Internet domains

WWW-DOT-WHAT??

Monday 23 June 2008

After years spent in the dot-org and dot-com doldrums, Web addresses are about to get a lot more personal, courtesy of the group that serves as gatekeeper to the Internet's domain names.

Coming soon to a World Wide Website near you: a new galaxy of cyber-addresses with names that aim to really capture the personality of their hosts. 

That might mean suffixes of cardinal sin such as dot-envy, dot-greed, or dot-gluttony…or, humble odes to that special city or company: dot-Omsk, dot-Nouakchott, or dot-NYC.

The Internet future is here. After years spent in the dot-org, dot-gov and dot-com doldrums, Web addresses are about to get an interior design overhaul.

At a conference in Paris this week, the group that governs the names we give to websites is set to give a green light to a radical rethinking in the way we surf our way to our favorite websites.

You don’t have to be a Web junkie to know that life within the dot-com confines can feel a little limiting at times. Sure, in recent years, we've expanded our virtual horizons to include domain suffixes such as dot-info, or dot.uk, or dot.fr, among others.

But somehow, the personal touch is still lacking. That's now about to change, thanks to an entity known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The California group is what pundits often refer to as a sort of gatekeeper of Internet domain names. It's hosting a conference this week here in Paris that's reportedly expected to draw 1,300 delegates from 130 countries.

Lending impetus to the domain-name expansion is the fact that the Internet's growing by leaps and bounds, stretching at the cyber seams. There’s a creeping threat of running short of domain names for the world’s estimated 1.3 billion Web surfers (and counting) in the near future.

Allowing people to register new and more personalized Web domains is the cyber-age equivalent of adding new telephone dialing prefixes to meet booming demand for numbers. Except, here, the site’s host gets to choose the name – or rather gets to choose within certain limits.

Would-be aspirants to personal addresses will have to meet several criteria. You cannot, for instance, pilfer someone else’s copyright or claim a community’s or (private individual’s) identity as your own. I couldn't simply lay claim to the “dot-apple” name if I happen to sell apples for a living. There’s also a stipulation about moral issues. (One example that’s been cited is using the domain name “dot-jihad”).

There’s great lucre to be had for those with a coveted domain suffix. According to the International Herald Tribune, the bite-sized nations of Tuvalu (dot-TV) and the federated states of Micronesia (dot-FM) have reaped millions of dollars in licensing fees from ceding their domain tags to media groups.

Paul Twomey, the president of ICANN, tells the French daily, Les Echos, that you’ll even be able to register domains in alphabets other than the Roman standard, such as Cyrillic or Chinese.

The Internet regulators, Twomey says, have already tested 15 languages to make sure that the segue to new domains will run smoothly on Microsoft, Mozilla or Apple browsers.

Those with complaints may soon be asked to visit www-dot-whereismydomain-dot-disappointed.