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Internet set for domain name big bang

The internet looks set for one of the biggest shake-ups in its brief history if the web's regulator votes this week, as expected, to allow new domain names such as .love or .paris.

The vote by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which began its annual general meeting in Paris on Monday, would open up millions of new variations for web addresses.

"Apart from the .com, .net or .org, the 1.3 billion web users will be able from early next year to acquire generic addresses by lodging common words such as .love, .hate or .city or proper names," ICANN president Paul Twomey told French newspaper Les Echos.

With the stock of available web addresses under the current IPv4 protocol set to run out by 2011, ICANN has been under pressure to find a solution for burgeoning demand.

Under the proposed new regime, domain names will also be able to be lodged in languages such as Arabic or Mandarin Chinese.

"We have tested 15 languages with non-Latin alphabets so that they can work with web browsers from Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple," said Twomey.

Websites are now largely limited to domains that end in .com or .country, but the ICANN proposal would enable firms to buy new generic domains ending in whatever they want.

The popular online trading site eBay is one of the many companies that wants to have its own domain name.

Broad product groups such as .bank or .car are also likely contenders.

Cities could benefit too from this liberalisation, with the German capital hoping for .berlin or New York for .nyc.

Some cities or regions have been bending the rules already to get the domain they want. The city of Los Angeles has for example signed a deal with the South-east Asian nation of Laos to use its .la domain.

In theory, an infinite number of new domain names could be created, which would prove a boon for ICANN because it would receive payment for each one, but in reality advanced technical skills and a fat wallet would be needed to set up a new name.

Tens of thousands of dollars would be required, noted Loic Damilaville, head of the AFNIC association of French domain names.

ICANN's 32nd international public meeting this week gathers more than 1,500 delegates from dozens of countries, backing a new address system, IPv6, which would add billions of new internet addresses.

A non-profit organisation based in southern California, ICANN oversees the assignment of domain names and internet protocol addresses that help computers communicate.

.. from smh.com.au