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The Internet

Niue WiFi Network Gone, .nu TLD May Follow 389

Posted by timothy from the denuded dept.
gxc writes "The world's first free national wireless grid is no longer with us, after waves from Cyclone Heta swept over Niue's thirty metre cliffs, destroying everything. Although only one person died, the damage is so bad that there is talk of winding up the country , meaning their fortuitous ccTLD could go the way of .su. Perhaps the easiest way for Slashdotters to help Niue would be to choose a .nu domain over the dull alternatives."
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Niue WiFi Network Gone, .nu TLD May Follow More

Niue WiFi Network Gone, .nu TLD May Follow

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  • Oh.nu! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:19AM (#7950091)
    What will happen to my expensive .nu domain?!

    • Re:Oh.nu! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:17AM (#7950544)
      .nu has been a source of rivarly between the Niue people and an American who effectively stole it from the country through deception. The population have been trying to get it back with no luck. The Americans have been threatening the local people (whole story documented here [itu.int])

      No-one from Niue will benefit if you register a .nu domain, your money will just line the pockets of a shady entrepreneur.

  • Quick, grab (Score:5, Funny)

    by AEton ( 654737 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:20AM (#7950093)
    www.slashdot.nu is still available! Only 60euro/2 years! Think of the fun we could have. Uh, we could make, um. hm. A fresh nu slashdot. That'd be fun.

  • Ahh... (Score:2, Funny)

    by nametaken ( 610866 )
    That would be a CIA weather generator at work.

    • Re:Ahh... (Score:3, Funny)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

      That would be a CIA weather generator at work.

      Yeah unfortunately it was the unintended output of giving Dubya sunshine on an early campaign stop. You know, a butterfly flaps its wings in whatever city in china's name is usually inserted here...

  • Just a novelty...? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by danielrm26 ( 567852 ) * on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:22AM (#7950107) Homepage
    "The world's first free national wireless grid is no longer with us, after waves from Cyclone Heta swept over Niue's thirty metre cliffs, destroying everything."

    A tradgedy, to be sure, but 1. this free wireless network was probably smaller than a few of our free *city* networks, and 2. why is this a separate country in the first place? Admittedly I've only taken a cursory glance at the situation, but it seems like the idea of them being a nation is more *cool* than it is practical or feasible -- especially given the degree to which a cyclone can destroy the place.

    • Tons of things you never cared to know about Niue (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Available from the CIA Factbook entry for Niue [cia.gov].

      • Re:Tons of things you never cared to know about Ni (Score:4, Informative)

        by ebrandsberg ( 75344 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:39AM (#7950202)
        From the looks of it, after this event, the entire set of data will have to be overhauled, including:

        Area - comparative:

        1.5 times the size of Washington, DC

        Now...

        Area - comparative:

        1.2 times the size of Washington, DC (erosion effect).

        Seriously, if we can have a .nu, we should have a .dc too. It's not a state after all...
        • If there ever is a .dc, will someone please call be so I can buy ac.dc before it is taken :)
        • Did anyone notice that the former name of this Island was Savage Island. This seems like a good time for a futurama and simpsons reference about places with f*dup names.

          Up first, Futurama:
          Leela: Uh, Professor are we even allowed in the Forbidden Zone?
          Farnsworth: Why of course! Its just a name! Like the Death Zone or The Zone Of No Return. All the zones have names like that in The Galaxy Of Terror!
          Leela: Uh, Professor...
          Farnsworth: Off you go, pleasant trip!

          And now, the Simpsons:
          Left FBI Agent: We have pla
    • "A tradgedy to be sure,..." ...although not quite as bad as my spelling of tragedy. :(

    • Re:Just a novelty...? (Score:5, Informative)

      by kitzilla ( 266382 ) <paperfrogNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:30AM (#7950161) Homepage Journal
      Niue came to be self-governed simply because of its remoteness from New Zealand (which still maintains Niue's defense). Without generous grants from New Zealand to make up regular budget deficits, Niue would have folded long ago. The population is half what it was in the Sixties, and continues to decline. I personally hope Niue is able to make a go of it, but things were hardly rosy before the storm.

