Iraqi Sovereignty Won't Extend Online

[Khephra]

When an interim government takes over from the U.S.-led occupation next week, Iraq will regain its place among the world's sovereign nations -- except on the Internet.

More than 240 places have their own two-letter Internet country codes, from ".ac" for Ascension Island to ".zw" for Zimbabwe. There's even ".ps" for the Palestinian territories.

But the domain assigned to Iraq, ".iq," is stuck in a strange bureaucratic limbo -- the company that had administered it is under U.S. criminal indictment -- and could remain there for months.

As a result, if Iraq's government, national institutions or regular Iraqis want a Web site, they need to use international domains, such as ".com," ".org" or ".net", which are maintained in the United States.

"To me, having `iq' is probably one of the most important steps toward giving Iraq its identity and independence," said Hisham Ashkouri, an Iraqi-born architect who has lived in the United States since 1972 and is designing several projects for Baghdad. "The information technology part today is extremely important."

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