ICANN makes the break-through decision - new TLD rules relaxed

[polish_aristocrat]

ICANN has apparently voted to approve the new relaxed rules for forming new TLD's.
Experts predict that this will mean hundreds of new global domain extensions emerging soon. Basically, almost anyone paying around $50-$100k and meeting the technical criteria, will be allowed to have his own, unique domain name extension.
For example, GFY will be allowed to apply for a .gfy TLD.
The much relaxed rules for new TLD allocation, will also most likely mean that the .xxx domain name extension will become reality, if ICM applies for it once more.

Regardless of .xxx, personally, I see completely no point in this.
The current TLD system is fine and the new rules will only confuse the web-users and pollute the web with useless crap, will enhance scammers and will mean that companies will have to spend much more money on legal fees and to register domains to protect their trademarks.

See this BBC article for more details:

A complete overhaul of the way in which people navigate the internet has been given the go-ahead in Paris.

The net's regulator, Icann, voted unanimously to relax the strict rules on so-called "top-level" domain names, such as .com or .uk.

The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names.

A second proposal, to introduce domain names written in scripts, such as Asian and Arabic, was also approved.

"We are opening up a new world and I think this cannot be underestimated," said Roberto Gaetano, a member of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

'Historic importance'

Icann has been working towards opening up net addresses for nearly six years.

At the moment, top-level domains are limited to individual countries, such as .uk (UK) or .it (Italy), as well as to commerce (.com) and to institutional organisations, such as .net, or .org.

To get around the restrictions, some companies have used the current system to their own ends.

For example, the Polynesia island nation Tuvalu has leased the use of the .tv address to many television firms.

Under the new plans, there could be thousands of domain names based on any string of letters.

Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, for example, as long as they can show a "business plan and technical capacity".

While companies will be able to secure domain names easily based on their intellectual property, some domain names could become subject to contention and a bidding war.

The new system should come in next year.

Another member of Icann, Peter Dengate Thrush, said the decision to relax the rules was of "historic importance".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7475986.stm

[Dirty F]

Cheers!

[polish_aristocrat]

Franck, you're a totally useless troll.

Your parents must be proud of you.

[Socks]

This is going to be a clusterfuck of the highest proportions. I really see no need for this, it's just going to be confusing and stupid.

[StuartD]

Originally Posted by Socks

This is going to be a clusterfuck of the highest proportions. I really see no need for this, it's just going to be confusing and stupid.

Yup, I see this is as another push towards "the rich gets richer".
It's just people with money putting pressure on icann to give up control to them... so that they can have the power to do what ever they want.

The question is though.... will this pigeon hole us or will it open up the door for us to make a .tube tld? a .freexxx tld?
a .premiumporn tld?

Will those porn pushers with the cash and smarts to make a strong case be able to get a good tld for the rest of us?

[_Richard_]

Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, for example, as long as they can show a "business plan and technical capacity".

interesting

[Jet Redux]

Originally Posted by Dirty F

Cheers!

is this a real polish_aristocrat?

[marketsmart]

Originally Posted by StuartD

Will those porn pushers with the cash and smarts to make a strong case be able to get a good tld for the rest of us?

no, but it would benefit the larger companies like playboy, vivid, hustler, etc.. that could buy a tld and keep it private. like .playboy...

it makes since in terms of trademark protection because a company could say only the .playboy is the official site..

of course they would still have to fight for CR and TM protection, but i think it would make things easier for them..

however, on another note, it would be easier for isp's to filter out a private tld, which i think will happen anyway with all the potential tld's..

[polish_aristocrat]

Interesting situation has arised now.

ICM claims they'll continue to try to reverse last year's ICANN's decision rejecting .xxx via their recent Independent Review Petition.

see more here:

http://www.xbiz.com/news/95780
http://www.gfy.com/fucking-around-and-business-discussion/835979-fight-xxx.html

They say that "the new application process will take a couple of years to settle in", which is not entirely true as far as I know - all the media report that .TLD's approved under the new, relaxed guidelines, will go live already next year.

But, this is interesting: assuming the Independent Review petition won't help ICM, then they'll have to indeed apply for .xxx under the new terms, making it very likely that it will be approved. However, soon everyone with the right budget and business plan will be able to apply fuch any TLD, meaning that lots of other parties might apply for .xxx.

Who will get it then, will depend on the money... and nothing else!

Basically, whoever pays the most to ICANN, would be allowed to run the .xxx domain name registry!

