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Creation of new website domain suffixes
A global internet body has voted to allow the creation of new website
domain suffixes, the biggest change for the online world in years.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) plans to
dramatically increase the number of domain endings from the current 22.
Internet address names will end with almost any word and be in any language.
Icann will begin taking applications next year, with corporations and cities expected to be among the first.
"Icann has opened the internet's addressing system to the limitless
possibilities of the human imagination," said Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer for Icann.
"No one can predict where this historic decision will take us." There will be several hundred new generic top-level domain names
(gTLDs), which could include such addresses as .google, .coke, or even
.BBC. A top-level domain name of up to 63 characters of just about any string
of letters or numbers can be registered, ICANN said. But applicants will need to spend US$185,000 upfront just to apply for a domain.
There are currently 22 generic top-level domain names
(gTLDs), as well as about 250 country-level domain names such as India (.in) ,
United Kindom (.uk ), Australia (.au), Oman (.om), Qatar (.qa) and United Arab Emirates
(.ae) etc.
"This may be the dawn of a new age of online innovation in the domain
name space....the Internet's addressing system has just been opened up
to the limitless possibilities of human imagination and creativity,"
said ICANN Chief Executive Rod Beckstrom at a media briefing on
June 20, 2011. And they can be in any characters -- Cyrillic, Kanji or Devanagari for
instance, for users of Russian, Japanese and Hindi.
"It's the biggest change I think we have seen on the Internet," Peter
Dengate Thrush, chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN), told reporters. "We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration."
Costly process
It will cost $185,000 (£114,000) to apply for the suffixes, and
companies would need to show they have a legitimate claim to the name
they are buying. Analysts say it is a price that global giants might be willing to pay -
in order to maximise their internet presence. The money will be used to cover costs incurred by Icann in developing
the new gTLDs and employing experts to scrutinise the many thousands of
expected applications. A portion will be set-aside to deal with potential legal actions, raised
by parties who fail to get the domains they want.
The vote completes a six-year negotiation process and is the biggest
change to the system since .com was first introduced 26 years ago.
Icann said it was beginning a global communications programme to raise awareness of the new domain names.
Existing Generic top-level domain names
(gTLDs)
*.com : companies, now broader
*.edu : educational institutions
*.gov : government institutions
*.int : international organisations, e.g. Interpol
*.mil : military organisations
*.net : networking technologies, now broader
*.org : non-profit organisations
*.arpa : first ever domain, now technical use
*.aero : air travel industry
*.biz : business alternative to .com
*.coop : co-operatives
*.info : information, but open for general use
*.museum : museums
*.name : personal names
*.pro : professionals, e.g. doctors
*.asia : Asian websites
*.cat : Catalan language
*.jobs : employment websites
*.mobi : mobile phones
*.post : postal services
*.tel : telecoms
*.travel : travel
( Source: Icann)
High standards
Companies and organisations seeking one of the new generic top-level domain names
(gTLDs) will have to meet high technical standards, according to Bruce Tonkin, chief
strategy officer at Melbourne IT, a domain registry service.
"You need IT robustness and you need intellectual property protections
beyond what is available in the dot com space.
"You have to have 24/7 abuse team. You have to have mechanisms where a
trademark holder has first right to get their name," he said.
The higher standards, said Mr Tonkin, meant the application process
would be extremely rigorous. "Using a real estate analogy, it would be roughly the equivalent of
getting approval to build a sky scraper. "There's roughly 50 questions, roughly 2-3 pages per question. Icann
will then use experts in each field to evaluate them.
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