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Industry Groups Bid To Control New Business-Specific TLDs

Posted by timothy on from the concentrated-interest-diffuse-objections dept.

Gunkerty Jeb writes "Two financial industry groups, the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Financial Services Roundtable, announced on Thursday that they have applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to operate two top level Internet domains, .bank and .insurance, on behalf of the financial services industry. In a published statement, the groups said that they had applied for .bank and .insurance to 'provide the highest security for the millions of customers conducting banking and insurance activities online.' The move comes as the U.S. Congress is set to begin hearings on e-banking fraud on Friday."

9 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Well then... by busyqth · · Score: 2

    If they can get this, then the precedent has been set and I'll be a shoe-in for .loser
    (And if I can't get that, then I'll go for .momsbasement)

    1. Re:Well then... by ArsonSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is why allowing .xxx was a slippery slope. Now we crossed the line so real evil can get top level domains .bank and .insurance indeed.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  2. nice editing by Cyko_01 · · Score: 2

    to operate to top level Internet domains, .bank and .insurance, on behalf of

    I think you mean two - as is 1,2,3

  3. slight flaw by slashmydots · · Score: 2

    Considering the #1 most repeated rule for general PC users is "if it doesn't contain just your bank's website and end in .com, it's fake," I'm not sure they're doing themselves any favors. A year from now if I can an e-mail from MyBanksName.bank, even I'd assume it's a fake and not click it.

    1. Re:slight flaw by htnmmo · · Score: 2

      Considering the #1 most repeated rule for general PC users is "if it doesn't contain just your bank's website and end in .com, it's fake," I'm not sure they're doing themselves any favors. A year from now if I can an e-mail from MyBanksName.bank, even I'd assume it's a fake and not click it.

      The flaw is that anyone can get a .com domain name so I could go and by a domain name like Citi-Bank-Secure-For-Realz.com and some people would fall for it. I mean it does say it's for realz!

      If the .bank and .insurance TLDs were restricted by an industry group that assured only legitimate banks and insurers could purchase domains in that space, I can see how it would increase trust as long as consumers are made aware of the new changes. If it does happen there would be a big push to raise awareness through direct contact with their customers and the media.

      I think this makes a lot of sense.

    2. Re:slight flaw by NatasRevol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the .bank and .insurance TLDs were restricted by a national industry group

      the rest of the world is fucked.

      FTFY.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
    3. Re:slight flaw by htnmmo · · Score: 2

      I'm imagining an internet where trade groups disallow trade-group TLDs to any business that doesn't pay them dues. Not subscribed to the RIAA? No .singer, .artist, .music, .whatever for you. Not in the BSA? No .software...

      Yes throw in two industry groups that everyone on here hates to make this sound like a bad idea.

      The interenet already has restricted TLDs so this concept isn't new. When you visit a .gov site you know you're dealing with a government website. Starting in 2001 .edu domains also were restricted to accredited schools.

      Who controls access to these TLDs is important but it makes sense to have it be some sort of industry group that can fairly manage it. .singer, .artist, .music, .software aren't being discussed and the reason for .bank and .insurance are very different. Millions, maybe billions of dollars are lost annually to phishing schemes in this sector and having restricted TLDs can help reduce that number.

  4. Bank in America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I see.

    Like no other country in the world has a bank or insurance company.

    I guess that we just naturally must trust the Americans to regulate which companies in Canada, or the UK, or Mexico, or Saudi Arabia or Australia or Switzerland can call themselves a ".bank" or a ".insurance" company.

    Better solution: Give the control of ".bank" and ".insurance" to the IMF.

  5. Why can't they... by Belial6 · · Score: 2

    Why can't they just register (buy from who ever already owns) "bank.com" and run a DNS from that? They could just as easily sell bofa.bank.com, capitalone.bank.com, etc, etc.... as they could bofa.bank, capitalone.bank.