AllThingsD » Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Grab Your Cash and Warm Up the Wagon -- ICANN Domain Rush Kicks Off Tomorrow

John Paczkowski — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:23:33 +0000

The domain name landgrab begins tomorrow.

That’s when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — the organization charged with managing the Internet’s domain name system — will begin accepting applications for new top-level domains (TLDs), a controversial decision that could create thousands of new vanity Internet suffixes. Today we have .com, .net, .org and 19 others. By year’s end, we’ll have many, many more — everything from brand names to services. Domain registrar Verisign estimates there will be up to 1,500 applications for new TLDs (think .sex, .NYC, .deloitte, etc.).

And ICANN is charging a $185,000 fee for every one. Which is great for ICANN, but not so great for companies worried about protecting their brands online and for consumers who might be confused by the vast clutter of new vanity domains. Coca-Cola, General Electric and 50-some other corporations have already stepped forward to oppose the program. But ICANN doesn’t appear to be listening.

Announcing the plan last summer, ICANN chief executive Rod Beckstrom said it would open up the Internet’s addressing system “to the limitless possibilities of human imagination and creativity.”

But as I wrote at the time, by “limitless possibilities of human imagination and creativity,” he surely meant corporate imagination and creativity. Because that’s who’s being targeted here: Entities with the money to blow on $185,000 TLD application fees and a desire to promote themselves. This is going to be a massive brand-identity landgrab and one that’s unlikely to do much good for consumers, but plenty for ICANN and its coffers.

The Total.Chaos Domain Has Already Been Registered? How About Shameless.Money.Grab?

John Paczkowski — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:23:55 +0000

Think Internet domain namespace is an unnavigable mess now? Just wait. ICANN, the Internet’s body for domain-name management, today voted to allow domain names using any combination of letters, including non-Latin characters. Beginning next year, anyone can register as a TLD (top-level domain) any combination of letters they like, their range limited only by the breadth of their own imaginations and the $185,000 application fee.

“This may be the dawn of a new age of online innovation in the domain name space. … The Internet’s addressing system has just been opened up to the limitless possibilities of human imagination and creativity,” ICANN chief executive Rod Beckstrom said during a press briefing this morning.

But by “limitless possibilities of human imagination and creativity,” he really meant corporate imagination and creativity. Because that’s who’s being targeted here: Entities with the money to blow on $185,000 TLD application fees and a desire to promote themselves. This is going to be a massive brand-identity landgrab and one that’s unlikely to do much good for consumers, but plenty for ICANN and its coffers.

Mac Attack

John Paczkowski — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:55:51 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Twomey: ICANNot Stay

John Paczkowski — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:01:58 +0000

In late 2009, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will begin accepting applications for an indefinite number of new generic top-level domain names, ushering in what critics say will be a disastrous era of consumer confusion, domain name abuse, trademark infringement and phishing. So really, can you blame ICANN President and CEO Paul Twomey for stepping down at the end of the year? Who would want to preside over the implementation of a plan facing opposition from virtually every corner, including the one occupied by the U.S. Department of Commerce? Not I. In a statement issued this afternoon, Twomey said he will not seek another three-year term when his contract expires later this year. “While I am deeply and personally committed to Icann and its success, I think this is the right time for me to move on to another leadership position in the private or international sectors,” he said.

Right time, indeed.