Slog - Comments on Master of Your Domain http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain The AFP says: Web regulators Thursday voted to allow the creation of thousands of new domain names, from .paris to .Pepsi, in one of the biggest shake-ups in Internet history, a French web official said. It suggests that domains like .nyc, .berlin, .car, .bank, and .xxx might open up. I think that this might make things a lot more complicated, and also ever-so-slightly segregation-y. (.gay, anyone?). The article suggests that they'll make an effort to fight cybersquatting, but that honestly sounds a little impossible to me. At the very least, it's going to be like the vanity plate of the... Copyright 2008 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:00:00 -0800 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:12:17 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Non .sucks

Talk about printing your own money.

This is like paying the city to give your driveway a name, so you can brag about what a blue blood you are for having your own street.

]]> Non http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061513 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061513 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:04:00 -0800 Comment by Fnarf No, this is good news. It makes domain names essentially worthless, which is as it should be. Value should come from what's ON the domain's site, not from the name.

Dot-gay is only segregation-y if gay-related sites are forced to congregate there, which I predict will happen to zero websites.

The only other regulation I'd like to see is a binding requirement that .net be actually restricted to network infrastructure, and not general-purpose public sites, but that's never going to happen.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061514 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061514 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:04:33 -0800 Comment by boxofbirds Do you think www.boxofbirds.ishung is taken yet?

]]> boxofbirds http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061516 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061516 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:05:32 -0800 Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball I'm holding out for .poe

]]> Jubilation T. Cornball http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061525 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061525 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:11:55 -0800 Comment by expensive FTA: "Industry experts expect the cost -- which has yet to be fixed -- could reach into the tens of thousands of dollars."

Sorry, your vanity is going to cost you.

]]> expensive http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061526 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061526 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:12:00 -0800 Comment by Mae i guess www.clownpenis.fart is now going to actually a possibility now.

]]> Mae http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061530 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061530 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:14:13 -0800 Comment by leek That tens of thousands of dollars is for infrastructure changes to permit these new names, I think, not the cost of the domain name for the buyer.

]]> leek http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061535 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061535 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:18:23 -0800 Comment by laterite I just heard a faint "pop". It could be fireworks, but I like to imagine it was the head of every DNS administrator across the globe exploding at once.

]]> laterite http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061540 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061540 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:20:18 -0800 Comment by leek Oh huh, maybe not. The earlier article on this made it sound like the big money was for the thing as a whole. This article not so.

]]> leek http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061552 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061552 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:29:16 -0800 Comment by N Nope, it's going to cost you $100,000 for that .gay domain, and you'll have to have your own servers, databases, routers, etc.. to run it.

]]> N http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061560 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061560 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:34:44 -0800 Comment by N Here's a better article..

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4218629.ece

]]> N http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061563 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061563 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:35:48 -0800 Comment by Fnarf You will have to know how to administer a top level domain, or hire someone who does. That's where the hundred grand comes in. No one in their right mind wants to do either of these things unless there's a big payoff, like the ones that Tuvalu (.tv) or the Federated States of Micronesia (.fm) lucked into.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061573 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061573 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:42:54 -0800 Comment by laterite Thanks N.


"Icann is not being forced to act because of there are not enough name options, but because it wants to open up the system to increase consumer choice."


ICANN haz moneez pleez?


Oh man, that was just awful.

]]> laterite http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061577 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061577 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:47:39 -0800 Comment by elswinger I have an Aunt whose email ends ".coop". I've never seen that before.

]]> elswinger http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061585 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061585 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:56:14 -0800 Comment by Veronica www.www.www

]]> Veronica http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061597 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061597 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:06:14 -0800 Comment by K The only answer to the completely false myth of domain name scarcity is, of course, the one that makes the domain registrar industry (as well as ICANN themselves, as they get 50-100 grand per new TLD) as much money as humanly possible.

(PS @7: that's utter bullshit, it won't cost that much to add and distribute a new empty zone file. Please. The money to support the infrastructure will come from the individual [i.e. second level] domain registrations, not the TLD reg -- that's just money in ICANN's pockets. To keep funding their lavish quasi-quarterly conferences in far-flung international cities, no doubt.)

]]> K http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061626 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061626 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:27:40 -0800 Comment by Phil M More specifically, those are proposed new top level domain names.

]]> Phil M http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061636 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061636 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:33:59 -0800 Comment by K WTF?

"With the stock of available web addresses under the current IPv4 protocol set to run out by 2011, ICANN has been under pressure to find a solution for burgeoning demand."

Someone fire that idiot from the tech desk.

Seriously, 15 years now and not a single major news operation seems able to hire a passably competent tech reporter.

"In theory, an infinite number of new domain names could be born"

Um... that's already true, dood.

Dammit, I wish journalism paid more, I'd have stayed in j-school.

]]> K http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061646 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061646 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:43:02 -0800 Comment by Organ Lovers of America you can't use .clownpenis, since we already registered .penis and .veejayjay - but maybe you can subdomain off of us for a small underdeveloped fee.

]]> Organ Lovers of America http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061674 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061674 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:26:43 -0800 Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball @14 -- Is she a chicken?

]]> Jubilation T. Cornball http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061720 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061720 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:19:25 -0800 Comment by yucca flower Does this mean I can have www.xxx.phallic_symbolism ?

]]> yucca flower http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061750 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061750 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:04:59 -0800 Comment by Fnarf .clownpenis would not be a subdomain of .penis. What do you think the dot is for?

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061775 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061775 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:35:47 -0800 Comment by CP .christopherfrizzellesenormousserver ?

]]> CP http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061794 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/master_of_your_domain#c1061794 Teh Internets Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:12:17 -0800