I read an article last night about the very popular .IO domain TLD extension that has stuck in my mind.
About the .IO Domain
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io
The following article goes into detail explaining that the .IO Domain which is meant for the Islands in the Indian Ocean has been hijacked by technology companies and worst still virtually of the profits raised from the sale of the popular .IO Domains is going back into the Islands inhabitants. Instead it`s going to British Companies and the UK Government!
It`s a damning read! Made me open my eyes as I was considering registering a couple of .IO Domains for some of the upcoming projects I have in the pipeline. Have a read, it`s roughly a 15 - 20 minute article.
Read the full article entitled "The dark side of .IO: How the U.K. is making web domain profits from a shady Cold War land deal"
http://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-da...main-profits-from-a-shady-cold-war-land-deal/
About the .IO Domain
.io is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the British Indian Ocean Territory. Internationalized domain names may also be registered.[1]
Other than the militarized atoll of Diego Garcia, the territory has been uninhabited since the existing population was evacuated in 1973 and has no government of its own. Google currently treats .io as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) because "users and webmasters frequently see [the domain] more generic than country-targeted".[2]
.io domains are popular with new startup companies.[3] IO is also used in IT as an abbreviation for input/output, which makes the .io domain useful for domain hacks. IO also stands as an abbreviation for Internet Organization. In addition, .io domains are often used for open source projects and online services.[4]
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io
The following article goes into detail explaining that the .IO Domain which is meant for the Islands in the Indian Ocean has been hijacked by technology companies and worst still virtually of the profits raised from the sale of the popular .IO Domains is going back into the Islands inhabitants. Instead it`s going to British Companies and the UK Government!
It`s a damning read! Made me open my eyes as I was considering registering a couple of .IO Domains for some of the upcoming projects I have in the pipeline. Have a read, it`s roughly a 15 - 20 minute article.
While .tv brings in millions of dollars each year for the tiny South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, and .me benefits Montenegro, the people of the British Indian Ocean Territory, or the Chagos Islands, have no such luck. Indeed, profits from the sale of each .io domain flow to the very force that expelled the Chagossian or Ilois people from their equatorial land just a generation or two ago: the British government.
Read the full article entitled "The dark side of .IO: How the U.K. is making web domain profits from a shady Cold War land deal"
http://gigaom.com/2014/06/30/the-da...main-profits-from-a-shady-cold-war-land-deal/