Libya’s government is known for its strict media laws, but it comes as no surprise that the country’s internet media has been notorious for lashing back. Over the years Libya has been in the news for many for various interesting leaks, including its links to Lockerbie bombing and the often bizarre activities of its leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Now western companies which have been buying domain names with the now trendy suffix “ ly”, owned by Libya are facing shut down by the government on the grounds of being against Sharia law.
The trend for.ly addresses has grown in the last year as a part of a practice known as “domain hacking”. With memorable names on the “.com” space hard to come by, many companies have instead chosen to incorporate the domain name into their brand. Sites such as bit.ly, Ow.ly and Ad.ly raised millions of dollars in investment.
Moves made by the government threaten foreign business investments into new comer bit.ly which has had millions of dollars of investor’s money . Last week saw the closing of western website that showed a bare-armed woman drinking a lager.
But the government has strict rules on the use of the internet and regularly filters out political websites critical of the country’s president. Earlier this year the Libyan government blocked access to You Tube after an anti-government demonstration were published on the site. The government also blocks oppositional websites and arrests and imprisons cyber-dissidents. Therefore self censorship remains widely practiced by both online and offline media for fear of government retribution.
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