Fwd: [Infowarrior] - ICANN votes to pollute the Internet

[Paul Ferguson <fergdawgster () gmail com>]

FYI,

- ferg


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 4:36 AM
Subject: [Infowarrior] - ICANN votes to pollute the Internet
To:
Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>



(IMHO this will only serve to enrich ICANN and the registrars seeking
to capitalise on the 'gold rush' of folks scrambling to 'protect their
brands' on the Net.  For shame, ICANN.  -- rick)

June 19, 2011 11:13 PM PDT

ICANN approves expansion of top-level domains

by Steven Musil

 http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20072478-93/icann-approves-expansion-of-top-level-domains/

The Internet's primary governing body today approved the expansion of
new top-level domains--one of the most dramatic changes in the
Internet's history.

During a special meeting in Singapore, the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted to dramatically increase the
number of domain endings from the current 22, which includes the
well-established .com, .net, and .org. The move will allow domains to
end in almost any word, allowing companies to turn their brands into
Internet extensions.

"ICANN has opened the Internet's naming system to unleash the global
human imagination," Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive
officer of ICANN, said in a statement. "Today's decision respects the
rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or
script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all
of mankind."

Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of ICANN's board of directors, said the
"decision will usher in a new Internet age. We have provided a
platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration."

ICANN said it would soon begin a global campaign to educate people
about the changes and opportunities they afford. Applications for new
generic top-level domains will be accepted from January 12, 2012, to
April 12, 2012, and the estimated evaluation fee is $185,000. (Click
here to see ICANN's fact sheet on the new GTLDs (PDF).)

Hundreds of applications for these suffixes are expected, including
.car, .love, .movie, .web, and .gay.

The battle over new top-level domains has been long and often
contentious. Earlier this year, a rift developed between national
governments and the nonprofit organization over how much influence
government officials, and to a lesser extent trademark owners, will
enjoy over the process of creating new domain suffixes.

Also, a U.S. proposal that would have given it and other governments
the power to veto future top-level domain names failed to win
approval. A group of nations rejected the proposal, concluding instead
that governments can offer nonbinding "advice" about controversial
suffixes but would not receive actual veto power. Proposed domain
suffixes like .gay are likely to prove contentious among more
conservative nations


Steven Musil

Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining
CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area
newspapers. E-mail Steven.


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-- 
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawgster(at)gmail.com
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

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