Is the .to (Tonga) domain completely rogue and should be removed?

Thu Oct 1 23:33:54 UTC 1998

Mueller: You really need to explain your financial interest in all
this before making these pathetic spin attempts.

On October 1, 1998 at 16:09 karl at best.net (Karl Mueller) wrote:
 > 
 > Nobody warned me that Jim Fleming had a brother!  Ayeiii....
 > 
 > We now return you to TongaV8, in progress..
 > 
 > Karl 
 > 
 > >
 > >Not clear. Obviously .to is being run in a very unusual way. Among
 > >other things, I guess the spammers can instantly sign up new domains
 > >for their web sites as fast as .to can take them down (which isn't
 > >very fast, but for discussion's sake.)
 > >
 > >That's quite unusual, and the entire activity seems to have nothing to
 > >do with the Kingdom of Tonga or any entitites within that country
 > >except inasmuch as they seem to look the other way and probably get
 > >some money for it (others have claimed this.)
 > >
 > >But the proof is in the pudding, ADULTSIGHTS.COM is finding the way
 > >the .to domain is being managed very useful to their mass spamming and
 > >other criminal (e.g., domain hijacking) activities.
 > >
 > >Taken togther, I say that's a problem. What should be done about it is
 > >yet another question, of course.
 > >
 > >Also, I'm not sure I agree with your characterization that businesses
 > >etc which have registered a Tongan domain, but have no other
 > >relationship with Tonga, are "legitimate".
 > >
 > >They may be banal, harmless, other than what may well be prima facie
 > >evidence of intent to defraud by advertising a business etc in a
 > >country they don't actually have any presence in, but that doesn't
 > >necessarily make the usage "legitimate".
 > >
 > >I don't think I'd want to be on the wrong side of a court case, even
 > >if unfair, with the other side pointing out that I was doing business
 > >via a network address in the Kingdom of Tonga, unless I really had a
 > >good reason for doing so other than "I thought the name was cute". The
 > >law doesn't tend to look kindly on businesses which purposely
 > >obfuscate their identity and whereabouts.