Location, location, location: the geography of the dot com problem

Cyberspace is often portrayed as a seamless expanse, with browsers of the web rarely made aware of the geographic location of a page. For all its professed aspatiality, however, analysis of the organization of cyberspace offers continuing proof of the presence of geographically determined influences. Beyond the core domain names suffixes (.com, .gov, .net, and .org) domains usually carry geographic identification (.uk, .au, .jp, and so on). As desirable domains are registered, organizations and individuals seek web locations in new areas to claim high visibility on the Internet. After examining the regulation, legal jurisdiction, and geography of domain name registration, in this paper I analyze the experience of six countries that have commercially attractive top-level domain names: American Samoa, Moldova, Nuie, Tonga, Turkmenistan, and Tuvalu. These domains illustrate how geographic issues can emerge in the practice of electronic interaction and identity.