Monday, April 4, 2011

Libya Domain Startups Face Uncertain Renewal

The popular .ly domain name, used by such services as Los Angeles-based Twitter ad service Ad.ly, URL shortening service bit.ly, and a slew of other Web services, appear to be under threat from the war in Libya. Although names to the domains are still resolving, it appears that for domain name owners looking to renew or extend their registrations to .ly addresses, they may be unable to do so. At least one .ly domain name -- letter.ly, an online newsletter service started by Drop.io founder Sam Lessin -- has been forced to change its domain name due to an expiration of its domain name Thursday. Letter.ly told its users that it had to change its service to letterly.net, after it was unable to renew its domain last week, reporting that the agency it used to register the domain had been taken down due to the war. The .ly domain represents Libya, however, has become popular in recent years by U.S. based startups looking for shorter domain names. At least in the case of Los Angeles-based Ad.ly, as long as domains continue resolving, the firm is okay until April 12, 2016.