      • Re:Just a novelty...? (Score:5, Informative)

        by FuzzyBad-Mofo ( 184327 ) <fuzzybad@gmaCURIEil.com minus physicist> on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:52AM (#7950255)

        Ah the irony of Niue, "Savage Island". It was so named by Capt Cook after the fierce-appearing warriors painted their teeth red by chewing a local plant. Later they were "Christianized" by missionaries and now apparently rival the Puritans in their pious and strict religion.

        At any rate, Niueans don't shy away from selling the .nu domain (means nude in French), and host many adult web sites under it. Also, they appantly offer a tax shelter for many less than savory businesses.

        My source for this information was the excellent book, _Blue Latitudes_ by Tony Horwitz.

        • Re:Just a novelty...? (Score:3, Informative)

          by geoswan ( 316494 )
          According to the CIA factbook [cia.gov]:

          Efforts to increase GDP include the promotion of tourism and a financial services industry, although Premier LAKATANI announced in February 2002 that Niue will shut down the offshore banking industry.

          Worth noting is that Tom Hanks little Island in Castaway [imdb.com] was supposed to be "600 miles south of the Cook Islands". Niue is one of the Cook Islands.

      • Re:Just a novelty...? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Afty0r ( 263037 )
        So it's a remote pacific island, far from New Zealand but with an indiginous population, and an airstrip which you can fly to from NZ.

        Why on *earth* are they not making a killing from tourism?

      • Silly Question (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Guppy06 ( 410832 )
        "New Zealand (which still maintains Niue's defense)"

        Alright. So... um... who maintains New Zealand's defense?

    • Re:Just a novelty...? (Score:5, Informative)

      by rediguana ( 104664 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:31AM (#7950167)
      it seems like the idea of them being a nation is more *cool* than it is practical

      Not really, they just wanted to rule themselves, like most other peoples on this earth.

      They were first claimed by the British, then were turned over to New Zealand, and in 1974 they gained their independence to manage themselves. At the same time they remained in free association with New Zealand, and to this day we provide a lot of financial support and manage their international affairs. There are around 1,500 Niuians on Niue, and around 20,000 in New Zealand. They're just picking that more will come to NZ. Which is a shame because Niue is a lovely place. Great snorkelling and diving, but most of the coastal beds will have been damaged by Heta and take 5-10 years to recover (Cyclone Ofa was the last major one in 1990). They didn't have wireless when I was there in Nov 2002. Main reason for Island wide wireless was that cabling kinda sucked. Mobile phones were starting to take off too - like most developing countries it is easier to roll out wireless.
      • "Not really, they just wanted to rule themselves, like most other peoples on this earth. ... They were first claimed by the British, then were turned over to New Zealand, and in 1974 they gained their independence to manage themselves."

        I see. Well, that's what I get for taking a cursory glance; thanks for the input.
    • Self-administration may make sense because it beats the alternative.

      Consider a comparable situation. For example, let the US invade Cuba. Different history, economics, people. The US leadership would likely not accomodate the Cuban needs.

      It may be wasteful to have a special government for 1200 people, but quality rule is worth waste.
    • They're a nation because they wanted to be, what are you, some kind of nation nazi?

      Now they're thinking about changing their mind, no business of the rest of us.

      The South Pacific is full of tiny nations operating largely under the umbrella of Australia and New Zealand, and to, a lesser extent colonial France (yes still around) and the USA in parts.

      When you're 400 nautical miles from the nearest other people you tend to get ideas of nationhood.

  • I have a bunch of these (Score:4, Informative)

    by Schmucky The Cat ( 687075 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:23AM (#7950113) Homepage
    nu is slang for 'naked' in a lot of french speaking countries. It makes for a lot of porn sites registered under .nu.

    I would highly doubt that the tld will go away, just as I doubt Niue will give up it's independence.

    Hey, maybe I should move there and telecommute.

    • French nit-picking (Score:2, Informative)

      by FrankoBoy ( 677614 )
      IAAFC*, and I know that "nu" isn't slang at all in French, it's the most commonly used word translating "naked" whatever the context, be it pr0n or medecine seminars. Of course, on the Net right now, I think pr0n is bound to dominate .nu, but some ppl like naturalist painters might enjoy a ".naked" :)

      For the record, "neu" in German means "again" too. In fact, I suppose there are a lot of languages for which this sound means something as is, so Niue could have good business if they choose to remain indepe

      • Re:French nit-picking (Score:5, Informative)

        by jpatokal ( 96361 ) * on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:57AM (#7950466) Homepage
        Malaysia ( .fm ) did sold many domain names to foreigners, for obvious reasons.

