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Swedish Regulators Ban Word "Bank" In Domain Names For Non-Banks

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the nanny-state-to-the-rescue dept.

It seems that Swedish regulators have decided to extend the requirement of not calling yourself a bank to the registration of domain names. Now anyone that tries to register a .SE domain name with the word "bank" in it will need to prove they are a legitimate bank. Hopefully there are no blood banks or anyone with the last name of "Banks" that might want a .SE domain. Here is a Google translation of the demand issued by the authorities to the .SE registry.

6 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. Easier solution - *.bank.se by kyz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let sweden register "bank.se" and offer subdomains only to valid banks.

    It works here in the UK - schools get .sch.uk, the police get .police.uk, etc., while we normal people get .plc.uk, .me.uk, .co.uk and so on.

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    Does my bum look big in this?
    1. Re:Easier solution - *.bank.se by 1+a+bee · · Score: 4, Insightful

      www.bankofsweden.me.se And nobody will notice. I bet that even a www.bankofsweden.yahoo.com will fool most of stupid users

      Agreed. There are few cures for stupidity, and regulating the word "bank" in a domain name is not one of them.

    2. Re:Easier solution - *.bank.se by ILuvRamen · · Score: 1, Insightful

      really? It "works." Because I'm pretty sure bank impersonating cyber criminals aren't going to say "aww well we better not impersonate this site because it's illegal now to register the word bank." You think they care about it being illegal? You know what else is illegal? Impersonating a bank and stealing money! They're either going to do it anyway or if they literally have a block on that word with the registrar, they'll just register "somebanknamefinancial" as long as the bank name doesn't have the word bank in it. Or maybe to impersonate Anchor Bank (that's mostly in Wisconsin I think but still) they'd register AnchorSecurity or AnchorPassword or AnchorInfoReset. You don't need the word bank.

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      Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
  2. Sudden Outbreak... by TheDarAve · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of common sense. There should be some things allowed within reason though. I can think of a few things that have "bank" in them that would not ever be misinterpreted as being a bank.

  3. Re:So what are Food Banks called? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    What do they call Foodbanks in Sweden?

    "Stuff they have in poor countries."

  4. Slashdot sensationalism again? by macraig · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unless this denial is automatic and without recourse, having no allowance for human review or appeal, then the only problem I see here is yet another Slashdot article exaggerating the facts for the sake of copy.