Islamic State website registered to NZ

A website believed to be used by the jihadist organisation Islamic State is registered to a man who used a New Zealand address, Icelandic authorities say.

A website linked to jihadist organisation Islamic State shut down by Icelandic authorities was registered to a New Zealand address.

Internet in Iceland Inc, or ISNIC, says it has "suspended domains that were used for the website of a known terrorist organisation".

The website khilafah.is, which ISNIC said was run by a group calling itself Islamic State, is registered to a business address in the Auckland suburb of Parnell.

The Farnham Street property appears to be the registered address for dozens of shell companies, entities which in the past were able to register as a legal New Zealand-based company without much scrutiny.

Law changes have been introduced to crack down on the problem.

The site was traced back to a web hosting company in Iceland over the weekend, but ISNIC believe the website has been online since mid-September.

"The URL is registered on September 14 to a man who lives in New Zealand," ISNIC director Jens Petur told Icelandic newspaper Visir.

"Right now the situation is that we have an URL with an .is suffix at ISNIC, according to the registration details the owner is living in New Zealand while the webhost is located in Hamburg, Germany."

Mr Petur said it is the first time the country has had to shut down a website because of its content.

He thinks the group behind the website were attracted to the country's ".is" URL abbreviation.

"It's clear that our URL suffix attracts their attention because of the similarities. This is all very unfortunate for us Icelanders."

While the website has been shut down, INSIC says it has no power to delete the URL unless it receives a court order, or it is proven whoever registered the domain filed incorrect registration details.

The agency can then demand correct registration information, and if the individual refuses, the URL can be taken down due to incorrect registration protocols, Mr Petur said.

"But it doesn't mean that the website is gone from the internet."


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Islamic State website registered to NZ | SBS News