The unexpected blocking of the national domain ".af" caused a wide response in the network.
More than 100 Afghan Internet sites with the domain name ".af" were suspended after a French registrar company failed to make payments to the Taliban-controlled Afghan Ministry of Communications*. This event was an unexpected blow for Internet users, who used the ".af" domain to add spice and zest to their sites.
Country-specific domains, such as the Canadian ".ca" or the French ".fr", are usually used only within these countries, but some of them, such as Tuvaluan ".tv", Libyan ".ly", and Anguillan ".ai" are also popular abroad.- for the ability to create unique or expressive site names, as well as emphasize their subject matter.
So, the domain ".af" of Afghanistan has gained cult popularity on the Internet due to the fact that in American slang, the abbreviation "AF" means "as fuck "or"very"/"extremely." Combined with a well-chosen second-level domain name, many website owners have created very creative and memorable Internet addresses.
However, the funny wordplay had nothing to do with the recent outages of websites on this domain. According to the representative of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Afghanistan, Enayatullah Alokozai, about 150 domains registered through the Paris-based company Gandi were suspended until the debt of approximately 17 thousand US dollars was repaid. That is, we are talking about only a small part of the ".af " domains registered on the Internet.
Arnaud Frankene, director of Gandi, said that it is more likely about 100 domains. He said international sanctions against the Taliban and Afghanistan's unstable banking system have made it difficult to repay the debt. "Given the context, it is difficult to get permission to make all the necessary payments," Frankene said.
The suspension of.af domains was brought to the attention of the Internet community after Erin Shepherd, co-author of the LGBT-friendly Internet space "queer.af" published a message about the unavailability of its website.
Shepard noted that after the change of power in Afghanistan, he realized that the existence of "queer.af" it is under threat due to the Taliban's sharply negative attitude towards LGBT people, however, in fact, the site was blocked for non-payment of the domain name.
The fate of many other sites on the Afghan domain, including "sexy.af" and "awesome.af", remains unclear. Many of them are either no longer active or have not been renewed. However, according to a representative of the Ministry of Communications of Afghanistan, the content of the sites was not important for the suspension of their work. If a payment is made, the sites will start working again.
More than 100 Afghan Internet sites with the domain name ".af" were suspended after a French registrar company failed to make payments to the Taliban-controlled Afghan Ministry of Communications*. This event was an unexpected blow for Internet users, who used the ".af" domain to add spice and zest to their sites.
Country-specific domains, such as the Canadian ".ca" or the French ".fr", are usually used only within these countries, but some of them, such as Tuvaluan ".tv", Libyan ".ly", and Anguillan ".ai" are also popular abroad.- for the ability to create unique or expressive site names, as well as emphasize their subject matter.
So, the domain ".af" of Afghanistan has gained cult popularity on the Internet due to the fact that in American slang, the abbreviation "AF" means "as fuck "or"very"/"extremely." Combined with a well-chosen second-level domain name, many website owners have created very creative and memorable Internet addresses.
However, the funny wordplay had nothing to do with the recent outages of websites on this domain. According to the representative of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Afghanistan, Enayatullah Alokozai, about 150 domains registered through the Paris-based company Gandi were suspended until the debt of approximately 17 thousand US dollars was repaid. That is, we are talking about only a small part of the ".af " domains registered on the Internet.
Arnaud Frankene, director of Gandi, said that it is more likely about 100 domains. He said international sanctions against the Taliban and Afghanistan's unstable banking system have made it difficult to repay the debt. "Given the context, it is difficult to get permission to make all the necessary payments," Frankene said.
The suspension of.af domains was brought to the attention of the Internet community after Erin Shepherd, co-author of the LGBT-friendly Internet space "queer.af" published a message about the unavailability of its website.
Shepard noted that after the change of power in Afghanistan, he realized that the existence of "queer.af" it is under threat due to the Taliban's sharply negative attitude towards LGBT people, however, in fact, the site was blocked for non-payment of the domain name.
The fate of many other sites on the Afghan domain, including "sexy.af" and "awesome.af", remains unclear. Many of them are either no longer active or have not been renewed. However, according to a representative of the Ministry of Communications of Afghanistan, the content of the sites was not important for the suspension of their work. If a payment is made, the sites will start working again.
