web.goldrush
The body responsible for overseeing the management of Web addresses approved the biggest-ever overhaul of the Internet’s so-called top-level domains last Thursday. Get ready for website address endings such as .news, .ibm and .sex. Until now, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (Icann), a not-for-profit, US-based organisation that oversees a number of important Internet-related tasks, has limited generic top-level domains to 21 names, the most popular being .com, .org, .net, .gov, .mil and .info. Now Icann, under pressure from its members, has approved new rules that will allow anyone worldwide to register new top-level domains of their choosing (within certain parameters).
Icann says the move represents a “massive increase in the real estate of the Internet”. A final version of the plan must be approved by the organisation’s board before the new process is launched, but it is intended that this version will be published in early 2009, paving the way for interesting new Web addresses to be introduced by the second quarter of next year.
So, instead of using absa.co.za, SA’s largest retail bank could register .absa and use bank.absa at its primary domain. Or Google could register .google and use Web addresses such as search.google, mail.google and maps.google. The options are almost endless and limited only by people’s imaginations.
Icann says people are likely to apply for targeted community strings such as.cat for the Catalan community. Individual names are also likely to prove popular. I’d much rather run my personal blog at duncan.mcleod than at duncanmcleod.com.
For the first time, people will also be able to register domains using non-English characters. The present system supports only 37 Roman characters. “This is going to be very important for the future of the Internet in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia,” says Icann chairman Peter Dengate.
There’s no word from Icann yet on how much it will cost to register the new domains, but they’re not likely to come cheap, especially for sites that are in high demand. The authority has indicated that where there are disputes that can’t be resolved, domains will be auctioned to the highest bidders.
Trademarks will not be automatically reserved, Icann says, but there will be objection mechanisms for trademark owners where their arguments for protection will be considered. This will hopefully deter cybersquatters, who are undoubtedly already eyeing the new rules with a view to hijacking domains that rightfully belong to others.
There will also be a process to filter out offensive names, though these will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The process will be overseen by an international arbitration body using criteria that draw on provisions of a number of international treaties.
Though racist domains are obvious to block, it’s not clear whether Icann’s intention is also to block sexually offensive names. The porn industry, which is likely to be one of the biggest spenders on the new top-level domains, is likely to push the boundaries well beyond address endings such as .sex and .xxx.
There will also be big demand for domains such as .news, .shop, .bank and .phone. Just about every news organisation in the world will want .news, but Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp may try to make a trademark-related claim to it. Some reports suggest popular domains could fetch US$100 000 or more. For large companies that is relative small change. But it will tend to skew things in favour of those with deep pockets.
Some commentators have suggested that the new system will lead to a frenzy akin to a gold rush. It’s best to get in as early as possible, then, before all the good names are taken.
First published as the column Technology & You in the Financial Mail of July 4 2008
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