1,400 new Internet suffixes proposed

[Hum]

Companies and organizations from North America and Europe dominated the bids for new Internet addresses as a key oversight agency prepares for the largest expansion yet in the online addressing system.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers received 1,930 proposals for 1,410 different Internet suffixes by the May 30 deadline. Suffixes are the ".com" part of an Internet address. Nearly half of the proposals -- 911 -- were from North America and another 675 came from Europe.

ICANN plans to release details about the proposals at a news conference in London on Wednesday. It disclosed general trends ahead of the announcement. The full list of proposed suffixes was not yet available, though bidders have disclosed some of them, including ".bank," ".baby" and ".YouTube."

If approved, the new suffixes would rival ".com" and about 300 others now in use. Companies would be able to create separate websites and separate addresses for each of their products and brands, for instance, even as they keep their existing ".com" name. Businesses that joined the Internet late, and found desirable ".com" names taken, would have alternatives.

From a technical standpoint, the names let Internet-connected computers know where to send email and locate websites. But they've come to mean much more. Amazon.com Inc., for instance, has built its brand around the domain name.

The expansion will allow suffixes that represent hobbies, ethnic groups, corporate brand names and more.

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[Argi]

This'll be both good and really confusing. :wacko: And I wonder how many applications will break because they don't expect long suffixes like ".windows".

[lnmnky]

This'll be both good and really confusing. :wacko: And I wonder how many applications will break because they don't expect long suffixes like ".windows".

Who's fault is that? No one said that a TLD should be validated for the 2,3 or 4 characters that 99% of addresses are currently at.

Even the current .school .museum fail some validators, so it's time people updated their regular expressions.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

brand names are getting their own suffix?

should be more fun for the scammers and spammers then :)

[lnmnky]

brand names are getting their own suffix?

should be more fun for the scammers and spammers then :)

Do you mean scammers and spammers will buy ~$200,000 domain names just for purposes of scamming when people are already stupid enough for fall for $5 .biz addresses with no relation to brand names or established organisations?

Or do you mean the opposite? As in, they (scammers) won't be able to buy brand names?

ICANN should not allow generic names to have a TLD (.bank, .shop) as people will resell these. Only brands/trademarks should be allowed.

[Argi]

Who's fault is that? No one said that a TLD should be validated for the 2,3 or 4 characters that 99% of addresses are currently at. Even the current .school .museum fail some validators, so it's time people updated their regular expressions.

I never said otherwise - more just a thought.

[Hum]

I'm claiming .nigeria :shiftyninja:

[Crisp]

blow.me :p

[Aethec]

If some of the "generic" TLDs were propertly maintained and regulated by a single entity, it'd be awesome. The .bank TLD could be reserved to businesses who can prove they are banks; you could then click on any .bank link you see because it couldn't possibly be a forgery.

[SongHyeonDeok]

Wonder how many people would fall for, your.bank or something like secure.amazon.

[exotoxic]

It is just another money making scheme. they know businesses are going to want to protect the names they own.

The .bank TLD could be reserved to businesses who can prove they are banks; you could then click on any .bank link you see because it couldn't possibly be a forgery.

This could and should have been implemented a long time ago.

[Growled Member]

Sounds like it's going to be a big mess before everything is said and done.