Neu: 2002-03-12 Contents of this issue:
1. Bank Unhappy 2. Advisor Gives Evidence ======================================================================== March 12th, 2002 1. Bank Unhappy: An offshore bank registered in Niue is considering legal action against the island government if it withdraws its licence. Niue's Premier Sani Lakatani announced to the OECD several weeks ago that it would pass legislation on March 7 repealing the offshore banks legislation in an effort to get the island state removed from an international blacklist which was hindering the allocation of international aid monies. However the legislation was never presented to the Assembly and today acting Attorney General Togia Sioneholo told Radio New Zealand International that draft legislation was withheld at the last minute because of a legal dispute with one of the offshore banks. The delay is likely to keep Niue on the blacklist and may have a serious effect upon current discussions with international agencies for long term assistance. Premier Lakatani is this week in Cape Town South Africa talking to European Union officials about a 20 year assistance package. 2. Advisor Gives Evidence: A US technical advisor Gerald McClurg hired by the Niue Information Technology Committee (NITC) gave evidence yesterday at the Commission of Inquiry into email and internet services on Niue. He said he had visited Niue twice for several weeks and from 1997 shared ideas for IT development on Niue with his friend Dess Sioneholo who then lived in Sydney. The witness said with the assistance of other NITC members he was able to investigate the technical operations of the Internet Users Society which manages the dot NU country code top level domain name Mr McClurg admitted he had not seen any of the internet society's equipment but claimed a number of areas were flawed.. Under cross examination by the society's lawyer Graham Kohler, Mr McClurg said he had estimated the income derived from the sale of .nu domain names but did not have any documentary evidence on the method used to calculate revenue. He said he was not present on Niue in 1999 when a petition was signed by some Assembly members, village council representatives and church leaders calling for the dot.NU to be redelegated to the NITC. The petition was presented to ICANN in Cairo in 2000 but so far no decision has been made on the matter and the society remains the designated manager. Legislative Assemblyman Toke Talagi also gave evidence stating he did not know about the dot NU delegation to the internet society until 1999 and he was part of the NITC committee which he claimed set about to negotiate a deal with the society to derive cash income from domain name sales. Director of Telecom Niue Richard Hipa told the commission, headed by NZ Judge David Ongley, that despite going to international telecommunications meetings before 1996 he was unaware of internet developments and did not know Niue's top level country code was available. He said Telecoms would find it difficult to operate internet services because of the costs involved.When questioned about the alleged run down state of local telephone lines Mr Hipa said Telecoms Niue was only obliged to provide lines for telephone use not data transfer and that legally all computer users should apply for a special licence to use the lines.since the introduction of e mail and internet services to the island no-one had done so. The commission hearing continues. __END__
