.tv is flooding

.tv is the extension of Tuvalu, an island in the Great Pacific situated Northeast of Australia. However the island seems to disappear slowly but surely. On the one hand is facing problems because of the rising sea level. Because of this it’s slowly sinking. And this ain’t good news given the fact that the highest point of Tuvalu is only 4,5m above sea level. On the other hand, the number of inhabitants has risen strongly the last years. Because of the many inhabitants the island is also confronted with more erosion causing several parts of the island disappearing in the Pacific. The inhabitants of Tuvalu are being adviced to move to Australia or New Zealand.

So what will happen to the .tv extension? One could think, no country, no extension. And normally this is indeed how it works. For instance, this is what happened with the .yu extension (Yugoslavia). However, it doesn’t always have to be like this. A good example is the .su extension. This extension was meant for the Sovjet Union. This Union doesn’t exist anymore but nowadays it’s still possible to register the .su extension. This is mainly due to the attitude of the registry who didn’t want to give up this extension voluntarily. If the .tv registry tries the same thing, there’s still a chance the .tv extension will remain. An other important fact is that Verisign is already taking care of all the technical matters regarding .tv. Maybe they’re willing to look after the administrative matters too, once this is needed. At the moment, we can only wait and see what will happen with this extension.