Niue WiFi Network Gone, .nu TLD May Follow

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."

Comments

Just a novelty...?

[danielrm26]

"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.

Would buying a .NU domain help?

[Leeji]

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?

[drinkypoo]

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. My search, however was somewhat more fruitful than yours, and came up with this PDF 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.

FFS

[Chester K]

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?

and the point of that would be?

[frovingslosh]

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.

.nu often used in the netherlands

[hoscetap]

"nu" means "now" in dutch and a .nu is cheaper than a .nl

Re:Helping out...

[zulux]

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.

Hardly - the article mentions that they were looting from eachother while destater was only just ended.

Specialized news sources

[gad_zuki!]

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.