.SS

By James Bilal

.SS is the designated country code top-level domain ccTLD for South Sudan in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is derived from the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Sudan, which is SS.

When South Sudan became the world’s newest country in July 2011, it set about nation building. This included establishing a country-code top level domain (ccTLD), for which the nation wanted .ss. Although the SS string appeared on the International Standards Organisation’s ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 code list in August, the forerunner to ICANN approval for a ccTLD, .ss is still not plugged into the internet.

One of the challenges facing .ss is the connection made in Europe between the letters ‘SS’ and the Nazi movement. The initials also stand for Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary organisation in Nazi Germany that was responsible for many atrocities in the first half of the twentieth century. Some observers have been concerned that if South Sudan were delegated .ss, the TLD could be commandeered by neo-Nazi groups.

The issue raises an important question that is still unresolved in domain name circles: to what extent areICANN, registries, registrars and registrants liable for the content on a website at which a certain domain name resolves?