ICANN OKs Internet 'Land Grab' for New Domain Names
In what one news outlet termed a “big bang” revision of the 25-year-old international system of registering Internet domain names, and another termed a “land grab,” the Web’s main oversight agency today approved a number of sweeping changes.
Among them: As many as new 5,000 address extensions will be available to substitute for the standard “com” that follows the “dot” part of a Web address, reports the International Herald Tribune. And popular domain names are expected to be auctioned to the highest bidders, at prices that could top $100,000, CNN reports.
After today’s vote in Paris by the board of the nonprofit ICANN (formally known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), “the details will likely be developed and announced in coming weeks to meet ICANN’s deadline of permitting the first new candidates for domain names early in 2009,” according to the Tribune. But even now, the newspaper notes, there are many unanswered questions, “including how much the application fees would cost. Early estimates range from $10,000 to $250,000.”
The money would offset the cost of creating the enhanced system, which could total $20 million.
Additional coverage:
Agence France-Presse: “Internet body approves domain name big bang”
London Times: “New top-level internet addresses come with $100,000-plus price tag”
PC Magazine: “ICANN Expected to Widely Expand Domain Names”
