.shia
| Status: | Proposed |
| Type: | Community |
| Category: | Culture |
| PIC Submitted: | Yes, Download Here |
| Priority #: | 1608 - Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. |
.shia is a proposed TLD in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti..[1] It is a community priority application that refers to the second-largest denomination of Islam.[2] It states: "AGITSys and its constituent team members hail from the heart of the Shia Muslim community, both in terms of geography and the nationality of the team members. Their links to the community therein are thus irrefutably strong, as they themselves are passionate members of it...[and] In order to register a .SHIA Domain Name, you declare that you are part of the Islamic Religious and Cultural Community. Registrants must electronically accept that they have pronounced the Shahadah (declaration of faith) which states, “I testify that there is no god except for the God [Allah], and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of the God.”[3]
Objection
Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) filed an objection against the TLD.[4]
PIC
The applicant filed a Public Interest Commitment (PIC), which includes the following provisions:
"a. Registry Operator does its outmost to ensure that WHOIS data is verified, authentic and publicly accessible.
b. Registry Operator does its most to limit second-level domain registrations to those of Muslim faith, or those with a clear interest in serving the Muslim community and faith beneficially.
c. Registry Operator will not tolerate any illegitimate and non-legal activity such as terrorism, online counterfeiting and piracy, radical content, content that criticizes Islam and the Muslim faith. Immediate and severe action will be taken against registrants promulgating either, and a black list will be created in an attempt to pre-empt any such attempts. Registry operator will fully cooperate with any authorities that have jurisdiction over it in this regards.
d. While the Registry Operator cannot guaranty to prevent all illegitimate and non-legal activities, but will do all possible or utmost to prevent these activities by implementing protection measures for registrations to ensure an abuse free environment whilst maintaining choice."[5]