New Internet Domain Names

By Chris Chaplow

On the first of October a huge section of cyberspace real estate was opened up to the public. Perhaps the biggest "gold rush" since the miner forty-niner. Currently the most popular domain name ending is the dot com. More correctly it is known as gTLD’s or generic Top Level Domains.

Domain names read hierarcally from right to left so the top level is the right hand portion. There are now about 40 million dot com domain names registered.

Many people had tried to register dot coms for themselves or their businesses and found the names already taken. They had to settle for variations of their name or the less popular dot net (30 million) or dot org (1 million).

There are also a wide range of countries with their own dots. Dot es is for Spain for example. There is an appointed organisation (not the Government) in each country that issues the Country Code top level domains. The two letter codes originate from a International Standards Organisation list. Some countries have applied strict criteria to the issuing or these names. Spain for example requires the domain name to be very close to the applicants legal name or registered trade mark. Supporting documentation is required. Hence there are only 600.000 dot es registered.

Other’s have been more liberal and even capitalised on the similarity between their country code and a popular acronym. .fm sounds like a radio station but is Federal States of Micronesia; .tv is Tuvalu; .cc is Cocas islands; .nu (Swedish for now) is Niue.

Some countries have marketed their names inferring they were the new top level domains and creating a sense of urgency. You have probably received several emails on this subject. This is not the case.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the organisation that regulates the Domain Name System. As long ago as 1997 there were plans laid down to issue more top level domains.

Things moved slowly. Initial proposals were shelved pending US white papers. The organisation was restructured and renamed. ICANN was keen to show at least a consensus rather than a dictatorial approach so they formally requested proposals from the industry. 47 proposals were published and from this 7 were approved. .info, .biz, .name, .pro, .aero, .museum, .coop.

.info is the one general availability and will be of most interest to readers. The company whose proposal to administer the .info is Afilias Inc. (www.afilias.info) A huge consortium of existing domain registrars including Network Solutions (who administer the .com, .net, and .org) Many who commented on the 47 proposals on the IANNA website preferred to see a smaller "cleaner" company win the contract. This was not the case.

The .info has already undergone a "sunrise" period in which registered trade mark holders could first apply. Then a pre registration in which names would be selected at random. On the 1st October 2001 the registration was opened for all on a first come first served basis.

This means that you now have a chance to register that domain name you always wanted. To check what is available go to the WHOIS database on the Afillias website (www.afilias.info) and register the name with one of their appointed registrars or contact your local website company.

If you already have the dot com you wanted then it prudent to register the dot info as well and redirect it to your existing website. This will prevent potential visitors getting confused and missing you, and also prevent speculators registering the names and trying to sell them back to you. This latter process is not being upheld by the dispute procedure or the courts, but prevention is better than cure.

.biz is for businesses but is really an unrestricted registration as well. It is managed by NeuLevel and in a similar way the live registration opened on the 1st October as well. Check the WHOIS on their website at www.nic.biz or contact your local website company.

.name is for peoples names. It is administered by global Names Registry Ltd. Domain names will be issued at a lower level for example smith.name will not be issued but john.smith.name or jane.smith.name will be. They will have the email address john@smith.name. If you have a common name it would be wise to register this before 22 November when a random selection and issue will take place. Their website is www.nic.name.

.pro is administered by RegistryPro Ltd and is for "professionals" in their field. Those who have qualifications authorised and regulated by a central body such as Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers should have no problem registering. How it will apply to other professionals is not yet clear.

The remainder are sponsored by organisations on behalf of groups. There is no timetable yet for their issue.

.aero is administered by "Societe Internnationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques" on behalf of the air transport industry.

.coop is administered by National Cooperative Business Association on behalf of Cooperatives.

.museum is administered by Museum Domain Management Association on behalf of museums.

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