Monday, June 20, 2011

ICANN domain rule changes


ICANN, the regulatory body that oversees Internet domain names, has voted to revamp the domain naming system for websites, allowing them to end with words like "apple" and "orange" instead of suffixes such as ".com" or ".gov." it is being reported this morning. ( See MSNBC.com, CNNMoney.com and Wall Street Journal articles )


"The dot-com era is over," the Wall Street Journal said this morning, "Welcome to the dot-anything age."


The Journal’s article continued, "… Icann, said the aim for a much more open—and potentially much messier—approach to domain name registration will spur a new rush of innovation. Companies could establish an identifying suffix for brand purposes, and experts say it could help banks or others keen to boost their online security credentials. It may also provide entrepreneurs an opportunity to generate new business by selling second-level domains."


MSNBC.com said experts say corporations and cities should be among the first applicants to register for new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs)


The CNNMoney article, though, says "benefits to the new rules don't come cheaply -- or easily. ICANN charges at $185,000 per domain application, which typically include about 150 pages of policy documents, and technical setup takes another $100,000 or so -- upkeep can cost an additional $100,000 each year…"


ICANN is slated to begin reviewing applications in November or December, and says that new domains should roll out in July 2012.


1 comment:

Erica said...

What exactly you're writing is a horrible mistake.