Is the .io domain about to disappear?

Last week, the U.K. announced it would give the British Indian Ocean Territory — aka the Chagos Islands — to Mauritius.

Unless you're a geopolitics buff, this news might have passed you by. But for indie hackers, it may prove seriously consequential.

That's because the British Indian Ocean Territory gives its name to the wildly popular ".io" domain — two letters that could disappear when Mauritius absorbs the Chagos Islands.

First registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority in 1997, the domain's popularity has boomed among tech startups, partly because of its resemblance to the "I/O" abbreviation for "input/output."

How do domain country codes work?

Country-specific domain names all rely on something called the "ISO 3166-1."

This is a list of standard abbreviations for every country maintained by a dedicated agency within the International Organization for Standardization.

These country codes are used for all kinds of things like passports, international banking and customs documents.

An organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers uses them to determine country-specific domains.

"Currently, the standard lists the British Indian Ocean Territory as 'IO'," ICANN director of communications Gwen Carlson told Indiehackers.com.

If "IO" is dropped as coding for the territory, "it would trigger a 5-year retirement process."

Existing ".io" websites would eventually need to move to a new domain. They could either migrate to the territory's successor code (potentially ".mu" for Mauritius) or switch to another country's code.

New ".io" domain names would no longer be available.

Will ".io" disappear?

The five-year protocol was established after the fall of the Soviet Union. Its ".su" domain became popular with cybercriminals after being passed to Russia.

Similar wrangling over Yugoslavia's old country code — which was eventually retired in 2010 — contributed to these stricter rules.

But with ".io" used by legitimate businesses around the world, there's arguably far more at stake this time.

Indie hackers are hotly debating the future of the domain on X. Plenty think (or hope) that ICANN will let Mauritius keep the ".io" domain, perhaps through some kind of licensing deal.

Gwen Carlson said there were "multiple potential outcomes" for ".io," depending on the nature of the ISO standard change.

"One such change may involve ensuring there is an operational nexus with Mauritius to meet certain policy requirements," she said.

But ICANN "cannot comment on what the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency may or may not do in response to this development," she added.

When might the domain be retired?

The British Indian Ocean Territory won't disappear overnight — and neither will the ".io" domain.

There's plenty of political process still to be had before the U.K. actually relinquishes the Chagos Islands.

First, Mauritius needs to sign a treaty detailing the terms of the transfer of sovereignty. But this won't happen until after a general election is held in November.

Once it's signed, the treaty needs to be ratified by lawmakers back in the U.K. British foreign minister David Lammy aims to start this process next year.

The IO country code won't change before any of this has taken place.

And only once "IO" disappears from the ISO list would the ICANN 5-year process actually be triggered. Even then, officials could apply to extend the retirement period for another 5 years.

So, ".io" could be around for more than a decade to come.

Nonetheless, it's a reminder to consider geopolitics when choosing a domain name. After all, the U.K. was wrangling with Mauritius long before the internet even existed.