        Nitpicking your nitpick, .fm is the Federated States of Micronesia [www.fm]. Malaysia is .my , which might also be fun, if it weren't restricted to third-level domains (foo.com.my) and even that only for Malaysian-registered entities.

        Cheers,
        -j.

      • Re:French nit-picking (Score:3, Informative)

        by LMariachi ( 86077 )
        For the record, "neu" in German means "again" too.

        No, it means "new" and it's pronounced "noy," so .nu doesn't really match up. I believe "nu?" is a slangy filler sound in some dialects though, similar to the Ebonic "knowwhamsayin?" or the Canadian "eh?"

    • Re:I have a bunch of these (Score:5, Informative)

      by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) * on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:58AM (#7950472)
      Remember that .su didn't go away when the old Soviet Union died, and in fact is still around today (http://www.nic.su [www.nic.su]). Also, Hong Kong is technically now part of China but still retains the .hk TLD. It's rather doubtful, even if Niue ceases to be a nominally independent nation that its TLD would disappear - there are a lot of sites operating under .nu and they would likely do a lot of bitching and moaning if ICANN tried to make .nu go away.

      • Deleting ccTLDs -- works 2/3 of the time! (Score:5, Informative)

        by mbauser2 ( 75424 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:03AM (#7951040) Homepage
        Actually, the status of .su is debatable [ofisp.org] -- IANA froze the domain [whois.sc] so that no new .su domains could be created, but it was reopened by .su administrators a few years later, even though IANA & ICANN didn't recognize it as an active TLD. .su still isn't listed on IANA's public list of ccTLDs [iana.org], but it's listed the in whois.iana.org database because .su's administrators are too stubborn to give up. (The .su root servers are also .ru root servers, which makes them hard to ignore.)

        Using the ccTLD of a "deleted nation" is kind of iffy. The ccTLDs are supposed to be based on ISO 3166-1, and the ISO is allowed to reassign old codes to new nations. If IANA let ccTLDs outlive their nations, they increase the chances of having two claims to one ccTLD. Sooner or later, somebody would get accused of ccTLD-squatting.

        For the record, ccTLDs have been sucessfully dissolved before: .cs in 1995 and .zr in 2001 [iana.org]. (Also, I'm told .dd was dissolved when the two Germanies unified, but I'm not sure .dd was ever active to begin with.)

        If the end of Niue's independence led the ISO to drop nu from ISO 3166-1, IANA and ICANN probably would try to freeze or delete .nu, depending on how active it remained and who was willing to keep managing it.

        Keep in mind, though, ISO 3166-1 doesn't require political independence for a region to have a geographic code, because it's still useful for "distant regions" to have their own codes for non-Internet purposes (like air travel and shipping). There are completely uninhabited islands that still have ISO codes! As long as people are living on Niue (and New Zealand doesn't ask for deletion), the ISO will probably leave nu on the list.
    • "Hey, maybe I should move there and telecommute."

      I looked at a few pictures and it seems pretty nice. I wonder what it takes to get citizenship or a work permit.

    • Re:I have a bunch of these (Score:4, Interesting)

      by owlstead ( 636356 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:08AM (#7950510)
      "Nu" translates to "now" in dutch, and for some time .nu places were popular. Maybe they still are in the underground scene. I haven't seen any commercial sites addopting .nu however. There are little or no .tv sites here as well.

      Maybe the problem is that these domains come cheap, and that the stuff that you can find with .nu or .tv
      domain names mostly is too.

      • "Nu" means "now" in Swedish too, and here it has actually taken off somewhat. It is not at all uncommon to find commercial sites on .nu. It is mostly used by upstarts rather than well known companies though.

    • Re:I have a bunch of these (Score:4, Informative)

      by Arker ( 91948 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:41AM (#7950620) Homepage
      'Nu' is also the scandinavian word for 'now' so you see it used a lot by people and businesses in this area too - i.e 'spel.nu' which would be 'play.now' in English.

