Generic TLDs – The Beginning!

A recent gethering of ICANN top heads have decided and agreed on the first round of policies to be associated with the planned new domain extensions (gTLDs). Most of the information is still in its infancy, therefore, I am still trying to verify the accuracy of some of these rumors. The ones stated in this blog entry have been verified…. Let us begin:

The money/cost factor

The initial application fees of registering a new generic TLD might range from anywhere between $US150,000 to $US200,000, however, the figure is rumored to be somewhere near the $US180,000. In addition to that, an undisclosed sum needs to be paid to the registrar as fees and cover for possible objections. This cost, in addition, is exclusive of the running cost of the domain once approved. This comes in later. And to top that off, all of the above mentioned fees would be non-refundable!!! The credit card debt just got a little higher

The conflict factor

In the unusual situation of two or more parties making an application for same or similar generic TLDs, a series of processes will be initiated. All the parties would be given a chance to decide the conflict and its resolution mutually. If this step fails, ICANN would carry out its own exhaustive evaluation in order to determine which party deserves the domain extension. In most cases, the domain will be offered to the highest bidder.

Conditions

*Any established organization, group or personal (referred hereon as entity) qualifies to submit an application for a gTLD (generic TLD).
* At the initial stage, ICANN has stated that two types of gTLDs would be available for registration.

1) Open gTLDs – it is available to any entity provided a proof of establishment is included in the application process.

2) Community-Based gTLDs – as the name indicates, applicants vying to register a community-based TLD must clearly identify themselves as an established community and/or endorsed by a banner community.

The extensions itself

*Open gTLD will provide virtually unrestricted names provided they do not conflict with community based gTLD’s. Community-based gTLD’s may signify a group; for example, .mumbai may very well be taken up by the Mumbai Municipal Government. .phpbb might be registered by the current phpbb software community. .fiji would most probably be open to the government of the Fiji Islands only.

*The gTLD cannot be a current reserved name. For example, Google is a reserved name, therefore, an applicant can not register domains that that either contain the extension Google, (example, yourdomain.google) or contain the word Google in any part of the domain name, such as, google.myextension. Similarly, in case of IBM, the extension .ibm would not be available for registration.

*Confusing string gTLDs might also be not available for registration. For example, ICANN might not allow registration of .con extension as it can be confused with the existing .com TLD.

*Other generic strings might also be heavily evaluated, such as .business, .information, .forum, etc.

*Morality factor will also be closely guarded. extensions, such as, .kill, .rape, .terror, and other strings that are unacceptable by normal public might be scrutinized by ICANN.

The community objection factor

ICANN will reject all applications that conflict with the generic TLD of the “more deserving” party. For instance, if the city of New York owns a .ny gTLD, an application for .newyork by another party will be rejected unless the City of New York recognizes the right of this party to possess this extension. On similar grounds, gTLD’s, such as, .newyorkcity, .nycity and others will be unacceptable.

The possibilities generated by the new gTLDs are endless. The above are just some aspects I managed to dig out via my research. There exist many other scenarios that ICANN has to get a solution for before going ahead with this idea. Most of them are based on the grounds of morality and netiquette. For example, How will ICANN address the issue whereby a word or phrase is acceptable in one society and derogatory in another?

While no one would be willing to throw away $180K (non-refundable) to submit a non-genuine application, there are still some issues that money cannot solve. Generic TLD registration is set to generate much interest gradually and we are in for a very interesting period in the history of the internet.

In my opinion, it is still very early (considering the age on internet technology) to open up generic TLDs. I am staying with the good old .com for two reasons:

I would surely not be able to afford the $180K price tag that comes with gTLDs.

.com will still be unrivaled in years to come… or at least in my lifetime.

I will be following this issue very closely, right here on this blog, and will bring you more developments, news and updates as it gains momentum. So keep tuned for the second part of this very interesting series.

View Forsaken's Profile      Subscribe via RSS