That's a problem with users of .io domains, not with the system. Every time I see a .is domain that is just from some ego-driven developer (mygreatname.is or similar) I cringe, just like when I saw nyan.cat (cat is the top-level domain for Catalan and Catalonia and supposedly has stringent conditions for granting its use)

Nyan.cat at least used to have an information page explaining their use of .cat; having a version of your content in Catalan (which they still do) is apparently sufficient.

Last time I checked in addition to having your content in Catalan, you had to do business or have some kind of "grounded" relation with Catalonia or the Catalan language.

Was one of the reasons I didn't buy Fatou.cat as a domain for my cat's blog (left it at tumblr), or thefancypuffin.cat for our handmade shoemaking business (in addition to the larger exposure of .com domains, of course)

For those who had to look it up "nyan" is the sound a cat makes in Japanese aka "meow" in English.

Well, the Nyan Cat was a meme hit something like 2 or 3 years ago. Reddit gets you this stupid knowledge ;)

I actually learned of Nyan Cat from all the silly Nyan Cat hacks that showed up on HN.

You're right, I conflated it with ".li", from this video, where Matt Cutts talks about the issue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q...

Indeed there is no indigenous population and hasn't been since 1966 [1]. It's nothing but a strategically well-placed airbase with a few thousand personal and contractors.

.io is clearly a gccTLD. The TLD administration and commissioner in charge of 'the government' reside in the UK.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Ocean_Territory#...

There is a population that would like to return home...

True. And the "marine reserve" shenanigans are disgraceful.

I found a couple: http://www.brinks.io/en/ and a whole bunch of subdomains under Mauritius.io https://www.google.com/#output=search&q=site:mauritius.i...