A.ly registration is the process of registering a user domain name within the country-code top-level domain for Libya. The.ly domain, introduced in 1988, is administered by the registry LYNIC on behalf of the General Post and Telecommunication Company. This domain is mainly for the use of the general public of Libya. LYNIC appoints recognized registrars to offer.ly domain names, and these registrars perform all the domain registration tasks on behalf of LYNIC. Libya Telecom & Technology is one of the pioneers that offer.ly domains to companies and organizations. Sub-domains are also provided within the.ly domain, at the second level and also at third levels beneath various second levels. According to the registration site, "any.LY domain names may be registered, except domains containing obscene and indecent names/phrases, including words of a sexual nature; furthermore, domain names may not contain words/phrases or abbreviations insulting religion or politics, or be related to gambling and lottery industry or be contrary to Libyan law or Islamic morality." LYNIC registers domain names on a first-come, first-served basis. Applicants may apply for domains with a registration fee of $75 for each domain. Before registration, the domain name, company name, trademark registration and other legal documents must be provided. In addition, the.ly domain names being registered should not violate any rules set forth by the registrar. Domain names may be registered for a minimum of one year. Applicants may register domains online or through official registrars list. After completing the registration process, an email will be sent to the applicant's billing contact address. The.ly domain name will become active within 1–2 minutes of that email notification.
Strings shorter than four symbols long are to be registered only through Libya Telecom and Technology to guarantee that registrants have local presence.
Many Libyan domains were reserved for English words that end with the suffix "ly", such as name.ly, musical.ly and sincere.ly – so-called domain hacks. As the annual fee for.ly domains remains high, many domain names remain available on the domain prime market, and some popular ones can be bought on the domain secondary market – the result of the domain name speculation. Many popular URL shortening services are registered in the.ly domain: brief.ly, adf.ly, bit.ly, ow.ly, and 3.ly. In October 2010, the domain of "sex-positive" URL shortening service vb.ly, which had been registered in 2009 by Violet Blue and Ben Metcalfe, was seized by the Libyan web authorities for not being compliant with the law of Libya. A Libya Telecom spokesman stated to Blue: "Pornography and adult material aren't allowed under Libyan Law.... Therefore, we removed the domain." According to one blogger, this was as of 2014 the only known domain seized by nic.ly, and it was seized only after several failed attempts to contact the registrant.
