Iraq gets its own domain name back

Internet regulator Icann has decided to give control of Iraq's domain name dot-iq to an Iraqi government body, the National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC).

After the war in Iraq, Icann believed the country to be too unstable to take over the running of its own top level domain.

The web watchdog had suspended the dot-iq domain name since 2002, when several of the executives behind InfoCom, the Texas-based company assigned to act as the official dot-iq overseer in 1997, were found to have links with Hamas.

The NCMC asked for control of its domain name in June 2004. Icann agreed to grant the application some 12 months later during a recent meeting of its board, saying the move is in "the best interests of the local and global internet communities".

The change in administration of dot-iq will allow the Iraqi government to standardise all its email and web addresses.