Even before Saddam Hussein's regime started losing its grip, a London ISP began rallying momentum for a plan to bring pervasive and unfettered Internet access to post-war Iraq.
The grassroots proposal seeks to fund the reconstruction of Iraq's Net infrastructure by selling Internet addresses ending in .iq -- the country-code suffix in Iraq's domain name.
Due to trade sanctions and other issues, no dot-iq domains are currently active. But the charity project's sponsors, which include British ISP Onega, say the domains -- with the country-code suffix that connotes high intelligence -- could be auctioned off to worldwide Internet users for a hefty sum.
"We think there's a lot of goodwill toward the Iraqi people and a desire to help them get the benefits of an open Internet," said Ben Fitzgerald-O'Connor, leader of the project known as the Committee for Information Technology Reconstruction in Iraq. "This is one way for the international IT community to help raise the funds to do that."
Under the CITRI plan, dot-iq domains would be available at a reduced price for Internet users in Iraq. But the group estimates it could also raise $10 million through domain auctions to worldwide corporations and individuals. For example, members of Mensa International could snap up addresses ending in @high.iq, according to Fitzgerald-O'Connor.
Most Iraqis have been unable to access the Internet since March 31, when cruise missiles hit servers and satellite dishes at the Information Ministry in Baghdad. Repeated strikes on telephone switching centers have also disabled much of the phone service in the city, rendering dial-up modems -- Iraqis' predominant means of connecting to the Internet -- useless. Additionally, the war has knocked out almost all of the websites operated by the Iraqi government and state-controlled media.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government's plans for repairing Iraq's IT infrastructure are still unclear. The Bush administration has charged the Agency for International Development with rebuilding the infrastructure and public facilities in post-war Iraq. But none of the agency's eight projects currently out for bid includes repairing Iraq's telecommunications or information technology.
CITRI's efforts to restore Iraqis' Internet access face numerous obstacles, but one stands out: The technical management of dot-iq is currently assigned to a U.S. company facing federal prosecution for allegedly funding terrorists.
Records on file with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, which helps manage the Internet's addressing system, show that dot-iq was delegated in 1997 to InfoCom of Richardson, Texas. In December 2002, the United States indicted (PDF) the four Elashi brothers who run InfoCom on charges of providing financial support to Hamas, a Palestinian fundamentalist movement known for its suicide bombings. Three of the men are currently being held in a Texas prison.
Michael P. Gibson, the Elashis' attorney, did not respond to interview requests. But Gibson has reportedly denied that his clients were involved in terrorist activities.
Earlier this month, Fitzgerald-O'Connor asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to consider transferring management of the dot-iq domain to CITRI.
ICANN officials had no immediate comment on the request or on InfoCom's suitability as managers of dot-iq. But Louis Touton, ICANN's general counsel, said in an interview this week that trustees of any country-code domain have "obligations to tend to the needs of the domain." Failure to perform such tasks could result in redelegation by IANA, Touton said.
Any initiative to replace the current administrators of Iraq's country-code domain, however, must have the broad support of the Internet community in Iraq, and not merely be driven by well-intending outsiders, Touton said.
Fitzgerald-O'Connor said CITRI hopes to enlist the involvement of Iraqis, and envisions that management of dot-iq would eventually be controlled by an Iraq-based organization such as Baghdad University. In the short run, however, CITRI would be better positioned to conduct an international auction of dot-iq domains, he said.
Officials with the Iraqi National Congress, an opposition party seen as playing a key role in post-war Iraq, had no immediate comment on the CITRI proposal.
Officials with the U.N. Development Program said the international agency has no current plans to play a role in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure. But UNDP spokesman William Orme said making Iraq's country-code domain live may have important symbolic value.
"I could see it being used by a transitional government to advertise a break with the old era. It does have a nationalist aura, which is a new thing," Orme said.
In March, the United Nations helped launch the new country-code domain for Afghanistan. The activation of dot-af involved changing the management of the domain from a private individual in Kabul to the country's transitional government. While fast-tracked by ICANN, the redelegation process took more than six months -- a "best-case scenario" for any proposed change to management of dot-iq, according to Michael Froomkin, a U.S. lawyer specializing in domain issues.
Eric Brunner-Williams, a former manager with NeuStar, which operates the dot-biz domain registry, pointed out that reconstructing Iraq's network infrastructure does not technically require activating dot-iq. And while he said getting the Iraqi country-code domain operational is a worthwhile goal, Brunner-Williams was skeptical about CITRI's revenue projections.
"I have no idea how you get $10 million from dot-iq," he said. "There have been a number of high-profile, repurposed domains like dot-tm and dot-tv, and none of them have achieved that kind of revenue. Even the heavily marketed domains like dot-biz have had to expend lots of money to approach that level."
But Fitzgerald-O'Connor remains optimistic. Even if CITRI's proposed domain auction comes up short financially, or if the United States decides to contract out Iraq's IT reconstruction, he believes the grassroots plan for dot-iq will still be relevant.
Besides rebuilding core infrastructure, Fitzgerald-O'Connor says Iraq will benefit from the establishment of Internet access and education centers, as well as a skills exchange with companies and universities in the West.
"CITRI would be the perfect vehicle for everyone willing to make a difference to rally behind. We are about bringing the Internet to the people," he said.
