Category: Technology

The battle over new Internet domains is being fought right now

This is the first article in a series that examine Internet governance. How it is organized, exercised and what impact is has on you.

Mark Twain once said : « Buy land, they’re not making it anymore». However, with the rising sea levels he might have been too optimistic. But what is lost to high water can perhaps be won elsewhere. The Internet is expanding: there is new land to be had. And although it is virtual, it could well turn out to be worth more than premium pay-dirt.

Let me introduce “ICANN”. If you haven’t heard about this organization, you are in good company: Most haven’t. The acronym stands for the “Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers” and they are for all practical purposes the landlords of the Internet. With a difference: unlike their Earth-bound name sakes, they can conjure up endless plains of virgin land without sending a single soldier out on conquest. And they are doing just that, right now. More than 1400 new Top Level Domains are set to be created in the next twelve months. But some of these uncharted territories come with the label “here be monsters”…  More …