  • Will the last to leave please turn off the lights? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sabu mark ( 205793 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:23AM (#7950117)
    Isn't that something? The country can just close up shop. They just give two weeks' notice to the UN and start planning the retirement party. Will attending nations please contribute five dollars for drinks and a small gift.

  • Not nu (Score:5, Funny)

    by hashinclude ( 192717 ) <slashdot@nOspAm.hashinclude.com> on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:24AM (#7950123) Homepage
    King Arthur: .. Ni!

    Aide: Nu!

    Arthur: Nono -- you're doing it wrong! n_I_

    Aide: Ni!

    Both together: Ni! Ni! Ni!

    </sorry>

  • Please update your apt.sources files (Score:5, Funny)

    by Debian Troll's Best ( 678194 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:25AM (#7950127) Journal
    Just a reminder to those Debian users in Niue, the mirror.debian.nu apt-get server will be down until further notice. It seems we were prepare for the Slashdot effect, but not a big fucking cyclone effect. Thank you, Local Debian Mirror Administrator

  • information on niue (Score:4, Informative)

    by jkcity ( 577735 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:26AM (#7950137) Homepage
    Niue - Cia world factbook info [cia.gov]

    This link is for people like me who had never heard of this place before and is full of intresting facts such as.

    "The sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors is an important source of revenue."

  • Strange priorities (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hundreds of people have their lives destroyed by a cyclone, and Slashdot reports it as a wireless Internet outage. Tsk.

    • Re:Strange priorities (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dafoomie ( 521507 ) <dafoomie AT hotmail DOT com> on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:06AM (#7950315) Homepage
      One person died, you troll. Slashdot doesn't report the news, or natural disasters in general. It reports mostly technological issues, and a TLD going away forever is definitely tech news.
    • Hundreds of people have their lives destroyed by a cyclone, and Slashdot reports it as a wireless Internet outage. Tsk.

      Yes. Of course, had it not been reported as a tech story, you wouldn't have heard about it on Slashdot at all, this being a site for technical news. Because the poster chose to spin it this way, you now know about it... at least enough to make a snary comment.

  • Would buying a .NU domain help? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Leeji ( 521631 ) <`slashdot' `at' `leeholmes.com'> on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:27AM (#7950148) Homepage

    I read the several linked articles, and visited the .NU Registrar. I don't see anywhere that suggests buying a .NU domain would in any way help relief efforts.

    It sounds like that request might be misguided philanthropy. If you want to help the people of Niue, I'd imagine some sort of direct financial contribution might be more effective.

    • Re:Would buying a .NU domain help? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:01AM (#7950285) Homepage Journal

      I read the several linked articles, and visited the .NU Registrar. I don't see anywhere that suggests buying a .NU domain would in any way help relief efforts.

      I, too, visited the .nu registar [www.nic.nu]. My search, however was somewhat more fruitful than yours, and came up with this PDF [www.nic.nu] which explains that one J. William Semich "...formed a non-profit corporation called the Internet Users Society - Niue to develop and market the .nu country code top-level domain (ccTLD) and use some of the profit to build the communications infrastructure on the island of Niue."

      Other interesting tidbits include the following paragraph:

      Sweden is the largest market for .nu domain names. We targeted domain name registrants from Sweden because "nu" means "now" in Swedish; we believe it had a certain appeal to the market for that reason. While "nu" also means "naked" in French, to this day, there are very few .nu domains registered by French nationals.

      Shortly thereafter the article explains that the money has gone to pay for a frame relay connection to NZ, to build and staff a NOC for their ISP, and to build an internet cafe on Niue (which I assume has been washed away along with the NOC.)

      Hence, if you want to give the Niueans (?) back their internet when they crawl back onto what's left of their nation, by all means, register some .nu addresses. If enough people shelled out, perhaps some of the "excess" funds would be used for disaster relief.

      • I 100% understand what you're saying, but you're reinforcing my point. The Niue registrar does "stuff" with its money. "Stuff" which that PDF points out well. However, if you want to support Niue relief effort directly (as opposed to possibly, only through excess,) then I'd imagine there are other far more effective ways to do it.

      • Re:Would buying a .NU domain help? (Score:5, Informative)

        by helarno ( 34086 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:41AM (#7950621) Homepage
        Also see this article [pacificwacc.org] or do a google search on "niue government .nu" and you will see many references to a dispute between the ccTLD registrar and the government of Niue. The government is accusing the registrar of not sharing the proceeds from the .nu domain.

