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Comment by skizm | Hacker News Reader

Dumb question: but I thought the ".io" TLD was owned by a really sketchy group / organization or ownership was being contested (or similar?) and having a domain there was semi-risky, is that still the case? I've avoided .io TLD because of this vague notion, but never really knew the specifics.

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The biggest concern I've seen over the .io TLD is that it's the ccTLD for a territory ("British Indian Ocean Territory") whose existence / sovereignty is fragile. The people who originally lived in this territory were forcibly expelled in the 1970s – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_the_Chagossians – so there are problems from two points of view: ethically this doesn't sit right with a lot of folks, but even from a pragmatic point of view, the UNGA adopted a resolution in 2019 specifying that the UK should withdraw its administration from the territory – this has not yet occurred, and it is uncertain what could/would happen with the ccTLD if or when it does.

"Island of Shame" by David Vine really gets into the details of this if you really want to know the history. Spoiler: The United States fully controls this territory because of the (very active and strategically important) military base. The UK ownership is just a cover... (an entire book could be written just about this alone)

Also, the people brought there were slaves. No one lived on the islands originally. This is why the various governments felt they could move these people where ever they wanted. The people became self-sufficient, of course. Then were forceably moved to Mauritius and other places, given a stipend, but no land or access to any resources when the US military expanded their base. Basically dumped the people into ghettos.

This is still a very open wound in 2023.

I have such a domain myself. i have been thinking about switching to .dev for a long time (i have already reserved it).

However, my dilemma:

I would then keep .io and redirected so that no one can steal it. By doing so, I'm not helping anyone who lives there. :(

I don't use it for new projects for a long time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io#Controversy

.io has some baggage. People working in FLOSS have been suggesting something else instead:

> In short, this TLD belongs to the Chagos Archipelago, which suffered a mass deportation by the UK government 50 years ago. These people still fight for the right to return to their homeland.

https://github.com/elementary/website/discussions/3108

If you're using .io because you want to use a "techy" TLD (that isn't .net that isn't held in high esteem for some reason), .dev is a great alternative.

Isn't that Google's TLD? Unfortunately I trust them less than the sketchy administrative situation of .io. Wake up one day and their algo's decided you're a spam account and lock you out and take your domain.

You don't need to get it directly via Google. Mine are registered through a normal registrar, and not linked to a Google Account.

.tech .technology .software .it .digital

are options. I agree about avoiding Google.

There is also .rest (for APIs ), .run and .codes ;)

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