Goo.gl, Bit.ly, FB.me, TCrn.ch – All The Big Guns Are Out, But What Dangers Lurk?

Posted on December 16th, 2009 by admin in Domain News | 3 Comments »

Domain hacks are the IN thing at the moment when it comes to url shorteners.

Google announced it’s own url shortener yesterday – Goo.gl – using a Greenland ccTld.

Url shortener Bit.ly has been in use for quite a while now by Twitter users to shorten their urls as Twitter’s limited post size can be quite constricting for users. The .LY domain extension is a Libyan ccTld.

Facebook have also been testing their own url shortener FB.me- a domain name with a Montenegro ccTld.

Other high-hitters like TechCrunch (TCrn.ch) and the New York Times (NYTim.es) have also taken to url shorteners.

As a result of the significantly shorter url length, domain hacks are the way to go when it comes to url shortening casting a shadow over more traditional services like TinyUrl.com.

However, is ccTld use for generic websites such a good idea? ccTlds were initially intended for use by people within the country of origin.

Unlike top-level domains (.com, .net and .org), country-code top level domains (ccTlds) aren’t regulated by the International Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers – ICANN. Instead, country code top level domain name registries are handed almost full control over their ccTld by ICANN.

“It’s for each country to set up what the rules are. Obviously, from country to country, they have set up different rules for what they think is appropriate.” says ICANN Root Zone Services Kim Davies.

Each country has the power and authority to change the rules for it’s ccTld at any time.

“It’s not a problem to us if a country wants to restrict its domains to individuals [living there],” Davies said. “The original intention was you only register with the country you’re in.”

This disconnection from ICANN may especially be a concern with ccTlds operated by countries with questionable political stances. Libya, for example, was an international pariah up until recently and remains a dictatorship to the present day.

What are the odds that Libya suddenly decide to pull the plug on successful sites like Bit.ly due to disagreements over content Bit.ly points to?

Should we be sticking with more main stream ccTlds like .es (Spain), .it (Italy), .ch (Switzerland) when picking a ccTld for a domain hack?