        You are probably better off finding a better charity to donate to.

    • Re: Would buying a .NU domain help? (Score:5, Informative)

      by mutende ( 13564 ) <klaus@seistrup.dk> on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:58AM (#7950656) Homepage Journal
      Another thing to consider is: A year or two ago the .nu registrar raped the Danish WHOIS server at DK Hostmaster [dk-hostmaster.dk] and sent out spam to hundreds, if not thousands, of owners of .dk domains -- including yours truly. For that reason I recommend boycotting .NU Domain Ltd [nunames.nu] and its affiliates entirely.

  • Greenhouse (Score:4, Funny)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:28AM (#7950150) Homepage Journal
    My gallows sense of global warming humor requires I ask: "So what else is .nu"?
    • "So what else is .nu"?
      I'm not sure about "nu", but "Nu" is an RTS instruction on some processors. (Maybe I've spent too much time staring at memory dumps.)

      Not that such things are very important when a cyclone has just destroyed your home.

  • FFS (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chester K ( 145560 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:31AM (#7950165) Homepage
    meaning their fortuitous ccTLD could go the way of .su

    1500 people have had their homes and their community destroyed and the tragedy is that we might lose the .nu TLD?

    • Specialized news sources (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:43AM (#7950414)
      What good is the internet and the information age if everything *should* be like the network tv news?

      A few minutes of street crime, a few minutes on a local thing, a few minutes on international stuff, some chit-chat, then sports and weather. No thanks.

      There's nothing wrong with a 'news for nerds' site and playing the morality card is unconvincing and someone can *always* find a more desperate and dire news item to make you seem like the frivolous type.

  • and the point of that would be? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:32AM (#7950168)
    So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world, but they are not quite so independent that they don't take aid from New Zealand. If they stay independent the article indicates the next round of aid would be $16,000 a person. They show little ability to really run as an independent state. So what's the big harm in letting them return to New Zealand rule (other than to the New Zealand taxpayer, who are likely to support them one way or another). I don't have free wireless internet access, why in the world should I pay extra to give it to a bunch of people who can't take care of themsleves just because they want it? Perhaps the reduced cost of being just a small commumity rather than an independent country is just what these people need.

    I find it hard to believe that I'm even saying this; I would welcome the chance to be an even smaller country of one. But I wouldn't be holding out my hands expecting others to be taxed to pay for it, and I doubt that I would expect other slashtot readers to pitch in to make it happen either.

    • Giving them aid beats them selling their sovereignty to the taiwanese or the russian mafia.
    • So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world, but they are not quite so independent that they don't take aid from New Zealand ... I don't have free wireless internet access, why in the world should I pay extra to give it to a bunch of people who can't take care of themsleves just because they want it?

      I don't know much about this history of that part of the world, but I doubt New Zealand is somehow being shaken down by the island of Niue. I imagine instead that New Zealand prob

    • Re:and the point of that would be? (Score:5, Informative)

      by The Cydonian ( 603441 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:49AM (#7950434) Homepage Journal
      Someone already hinted at this, but Nuie was a major money-laundering center for the better part of last decade. The mafia from many countries, particularly Russia, simply set up off-shore banks in the island in an effort to turn black money into white. I understand the bailout from NZ is to mainly off-set the price of cracking down on these banks.

      Most /.-tters hate the idea of donating money, but it pays to understand the relative motivations first. In any case, neither Nuie nor the Kiwis seem to be minding the current arrangement, so who are we to question its viability?

    • So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world

      Sorry, not [cia.gov] even [cia.gov] close. [cia.gov]

      • So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world

        Sorry, not [cia.gov] even [cia.gov] close. [cia.gov]

        Actually quite close, the Vatican just barely nudges under with 911 people vs. Niue's 1100. (San Marino and Monaco are an order of magnitude larger.) But the article predicts that the population may now fall to only 500, which would be -- populationwise -- the smallest independent country in the world.

        Cheers,
        -j.

  • Obligatory (Score:3, Funny)

    by cascino ( 454769 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:35AM (#7950187) Homepage
    Um... no .nu's is good news, right?
    [ducks]
  • I don't think there's really a reason that it should solely because of a change in ownership. Hong Kong is now part of China (well, in theory) but still has its own .hk TLD. The .nu TLD already had probably thousands of domains per inhabitant as I'm sure other small countries do as well. It would essentially be free revenue for New Zealand, and could offset the $8M/year in aid.

