This might be a bit of a stretch, but I've been trying to register a ".an" website (domain hack) for a couple years, but the requirements are quite strict. I'd need a corespondent with local presence in... the Netherlands Antilles. I actually emailed the only registrar to make sure this rule still stands, and sadly it does. Anyone know other ways to register a ".an" domain? I have some money, so it could be a little expensive.
Find someone from the Netherlands?
I guess I should have asked about that in my first post...
Is there an amount of time that domain can be closed off to anyone not in the Netherlands when there is no longer a country meant for the top-level domain? When I emailed the registrar, they were very vague about the future of the domain. Do you think it would be useful to register when the Netherlands Antilles (.an) have already been abolished?
Suppose you'd have to get someone from the Netherlands to register it. How strict are they about this? You could use an Netherlands IP and a fake address ?
From my conversation with the registrar (L. Pengel via
http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/an.html), it doesn't sound good. "The AN ccTLD is still live, and can only be requested by entities with official local presence." From that, I'm guessing some sort of lengthy process follows, and I doubt I could find someone to work with. However, I'll keep looking for someone. Anyone know a forum for people from the Netherlands Antilles?
Gaudy,
For the time being if you are concerned about the status of the .AN registry I would try contacting IANA. They're more informative about the situation and what the process is for domains that may or may not be phased out. They probably actually have an article on their website about it.
As for trying to register one it's highly unlikely you'll be able to satisfy their requirements. Unfortunately a lot of these ccTLD's are rather strict. Another thing to remember is that if you want to get a random person from this area to help you out. you'll have to greatly trust him. You never know where the situation will take you and that could mean losing your website or getting caught and getting your site disabled due to breaking the ToS. From what it sounds like, not a lot of people use the .AN namespace so it wouldn't be hard to detect what was going on by the registrar.
Not to mention, who the hell wants to pay large amounts for this? Ha
Yeah, I've been going along in my email conversation asking how long the restrictions should remain (while stating I do have "correspondents" from what used to be the NA), but I've yet to get a concrete answer. It's now just open to those who *used* to live in the Netherlands Antilles. I guess it must be, but that doesn't really sound like a viable restriction to me.
I can help you register your .AN add me on MSN, admin@FBI.mx
What domain where you after, i actually didn't realise how strict they where.