1986

Björn Eriksen claims the top-level domain – and Sweden becomes .se on the internet

.se is one of the first country code top-level domains. It is registered in 1986 by Björn Eriksen.

Björn Eriksen.

A country code top-level domain are the two letters which come at the end, behind the last period in a domain name, and are connected to a particular country.

Björn Erikson handles the allocation and maintains the .se-domain by himself for many years, from his living room.

As the internet becomes more popular, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is too much to handle for one person. So, in 1997 the Swedish Internet Foundation is founded to take over this responsibility.

The film linked here (in Swedish only) contains interviews with some of Björns colleagues talking about his important work with the .se domain.

These were the first ever registered .se domain names

Enea.se (registrered 1983-04-07, this was Björn Eriksen's employer)
Luth.se (84-05-03)
Chalmers.se (85-01-17)
Lu.se (85-01-17)
Sema.se (85-01-17)
Siemens.se (85-01-17)
Lth.se (85-01-17)
Hp.se (85-02-15)
Objecta.se (85-02-18)
Kth.se (85-08-28)
Sics.se (86-02-13)
Aahus.se (86-05-02)
Volvo.se (86-02-29)
Environ.se (86-10-01)
Fdata.se (86-10-09)
Mil.se (86-10-09)
Alp.se (86-11-21)
Appli.se (86-11-25)

In the beginning only corporations can register .se domain names

For a while there are strict regulations regarding what entities are allowed to register a .se domain name. Individuals can not register them at all, and for a while smaller companies and other organizations have to register under regional subdomains.

In 2003 the regulations are scrapped, and .se moves to a first-come-first-serve model for domain name registrations.