The Post and Telecom Agency of Sweden (PTS), which monitors postal and communication sectors in the country, has taken a surprising and unusual step in regards to registering domain names which end in .se.
The new changes mean that prior consent must be given to any domain name registered with .se that includes the word ‘bank’. So unless you are actually a bank, there will be very little chance of being able to use any domain name with the word itself in it. Any unapproved registrations using the term are now strictly illegal.
Currently, the decision is little more than an order by way of declaration from the PTS and the actuality of how events will unfold should people transgress this order remains to be seen.
There will inevitably be issues arising from companies which contain the word ‘bank’ in their name or if you are looking at setting up a site about banking. People whose name contains the word are also thought likely to be upset should they wish to register a site with their name in it.
The move by PTS is designed to eliminate malicious activity, although there are fears that if approved it could start a wave of unusable words, which in turn would reduce the number of usable domains.
Whether the change will actually reduce ‘malicious activity’ is also open to debate, according to Geek.com.
fair play to them, its about time
Sweden is also banning all domain names containing the word “idiot” unless you have a medical certificate providing evidence of limited intellect. It is expected that the employees of the Post and Telecom Agency of Sweden will not have a problem obtaining these domain names.