Are the guys at ICANN on dope or something?

[Phyphor]

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/NewsStory.aspx?story=79038


ICANN proposes greater top-level domain name flexibility

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By Liz Tay
24 June 2008 03:53PM
Tags: icann | tld | domain | name | internet | industry | association
ICANN proposes greater top-level domain name flexibility

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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is proposing to relax the rules on top-level domain names in a move that could drastically change the Internet.

If approved, new registration rules could allow companies to register their brands as generic top-level domain names (gTLDs), and offer more personalisation options to individuals with Web sites.

Since the introduction of.com, .net and .org as gTLDs in 1998, the range of available gTLDs has slowly grown to include 21 domains such as .aero, .asia, and .tel.

According to discussions this week at the 32nd ICANN Meeting in Paris, the new regulations will allow any public or private organisation from anywhere in the world to register any string of letters as a gTLD, which could result in hundreds of new gTLDs registered this year.

New gTLDs will be evaluated via a Web-based application process, during which applicants must demonstrate organisational, operational, technical and financial capability.

By implementing new gTLDs, ICANN expects to be supporting creativity, innovation, consumer choice, and competition in the domain name space.

The international domain name regulator also has proposed to allow new domain names to be written in international scripts, which it expects to create a more globally and culturally inclusive Internet.

As the new regulations essentially allow any string of letters to be registered as a domain, the move could finally open the door to the controversial .xxx domain.

According to Peter Coroneos, Chief Executive of the Internet Industry Association in Australia, a relaxation of gTLD registration rules could overcome branding and trademark disputes, such as cyber squatting, that have been common in the U.S. and Europe.

Coroneos used the example of the National Australia Bank which was initially unable to obtain its preferred domain name, resulting in its Web site being registered as national.com.au. The National Australia Bank has since obtained the nab.com.au domain name.

It [more relaxed gTLD rules] seems to me to be a natural progression from what we have now, Coroneos told iTnews. To some degree, it could overcome historical problems with trademarks



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Can you imagine the mess this will make of the net?

(Even more so than usual)

[Manedwolf]

@##$%!

I'm already spending hours every week fending off Chinese idiots trying to purchase Yet Another Domain Variant on my company's name...

[AZRedhawk44]

If we're gonna do this, let's just go to a flat Internet using NetBeui and LMHOSTS files.

Sheesh.  Sounds like I could start a top level domain of dotcomdotcomdotnet if I wanted to just to be a jackass.

Those root name servers exist for a reason... they are the heart and soul of name resolution on the internet.  Give some idiot the ability to run a name server for a top level domain and whore out subdomains on some attractive new top level domain (say, perhaps, .online, or .web) and then not provide quality name resolution for the domain, and watch the fun ensue.

Also, this will make a hash out of searching for a domain of a website you're looking for.  Type in "armedpolitesociety" into your address bar or into MSN search, and you'll probably get here fine.  That's because there are only a dozen or so top level domains for MSN to check against.  Make that an unlimited bank of domains, and searches become nauseating.

[GigaBuist]

@##$%!

I'm already spending hours every week fending off Chinese idiots trying to purchase Yet Another Domain Variant on my company's name...

And that pretty much illustrates why ICANN is willing to allow this.  The registars love it when another TLD comes into play because folks wanting to protect their trademarks will buy up another domain.