5 ms·

> Also, the domain is still not open to foreigners. Why should it be?

by jwilk 9y ago

detaro 9y ago
A possible argument is that foreigners are also allowed to live, offer services and products, ... in Slovakia. (at least that has been the deciding factor when similar rules for other TLDs of EU countries have been challenged)
- zokier 9y ago
  Personally I feel like limiting ccTLDs to only legal entities (ie natural persons or registered organizations) of that country seems perfectly natural and even desirable. It doesn't (generally) limit you from offering services in any country, but it does require you to be at least a tiny bit more honest about the origin of the service.
  - tomlong 9y ago
    It would put a halt to some good domain hacks though.
    - zokier 9y ago
      Well, they are definitely hacky to begin with, so I'm not sure if thats such a loss.
    - acheron 9y ago
      Now that ICANN has ruined DNS though, there's not much point. Don't need to register endlesshor.se in Sweden when you can just get http://endless.horse http://endless.horse.
      - cdmckay 9y ago
        I think the point is that you need $185,000 USD to get endless.horse and only €29 EUR for endlesshor.se.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    Not all sites are "services". I'm glad I could register a personal domain in one of the countries of origin of my family, even I don't personally qualify as a citizen.
throwaway1X2 9y ago
Well, with background in the darker parts of the internets, I'm still against all forms of domain squatting, typosquatting, etc. Others would also describe me as a heavy EU-skeptic. But! If you are a company registered in whatever EU country, and, by law, you can do business in all remaining states and in some cases (taxes, consumer protection) you are even bound to adhere to their local laws - then, why you couldn't have a local TLD? And what if you even hold an EU-wide recognized trademark? Say I am Spanish company AcmeRoadunnner, with EU-wide trademark on AcmeRoadrunner, I cannot get acmeroadrunner.sk, because I don't have a Slovak entity? What for? I am already bound by harmonized EU legislation and when I sell to Slovakia, I must behave in relation to my customers (when they are consumers and not business entities) and file VAT according to Slovakia laws. Say I am Slovak self business AcmeCoyote. Should I really need to create 27 other business entities in 27 other states to register other domains and prevent domain squatting, when I'm already bound by the 27 states' laws when I sell there? Ridiculous! And a nice job for proxy registrars... PS: In an interesting turn of events, fairly recently, a proxy registrar was found guilty for breaking gambling laws, where the page hosted on domain registered by him for his client was showing gambling ads not conforming to Slovakia legislation... So it is about having a local scapegoat to punish. PS2: Imagine you cannot send goods to any country, unless you create a business entity there. In SK-NIC's case, it's the vice versa case, you can sell here, you MUST charge our VAT here, you MUST obey our consumer laws here, but hey, sorry, you cannot get ours TLD, f* you...
- TomMarius 9y ago
  You know there's a thing called organisational unit, right? If the .eu and .com domains aren't enough for you, you're most likely required to have one and when you have one, you can register .sk domain. Check the laws.

> Also, the domain is still not open to foreigners. Why should it be?

by jwilk 9y ago

> Also, the domain is still not open to foreigners. Why should it be?

A possible argument is that foreigners are also allowed to live, offer services and products, ... in Slovakia. (at least that has been the deciding factor when similar rules for other TLDs of EU countries have been challenged)

zokier 9y ago
Personally I feel like limiting ccTLDs to only legal entities (ie natural persons or registered organizations) of that country seems perfectly natural and even desirable. It doesn't (generally) limit you from offering services in any country, but it does require you to be at least a tiny bit more honest about the origin of the service.
- tomlong 9y ago
  It would put a halt to some good domain hacks though.
  - zokier 9y ago
    Well, they are definitely hacky to begin with, so I'm not sure if thats such a loss.
  - acheron 9y ago
    Now that ICANN has ruined DNS though, there's not much point. Don't need to register endlesshor.se in Sweden when you can just get http://endless.horse http://endless.horse.
    - cdmckay 9y ago
      I think the point is that you need $185,000 USD to get endless.horse and only €29 EUR for endlesshor.se.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Not all sites are "services". I'm glad I could register a personal domain in one of the countries of origin of my family, even I don't personally qualify as a citizen.

throwaway1X2 9y ago

Well, with background in the darker parts of the internets, I'm still against all forms of domain squatting, typosquatting, etc. Others would also describe me as a heavy EU-skeptic. But! If you are a company registered in whatever EU country, and, by law, you can do business in all remaining states and in some cases (taxes, consumer protection) you are even bound to adhere to their local laws - then, why you couldn't have a local TLD? And what if you even hold an EU-wide recognized trademark? Say I am Spanish company AcmeRoadunnner, with EU-wide trademark on AcmeRoadrunner, I cannot get acmeroadrunner.sk, because I don't have a Slovak entity? What for? I am already bound by harmonized EU legislation and when I sell to Slovakia, I must behave in relation to my customers (when they are consumers and not business entities) and file VAT according to Slovakia laws. Say I am Slovak self business AcmeCoyote. Should I really need to create 27 other business entities in 27 other states to register other domains and prevent domain squatting, when I'm already bound by the 27 states' laws when I sell there? Ridiculous! And a nice job for proxy registrars... PS: In an interesting turn of events, fairly recently, a proxy registrar was found guilty for breaking gambling laws, where the page hosted on domain registered by him for his client was showing gambling ads not conforming to Slovakia legislation... So it is about having a local scapegoat to punish. PS2: Imagine you cannot send goods to any country, unless you create a business entity there. In SK-NIC's case, it's the vice versa case, you can sell here, you MUST charge our VAT here, you MUST obey our consumer laws here, but hey, sorry, you cannot get ours TLD, f* you...

TomMarius 9y ago
You know there's a thing called organisational unit, right? If the .eu and .com domains aren't enough for you, you're most likely required to have one and when you have one, you can register .sk domain. Check the laws.