Domain Names

For the first time since 2000 ICANN is allowing for more general use domain names. In 1998 ICANN was designated by the federal government as the authority for Internet naming policies. In 2000 they approved many new domain names but the only ones that were for general population use were .info and .biz.

They are hoping things will be more public friendly this go around, because they are opening up a forum to get input from the public on what the new domain names should be. The new domain names will most most likely be region based such as .Asia or industry based such as .XXX for the adult material industry.

However, trademarked business owners worry that with more domain names available the problem of "cybersqutting" will become very prevalent once again. Cybersquatting is when individuals purchase domain names of businesses or celebrities in hopes that those businesses or celebrities will pay high prices for the domain name.

ICANN is hoping to control that problem by having specific criteria to purchase the new general use domain names, rather then just the previous practice of simply being able to purchase the domain name. Hopefully, in this new era of domain names ICANN can curb the problem of cybersquatting, which costs them a lot of money, because they need to help resolve the disputes, and sometimes seek out the offender, and bring them to court, when their dispute resolution process is not working.