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[Start of transcript]

Screenshot of a tumblr post

nyancrimew posts:
remember .io games? that was 8 years ago

therealkepler replies:
nowadays the only people that use the .io domain are technology sites

nyancrimew replies:
ok so .io is a “fun” lesson in colonialism and technology, like all two letter top level domains (yes all of them) it’s a country domain belonging to a country, io being the british indian oceans territory, an archipelago in the indian ocean. .io domains became so trendy because they’re easily marketable to tech people (io can stand for input/output), it looks kinda cool and at the time domains with .io were highly available with not many websites being created on the islands.

however .io is not like other small islands with highly wanted tlds such as .ai or .to, where the islands make millions off of domain sales and can rely on them as a big pillar of their economy. all profits from .io sales go to the UK, and despite a fight to get control over their tld the islands get nothing, not only did the native population get displaced in land deals and colonialism but their colonizer also heavily profits off of the territories sudden (indirect) trendyness with tech startups.

don’t buy .io domains, don’t support the british empire.

[End of transcript]

  • RandomStickman@fedia.io
    0·
    7 months ago

    I looked up the Wikipedia page.

    The only inhabitants are British and United States military personnel, and associated contractors

    Oh, ok. That’s not too bad actually.

    The forced removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973.

    Oh.

    Today, the Chagossians are still trying to return, but the UK government has repeatedly denied them the right of return despite calls from numerous human rights organisations to let them.

    Ooohhh…

    On 3 November 2022, it was announced that the UK and Mauritius had decided to begin negotiations on sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory, taking into account the international legal proceedings.

    Ok, getting better…

    However, in December 2023, it was reported that the UK government was planning to discontinue the talks.

    Oh, it’s worse, actually.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
      1·
      7 months ago

      i can’t believe the country whose biggest exhibit is of all the artifacts it’s stolen from other cultures would be so inconsiderate to other cultures.

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
        01·
        7 months ago

        This is such a braindead reddit/tumble take. You can be anti-colonialism and even make not of the artifacts that ARE stolen without trying to imply everyone in British museums is stolen because of : haha internet meme

        • L/nerd@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          they’re not stolen because internet meme, they’re stolen because many of those artifacts are literally taken by colonists who have taken the land.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          7 months ago

          Your English is bad or you type poorly. I assume you meant that the comment implied every artifact was stolen, which it never did. The stolen artifacts are stolen, and make up most of the largest exhibit.