So you might have an .io domain attached to your – professional – or personal – website? Otherwise – if you just happen to be in that general state of tech mind – you might be coming across such domains out there all the time.
Either case, it is not at all unlikely – as over the years the .io domain has become popular with the loosely termed “tech crowd.” It might be a “startup” – or indeed, it might be anyone using GitHub’s free hosting service to publish their website, for free, and for fun.
And the reason is simple – .io is a top-level country domain that is still largely up for grabs, and one that also duplicates one of those fundamental tech “memes” – in this case, I/O – input/output – and thus resonates strongly with the said tech crowd.
Imagine how popular – in some circles – a top-level domain that somehow managed to invoke the war of “tabs and spaces” might have been.
Anyway – while existing top-level domains – .com, .org. .net – have long since ran out of short and sweet URLs – and let’s face it, .biz will always remain equally as useful as it is funny and embarrassing – .io has been that cheap yet actually cool and usable alternative.
But wait – what “country” does “.io” actually represent?
Good question. And it turns out – no real country. Not really.
In other words – the .io domain does not represent an actual sovereign state. It stands for “the Chagos Islands.”
Admittedly, things on earth can get darker than colonialism. Like WW2. But then again – not much darker.
And today, the .io domain boils down to the United Nations – that international body set up in the wake of the devastating WW2 to prevent any such catastrophe repeating itself – being in this case, as usual, late to the party.
“This week, the UN’s General Assembly voted overwhelmingly 116-6 to condemn the UK’s occupation of the Chagos Islands,” the Register writes.
The resolution is non-binding, and it supports a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – in other words, nothing anyone really cares about.
