ICANN rules on new domain names

[waltky]

possum gonna start possum.pos

New Internet Name Rule Opens Door to Huge Changes
June 20, 2011 - The regulatory body that oversees Internet domain names has agreed to end restrictions on suffixes for site names, a change that will dramatically increase the number of possible site names while opening up new branding opportunities for companies, cities and others.

Currently, Internet site owners are limited to a handful of suffixes, such as dot.com, dot.org or dot.gov. But starting in January registrants will be able to invent their own suffixes. Major companies are expected to create suffixes with their own names. Japanese electronics giant, Canon, has already said it plans to apply for rights to use domain names ending with dot-canon. The German capital city, Berlin, has reportedly expressed interest in a dot.berlin suffix. Other suffixes could help organize the Internet by language, geography or industry. The change was overwhelmingly approved Monday in Singapore in a vote of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. The Los Angeles-based non-profit organization is expected to begin taking applications for the new names on January 12.

Brad White, ICANN's director of global media affairs, says opening the Internet address system will have far-reaching social and commercial impact. "It will afford a possibility for innovation, creativity, branding, marketing. We can't fully predict the impact that this change will have, but we know it will have tremendous impact, in much the same way that nobody could predict social media. Nobody could predict the popularity of Skype. No one could predict the popularity of Facebook or Twitter. What we have done is removed a barrier to innovation," says White. There are currently 22 generic top-level domains, also known as gTLDs. Dot.com, dot.org and dot.info are a few examples. There are also about 250 country-level domains like dot.uk for Britain or dot.cn for China.

Several hundred new gTLDs are expected to come into existence under the new system. In addition to the interest of big corporate brands, organizations such as cities or other communities are expected to apply. However, with an initial price tag of $185,000 for each application, none but the richest individuals can be expected to seek their own personal domains. Still, the move is an opportunity for commercial brands to gain more control over their on-line presence and send visitors more directly to parts of their websites. Brad White, of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names, says the new suffixes will have other benefits.

"One of the biggest changes that this will mean to the Internet is an expansion of the use of non-Latin characters. So, people who speak Cyrillic, or Arabic or Chinese can now use their own generic top-level domains at the end of an Internet address. It will vastly, we believe, increase the number of Internet users," he says. The new domain system will also change how ICANN works. Until now, it has overseen names and performed some other tasks, but has had little involvement in the Internet's thornier issues. With the new changes, ICANN will have a role in policing how gTLDs are operated, bought and sold.

Source

See also:

2nd Digital Revolution is Potential Bonanza for Innovative Startups
June 20, 2011 - 'Internet Week New York' showcases city's latest digital developments

The buzz was palpable at “Internet Week New York,” a digital culture festival. With more than 300,000 workers employed in New York’s technology sector, and nearly $2 billion in dot-com and online companies, Internet Week is one of the most closely watched events in the wired world. Festival chairman David-Michel Davies is director of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which co-presented the event along with the New York City Mayor’s office. He says new online platforms, such as smartphones, are sparking a second digital revolution for consumers, creating a potential bonanza for start-up entrepreneurs. "Since we have these new platforms, they are just ripe for people to come in and make them even more useful. Like how can we make that mobile phone more useful? How can it improve people’s daily lives? Obviously we’ve been doing this on the Web for decades at this point, but there is still so much room and space that can still be explored.”

Foodspotting.com is one of Time Inc’s “Ten Startups to Watch” program. Online restaurant reviews have been around for years, Davies says. But Foodspotting allows people to upload reviews of particular dishes, along with photos of their meals. “I love barbecue. So where can I get the best brisket? You can go into Foodspotting and actually search ‘brisket in New York City’ and you can actually see pictures of all the different brisket dishes at all the different barbeque places with ratings and so forth," says Davies. Groups of friends who want to ensure that no one gets lost on the way to that special out-of-the-way restaurant can use GroupMe, another new online site that allows free group messaging to and from any mobile phone - almost like a private chatroom. Those who simply want to relax at home watching TV, but are unsure what to watch might want to try SocialGuide.com. With Socialguide, viewers can use a mobile device to post comments about a show while they're watching it. Socialguide then ranks the show based on its social popularity.

Co-founder Sean Casey says the site offers information and the experience of online community, while also offering his partners and investors huge potential profits. “The business side is that anytime anybody is talking about TV as TV airs, we are capturing that conversation," Casey says. "So that data is very, very important to a bunch of people. Networks are interested in that data. Advertisers are interested in that data. So our plan is to create a data product that we can sell back to networks and to advertisers so they can know what are the most socially engaging TV shows that people are liking and talking about.” Other consumer-oriented startups include Yipit, which consolidates online bargains and makes them available in one searchable database, and I-Ella, an invite-only website that allows fashion lovers to put their wardrobes online and to buy, swap, sell or lend their clothes to other fashionistas. Buyers pay a 10 percent transaction fee which benefits their favorite charities.

What about a quick and easy way to pay the bills? Enter Manilla, a secure, free online service that consolidates all household accounts onto one page accessible through a single password. It also offers payment reminders. The arrangement appeals to businesses as well. “Businesses today spend tons of money and tons of waste in paper and postage. The Internet has been around for 15 years, and on average only 15 percent of bills are actually paperless. And it’s causing businesses a fortune," says Jim Schinella, a Manilla co-founder. "So for a business we create this wonderful relationship.” Just which dot-com ideas will produce the next Google, Facebook, eBay or Netflix is anyone’s guess. But it was clear from the excitement at Internet Week New York that the desire to digitally connect with others for fun or profit or both is as boundless as the Internet itself.

Source