partial_accumen , 4 months ago

This is an interesting story that looks like it goes deeper. I was only able to find a few articles about it from its beginning in 1997, but it looks like there could be a good case by the Niue government if some of their claims are true. This part is the most damning, again, if its true:

In 1997 IANA, without the approval of the Niuean Government, delegated the ccTLD for Niue to a businessman, William Semich, who lives in the United States. The advisor to the Government at that time was an ex-peace corp volunteer named Richard Saint Clair. Mr Saint Clair told the Government that the name meant nothing, that it was of no value or significance, and there was nothing that could be done. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Saint Clair then left his post as advisor and joined with Mr Semich in his organization – IUSN. The Government of Niue has been working every since to regain its ccTLD. source

(Again, if true) So a foreigner was working for the island government, told them the TLD had no value, assisted the sale to go through, then quit the government and joined the newly formed company which now had control of the TLD. This look like most definitions of fraud.

I don’t know anything about the site this was posted on or how trustworthy it is, so take it with a grain of salt.