  • Helping out... (Score:5, Informative)

    by iota ( 527 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:35AM (#7950190) Homepage
    Here's a another write-up [reliefweb.int] of the incident by ReliefWeb. If you're looking for a place to direct your help to, note that Niue is a member of Development and Economic Policy Division Funding Assistance and Regional Natural Disaster Relief Fund ... so these might be good places to donate.

    I suppose you could also just pick a random person, transfer some money and ask them to pass it around, since there are only about 2,000 people there.

  • .nu often used in the netherlands (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hoscetap ( 34730 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:37AM (#7950194)
    "nu" means "now" in dutch and a .nu is cheaper than a .nl

  • They should have listened to the CIA! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It says right there in the CIA World Factbook [cia.gov] "Natural hazards: typhoons "

  • Many Swedish Domains (Score:2, Interesting)

    by psleonar ( 99125 )
    Many sites in Sweden use .nu because it means "now" in that language. (http://www.badminton.nu/ [badminton.nu], for example.)
  • In other news, Slashdot trolls hope and pray that the Christmas Islands never get hit with a similarly devastating typhoon.

  • "nu" in dutch (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MoobY ( 207480 ) <anthonyNO@SPAMliekens.net> on Monday January 12, 2004 @02:52AM (#7950256) Homepage
    Did you know that "nu" in dutch means "now"? A lot of dutch websites have thus used this TLD as some think it's cool.

  • Umm.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by jamesjw ( 213986 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:01AM (#7950286) Homepage

    Who says theyre witout a wireless setup?

    What ive seen theyre wireless, roofless, treeless, homeless.. :(

    -- Jim.

  • The original posters contention that .su went away with the Soviet Union is incorrect. It is still running, with the intent to stick around. Registration is $100 a year.

    http://www.nic.su

  • Actually I prefer Tokelau [cia.gov] for my free/cheap domain addresses [dot.tk] from a small island nation, mostly because .tk [hexagon.tk] is close enough like "tech" to get a geek like me smiling. However it figures that /. is being used [slashdot.tk] by some idiot who links to a non-existant page, shows off a nice custom 404 on the hosting site tho. Actually I wonder if Tokelau got hit by that hurricane too, nothing on their site about it (yet).

    Jonah Hex
  • How will we post to Slashdot when the servers are underwater?!

    I'd better subscribe again...

  • is g.nu registered?
  • where what's more important than the fact that a hurricane devastated a country is the issue of what specifically the hurricane did to the country's wifi network and TLD.

  • .nu in Sweden (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dr. Cody ( 554864 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @03:54AM (#7950454)
    Here in Sweden, .nu is outrageously popular--even with respectable entities. .se isn't squatted to hell and back, so, what gives? Why is .nu so popular here?

    • Re:.nu in Sweden (Score:2, Informative)

      by akiro ( 645099 )
      Well "nu" is a word in Swedish, meaning "now", so it's easy to see why companies like it, "cars.now" would be a nice domain for any cardealership.

    • Re:.nu in Sweden (Score:3, Interesting)

      by DHam ( 138606 )
      It's not just that "nu" means "now", it's also that it at least used to be the case that there were huge administrative restrictions on getting .se domains.
      Basically I think you had to be a Swedish corporation and you could only get one related to your name. We had a lecture back when I studied at Uppsala by a guy from a government department who said that they couldn't even get .se for major government projects! Even the government was using .nu.

      When I was there (in 1999) there was talk of the government

      • Changed now (Score:3, Interesting)

        by CrystalFalcon ( 233559 )
        When I was there (in 1999) there was talk of the government more or less forcibly changing the registrar in order to change the policies. I don't know if anything happened.

        Changed last year to a free-for-all landgrab with after-the-fact conflict resolution model. Anybody (I don't think you have to be Swedish, even) can register a .se domain.

