Yes, this. I think the main concern would not be the DNS servers being lost, but the revocation of domains to raise money, or redistribution of the domains by the (potential) new regime.
Situation 1: Qaddafi's regime appropriates all .ly domains and redirects them to whatever the fuck they want (including clones of the originals).
Situation 2: Qaddafi's regime is overthrown by a coup, junta, popular uprising, or what-have-you, and then the new regime decides to repudiate business agreements made with the old regime, including domain names.
Neither is hugely unlikely. I cannot for the life of me understand why any business would sink the foundations of their brand into the sands of the questionably stable Libyan regime.
"I cannot for the life of me understand why any business would sink the foundations of their brand into the sands of the questionably stable Libyan regime."
Is that any more risky than a supposedly stable US Department of Justice and Homeland Security?
What do you think the motivation for such an action would be?
Disabling the internet makes sense from a crowd control perspective, but what reason would Gaddafi have to take control of bit.ly?
Doing it for money reasons is ridiculous, the value of bit.ly is just a drop in the ocean for a country like Libya. Libya have far more lucrative options if they want money.
Unless Gaddafi's been hanging out on 4chan and wants to do a massive rickroll, I think you're over-estimating the chances of Gaddafi seizing bit.ly.