On another note, I've seen various reports, some say $50k will be enough to apply and receive your own .TLD, others say about $500k. So although this is surely a historical decision, it is not certain that in fact the Internet will change. There's a possibility that all the new extensions will stay marginal.

EDIT: extensions like .playboy or .pepsi would be useless.
Why pay $50 or even $500k to have such domain.

Does anyone really think that Playboy would be now www.playboy.playboy and Pepsi would be www.pepsi.pepsi?

[Socks]

Unless you have rights to be the sole registrar for said TLD, how would there be value there? Even for a company like Playboy or Hustler.. Why would it be worth half a million dollars to get a .playboy? They already have the .com, everyone knows it, there's just no need. Plus nobody else could register .Playboy anyways, because of trademarks.. So it's "theirs" even if they don't buy it.

I just don't see the value, unless you plan on being a registrar and selling domain names under your TLD.

[testpie]

Originally Posted by Socks

Unless you have rights to be the sole registrar for said TLD, how would there be value there? Even for a company like Playboy or Hustler.. Why would it be worth half a million dollars to get a .playboy? They already have the .com, everyone knows it, there's just no need. Plus nobody else could register .Playboy anyways, because of trademarks.. So it's "theirs" even if they don't buy it.

I just don't see the value, unless you plan on being a registrar and selling domain names under your TLD.

Exactly. Every non-techie I know currently sees ".com" as "teh Interwebs" and dot anything else as fuck-only knows what.

[Nikki_Licks]

Originally Posted by polish_aristocrat

Interesting situation has arised now.

ICM claims they'll continue to try to reverse last year's ICANN's decision rejecting .xxx via their recent Independent Review Petition.

see more here:

http://www.xbiz.com/news/95780
http://www.gfy.com/fucking-around-and-business-discussion/835979-fight-xxx.html

They say that "the new application process will take a couple of years to settle in", which is not entirely true as far as I know - all the media report that .TLD's approved under the new, relaxed guidelines, will go live already next year.

But, this is interesting: assuming the Independent Review petition won't help ICM, then they'll have to indeed apply for .xxx under the new terms, making it very likely that it will be approved. However, soon everyone with the right budget and business plan will be able to apply fuch any TLD, meaning that lots of other parties might apply for .xxx.

Who will get it then, will depend on the money... and nothing else!

Basically, whoever pays the most to ICANN, would be allowed to run the .xxx domain name registry!

But does this mean we will all be forced to use the .xxx if they reverse the decision? If we don't have to use it, then lawley will lose out and that would be great news.

It sounds like someone on the ICANN board was paid off.....

[polish_aristocrat]

Originally Posted by Nikki_Licks

But does this mean we will all be forced to use the .xxx if they reverse the decision? If we don't have to use it, then lawley will lose out and that would be great news.

It sounds like someone on the ICANN board was paid off.....

I don't think we are close to being forced to use any seperate porn extension at this time.
I don't think the Independent Review panel will revese last years Board's decision, so I guess Lawley will have to apply for .xxx under the new terms one year later.

But as said above, anyone with the right business plans and budget will be able to apply for .xxx, so if some big player from GFY pays more than Lawley, then he'd get .xxx Also, nothing would stop companies for applying for .porn, .sex etc so if there were a few porn extensions already, then the government wouldnt be able to force us into a single one anyway...

Anyway, it's complicated, we will see how it goes.

[DVTimes]

the thing is, .com will always rule.

[dropped9]

i want to register

lensmansisgay.gfy

[polish_aristocrat]

Here's the official ICANN statement.

icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-4-26jun08-en.htm

Biggest Expansion to Internet in Forty Years Approved for Implementation

Paris, France: The Board of ICANN today approved a recommendation that could see a whole range of new names introduced to the Internet's addressing system.

"The Board today accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, paving the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity" said Dr Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN.

A final version of the implementation plan must be approved by the ICANN Board before the new process is launched. It is intended that the final version will be published in early 2009.

"The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net," said Dr Twomey. "It's a massive increase in the 'real estate' of the Internet."

Presently, users have a limited range of 21 top level domains to choose from ? names that we are all familiar with like .com, .org, .info.

This proposal allows applicants for new names to self-select their domain name so that choices are most appropriate for their customers or potentially the most marketable. It is expected that applicants will apply for targeted community strings such as (the existing) .travel for the travel industry and .cat for the Catalan community (as well as generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere). There are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based top level domain, like .nyc (for New York City), .berlin and .paris.

