Support Maori Internet Society!

28 February 2002

Kia ora,

the Maori Internet Society is asking for support to register the second level domain name It is easy to do - you just need to vote in the straw poll which opened on-line on 22 February and which will close on 8 March (see details below).

The voting is being held by InternetNZ, the New Zealand governing body for .nz email and Internet addresses. If the straw poll shows more than 70% of the votes cast in favour of the creation of , or it receives more than 200 votes in total, then the application can move on to the final few stages.

Maori Internet Society Chairperson Karaitiana Taiuru said this would be disappointing for Maoridom if the vote were to fail. "A lot of people have dedicated their time to this vote and some have made great sacrifice to see the vote get to where it is now. We are asking for the support of Maori and non-Maori alike to come and assist by participating in this poll."

"This is a great opportunity for Maori to take control of a piece of the internet traditionally controlled by non-Maori. The benefits for Maori and New Zealand tourism are tremendous."

NZMIS Vice-chairperson Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara said although there is a current Maori second level domain name .iwi.nz, the name Iwi excludes 99% of Maori.

"iwi.nz is not appropriate for all Maori to use, it is only really relevant to a small minority of Maori groups, namely our traditional Iwi."

The Maori Internet Society was formed by Ross Himona and Kamera Raharaha and the first application for a second level domain name for Maori was placed in 1997 after the Internet Society of New Zealand (ISOCNZ) asked for submissions on second-level domain names.

If you haven't yet placed a vote, go to http://vote.internetnz.net.nz to vote and read the nstructions. To access the vote page click on "Poll on new 2nd Level Domain (.maori.nz)" and answer the questions. Please DO NOT vote twice as your vote will be deleted and not counted. Please only specify a valid private NZ postal/physical address.

Please spread the word around about this poll, it is imperative we get 70 % of the vote as well as a minimum of 200 votes. A big kia ora to those who are already doing so!

Summary of information from Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara,
Te Whanau Ipurangi Komiti
www.nzmis.org.nz

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