south america – Internetblog.org.uk

Flight447.com registered two years before plane crash

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:40:36 +0000

On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 created a new page in history when it crashed off the coast of Brazil on its way to Paris. Eager to cash in on public interest, domainers flocked to register any domain bearing the flight’s name. Many were surprised to find out, however, that flight447.com was unavailable, registered since 2007.

The owner is Kari Bian, an Iranian film producer residing in the United States whose unfortunate registration choice has led some to speculate that he was somehow involved with the crash. “I have nothing to do with this and I feel very bad for this flight,” he said.

Bian has yet to be investigated or questioned by authorities regarding the accident. He owns a number of other airline flight domains, and has no intention of selling flight447.com.

Source | EFE

Photo | Flickr

Argentina creates .banco.ar extension for banks

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:34:35 +0000

In an effort to cut down on Internet fraud and scams, especially phishing, the Argentine government has joined forces with banks to create the .banco.ar domain extension.

By only allowing financial institutions to register a .banco.ar name, bank customers can easily tell if a suspect website is legitimate or not. The extension will be administered by NIC Argentina, an entity responsible for the country’s domains governed by the Ministry of Exterior Affairs and Culture.

The idea for the name came from a similar project, the .tur.ar extension for tourism sites. The creation of .banco.ar comes at at time when Latin American domains are being registered at record rates. This year alone registrations in the region have grown by 10%. The .ar domain saw the second-highest growth with 21,892 registrations in June.

Source | iProfesional.com