        In related news, the admins also slashed their domain prices 40% this year due to the overwhelming increase in registered domains. They didn't need as much money to a

  • A tragedy. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Malcontent ( 40834 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:16AM (#7950542)
    It's sad that so many people are not homeless. It looks like a really beautiful place to live too. If they survive this they should treat this as an opportunity to do it right the next time. The island should seriously consider using Monolithic concrete dome [monolithic.com] structures. Due to their shape they are not as effected by hurricanes and clyclones and have a good track record of surviving them. They are also cheap, and well insulated.

    OHOH I really don't know the availiblity of concrete in Niue. It may be prohibitive to build these structures if the concrete has to be imported.

  • Interesting Tidbit (Score:3, Interesting)

    by philovivero ( 321158 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:25AM (#7950565) Homepage Journal
    The word "nu" (depending on the nuance) in Mandarin Chinese (ie: that spoken in Mainland China and Taiwan, ROC) is "woman" (or, more generally, Female).

    Nu [zhongwen.com].

  • Niue Gov and .nu ccTLD dispute (Score:5, Informative)

    by helarno ( 34086 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:27AM (#7950570) Homepage
    For those of you thinking of registering a .nu domain to assist Niue, don't. First, because there are better ways to fund your donation dollars, as has been pointed out by other posters.

    The second reason is that there is a dispute going on between the government of Niue and the companies that control the .nu ccTLD. While both sides have their versions of the story, a telling fact is that the UN recognized government is locked out of their own web site (www.gov.nu). They can be found instead at www.niuegov.com [niuegov.com]. You will note that the updates on the gov.nu site stopped in October and continue on at the niuegov.com site, which is hosted by a UN agency (UNDP-APDIP to be exact).

    Because of this, I truly doubt that any money spent with the .nu ccTLD registrar will reach the government. The registrar may assist in other ways, but it will not likely be through official channels.

    One version of the dispute between the government and the registrar can be found here [pacificwacc.org].

  • Hmm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Loki_1929 ( 550940 ) * on Monday January 12, 2004 @04:31AM (#7950582) Journal
    G.nu is Not Usable

    ".NU Search Results for "g.nu"
    Your domain name, including ".nu", must contain between 6 and 65 characters. "

    :-/

  • Best TLD for pr0n... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @05:02AM (#7950663)
    I couple of years ago I was hunting around for a cheap place to register my domain...I had a poke around the local area (I'm in Australia) and consider Christmas Island, Heard and McDonald Island, and then noticed the Cook Islands was _really_ cheap and thought hey that's neat...turns out the Cook Islands follow the same naming convention as New Zeland and the UK: .ac.ck for ACademic institutions .net.ck for NETwork types

    and then it hit me why they were so cheap... .co.ck for COmpanies

    I'm really surprised that no-one has registerd
    www.big.co.ck etc. :-)

  • Doesn't add up? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by m00nun1t ( 588082 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @05:36AM (#7950768) Homepage
    The article linked [stuff.co.nz] talks about $50m worth of damage. I'm assuming it's $NZ as it's a NZ site. That's around $US34m. According to the CIA Factbook [cia.gov] there is a population of 2145, but I've heard numbers as low as 1200. Let's assume 2000. Also on the CIA site is a GDP of $US3600 per capita. I read somewhere (can't find a reference) that a few hundred houses were destroyed.

    So, $50m sounds like an awful lot - I'd like to know where that number comes from.

  • No, the domain is not at risk. (Score:5, Informative)

    by SEE ( 7681 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:09AM (#7950869) Homepage
    Lots of places that aren't formally independent countries have ccTLDs. A very incomplete list to give some examples:

    • .as - American Samoa
    • .bv - Bouvet Island
    • .fk - Falkland Islands
    • .gf - French Guiana
    • .gg - Guernsey
    • .io - British Indian Ocean Territory
    • .pf - French Polynesia
    • .pr - Puerto Rico
    • .tc - Turks and Caicos Islands
    • .um - US Minor Outlying Islands
    • .vg - Virgin Islands (British)
    • .vi - Virgin Islands (USA)

    Even if New Zealand assumes soverign control, Niue will probably retain its ccTLD.

  • This sounds quite like... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Thuktun ( 221615 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @01:37PM (#7953780) Journal
    ...what happens to quite a lot of Pacific islands in John Barnes' Mother of Storms [epiphyte.net] .

    Relating to another thread [slashdot.org], if global warming is a reality, regardless whether humans have caused it, we may be seeing much more of this kind of thing.

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