The popular online trading site eBay is one of the many companies that wants to have its own domain name. [more inside]
posted by finite on Jun 26, 2008 - 69 comments

Bush administration opposing .xxx TLD. Back in June, ICANN approved an application for a .xxx TLD extension. The application was a result of research conducted by the ICM Registry and the International Foundation for Online Responsibility to develop a strategy for identifying a TLD string for the responsible online adult-entertainment community that would transcend geographic regions and languages while having high recognition and lasting value for both registrants and Internet users. Based on this research, ICM and IFFOR selected .xxx as the sole string for this application based upon its high ranking in the aforementioned criteria. In testimony to COPA Commission, Sen. Joe Lieberman endorsed the idea of an Internet "redlight district" (pdf) holding Internet sites to the same standard as X-rated movie theatres. Bowing to pressure from the Family Research Council and other "conservative" groups, Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, has asked for a hold to be placed on the contract to run the new top-level domain until the .xxx suffix can receive further scrutiny. The Bush administration has hinted it may unilaterally to block .xxx from being added to the Internet's master database of domains.
posted by three blind mice on Aug 17, 2005 - 51 comments

A cyclone has essentially flattened the tiny Pacific island nation of Niue. Although only one of the island's 1200 inhabitants has died, the infrastructure is so battered that the government may simply call it quits, ceding control to New Zealand. Although suffering from sharp population declines over the years, Niue had been one of the most technologically advanced microstates, being the first country to install free Wi-Fi accessible to all of its residents and visitors. And they control the top-level domain .nu - or do they? The recent natural disaster may highlight the fact that the story of the .nu domain is one of economic and legal exploitation. And if Niue folds, can you run a website from a domain attributed to a deleted country? A fascinating sidebar to this fascinating story. (Via /.)
posted by PrinceValium on Jan 12, 2004 - 6 comments

Who's a .pro? The new .pro TLD will only be available to certified professionals —at first just lawyers, doctors, and accountants—with subdomain strings (“.law.pro, .med.pro and .cpa.pro with more to come”) to identify the professions. [more info at RegistryPro] Seems pretty clunky to me.
posted by kirkaracha on May 11, 2002 - 25 comments

More info about the soon to be released .biz and .info TLDs...this time, straight from the horses mouth, so to speak.
posted by canoeguide on May 16, 2001 - 0 comments

Last week, we got news of new.net, who decided to make a big splash in the alternative Top Level Domain (.com/.net/etc) game, with some moronic, un-coordinated with the other people scheme including some "patented new technology" that amounted to 'set new.net as the search path in your DNS setup'.

Well, apparently they've started a trend, as now there's another player in the market...
posted by baylink on Mar 8, 2001 - 1 comment

New.net lauched today, with their attempt to create their own TLD registrar that seems like a bastardization of DNS. Most people will need to download a plugin, is there any chance this could be successful? Is ICANN doing anything to stop them or will they just die on their own?
posted by mathowie on Mar 5, 2001 - 8 comments

Maybe ICANN really can't. There may be a revolt among all those Europeans who think that they own their parts of the Internet. (Who do they think they are, anyway? Don't they realize that they're just electronic colonies of the US?)

Actually, I'm with them; I think ICANN is getting just a little too full of itself.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Nov 25, 2000 - 2 comments

johnsmith.name and many more silly new suffixes. Do we need this many? I have yet to see anything good with the previous additions, it all looks a bit like those http://take.me.to/, http://fly.to redirectional services.
posted by tiaka on Nov 17, 2000 - 2 comments

New top level domains? It looks like we're one step closer to the creation of some new domains. ICANN has posted their staff recommendations. How did your favorite fare?
posted by Aaaugh! on Nov 10, 2000 - 7 comments

ICANN's Report on new Top Level Domains came out a few days ago, and I saw a list in a paper of some of the new proposed TLDs. These include: .shop, .travel, .news, .sex or .xxx, .web, .arts, .store. Two things worthy of discussion - what's the difference between .shop .store and .web (and where are other CONTENT based divisions such as .gay, .fan, .info, .zine, .kids) and secondly, why are these supposedly GLOBAL domain names all in full uncompressed English?
posted by barbelith on Jul 21, 2000 - 17 comments