<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<h2><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://slatest.slate.com/id/2284157/">http://slatest.slate.com/id/2284157/</a><br>
<span class="headline"></span></h2>
<h2><span class="headline">Scramble for New Domain Names Begins</span>
</h2>
<p class="copy"> </p>
<p>For years, most internet addresses have relied on a standard set
of Web addresses ending in .com, .net, and .edu. Now, an impending
mass expansion of domain names is set to add subject-specific (and
potentially controversial) suffixes into the mix. The <em><a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/06/AR2011020603940.html?hpid=topnews"
target="_blank"><em>Washington Post</em></a></em> reports that
.god, .gay, and .islam are just some of the infinite number of
names to be introduced in a move that may make the Internet more
intuitive, or just more irritating. Naturally this will throw up
the usual set of controversies: Who, for example, gets to control
.abortion, .muhammad, and .nazi? The new suffixes will be dolled
out by an obscure nonprofit based in California that OKed the
expansion in 2008 but still hasn't figured out exactly how it will
work. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will
come to a decision this spring and then begin considering
proposals from companies and government. ICANN has encouraged
applicants to "Join the Internet land rush!" on its Web site,
although the new suffixes will come at a price. <strong>It costs
$185,000 just to apply, plus an annual $25,000 fee to operate
the new domain name. </strong>Critics say the "landrush" is
simply a moneymaking scheme for the group and corporations that
own the domains. The chairman of ICANN says the high fees are
necessary because the nonprofit anticipates a lot of
suffix-related lawsuits.</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
</pre>
</body>
</html>