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There are a number of islands that got their own domain, despite not really doing much with them.

And some TLDs are managed in a quite hilarious fashion, such as that for the Kingdom of Tonga, a Polynesian archipelago of islands whose TLD is managed from California. From the official FAQ: "San Quentin!? Isn't that a California prison?"

http://tonic.to/

Such a policy is not without precedent. Tonga's NIC has kept registration information private for years.

Then again, Tonga's NIC also has a healthy anti-spam policy, including a provision for revealing registration info for domain names canceled for violating that policy.

But does keeping registration info private really help shield spammers? Who's to say that spammers are providing valid registration info in the first place? They abuse public registration records both ways: they falsify their own info to shield their identities, and they appropriate and abuse the info of honest people doing the right thing.

I am all for private registration records. If Russia enacts their law, they will have the exact opposite policy of the United States. And, damn, will I envy those Russians for it.

Such a policy is not without precedent. Tonga's NIC has kept registration information private for years.

Then again, Tonga's NIC also has a healthy anti-spam policy, including a provision for revealing registration info for domain names canceled for violating that policy.

But does keeping registration info private really help shield spammers? Who's to say that spammers are providing valid registration info in the first place? They abuse public registration records both ways: they falsify their own info to shield their identities, and they appropriate and abuse the info of honest people doing the right thing.

I am all for private registration records. If Russia enacts their law, they will have the exact opposite policy of the United States. And, damn, will I envy those Russians for it.

There are many quirky aspects to the place. The one I remember most about it is that its former king once held the Guinness record for being the world's heavist monarch.

"When Britain's Prince Charles married Diana, a special chair was built in Westminster Abbey for the King of Tonga. At his heaviest, in 1976, he weighed 462 pounds. By 1993, he had slimmed down to a slender 280 pounds."

Another thing I remember reading is that there's an age old custom - when the king walks around, people are supposed to be at a height below him. So apparently those around him fall down like ninepins when he goes around.

Here's a pic of him. He looks kinda like a l33t p1mp.

Tonga is also responsible for all those .to websites . One of the fastest to capitalize on the domain name craze, they did WAY better than the far more naive and ethical people of Tuvalu, who only recently started selling their .tv stuff, after a melodramatic business plan gone bad.

Tonga and its king inspire the kind of satirical lunacy that the teletubbies normally do.

w/m

His royal highness maintains registration of the TO domain at Tonic for those who desire to do a direct registration. You can even pay up for 100 years of your domain name for $2500.

May I point the distinguished honorable readers that the practice of countries selling their top level domain name has been around for a while?

Small Island nations (as well as non-islands as well) has been doing it. Here is a list:

• Tonga - .to. From there, all the come.to, go.to, jump.to redirectors have emerged!
• Moldova - .md. Medical profession. Note that the obvious WebMD has been taken, and has a coming soon page!
• Nauru - .nu
• Christmas Island - .cx

One of the sad parts is that the island of Tuvalu gets 50,000,000$ over the next 10 years! not as a lump sum here and now!

I feel bad about internet enterpreneurs taking advantage of low tech countries and islands.

How is Domain Name registration handled in coutries like Tonga where the top level domain extension is sold commercially? Do citizens of Tonga have any special privaleges regarding registering for this name, or are they just as likely to get a name as an American?

Although I think it's pure evil, you can always get domains in tonga (.to) or niue (.nu).

It's the internet equivalent of a "1-888" number, except that in this case, it's the little countries that sold out. However, maybe your name won't be taken...
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pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.

ICANN is imposing specific conditions on alternative registrars that effectively reduce them to sales agents for NSI; they're "competitors" with NSI mostly in the sense that the bulk of your money goes to the registrar, not NSI. (This isn't true of registars for ccTLDs [country codes]--.to, etc.) Note that, in order to be accredited, a registrar must agree to "dispute resolution policies" that are (uniformly) biased in favor of intellectual property interests. Take a look at TBTF for a good summary of the recent agreements and a list of useful links.

You may check .nu and .to NICs.
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