[Shinkei]

I edited my post. I meant to say that governments have assigned/protected names like .fr, .de, etc.

[geezerjay]

No, they have not. Each country can manage country-code top level donains, but that's just it: a specific top-level domain they are free to use. That doesn't negate them the right of using other domains, just like if you buy a domain name you don't lose the right of using a second or a third one.

It boggles the mind how anyone in their right mind can believe that a cyber-squatter shoud somehow have the right to hold the domain name of a sovereign nation for ransom.

[ada1981]

Except he wasn’t a cyber squatter — he built a business around it.

It’s seems uncommon for countries to actually own COUNTRY.com - UnitedStates.com, America.com, Germany.com and many more are privately held.

[Shinkei]

"It boggles the mind how anyone in their right mind can believe that a cyber-squatter shoud somehow have the right to hold the domain name of a sovereign nation for ransom."

I... just don't know how to respond to this. Do you have any proof that it was 'being held for ransom'? It sounds like it wasn't for sale at any price... it was hosting the man's business.

And I definitely don't agree with cyber-squatting... in fact I personally think that 'parked' domains should be returned to the public domain after some X years. I hate that there are people holding vast numbers of potentially useful domain names and not using them for anything.

I just don't understand how you drew that conclusion in this particular case... it sounds like the opposite actually.

[Karunamon]

The guy who owned the domain wasn’t “cyber squatting”. If he was, there is a process for that.. which wasn’t followed here.

[gattafrettolosa]

Individuals should have more rights and more freedoms than nations.