FC: Pitcairn Island gets its .pn domain back

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34321,00.html

                       Domain Dispute Hits a Dot
                       by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

                       8:00 a.m. 14.Feb.2000 PST
                       It's one of the most remote places on
                       earth, a flyspeck in a far corner of the
                       Pacific Ocean with no hotels, doctors, or
                       airports. Founded in 1790 by the
                       mutineers of the HMS Bounty, the island
                       is so inaccessible that the local
                       government warns potential visitors they
                       could be stranded for weeks until the
                       next ship passes by.

                       Yet the natives of Pitcairn Island are
                       determined to wire themselves to the
                       Internet.

                       Some 48 of them last year signed a
                       petition to revoke ".pn" from a fellow
                       islander who in 1997 somehow managed
                       to acquire rights to register Web sites
                       under that top-level domain. The letter
                       demanded the "management" of .pn be
                       yanked from the hands of Tom Christian,
                       the great-great-great grandson of 18th
                       century buccaneer and island founder
                       Fletcher Christian.

                       The only two Pitcairn Islanders who did
                       not join the protest reportedly were
                       Christian and his wife.

                       On Friday, the Internet governing body
                       that assigns top-level domains finally
                       gave Christian's neighbors -- everyone in
                       this UK protectorate lives in the village of
                       Adamstown -- what they wanted.

                       The Internet Corporation for Assigned
                       Names and Numbers ruled that "the .pn
                       top-level domain should be re-delegated
                       as requested by the Pitcairn Island
                       Council and the petition of Pitcairn
                       residents."

                       [...]

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