Rush to buy new French web names
Towns, first names and professions are among the addresses freed up after registrar was forced to drop restrictions
THOUSANDS of banned or restricted French web addresses have been opened up for anyone to register for the first time, prompting a new online rush for the best names.
Towns and countries, professions, health and legal terminology and common first names and surnames are now available as a ".fr" address.
Until now, the French internet name registrar Afnic has prevented individuals or businesses from buying various proper nouns or words it considers to be "sensitive".
Among the 30,000 names on the restricted list were all of the French towns and villages that have not already been registered by their mairie, as well as the names of various technologies, crimes, religions, and names including Satan and Hitler.
The conseil constitutionnel ruled last year that the registration limits unfairly restricted people's freedom to do business and communicate. They said the rules also put up an unnecessary hurdle to online development.
The names are now available on a first-come-first-served basis. The only requirement is that buyers "demonstrate a legitimate interest in the name and act in good faith" although these terms are not clearly defined and Afnic says it will revoke names that are misused.
Local councils were given first refusal on their town or village names - and those who did not express interest before the June 30 deadline could now see their web name in someone else's hands.
France currently has two million .fr web addresses - some way behind neighbouring Germany (.de) with 14 million. There are 85 million names worldwide ending in .com
Photo: alphaspirit - Fotolia.com
