EDIT: and therefore I do feel Bit.ly need to be worried - perhaps they'll be able to do a deal rather than have their domain removed but clearly something is stirring here thus ".ly domain space to be considered unsafe".
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1765420
"Violet Blue is an adult site".
However nic.ly are now also warning they don't allow ownership of short .ly domains by foreigners, only Libyan nationals. This sounds to me like they want more money or an excuse to take down domains they simply don't like, but is a real problem if they ever decided they want in on the bit.ly action.
The vb.ly site owners keep claiming that the content may be adult but that the domain name isn't. This is a weak argument in my mind, and I believe there's a precedent of domain names registered exclusively for the act of malware propagation being taken down.
You can't sell dildos and vibrators in Texas, and it's not because of Sharia law.
Hindu activists in India made death threats and stormed theaters because of a film about a lesbian relationship.
Sharia law is not the only reason for repressive attitudes toward sex.
I mean, really. They're, what, 30-40 years behind the cultural norms of the US, in this case? You don't really need to pin that on Sharia, when it's far more likely that it's just cultural.
It wasn't that long ago in the US that nothing was open on Sundays.
Because cultural reasons are completely separate from religion? Religion is the only reason people like to tell others what they can and can’t do in private, especially in a democracy like Texas, where it shouldn’t be considered Constitutional to outlaw "dildos and vibrators."
Which is just nonsense. Conservatives are conservative. Libya did this thing, and John Ashcroft covered up a statue's tit.
Bringing sharia into it is just buying into the latest thing pants-wetting wingnuts are using to scare themselves.
And the us is another 10 to 20 years behind some other parts of the world in this respect.
Nothing in there about the Intertubes, of course, and it's quite vague about exactly what constitutes pornography, but basically, you need a license from the Ministry of the Interior or the Ministry of Local Government, and if you violate it they can throw you in jail for three to six years and fine you.
Well 'Violet Blue' is my girlfriend, she's not a website :P
Do you mean "vb.ly"? It certainly was not an adult site - it was a url shortener. Have you not seen the grabs of the site floating around in media?
More seriously, she does seem to be rather, er, focused on the topic of sex... Which is great, but I can see why they would object, if sex-related things are banned in Lybia.
to your main point: Well that's kind the issue isn't it? Yes Violet is 'focused on the topic of sex' she's a leading author in the field (30+ books on Amazon), appears on Oprah show about the topic, lectures at universities, etc.
But if you are right, isn't that too far if a domain authority removes someone's domain because the line of work and academic research they are in? Like I said, the site itself was hardly adult, even if Violet's own life, work and research is against their laws (somehow, perhaps).
A screenshot I saw of the main vb.ly page had a picture with enough flesh that it itself was probably illegal under Libya law.
Under crazy interpretations of Sharia law, Violet probably would have been stoned by now.
I guess that may have been a little predictable from TFA, but I'm regularly surprised by the folks who crop up at HN. I've been reading both your and VB's work for years, it is a funny coincidence to discover there is an relationship between you.
For a .ch, you're at the mercy of the Swiss court system. Sounds OK to me.
So when you buy a .ME domain, you are subject to the relevant law and regulation of Montenegro, for .CO in Colombia, for .LY in Libya and so forth. If those countries elect to allow registrations outside their borders, that is their choice, but there is no external regulation on how they do that. They are accountable internally to the local Internet community of the country, and the local laws.
ICANN, on the other hand, is responsible for regulating many aspects for generic top-level domains (currently TLDs with 3 or more characters, such as .COM, .NET, .INFO).