"It was obvious from the start that this was not going to turn out well"

November 7, 2023 12:50 AM

“We were hearing how successful .tk was. We were bigger than China,” says Vitale. “We were surprised, but we didn’t know what it meant for Tokelau. What was more meaningful at the time was that we were getting money to help the villages. We didn’t know about the other side of it then.” from How a tiny Pacific Island became the global capital of cybercrime [MIT Technology Review; ungated]
posted by chavenet (6 comments total)

“digital colonialism”, 100%. appreciated this story!
posted by tamarack at 5:59 AM on November 7, 2023 [4 favorites]

Funny, I just started re-reading Cryptonomicon and the parallels are pretty remarkable.
posted by backseatpilot at 7:12 AM on November 7, 2023 [5 favorites]

.io considered harmful: The .io top-level domain funds and legitimises Britain's exile of the Chagossian people from their homeland. Here's the history and the facts.
posted by aniola at 10:20 AM on November 7, 2023 [7 favorites]

Interviews were repeatedly delayed because of the price of data packages. Internet in Tokelau is among the most expensive in the world, and NZ$100 (US$60) worth of data can sometimes last only 24 hours at a time. Phone calls to Tokelau from Europe did not connect.

They've got Starlink there now. I had a video chat with someone in Tokelau a couple of weeks ago and it was like they were in the next room.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 12:15 PM on November 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

Ohhhhhhh! This explains why this year I couldn't reregister my journalism-joke domain I'd been redirecting to my personal site, tktktktktktktktktk.tk (10 TKs, heh). I'd opened a ticket with Freenom back in August, when I realized the domain had lapsed, and it was closed without reply. It was actually a legit domain, but I guess we'll see if it's ever possible to get it again.
posted by limeonaire at 3:14 PM on November 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

@aniola — that link to the history of the chagos islands is chilling. definitely worth knowing; thank you for sharing.

Every .io domain you buy funds a government committing crimes against humanity. Every .io domain you renew legitimises and reinforces the continued exile of the Chagossians.

the blog post links at its close to a website for/of chagos refugees group, including a briefer, more sterile version of the timeline.
posted by tamarack at 6:22 AM on November 8, 2023 [3 favorites]