ISIS uses Icelandic URL - "Something that can't be prevented"

The website for the Islamic terrorist organization ISIS is registered in Iceland. The director of ISNIC, the company that handles all Icelandic website registrations, says that it was only a matter of time until ISIS would get a website with a .is ending.

ISIS has been featured in media worldwide for the past few months due to their acts of terrorism and ethnic cleansing in Iraq and Syria.

The organization's newest website, khilafah.is, is registered in Iceland in September 2014 but is hosted in Germany. But because of its Icelandic registration the website's URL gains an .is suffix. Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Captain of the Icelandic Pirate Party, raised awareness of this on Twitter this morning.

Jens Pétur, director of ISNIC, is not surprised that the terrorist organization has acquired an Icelandic URL.

"The URL is registered on September 14th to a man who lives in New Zealand," says Jens Pétur.

"Right now the situation is that we have an URL with an .is suffix at ISNIC, according to the registration details the owner is living in New Zealand while the webhost is located in Hamburg, Germany."

Jens Pétur states that ISNIC has very few other options than validating the registration details.

"In truth, anyone can get an .is URL. That's the way it has always been. It's something that can't be prevented. It's very hard for ISNIC to reply whether something can be done about it, and whatever content they host is none of ISNIC's business."

Jens says that the only way for ISNIC to take down the URL would be if the registrant had filed incorrect information.

"Then we can demand that he correct the information, and if he refuses then we can close the URL due to incorrect registration protocols. But if ISNIC gets a court order from the Icelandic courts then we'll happily comply. But it doesn't mean that the website is gone from the internet.

"It's clear that our URL suffix attracts their attention because of the similarities. This is all very unfortunate for us Icelanders."