'Shake-up' for internet proposed

[iinfi]

Source

By Darren Waters
Technology editor, BBC News website

The net could see its biggest transformation in decades if plans to open up the address system are passed.

The net's regulators will vote on Thursday to decide if the strict rules on so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed.

If approved, it could allow companies to turn their brands into domain names while individuals could also carve out their own corner of the net.

The move could also see the launch of .xxx, after years of wrangling.

Top level domains are currently limited to individual countries, such as .uk (UK) or .it (Italy), as well as to commerce, .com, and to institutional organisations, such as .net, or .org.

To get around the restrictions, some companies have used the current system to their own ends.

For example, the Polynesia island nation Tuvalu, has leased the use of the .tv address to many television firms.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which acts as a sort of regulator for the net as well as overseeing the domain name system, has been working towards opening up net addresses for the last three years.

It's a massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the internet
Dr Paul Twomey, Icann

The plan would also allow for the new domain names to be internationalised, and so could be written in scripts for Asian and Arabic languages.

Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of Icann, told BBC News that the proposals would result in the biggest change to the way the internet worked in decades.

"The impact of this will be different in different parts of the world. But it will allow groups, communities and business to express their identities online.

"Like the United States in the 19th Century, we are in the process of opening up new real estate, new land, and people will go out and claim parts of that land and use it for various reasons they have.

"It's a massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the internet."

Arbitration process

Hundreds of new domain names could be created by the end of the year, rising to thousands in the future.

HAVE YOUR SAY I'm all for tighter regulation, not opening it up further which would only facilitate fraud Karen, London

Icann says any string of letters can be registered as a domain, but there will be an independent arbitration process for people with grounds for objection.

The openness of the new system could pave the way for a .xxx domain name, after more than half a decade of wrangling between its backers and Icann.

The latest attempt to launch .xxx was rejected by Icann last year on the grounds that approval would put the agency into the position of a content regulator.

When asked about the possibility of a .xxx domain name, Dr Twomey repeated only that the new system would be "open to anyone".

The move could yet be blocked as the independent arbitration panel can reject domains based on "morality or public order" grounds.

Dr Twomey said Icann was still working through how much the application fee to register a domain name will be, but it is expected to be at least several thousand dollars.

'Cost recovery'

"We are doing this on a cost recovery basis. We've already spent $10m on this," he said.

Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, or any other string of letters, as long as they can show a "business plan and technical capacity".

While companies will be able to secure domain names based on their intellectual property easily, some domain names could become subject to contention and a bidding war.

Dr Twomey said: "If there is a dispute, we will try and get the parties together to work it out. But if that fails there will be an auction and the domain will go to the highest bidder."

can someone plz tell me wat this is abt?? i dont understand this at all. wat will happen to the domain names already sold. internationalisation wud cause chaos. then there will be many domains which one cannot access at all !!

[iinfi]

can anyone understand wat this is all abt??
Source

A complete overhaul of the way in which people navigate the internet has been given the go-ahead in Paris.

The net's regulator, Icann, voted unanimously to relax the strict rules on so-called "top-level" domain names, such as .com or .uk.

The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names.

A second proposal, to introduce domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts, was also approved.

"We are opening up a new world and I think this cannot be underestimated," said Roberto Gaetano, a member of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).
HAVE YOUR SAY

Surely this will be nothing more than very, very irritating for people who want to use the internet?

A, Cambridge
Send us your comments

Others believe it could begin to bridge the digital divide.

"At the moment, there are one-and-a-half billion people online and four-and-a-half billion people for whom the Roman script just means nothing," said Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet, the national registry for .uk domain names.

"This is a huge step forward in the development of the internet - it will unblock something that has prevented a lot of people getting online."

Country appeal

Icann has been working towards opening up the 25-year-old net addresses for nearly six years.

At the moment, top-level domains (TLDs) are currently limited to individual countries, such as .uk (UK) or .it (Italy), as well as to commerce, .com, and to institutional organisations, such as .net, or .org.
BBC infographic showing domain name sales

The .com suffix is the most popular and most costly TLD.

To get around the restrictions, some companies have used the current system to their own ends.

For example, the Polynesian island nation Tuvalu, has leased the use of the .tv address to many television firms.

Under the new plans, domain names can be based on any string of letters.

Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, for example, as long as they can show a "business plan and technical capacity".

Companies will be able to secure domain names based on their intellectual property.

The result could be thousands or even millions of new addresses.

"The most likely new TLDs to be pushed into the Icann process are those that have been under development for some time now - the geo-TLDs such as .cym for Wales, .sco for Scotland, .ldn for London, .nyc for New York and so on," explained Marcus Eggensperger, of Lycos Webhosting.

Costly business

Because of the scale of the plan, many have pointed out that their introduction of the new system and its effect will have to be monitored closely.

Cable

Q&A: Internet shake-up

"I am concerned about spending our TLD name inheritance for future TLD users," said Dave Wodelet, also of the Icann board.

"I certainly don't want future generations to look back at us with disdain for not being good stewards of this limited TLD resource."

However, he said, on balance, he felt that technical and administrative hurdles could be overcome.

It is not a view shared by everyone.

Many businesses have pointed out that the new system could be very costly.

"The major issue with the potentially large number of new TLDs is going to be for brand owners who will want to protect their trademarks," said Mr Eggensperger.

"For a major pharmaceutical business, the cost of registering all of their trademarks when a new trademark is released runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds."

Icann has said that it was "aware of all of the concerns" and that it had "considered them very carefully".

"On balance, the board feels that adopting this resolution is in the best interests of the internet and the public at large," said Icann board member Dennis Jennings.

The process of introducing the new system will start in 2009.

can anyone understand wat this is all abt?? plz let me know if it wud affect already registered domains?

[d1g1t]

Think its about ICANN putting up top level domains up for grabs.

This means one could buy a top level domain like .lol or .wtf

[naveen_reloaded]

isnt there another thread running under diff name ???

[iinfi]

its here
i had posted b4

[iMav]

Could someone simplify this? Does this mean I can make my own .whatever?

[Indyan]

Yes. But its gonna be damn expensive (i think a six figure amoun in $). So not everyone can do it.

[chesss]

Could someone simplify this? Does this mean I can make my own .whatever?

NO ofcourse not. Not only it wld be unaffordable, but more importantly the one who buys a top-level-domain wld also have to maintain the registry for it.
So if big-organisation buys .whatever , then u cld buy anything.whatever from them(if they want to sell)
BIg-orgainsation cld only be allowed to buy by ICANN .whatever if they r capable of maintaing servers for the registry an all
-Intelligent guess

Personally I am really excited abt this. This combined with IPv6 will be the REAL web 2.0

[iinfi]

this wont be a problem for existing .com domains rite?
will the existing .com domains become more expensive or something of that sort?

[Indyan]

This may reduce the demand for .com slightly and help in it remaining cheap.
But the cost of .com is going to increase with time as more and more .com domains get registered.

[Abhishek Dwivedi]

yeah...but the value of .com wont go down so soon as many ppl still consider website to have be website.com instd of being ne thing else

[Krazzy Warrior]

Originally Posted by Abhishek Dwivedi

yeah...but the value of .com wont go down so soon as many ppl still consider website to have be website.com instd of being ne thing else

I too thinks so.

[hullap]

whoa, nice idea

But the cost of .com is going to increase with time as more and more .com domains get registered.

true

[ax3]

i thought its abt END of net ......