From Online Reporter, a new sister publication
Ever fancied running an Internet top level domain for profit? Faced with the unwieldy popularity of the .COM domain, the Internet Society is pondering a radical restructuring of Internet domains. Nearly 87% of Internet sub-domains are now in .COM and competition for coverted names is fierce, so the idea is to let new domains be added – say, .CHM for pharmaceutical companies, or .PUB for publishers. In fact, the Internet Draft, put out by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority doyen Jon Postel, envisages that, if the plan is accepted, 30 new international top level domains will be created every year for the next five years. The paper proposes that the whole area of domain creation and administration be opened up to free market competition. Where today, the US InterNIC handles .NET, .ORG, .COM and .EDU, in future individuals or organizations will be able to run competing registries, each of which will be allowed to administer up to three of the new domains. Postel suggests that around 10 registries will start up each year, over the next five years- they will each be able to adminster up to three of the new domains and compete with each other for customers’ business. The paper, titled New Registries and the Delegation of International Top Level Domains, sets out how organizations will be able to apply to run a domain, how disputes will be resolved and what will happen if a registry collapses. Internet Drafts are fluid papers that carry no authority, however the ideas that Postel lays out have been around the consultative cycle three times now, and it seems certain that something of the sort will be implemented: Postel himself says that the draft may be changed somewhat before it is actually put into practice. Start pondering which could be the popular domains now – we suggest .NUZ for news, .JAV for Java companies and the self- explanatory .TIT.
Check out Online Reporter at http://computerwire.com/online
