AUCKLAND (TVNZ One Breakfast / Te Karere / Pacific Media Watch): There is a growing trend of websites being created for the sole purpose of "Māori bashing," a researcher says.
Auckland University of Technology's School of Communication Studies lecturer and doctoral researcher Steve Elers said that while he was searching for information on Māori identity in the digital age, he uncovered a number of website links which he regards as "racist and offensive".
"I found that there are a multitude of maori.nz domain names that have been registered for no purpose at all except to cause offence.
"When you type dolebludging.maori.nz into an internet browser you are currently redirected to the Work and Income New Zealand website," Elers said.
He was reported on Pacific Media Watch on Monday, interviewed on Te Karere yesterday and also featured on TVNZ ONE's Breakfast programme today.
Elers told Breakfast that he had located numerous other internet redirects, such as unemployed.maori.nz which also forwards to the WINZ website.
Also, the domain name kai.maori.nz forwards to the KFC New Zealand website and fat.maori.nz redirects the user to a Google image search of "fat Maori".
'Tip of iceberg'
The "maori.nz" domain names are meant to be used for Māori organisations such as charitable trusts.
Elers said they were "merely the tip of the iceberg" and there were many other .maori.nz domain names that had been registered and were being used to offend.
"You have to go through a whole process to register a domain name, you have to pay money to register it as well - so it's not just something you type into the web and there it goes.
"These individuals will probably claim they are not racist and that it's funny. I fail to see the humour in it," he said.
He said that in the past such views could only be expressed anonymously on a media platform such as talkback radio.
"Now we have the internet....It's deliberate, it's planned," he said.
The New Zealand Māori Internet Society made a formal complaint about another domain name earlier this year. They have also tracked down the identities of the people who have registered the domain names.
Accordingly, Elers said that he thought the Domain Name Commissioner should take action and deregister the sites.
"While everyone has the right to freedom of speech, I think there is a line that has been crossed of what is acceptable and what isn't.
"I'd like to think that in future, when people register Māori domain names that there is a process in place to check what they are being used for - that would be a start," he told Breakfast.
Additionally, Elers said that he hoped the websites would prompt further discussion on racism in New Zealand that focuses on online content in terms of censorship or laws.
Elers, a former police investigator, returned to New Zealand to live in 2012 after working for the Western Australia Police for several years.
"From personal experience, I have to say I experienced less personal racism in Perth. The Aussies love Māori," he said.
The original Pacific Media Watch story on this issue
'Racist' domains not easily removed
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Pacific Media Watch
