by some form of rules, however arbitrary they may seem sometimes.
In the case of people saying "We shouldn't block websites that are arbitrarily judged to be child pornography websites", you better understand that a vast majority of the population is going to at least raise an eyebrow. It is in the best interest of those people to state that they explicitly don't condone child pornography, and are only trying to point out that there will be unjust collateral damage. Though that will only offer a partial redemption.
And it doesn't help that people like Hugh Russ Campbell have used these same arguments before, and then get convicted (on a guilty plead) of not only owning and distributing child pornography, but creating it as well.
With such circumstances - well, I'm sorry, but I too would be suspicious of such people.
The difference between suspecting a person and doing something about it is the 'vigilante' aspect. If one is worried about vigilantes, deal with them - but you can't blame a person for having a pretty reasonable opinion for this day and age.
Just my 2 cents.
Re:suspicion of guilt... (Score:3, Insightful)
True, nowadays it's more Innocent until a media hack decides it'll make a good story and then Guilty no matter what the outcome of the case, but the original principle is still there.
Guilty until Proven Innocent is called Inquisitorial law, and for a very good reason.
You walk _that_ path friend, you walk it without me.
Re:yes.. and let's not forget why this happened.. (Score:3, Funny)
And why why why does the media never tell us the entire story?
It's too complicated. Don't worry - relax - we'll put the Simpsons back on shortly.
Panem et circenses (Score:2)
The first sentence seems somewhat less applicable in current times, however.
Re:yes.. and let's not forget why this happened.. (Score:2)
You would hope that if someone is writing a published, authorat
You're right on (Score:2)
Hamas commit terrorist acts. But so do their enemies. Hamas at least helps the poor, too.
Slaugtering the leaders of group that fights oppression, let alone one that builds schools etc., is not going to pacify your enemies.
Extending the argument beyond Hamas, I think anti-US groups, including Al Quaeda, are more powerful now than before the US decided to attack their opponents. Aggression only gives rise to support of your enemies.
I am sad that my country sent troops to Iraq and Afghanist
Re:You're right on (Score:2, Informative)
You are right in saying that civilians shouldn't be the target. However, there are more things to consider. First, terrorists, unlike governments, have severy limited means. Targeting civilians is that much easier than targeting heavily guarded government and military targets.
Also, it's not like Israeli (or USAmerican) actions don't affect civilians, either. The wall that Israel has been bu
Re:You're right on (Score:2)
But compaining about the wall just seems ridiculous to me. If you want your own country, you shouldn't be complaining that you can no longer work in the country you used to be a part of. Why should there be a right to cross a border into another country to work, especially if the two countries are effectively at war? If Israel had never seized Gaza and the West Bank (after it was attacked, by
Just move it (Score:3, Insightful)
Just move the domain. They don't need to physically move anything, heck they claim that domain names aren't even property.
Liberate ICANN (Score:2, Funny)
No! Not .com .org or .net! (Score:3, Funny)
Dagnabbit! Those domains belong to God's Blessed America! Not the international community! Give em a TLD of their own that won't infringe on our territory. Perhaps
Re:No! Not .com .org or .net! (Score:3, Funny)
I wish they'd hurry up.. (Score:5, Funny)
This is surprising. (Score:5, Funny)
Why does criminal investigation prohibit transfer? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why does criminal investigation prohibit transf (Score:2)
All it takes is to change one record in the root DNS servers. It can be done in a few minutes and will propagate in 72 hrs max.
It is a political, or more correctly, a legal rather than a technical problem. ICANN has contractual obligations toward ccTLD operators (including the current .iq operator) and can't just do that without exposing themselves to liabilities.
IANAL, but can't the US DoC and DoJ cooperate to get a quick warrant from a judge, ordering ICANN to transfer the domain to another ccTLD oper
www.iq (Score:2)
So at least some IQ domains have been registered.
What's the fuss? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's the fuss? (Score:4, Funny)
Is it important? (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's see: the new gov has a legitimity problem, a lot of people want to blow them up, neighbours are considering making things even harder, they have to justify a continued US presence to a skeptical population, they have to organize free elections in a country racked by terrorism, and hmm, oh yes, their web site is on a
Jeez, which problem should they tackle first?
Re:Is it important? (Score:2)
Maybe it's not so much a question of priorities but just that the media is getting tired of reporting news of bombings, shootouts and beheadings?
Re:Is it important? (Score:3, Informative)
The media will never tire of bombings, shootouts or beheadings. At least until the next high profile celebrity criminal case or politician-based sex scandal.
Re:Is it important? (Score:2)
consistency (Score:3, Funny)
Why, why, oh WHY... (Score:2, Funny)
New .tiq domain? (Score:2)
Methinks they should get a new domain: .tiq for "transitional iraq"...
Or .qi for Iraq, written from right to left the arabic way. After all, they are iraqi domains.
Re:New .tiq domain? (Score:2)
"Why .goatse?"
"By the time Halliburton's done with us, we're going to look like that guy."
Let's not get ahead of ourselves (Score:2)
Huh??? The tld ".iq" is NOT Iraqi (yet). I agree they "should" get it, but it is not theirs yet. Saying it is so is jumping the gun.
This is like saying John Q. Citizen is guilty of XYZ before his trial, rather than saying "alleged" first. The internet suffix ".iq" remains under the control of InfoCom (albeit by litigation only) until ICANN is able to rule otherwise.
It would have been a lot more accurate to say "presumptive tld recipient
Re:Let's not get ahead of ourselves (Score:2)
IQ is Iraq's two-letter ISO country code, and there's almost certainly (I didn't check that) a provision in the ICANN regulations that all ISO country codes should be exclusively used by ccTLD operators.
Of course, a country is free to delegate "their" ccTLD to any company (local or foreign) they wish. This happened with some ccTLDs already.
Now, if the Iraqi government required control over their ccTLD, ICANN would have to take this into account and act accordingly. They are probably not compelled to act
Just drop the IQ domain (Score:2)
So why don't they just drop the
Re:Just drop the IQ domain (Score:2)
The Germans spell Iraq "Irak," and they were against the US waging war against Saddam. They could provide a .ik.de subdomain for irakis who don't want to be managed by a texan ccTLD operator... :-)
In other news (Score:3, Funny)
In other news, the next installment in the Zork series has been delayed.
Re:Hmmm? (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm? (Score:2)
it doesn't take a genius to see that they saw a money oppurtunity in holding the
Re:Text.. (Score:2)
The June 30 deadline was for transfer of control from the coalition to the interim Iraqi government. And THAT was accomplished YESTERDAY... a day before you wrote this. So actually, they beat the june 30 deadline by 2 days.
Re:Always the same (Score:2)
Well, they own the DNS root, so in a sense, you're right. However, this is purely based on free will. If you disagree with this, use an alternate root [icann.org].
Re:This Texas company... (Score:3, Insightful)