Coming soon: .everythingyoucanthinkof

UPDATE: Here's a more detailed version of this story from the paper.

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Ushering in the most dramatic expansion of virtual real estate in 40 years, the group controlling Web addresses said today that pretty much anyone would get a shot at buying a top-level domain to go along with the current crop, which includes .com and .net.

The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names & Numbers, which is as close as the Internet gets to a governing body, opted to open up the process to companies, individuals and coalitions. That means that any word or name approved by ICANN could conceivably follow the dot in a Web address. Get ready for .pickles and .google.

"The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net," ICANN Chief Executive Paul Twomey said in a news release issued from the group's Paris meeting. New domains could be forthcoming next year, after another round of refinements and the first applications.

"There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (for New York City), .berlin and .paris," ICANN said in the release.

The decision stems from ICANN's philosophy of keeping as little power for itself as possible, as well as from lobbying by the companies that dole out domain names. Those companies, including some in Los Angeles, see a potential windfall in administering new top-level domains and selling off individual addresses.

But not everyone was thrilled with the step. Critics warn that scammers will rush in, grabbing up trademarked names or misspelled versions of those names and then taking their chances in court.

"Google doesn't want a scam artist running Google.whatever," said tech policy consultant Lauren Weinstein, co-founder of the nonprofit People For Internet Responsibility. "It's almost like an extortion racket -- you'd better buy your name in this new top-level domain or you're going to get blamed."

"The process has been hijacked to a significant extent by folks who see the domain-name system as their personal piggy bank."

-- Joseph Menn

Image courtesy of ICANN

Comments

[Theo Sapoutzis]

Obviously it translates to big potentials for all those coming late on the dot extension "game" and still have a solid background on the domain business. On the other hand companies such as Global Domains International Inc that controls .WS domain extension and VeriSign that controls .TV couldn't receive worse news than this. It took like three years for ICANN to get a decision on the domain tasting. One can only wonder on how they plan to deal with the abuse that the new legislation will generate.

[Raymond Marshall]

I'm amazed at the various articles (including yours) that have covered
this issue as if this concept had only now been discovered, embraced,
and undertaken. What's funny is that it's been around for about 5
years under your own feet, and yet you are still unaware of it.

The Greater Los Angeles Area has had its own domain, e.g. Dot-LA
for several years. It's proven, successful, and reliable. Please visit
www.www.la to learn more about the Dot-LA domain space which is
operated by the LA Names Corporation. LA Names Corporation licensed
Dot-LA from the Country of Laos and has successfully operated and grown
this domain space in LA for the last 5 years.

Imagine trying to operate the phone service or postal service with only
a handful of area codes or zip codes. That's why Google has done so
well. I believe this is just a natural evolutionary step in the development
of the Internet and should prove to be very exciting. I imagine companies
such as NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and MSN will apply for .NBC, .CBS, .ABC,
.FOX, and .MSN to create their own private domain spaces that they can
use as they wish, e.g. losangeles.nbc, losangeles.cbs, losangeles.abc,
losangeles.fox, and losangeles.msn. Perhaps even latimes.nbc, etc. on a
syndicated basis. I also imagine that many cities in major metropolitan
areas will also get their domain space, thus vindicating the vision of LA
Names Corporation.

Anyway, thanks for the interesting read! Please keep them coming.

Kind Regards,

Raymond Marshall
NuMedia Concepts, LLC