"One of the most exciting prospect before us is that the expanding system is also being planned to support extensions in the languages of the world," said Peter Dengate Thrush, ICANN's Chairman. "This is going to be very important for the future of the Internet in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia." The present system only supports 37 Roman characters.

Upon approval of the implementation plan, it is planned that applications for new names will be available in the second quarter of 2009.

Frequently asked questions on the process

1. Are you selling these new names?

ICANN is not "selling" new top level domain names. There will be a limited application period where any established entity from anywhere in the world can submit an application that will go through an evaluation process. It is anticipated that there will be additional rounds relatively soon after the close of the first application round.

2. What's to stop others registering my brand name?

Trademarks will not be automatically reserved. But there will be an objection-based mechanism for trademark owners where their arguments for protection will be considered.

3. How did this proposal get developed?

ICANN has a multi-stakeholder policy development process that served as the foundation for the process design. It involved consultation with domain name industry, trade mark attorneys, the business sector, users, governments and technicians.

4. How will offensive names be prevented?

Offensive names will be subject to an objection-based process based on public morality and order. This process will be conducted by an international arbitration body utilizing criteria drawing on provisions in a number of international treaties. ICANN will not be the decision maker on these objections.
[so it looks like there's a small chance, that even under the new relaxed terms, .xxx might not be accepted, assuming many governments are against it.]

5. When will all this happen?

ICANN is working towards accepting the first applications in the second quarter of 2009

[Socks]

I also think this is a severe blow to .XXX, even if it doesn't seem so at first glance. They aren't so exclusive anymore, there will be other .adult domain TLD's to contend with, and I still don't see how ICANN has anything to do with "forcing" porn to any specific TLD. There would still have to be government action to force it, and then who would ENFORCE it? Plus it would only be US based. I don't see how ICANN has any jurisdiction over which websites can go under which TLD's

[Nikki_Licks]

Originally Posted by polish_aristocrat

I don't think we are close to being forced to use any seperate porn extension at this time.
I don't think the Independent Review panel will revese last years Board's decision, so I guess Lawley will have to apply for .xxx under the new terms one year later.

But as said above, anyone with the right business plans and budget will be able to apply for .xxx, so if some big player from GFY pays more than Lawley, then he'd get .xxx Also, nothing would stop companies for applying for .porn, .sex etc so if there were a few porn extensions already, then the government wouldnt be able to force us into a single one anyway...

Anyway, it's complicated, we will see how it goes.

Good points! It would be great to see the government with their hands tied. Either way they moved it wouldn't work

If I had the money, I would purchase it just to shut lawley's mouth.
Now we need someone from our industry to jump in and bribe the board....because this is all it seems to be.

[Due]

This sound pretty interesting, would it mean that it would be possible to basically buy an unlimitted domain license? Would there be any fee to pay to anyone per domain?
I see SE spam reaching all new levels, branding from international companies selling $1 domains with their own extensions and such.
I look forward to register Iown.google

[DVTimes]

i presume you could get such as .pc (if its not already taken) then sell .pc domain names should you want to.

It would be a nice way to make a lot of cash.

Is there a limit to these? I mean can you have .email or would that be too long?

[kane]

Originally Posted by Nikki_Licks

But does this mean we will all be forced to use the .xxx if they reverse the decision? If we don't have to use it, then lawley will lose out and that would be great news.

It sounds like someone on the ICANN board was paid off.....

We were never going to be forced to use the .xxx TLD...at least from the start. .xxx was just another option for us just like .net, .biz and so on. There was never a rule or law put in place that would have required us to use .xxx. ICM had actually said they opposed such a requirement and would put a portion of the money they earned from the sale of .xxx names in a fund to fight any such law. If they really would or not remains to be seen.

The worry is that once a .xxx is in place then our fine lawmakers would take that next step and require porn to be on the .xxx. Here is how it could easily happen. The .xxx is approved and a buying frenzy erupts. Lawsuits and complaints fly as people jockey to get the best domains and/or get the .com names they currently own in .xxx. During this time we have a presidential election. Somehow John McCain wins. He realizes in the end that the conservative christian right ended up supporting him and that brought him the election. Now he wants to throw them a bone so he pulls in a few conservative senators (maybe even a democrat to make it seem like he is being bi-partisan) and they come up with the plan to introduce a law that would require all porn sites to be on the .xxx. Of course McCain has never even used a computer so he will be operating solely on the advice of advisers. These senators give the bill a name that you can't vote against. Think something like "The Protecting Children From Pornography Act." It will breeze through the house and senate because nobody will vote against a bill named that. It then ends up in court. There are many a court battle and eventually it is ruled that the law can stand. Let's not forget back during the COPA days the supreme court ruled that the community standard rule can be used on the internet and that freedom of speech doesn't mean we can put whatever we want up on the internet. So the law stands and we are forced to go to .xxx. At this point you would hope that you were able to get all of your domains in the .xxx TLD. If not then you could be screwed. Think if you had 50 domains but were only able to get 10 of them in the .xxx format. Now you just have to kill the other 40 sites.

