“Very happy that the PTS listened”
During lunch on September 28 (Inquisitr Wire), the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) decided to drop their earlier demand that Swedish registry .SE should check all domain name applications containing the word “bank” prior to registration. The decision was well received by the largest Swedish vendor of se-domains, Binero, which had started the petition Namnbank.se against the decision, as well as by it’s over 8000 signatories.
– We are very happy that the PTS were now willing to listen to input from the outside. Now we also hope that the Agency will listen to .SE and us registrars in the continued handling of this matter. Today’s regulations are good – obvious net frauds can and will be closed down immediately – then the international work on an faster UDRP process in evident cases should be supported and possibly copied locally, said Anders Aleborg, CEO, Binero.
The Swedish Bankers’ Association have lobbied for restrictions on domain names for a long time, making an interpretation of the Swedish law mandating that anyone using “Bank” as a name in their business must fulfill the requirements of one. On August 27th, the PTS entirely adopted their point of view.
.SE, their legal council, Binero and the .SE registrars’ association Registrars.se have opposed this. Their arguments are that the banks have not been able to show evidence of fraudulent “bank”-sites, that typosquatting would not be stopped, whereas many Swedes would have a more difficult time registering, that scrutinizing new businesses before domain registration would be injust and, above all, that the approval of name scrutinization prior to registration would spread to many other names; titles protected by law, public authority names, brands, racist words etc.
On September 17, web host Binero started the web petition Namnbank.se to protest against the PTS. During ten days, the petition gathered 8170 signatures and the support of cyber law expert Petter Rindforth, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the Swedish Government IT-advisor Patrik Fältström, as well as by the The Pirate Bay, which hosted a banner for a few days, resulting in 3000 signatures. On the 28th of August, the Swedish Green Party joined the protest.
