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

Wed Sep 30 19:40:15 UTC 1998

On Wed, 30 Sep 1998, Barry Shein wrote:

> 
> In support of this assertion I want to show you an SMTP conversation
> with what claims to be the Consulate of the Government of Tonga in San
> Francisco (This San Francisco office is listed as an official Tongan
> contact point for visas etc by the US State Dept):
> 
> world% telnet sfconsulate.gov.to 25
> Trying 209.24.51.169...
> Connected to sfconsulate.gov.to.
> Escape character is '^]'.
> 220 colo.to SMTP ready, Who are you gonna pretend to be today?
> VRFY postmaster
> 500 Bloody Amateur! Proper forging of mail requires recognizable SMTP commands!
> 
> --------------------

Well, beyond the cutesy error messages, at least relaying is turned off.

fz(alexk):[~] telnet sfconsulate.gov.to 25
Trying 209.24.51.169...
Connected to sfconsulate.gov.to.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 colo.to SMTP ready, Who are you gonna pretend to be today?
helo tugger.net
250 colo.to Is thrilled beyond bladder control to meet tugger.net
mail from: alexk at tugger.net
250 sender is alexk at tugger.net, (yeah sure, it's probably forged)
rcpt to: alexk at freetld.net
550 NOPE UNKNOWN(204.168.18.98), I don't allow unauthorized relaying.

> 
> Viewing the web page for the Tongan Consulate in the US
> (http://sfconsulate.gov.to) reveals nothing but an ad for a software
> company, this page ends with:
> 
>    Need a domain name? Contact the Kingdom of Tonga Internet domain name
>                                  registry.
> 
> --------------------
> 
> Consequently, I assert there is no reason for this domain to exist and
> it should be removed from the root name servers.
> 
> 
> -- 
>         -Barry Shein
> 
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-- 
Alex Kamantauskas
Tugger Networks