So at this point there is no rule. There is a good chance that even if .xxx were allowed to exist that a law requiring it would never be pass and even if there was one it may never hold up in court. But then again, you never know.

Worst case scenario?
1. .xxx is allowed to pass.
2. the government rules that all porn sites must use a .xxx (of course this will only effect the US based people)
3. As a part of the bill that requires .xxx to be used it also requires all ISPs to filter .xxx by default. Any customer that wants access to .xxx can contact their ISP and have the filter turned off.
4. Your traffic disappears overnight. There will be people that turn off the .xxx filter, but most will not because there will still be plenty of porn available online from people and companies that are not in the US.
5. With traffic gone and nobody actually surfing the .xxx sites your sites die and your business shrivels up.
6. You begin to practice saying the phrase, "would you like fries with that."

[V_RocKs]

Sweet...
.vrx

[davecummings]

Here's what I posted earlier to another GFY thread that was started today. FWIW.

"I worry that the religious right will pressure gov't to mandate the move of any/all sexual matter sites to .xxx (Stuart Lawley?) or .sex; then, after more political pressure, the gov't will consider mandating the shutdown of all .xxx/.sex traffic.

IMO, maybe, owners of presentadult-related .com sites should all chip in and apply to obtain the .kids domain TLD/Registry -- and, then launch a nationwide push for all responsible parents to use filters so that their kids can access only .kids domains (and some .com sites that the parents approve for their kids to access!)? We need to show the gov't that it need not censor adult .com access when all that would be needed is for parents to parent (i.e., what Internet access their kids have). At the same time, running the .kids might become a profitable business for the ICANN approved .kids registry????????"

IMO, what Kane posted in #21 above is well worth reading again---the future looks potentially scary:-(.

__________________

[ffmihai]

we will have .blowjob and .cunt domains?

[ffmihai]

.labia hehe

[ffmihai]

and at last .cum

[fusionx]

I can't wait to type "sex" in google and get 20 pages of sex.com, sex.hellothere, sex.whatchalookinat, sex.lookatme, sex.foo, sex.bar, etc.. and sex.etc

[NewbieNudes]

Ok - time to buy google shares as people will now only be able to find shit through google.

[Jens Van Assterdam]

it just was on TV over here.

[kane]

Originally Posted by fusionx

I can't wait to type "sex" in google and get 20 pages of sex.com, sex.hellothere, sex.whatchalookinat, sex.lookatme, sex.foo, sex.bar, etc.. and sex.etc

Domain name has a lot less to do with finding stuff in google than how the whole site is optimized and how many links it has to it. If people buy up all those names and optimize the correctly you could see that, but right now if you type sex into google sex.com isn't even in the top 30

[NewbieNudes]

Originally Posted by polish_aristocrat

Does anyone really think that Playboy would be now www.playboy.playboy and Pepsi would be www.pepsi.pepsi?

No, they would just be www.playboy and www.pepsi but of course still use playboy.com and pepsi.com

It is a complete clusterfuck of an idea. Nooone's mentioned also the millions of $$ in value that could potentially we wiped off .com domains in the domain investement field.

[desus]

Originally Posted by NewbieNudes

No, they would just be www.playboy and www.pepsi but of course still use playboy.com and pepsi.com

It is a complete clusterfuck of an idea. Nooone's mentioned also the millions of $$ in value that could potentially we wiped off .com domains in the domain investement field.

Yeah they kinda just fucked domainers. Not immediately but man this isn't good.

[polish_aristocrat]

Originally Posted by desus

Yeah they kinda just fucked domainers. Not immediately but man this isn't good.

I agree. If you own premium .com domains than any competition from new extensions isn't good. Even if they will stay marginal, there will always be some company who will decide to register/buy some name.whatever instead of spending out some real cash to secure a prime .com. And there will be always a surfer who will type in some new extension instead of .com

If prime .com domains are your big asset, then you can't be satisfied with a decision that potentially may have negative long term effects on your portfolios value and income.

