There seems to be more and more articles coming out with regards to .io and how the natives of the Chagos Islands want their extension back.
I first wrote about it back in 2015, and then again in July of this year. Fortune is out with another article, the provocative title of, ‘Colonialism’ and crypto claims: Why the .io domain name extension faces an uncertain future“
The article (which is a long one) delves into the history that has been mentioned before, along with what happens to the .IO extension?
Of course people are all over the place, from the article:
According to the Chagossians’ claim, .io domain registrations bring in fees of $10 million each year, and the ccTLD has an overall value of around $50 million.
In February, the Chagossians approached Afilias/ICB in an attempt to get a “fair percentage of the acquisition price” and a cut of past royalties, and to place a Chagossian on ICB’s board, but they were rebuffed.
Afilias/ICB says the dispute over .io’s ownership is a geopolitical matter that falls “outside of our control or involvement.”
“ICB had no involvement in the establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory or the treatment of its then residents in the 1960s. Nor is ICB a party to the [Chagossians’ African Commission claim] or any other dispute regarding the ownership of the territory,” the company told Fortune in an emailed statement.
There was a mention of how Draw.io switched to Diagrams.net to show they were sensitive to the plight of the Chagossians.
A German lawyer, Florian Hitzelberger, who specializes in Internet law says .io could be subject to “forced retirement” if BIOT is taken off the world’s official list of two-letter country codes. “But it’s not very likely to happen. The Soviet Union collapsed in the early nineties, but its ccTLD .su still exists and has not been removed from the root zone ever since.”
Does all this press make you less interested in buying and holding .io domain names?
Theo wrote today about James Booth selling Sun.io for $49,995. Personally I owned 2, sold them both for a solid profit. I would love to see some greater clarity on the matter, would love to see the Chagossians getting a piece of the action.
“would love to see the Chagossians getting a piece of the action.”
I concur, and I’ve also sold some .io domains for nice roi(s)
Not sure how many key single word .io domains I own…maybe 20?
It would be nice to get some clarity
If you are profiting out of it and would love to see the Chagossians getting some money then I’d say the solution is rather obvious.
Pretty much all the repurposed cctlds are on the dodgy side, .co, .io, .tv. What sort of corrupt government even sells off their ccdld? The Chagossians won’t get anything.
I don’t think registrants should be worried about this one.
Comparing those 3 their situations are all different in my opinion. With .io you have people who were moved out of their land, and the extension came about due to the new name.
With Tuvalu they knew what they entered into, and it’s been a windfall for them. Of course they would like more, but certainly they did not have the technical expertise to run the extension on their own and have admitted so.
some other gTLD may have an advantage then. But, I wish it doesn’t get retarded – because a lot of startups are up with it.