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Security The Internet News

Industry Groups Bid To Control New Business-Specific TLDs 55

Posted by timothy 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."
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Industry Groups Bid To Control New Business-Specific TLDs More

Industry Groups Bid To Control New Business-Specific TLDs

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  • 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)

    • The victims of fraud sites are not going to know the difference between us.bank and usbank.bank and us.ba.nk, for example. Surely there aren't any kind of unintended consequences here, right? /sarcasm.

    • Re:Well then... (Score:4, Funny)

      by ArsonSmith ( 13997 ) on Thursday May 31, 2012 @01:27PM (#40170171) Journal

      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.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Mitreya ( 579078 )

        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.

        No one types in domain address anymore, so it doesn't really matter.
        Moreover, if someone does type in address www.someplace.bank, they will often type it into google's search box and not into the browser navigation toolbar...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jekewa ( 751500 )

          No one types in domain address anymore, so it doesn't really matter.

          True enough, and this can actually weaken security as your browser then checks for the existence of .com and .net and .org and .everyOtherTLDuntilItFindsYours, one (or more) of which will have been acquired by phishermen. Using a different TLD might seem like a great way to aggregate things, but my bank doesn't use .mobi to deliver mobile content to my phone, instead choosing to use m.bankname.com (not my real bank...heh...). Maybe it'll be intuitive after a while, but at least for the purposes of browsing

        • That is true. The real purpose of an alternative tld is for cool business cards. Like when I reserved my name .asia for the fuck of it. Biggest problem I'm having is that people who get my .asia business card are still typing in my .com email address. Even if they don't have my .com email address. That's a huge problem. Of course, the day will come when nobody uses email addresses either. And on that day, I will throw a wild party, and only people who have had to live with the unending horror that is email
      • I hadn't thought to look at it that way, but now that you mention it... if they ever release .satan or .evil as a TLD, I'll be the first to sign up. No, seriously, I'll write a program that'll use timers accurate to the billionth of a second, so I can be the first in the door.

  • nice editing (Score:3)

    by Cyko_01 ( 1092499 ) on Thursday May 31, 2012 @12:31PM (#40169329) Homepage

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

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

  • 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.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by htnmmo ( 1454573 )

      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

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        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...

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by htnmmo ( 1454573 )

          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 an

      • Re:slight flaw (Score:5, Insightful)

        by NatasRevol ( 731260 ) on Thursday May 31, 2012 @01:09PM (#40169899) Journal

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

        the rest of the world is fucked.

        FTFY.

      • Are you going to explain that to my Grandma? or is the email that has the link to a .bank site going to?

    • I'll be interested to see if this arbitrary TLD nonsense merely expands the TLD-ghetto that exists beyond the top few into a nearly infinite morass, or whether the sheer confusion throws us back to a google-based equivalent of the old days of 'AOL Keywords', where virtually everybody has abandoned any hope of knowing the URL, and just plugs in some stuff in the search bar and hits enter...

  • Bank in America (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 31, 2012 @12:44PM (#40169475)

    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.

  • to 'provide the highest security for the millions of customers conducting banking and insurance activities online.'

    And by "customers" they mean the banks and insurance companies.

    While that may not be a "bad thing", I'm sure there will be instances when the best interest of the banks/insurers are in direct conflict with their customers - you know "us", the internet users - and I'm dubious as to how impartial the American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable will be.

  • Yes, because everyone knows a vanity TLD is much more secure than a measly .com - what a lame-ass excuse to apply for a vanity domain. Typical Baronism.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Why can't they... (Score:3)

    by Belial6 ( 794905 ) on Thursday May 31, 2012 @01:16PM (#40170007)
    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.

  • Last November my bank card was stolen. It was reported within an hour to the bank, Banamex in this case (I live in Mexico). Yet the thieves had managed to clone the card and shop in two different locations within that time frame, buying for over 2000 USD in goods.

    No problem you would think. Think, right. Banamex is insured. So when we found out we went to the nearest branch of Banamex. We were told there are 2 ways to report it: by phone, normally resolved within 15 days; or by filling in a form, normally r

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