--- title: The U.S. is more than just the US (according to the ISO) description: Geofencing a streaming service to the U.S. is trickier than it seems because the ISO 3166 country code standard also assigns separate codes to U.S. territories... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-u-s-is-more-than-just-the-us-according-to-the-iso--6dgt1mfen twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The U.S. is more than just the US (according to the ISO) | daily.dev og:description: Geofencing a streaming service to the U.S. is trickier than it seems because the ISO 3166 country code standard also assigns separate codes to U.S. territories... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-u-s-is-more-than-just-the-us-according-to-the-iso--6dgt1mfen og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/6dgT1mFEn.png og:image:alt: The U.S. is more than just the US (according to the ISO) og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The U.S. is more than just the US (according to the ISO) **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Geofencing a streaming service to the U.S. is trickier than it seems because the ISO 3166 country code standard also assigns separate codes to U.S. territories and subdivisions. Puerto Rico (PR) is the classic gotcha, but a fully correct U.S. geofence must also include American Samoa (AS), Guam (GU), the Northern Mariana Islands (MP), the U.S. Virgin Islands (VI), and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands (UM) to cover territories, atolls, and islands like Wake Island, Midway Atoll, and Palmyra Atoll. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Which ISO 3166 country codes do I need to include to geofence a streaming service to the entire United States including territories You need US plus AS (American Samoa), GU (Guam), MP (Northern Mariana Islands), PR (Puerto Rico), VI (U.S. Virgin Islands), and UM (U.S. Minor Outlying Islands). ISO 3166 assigns separate country codes to U.S. subdivisions and territories, so geofencing software configured only with US will exclude people in these territories, such as Puerto Rico residents who can't access a supposedly US-only service. _Streaming and platform engineers debugging geofencing edge cases like this compare notes on daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 2 discussions and 15 comments across lobsters, hackernews (as of 2026-08-31). **TL;DR:** The technical premise about ISO 3166 codes and US territories is well received, but much of the discussion focuses on criticism of the post's AI-generated images and maps, which the author ultimately removed. **Sentiment:** 15% positive · 25% mixed · 60% skeptical **The case for** - The underlying topic of US territories and geofencing edge cases is seen as genuinely interesting. - Someone shared a related resource on identifying valid 'US state' postal abbreviations. - A related nonfiction book on US territorial possessions was recommended as a deeper resource on the topic. **The pushback** - The AI-generated island image was mocked as low quality and a sign of disregard for readers. - The AI-generated world map was criticized for using an odd projection and questionable accuracy. - Some felt AI imagery generally signals poor quality or laziness in a post. **By community** - lobsters (mixed): Heavy early criticism of AI-generated images and maps was balanced by genuine interest in the topic and appreciation once the images were removed. - hackernews (mixed): No comments were available to gauge sentiment. **Hottest debate:** Whether the AI-generated illustrations undermined the credibility and quality of the post. **Open questions** - How exactly do Antarctic research bases' IP ranges get geolocated (US vs AQ)? - What ever happened to the .um top-level domain and why did it disappear? **Highlights** > *Reads* *Encounters AI-generated image of an island with a sign on it that says 'island', pointing, incredulously, away from the island* *Sighs, closes tab* There are so many public domain photos of actual atolls, why not use one? > — [zesterer on lobsters · 16 points, 3 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/ngqpa1/u_s_is_more_than_just_us_according_iso#c_sstmwb) > And a bad projection of a world map, ridiculously centred on Africa rather than the Pacific Ocean or even USA, admittedly generated by ChatGPT after multiple bad attempts, that looks a little off in places but it’s hard to judge because of the stupid projection, and we’re supposed to trust that the places marked are correct? > — [chrismorgan on lobsters · 5 points](https://lobste.rs/s/ngqpa1/u_s_is_more_than_just_us_according_iso#c_dzk0tl) > The slop on this article really sucks, but it touches on a fascinating subject. One of my favorite non-fiction books I've read in recent years is How to Hide an Empire, which goes into great detail about the US possessions outside the "logo map". Fun fact, many of the islands they staked a claim to were claimed due to their rich guano deposits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250251091/howtohideanempire/ > — [technomancy on lobsters · 2 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/ngqpa1/u_s_is_more_than_just_us_according_iso#c_zu4e2c) > There. Fixed. No AI images anymore. All those words are my own. > — [jumex on lobsters · 4 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/ngqpa1/u_s_is_more_than_just_us_according_iso#c_lbvmzv) > How does it work for the antarctica bases? Do they appear as US on maxmind? > — [einacio on lobsters · 3 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/ngqpa1/u_s_is_more_than_just_us_according_iso#c_u5ij5n) **Source threads** - [lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/ngqpa1/u_s_is_more_than_just_us_according_iso) · 21 points · 15 comments - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49506039) · 3 points · 0 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Country codes](https://daily.dev/posts/country-codes-fjesabhsn) · R-bloggers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Your VPN isn't hiding what country you're in — your devices have other ways of knowing, and none of them touch your IP](https://daily.dev/posts/your-vpn-isn-t-hiding-what-country-you-re-in-your-devices-have-other-ways-of-knowing-and-none-of--nbvzxpfpu) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#webdev](https://daily.dev/tags/webdev) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-u-s-is-more-than-just-the-us-according-to-the-iso--6dgt1mfen) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The U.S. is more than just the US (according to the ISO)","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-u-s-is-more-than-just-the-us-according-to-the-iso--6dgt1mfen","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-u-s-is-more-than-just-the-us-according-to-the-iso--6dgt1mfen"},"datePublished":"2026-08-31T17:10:42.721Z","dateModified":"2026-08-31T20:26:37.504Z","description":"Geofencing a streaming service to the U.S. is trickier than it seems because the ISO 3166 country code standard also assigns separate codes to U.S. territories...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7f74d64c6304cbc107b1f78e02035c39?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7f74d64c6304cbc107b1f78e02035c39?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Lobsters","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Lobsters","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tl8v_Fku--/f_auto,t_logo/v1698841318/logos/lobste.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-u-s-is-more-than-just-the-us-according-to-the-iso--6dgt1mfen","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"webdev","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lobsters","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The U.S. is more than just the US (according to the ISO)"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-u-s-is-more-than-just-the-us-according-to-the-iso--6dgt1mfen#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Which ISO 3166 country codes do I need to include to geofence a streaming service to the entire United States including territories","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"You need US plus AS (American Samoa), GU (Guam), MP (Northern Mariana Islands), PR (Puerto Rico), VI (U.S. Virgin Islands), and UM (U.S. Minor Outlying Islands). ISO 3166 assigns separate country codes to U.S. subdivisions and territories, so geofencing software configured only with US will exclude people in these territories, such as Puerto Rico residents who can't access a supposedly US-only service. Streaming and platform engineers debugging geofencing edge cases like this compare notes on daily.dev."}}]} ```