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Washington:
The body that controls internet domain names Monday agreed to open
up the naming system so that any organisation with enough cash can
apply to create own version of .com, .org or .gov.
The Los Angeles-based Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers (ICANN)
has been planning the naming expansion for sometime and approved
it at a board meeting in Singapore Monday morning, the Los Angeles
Times reported.
This means that instead of going to coke.com or nike.com, you
might be able to go to drink.coke or justdoit.nike.
Nonprofit groups could reserve the .school domain and cities could
consolidate their online presence at .nyc or .losangeles, the
report said.
But this won't come cheap. The price tag to get a new domain is
$185,000.
Only "established public or private organisations" can apply, and
all applications must prove they have the technical capability
necessary to keep a domain running, the report said.
Internet experts believe the initial expansion might bring 500 new
options for site suffixes. There are only 22 now, including the
original eight, .com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, .org and .arpa.
In 2000, ICANN added 14 new top-level domains, including .biz,
.info and .jobs.
Few of the new names have caught on, with .com remaining the
standard across many industries, even though it can be difficult
and expensive to find new .com names, with the most snapped up by
companies, individuals and cybersquatters long ago.
"ICANN has opened the Internet's naming system to unleash the
global human imagination. Today's decision respects the rights of
groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script.
We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of
mankind," the Times report quoted Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's president
and chief executive officer, as saying.
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