ICANN plans top-level domain 'free-for-all' in massive web shake-up

Ian Grayson
Friday, 27 June 2008 10:50

Business IT - Networking

Tired of that old .com or .org web address you’ve been using for years? Fear not - you’ll soon be able to have any top-level domain you like ... for a price.

As part of a massive change to the way in which web addresses are allocated, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers plans to allow the use of virtually any top-level domain.

Gone will be the restrictively small number of approved domains. Instead, virtually any word in any language will be able to be used as the final extension on a web address.

"It's a massive increase in the real estate of the internet,” says ICANN chief executive Paul Twomey. “It will allow groups, communities and businesses to express their identities online."

Scheduled to begin operating by the end of next year, the new system will allow large companies, governments and other groups to register their name as a top-level domain. Expect to see everything from .coke and .nike to .sydney and .australia appearing on the web.

Some industry observers are concerned the move will create a massive virtual land-grab as cyber squatters race to register large numbers of the new domains in the hope of on-selling them for profit.

However ICANN says a stringent approvals process should prevent this. Add the prospect of fees of around $US100,000 per domain and any would-be squatters will need very deep pockets.

In another feature of the plan, top level domains will also no longer be restricted to the current Latin alphabet. Instead a range of other scripts including Chinese, Arabic and Japanese will be allowed.