So the ICANN organization, which overseas the regulation of domain names on the Internet, is planning to open domain names up so that (almost) any name can be used as a top-level domain. Translation: instead of having to find and purchase a “.com” domain name, companies and organizations can apply to ICANN to get a tailored top-level domain. In the future we might see corporations trying to set up top-level domains using their company name (think: .pepsi, .nike, .apple). We could also see cities or organizations moving to this type of URL (think: .nyc, .un, .imf).
It’s kind of like having your own vanity licence plate – albeit a very expensive licence plate: just to apply for one of these custom top-level domains it will cost about $185,000. Critics suggest that the price is out of range for many not-for-profit organizations. They also claim that such a system will be hard to regulate and will be confusing for internet users, but supporters suggest that sticking with the relatively few top-level domains that we currently use doesn’t make sense when there are millions of websites. Something has to be done – so an appeal to vanity might just do the trick.
BBC has the story here.
