Will .sex be the only new domain that matters?
Nathan Taylor sees some interesting outcomes of the planned new Internet domains, including the possibility of Microsoft.sex.
There’s a great post over at Ars Technica about the new generic top-level domains (TLDs) that ICANN is planning on introducing.
Back in June, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided to create new top-level domains, available to just about anybody with the money to buy them. Top level domains are the root domains of Web addresses; .com, ,edu, .org, .gov and .net are the best known (.au is another TLD, though it’s a country TLD, not a generic TLD).
ICANN’s plan for the new TLDs was to allow them to be unregulated – the new TLDs would go, in effect, to those who asked for and wanted to pay for them. Then whoever owned the TLD could sell sub-domains out however they liked. Of course, some domains, like .sex and .xxx, are likely to be goldmines for whoever gets control of them, as they can sell an infinite number of subdomains and make a healthy profit overall.
However, I’m not sure I share Joel Hruska over at Ars’ worries about the chaos that will ensue as companies scramble to secure new TLDs. I suspect there will be an early fight over some of the TLDs with potential to make money in the long run by selling subdomains, but cybersquatting isn’t going to be an issue that companies have to worry about.
The core reason is the price of entry. At around US$185,000, with a US$75,000 annual maintenance fee, the new TLDs are going to be very high risk targets for cybersquatters and pranksters. Only serious companies are going to be able to afford to register these domains.
Yes, there is theoretical potential for abuse, but in practice I can’t see it happening. Most of the new domains will likely to go non-English speaking organisations that want to use non-roman characters and to companies that want to on-sell subdomains.
It’s in regulating the subdomains that the real challenge will be found. ICANN seems to be washing its hands of all regulation of the subdomains beyond some initial vetting of the applicants for the TLDs. That means that companies that are defensive about their brand may have to go around registering up to 800 new domain names.
Microsoft, for example, may have to find itself registering Microsoft.sex, Microsoft.xxx, Microsoft.company and Microsoft.whateverotherTLDisnowavailable.
Faced with this prospect, I can see why a lot of companies are balking at the new domains, especially when the existing domain system more or less works.
It does seem a little like a naked money grab from ICANN, though I honestly expect that the initial gold-rush mentality will fade quickly as most of the new TLDs will get no traction at all, and .com will remain the "go-to" domain for the vast majority of Web sites.
I’d guess that at most half a dozen will get any traction at all, and they’re the only ones that companies with cybersquatting issues might have to worry about.
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