The South Pacific island of Niue is one the most remote places in the world. The advent of the internet promised, in a small way, to make Niue and its 2,000 or so residents more connected to the rest of the world. In the late 1990s, an American businessman offered to hook up the island to the internet. All he wanted in exchange was the right to control the .nu suffix that Niue was assigned for its web addresses. “Nu” means now in Swedish, Danish and Dutch, and thousands of Scandinavians registered websites with that suffix, creating a steady business for Niue’s business partner, Bill Semich.

---

Persons: Bill Semich Locations: Niue, Tonga, American Samoa, American, Tuvalu, Pacific