The Disappearance of an Internet Domain(every.to)
52 pointsby marban4 days ago6 comments
  • dang2 days ago
    Recent and related:

    Future of .io domains uncertain as UK hands over Chagos islands - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41788805 - Oct 2024 (17 comments)

    Ask HN: What happens to ".io" TLD after UK gives back the Chagos Islands? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41729526 - Oct 2024 (204 comments)

    UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41729325 - Oct 2024 (282 comments)

  • 2 days ago
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  • wiradikusuma2 days ago
    .io will cease to exist as a ccTLD, but it doesn't mean it can't exist as commercial TLD like .app, considering its widespread use. I think eventually it will be auctioned off.
    • detaro2 days ago
      According to current rules, it can't. Only ccTLDs have two letters.
      • elcritch2 days ago
        As the article says, money talks.
      • bloppe2 days ago
        TIL that .co is for Colombia. Goddam. I was about to buy a .co domain. I guess I'll have to shell out an extra $50k for .com just in case any more geopolotics happens in my lifetime :/
        • atemerev2 days ago
          $50k for a domain? these days?

          “Interest rates could have been way higher”

      • Avi-D-coder2 days ago
        time to change the rules
    • 2 days ago
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  • ajb2 days ago
    [removing as posted in the wrong place]
    • chrismorgan2 days ago
      Wrong post, you meant to reply to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41793658.
      • ajb2 days ago
        You are right! I'll post there and delete the above. Thanks for pointing that out!
      • fragmede2 days ago
        question is, was that user error, or a system error. I've had that happen to me, and I don't believe it was operator error, which implies there's a bug in arc that happens every once in a while where a http POST goes to the wrong place.
        • dartos2 days ago
          > I don't believe it was operator error

          Honestly, it probably was. Usually is.

          • ajb10 hours ago
            FWIW I would not consider my post above evidence of a bug. At the time I was suffering from a lack of sleep and other stressors.
  • ryanisnan2 days ago
    IANA has documentation that outlines what happens in the retirement of a country code top level domain here: https://www.iana.org/help/cctld-retirement

    tl;dr, if it happens, there will be a 5 year retirement period. We have quite a while to deal with this it seems. This isn't a nothing-sandwich, but pretty close (unless your company is something .io)

  • cut32 days ago
    Im confused by this speculation as the .io TLD isnt owned by that country and it isnt disappearing...
    • racingmars2 days ago
      It doesn't matter who "owns" it (the country probably outsourced management of it to another entity, I assume); the domain exists because it exists as an ISO country code. When the country is no longer a country, and the IO country code is removed from ISO 3166-1, the justification for the domain existing will be gone. The article is saying that per current IANA policies, that should trigger the domain to be retired over a period of several years.

      Personally, I do find it highly unlikely the domain will go away. They'll do something to keep it around. As the article states toward the end, "The IANA may fudge its own rules and allow .io to continue to exist. Money talks, and there is a lot of it tied up in .io domains."

      • detaro2 days ago
        ISO 3166-1 defines codes for "countries, territories, or areas of geographical interest". When the country is no longer a country, the country it's becoming part of might very decide to treat it as something still deserving an ISO code and thus a ccTLD. (and such a status makes sense for pure geographical reasons, its >2000km from Mauritius)
        • TRiG_Ireland2 days ago
          I believe the reasoning is that the list was originally used for post, so far-flung regions of a country may have their own codes, even if they're not politically separate. GF, French Guiana, is a good example. Politically, it's merely a region of France, but it still gets its own code.
        • zinekeller2 days ago
          If Mauritius decided to used a variant of Chagos/Chagas (so probably CS, since that's the only available code that still somehow fits) then IO will probably be ejected from ISO 3166.
          • itcrowda day ago
            Honestly if they get .cs, it would be another nice money maker
      • vbezhenar2 days ago
        Soviet Union does not exist and SU domain is not retired.
        • racingmars2 days ago
          The article addresses this: what happened with .su is part of what caused ICANN/IANA to update their policies to not have defunct country codes stick around.
        • lostmsu2 days ago
          > Soviet Union does not exist

          That's what KGB wants you to think

          • fragmede2 days ago
            KGB also doesn't exist anymore because it was renamed FSB.
            • aguaviva2 days ago
              Seems they were referring to the "USSR Returns" subplot of Season 9, Episode 19:

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson_Tide

              Ironically, there's some unintended truth in their reference (i.e. to all intents and purposes the KGB hasn't gone anywhere and basically is still around, just renamed/reorged) but that's an entirely different thread.

            • atemerev2 days ago
              KGB was split to what is now SVR (ex 1st main department) and what is now FSB (2nd main department), with some other organizations taking remaining roles.

              These days however, the Russian intelligence landscape is more complicated, with multiple semi-private organizations, informal groups, and other stakeholders.