On the other hand, opportunities may emerge to secure some of that new domain land, but unfortunately I think the prime domain in these new .TLD's will be simply auctioned.

So you rather won't get www.buy.music for registration fee...

[buyandsell]

As far as the effects on .com owners goes - Does this mean people will be able to sell subdomains of their TLD unregulated IE: anything.MYSHIT ?

I can't see that they would do that without enforcing rules similar to the TLD places now, .BIZ, MOBI etc So realy all we are going to see is a lot more junk extensions and .com value will stay high.


OR if its just so companies with $xxx,xxx can buy .MYCOMPANY for their websites
Thats not realy going to affect .com either.

[Serge Litehead]

Originally Posted by NewbieNudes

No, they would just be www.playboy and www.pepsi but of course still use playboy.com and pepsi.com

It is a complete clusterfuck of an idea. Nooone's mentioned also the millions of $$ in value that could potentially we wiped off .com domains in the domain investement field.

actually they could be just http://playboy and http://pepsi

[Voodoo]

This is good news.

[tranza]

Originally Posted by Jet Redux

is this a real polish_aristocrat?

Is just a dildo!

[testpie]

Originally Posted by holograph

actually they could be just http://playboy and http://pepsi

Are you sure? I wonder how Firefox would handle these if entered without the http://, because at the moment if you just enter a term without a TLD it simply takes you to the first Google match for that term.

[Quentin]

Offensive names will be subject to an objection-based process based on public morality and order. This process will be conducted by an international arbitration body utilizing criteria drawing on provisions in a number of international treaties. ICANN will not be the decision maker on these objections.

I'm sure this process would be oh-so-efficient, too, since offensiveness is something that people all agree upon based on highly reasoned, objective criteria....

[Nikki_Licks]

Originally Posted by kane

We were never going to be forced to use the .xxx TLD...at least from the start. .xxx was just another option for us just like .net, .biz and so on. There was never a rule or law put in place that would have required us to use .xxx. ICM had actually said they opposed such a requirement and would put a portion of the money they earned from the sale of .xxx names in a fund to fight any such law. If they really would or not remains to be seen.

The worry is that once a .xxx is in place then our fine lawmakers would take that next step and require porn to be on the .xxx. Here is how it could easily happen. The .xxx is approved and a buying frenzy erupts. Lawsuits and complaints fly as people jockey to get the best domains and/or get the .com names they currently own in .xxx. During this time we have a presidential election. Somehow John McCain wins. He realizes in the end that the conservative christian right ended up supporting him and that brought him the election. Now he wants to throw them a bone so he pulls in a few conservative senators (maybe even a democrat to make it seem like he is being bi-partisan) and they come up with the plan to introduce a law that would require all porn sites to be on the .xxx. Of course McCain has never even used a computer so he will be operating solely on the advice of advisers. These senators give the bill a name that you can't vote against. Think something like "The Protecting Children From Pornography Act." It will breeze through the house and senate because nobody will vote against a bill named that. It then ends up in court. There are many a court battle and eventually it is ruled that the law can stand. Let's not forget back during the COPA days the supreme court ruled that the community standard rule can be used on the internet and that freedom of speech doesn't mean we can put whatever we want up on the internet. So the law stands and we are forced to go to .xxx. At this point you would hope that you were able to get all of your domains in the .xxx TLD. If not then you could be screwed. Think if you had 50 domains but were only able to get 10 of them in the .xxx format. Now you just have to kill the other 40 sites.

So at this point there is no rule. There is a good chance that even if .xxx were allowed to exist that a law requiring it would never be pass and even if there was one it may never hold up in court. But then again, you never know.

Worst case scenario?
1. .xxx is allowed to pass.
2. the government rules that all porn sites must use a .xxx (of course this will only effect the US based people)
3. As a part of the bill that requires .xxx to be used it also requires all ISPs to filter .xxx by default. Any customer that wants access to .xxx can contact their ISP and have the filter turned off.
4. Your traffic disappears overnight. There will be people that turn off the .xxx filter, but most will not because there will still be plenty of porn available online from people and companies that are not in the US.
5. With traffic gone and nobody actually surfing the .xxx sites your sites die and your business shrivels up.
6. You begin to practice saying the phrase, "would you like fries with that."

Well stated

This will be interesting to see what prevails....

[Zester]

Originally Posted by holograph

actually they could be just http://playboy and http://pepsi

not to mention sub domains like:
http://porn.playboy
http://vod.playboy
http://dvd.playboy