This is a very confusing story. Why does an org like this have members in the first place, what's the reason for that type of structure? Doesn't the .NZ domain ultimately belong to the government? Who would typically be a member of an organisation like this in the first place?

[–] eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz 6 points 5 months ago

ICANN or IANA manages country code top level domains, I don't think it's owned by the government. InternetNZ is the trustee for the .nz domain.

From wikipedia:

IANA is responsible for determining an appropriate trustee for each ccTLD. Administration and control are then delegated to that trustee, which is responsible for the policies and operation of the domain. The current delegation can be determined from IANA's list of ccTLDs.[3] Individual ccTLDs may have varying requirements and fees for registering subdomains. There may be a local-presence requirement (for instance, citizenship or other connection to the ccTLD), as, for example, the American (us), Japanese (jp), Canadian (ca), French (fr) and German (de) domains, or registration may be open.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 4 points 5 months ago

It seems they do not own the .NZ domain but are the manager of it. They were specifically formed to take responsibility for it (in 1995). It seems anyone can become a member by paying $21 a year. They are a registered charity so I guess this is their funding?

There's more info on their wikipedia page but it clears up very few of your questions.