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On May 10, 2012, at 9:04 AM, [email protected] wrote: > A more thorough answer would involve the cross-section of MLATs, > Military assistance treaties, and global copyright agreements. Yes, exactly… Basically, diplomacy involves a lot of trading unrelated interests off against each other… Domain takedowns exchanged for food aid, or loan guarantees, or a partial relaxation of trade tariffs, or whatever. So the more active the diplomacy between two countries, and the greater the imbalance of power between them, the less you want to hang your hat on the stability of domain names in the weaker one. > For example, if you wanted to start a cool new file sharing site, base > it in Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, Syria, Belarus, Zimbabwe, or Burma. Actually, I'd strongly disagree with that, for two reasons. First, rule of law corresponds strongly with stability of the DNS… In a country with weak rule of law, high corruption, high volatility, you're likely to have an arbitrary takedown based on completely other issues: http://www.neowin.net/news/nicly-down-as-libyas-response-to-vbly-takedown-spreads Moreover, registering domains in such countries is often a matter of walking into the communications ministry, cash in hand, and showing your citizenship papers or domestic incorporation papers. The second reason is in countries with volatile politics, like all of those you cited, things can change very quickly. I just spent the last four days in Tripoli, and things are very different there now than they were a year ago, and they'll be still more different a year from now. They're both becoming more religious, more political, and more aligned with and dependent upon their relationship with the U.S. government. Make no mistake, it's an infinitely better place to live now than it was a year ago, and in general terms of "Internet freedoms" it's much better now and on a very good trajectory. I just wouldn't count on it being friendly to interests to which the USG is hostile; that time is past. And the same thing could happen in any of the other countries you cite, very quickly, if the political winds swing another direction. In Switzerland, that's unlikely to happen. On the contrary, they've been strengthening their laws protecting domains against _private sector_ takedowns. -Bill -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.17 (Darwin) Comment: GPGTools - http://gpgtools.org iQIcBAEBCAAGBQJPq+1CAAoJEG+kcEsoi3+HXhIP/RFKWW8Gpu+4B6riMXIHDxbI B/t2341zkDv65iyIsWjfap5Xq1wjeMCG62YW4qIpdOFou28fY69kfWhhWrQOoJTo y3WBJZawuL8rerBrkCeTZpEoFXSN68mYNTBApvQ6suNCyL9NZbXc62+vKsr/gJ73 aQWVcc+Y/pLmDDWCLGeW7wPf473hFyQ3zsvHnFhN7Je8ebYLTcTcntoVrrnqYg66 VQkIkc/LvqVUEwXjKQ2Cb9hiVL5uo6ITmEXy+bLsF55qOglrrC0iHn7IVG16XUQ1 oIEGseM3l5FnmN6vlqdlHvOpIfEuzYbu6cUm+SPEl2pb4MT4Wx2Z1i15epnFNfcU peT2r9naZ+zQgMOlRMIEigzwr7hZ6M85ndPxn5uewd74CXIMpZKSHIpB87lc5rEp wCWLD5pf2OfKrn72ktzVfBOLCgjD7lY/3MsWrhWJNMh7314mv38zNRd/gpL1WXyi 8NSRY9hymShseIl0Q3W/HsZOrmL2kSvPxcQMOS+7V/phSxa7mS9/mtaWbs6JMRbA lnntpV/zMpti7y7dRRBhNt7KmD70KYXrXI+aK6DAfzYDwJHC0JYrlzWxhfRGlx/h ZvX6M3Vhri1N4CkmrigaIqurGZQaVkQNa77H4PYwWuvu6EqnEFKB5iLT5S07HuSc dwGRDxlM6m73hk/+Ue5c =CGOY -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ liberationtech mailing list [email protected] Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?" You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator in monthly reminders. You may ask for a reminder here: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech
