New Top Level Domains for 2001

ICANN, the folks in charge of the whole domain name scene in a sense :) are planning to release seven new TLDs (top level domains) this year. They are:

• .aero - brought to you by an airline telecommunications company based in Belgium
• .biz - despite complaints that this is too similar to the country code for Belize (.bz), .biz made it through
• .coop - brought to you by NCBA: The National Cooperative Business Association, who just happens to represent some 750,000 cooperatives globally
• .info
• .name - will be used for personal websites and email addresses
• .museum - brought to you by MDMA: The Museum Domain Management Association, a new nonprofit organisation supporting accredited museums worldwide
• .pro - will be used for professionals such as doctors and lawyers

While some folks are excited about the new TLDs, many see a lot of problems with the new names as well as the obvious absence of some of the TLDs that didn't make it. The advantages are obvious, mainly the new availability of zillions of names as well as the ability for certain types of businesses or organisations to get specific names that might fit them. But let's look at some of the problems.

Let's Be Consistent
TLDs like .xxx and .kid were rejected. These obviously would have separated out sites specifically for those target audiences, eliminating a lot of confusion and unattractive surprises. ICANN said they didn't want .kid because who would decide who was running a kid-friendly business or website. However, they are allowing other specific names like .museum and .pro. However, for these names to really serve the intended purpose, SOMEBODY is going to have to make sure not only that the people buying the names are museums and doctors and lawyers BUT ALSO that they are who they say they are!!! I may want MOMA.museum for NY's Museum of Modern Art. OK that's right. But who am I? Um yeah, they said I can get that name for them. This requires some degree of real human involvement if these names will make any sense. Otherwise you will end up with random people owning Louvre.museum and somebody other than my Dad owning JeffreyLevittEsq.pro. :) But my point still stands: if we're checking for real aero businesses, real professional docs, lawyers, and accountants, and real business cooperatives, then why can't we check for real sex sites and real kid-friendly sites? To me, it seems easier to determine what's XXX than if it's an "accredited" museum and if the person applying for the name is authorised.

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