More sponsored top-level domain (TLD) names are coming to the
Internet, but it is unclear how many and how soon, according to the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The board unanimously approved a proposal to add "a limited number"
of sponsored TLDs to the seven new domains selected as a "proof of
concept" two years ago.
Sponsored domains are created for specific community groups, unlike
generic domains such as ".com". Existing sponsored domains include
".museum" and ".coop," which are meant for use by museums and
co-operative organisations.
ICANN had said it would allow three more sponsored TLDs, but that
number was abandoned as it came under fire from an audience filled
with interested parties here at ICANN's annual meeting in Amsterdam
at the weekend.
"The three was to indicate that it was going to be a small number,
there is no prime number requirement," said Stuart Lynn, ICANN's
president and chief executive officer (CEO) and initiator of the
proposal.
Two years ago, ICANN approved only seven of the 191 proposed names.
On Saturday, during ICANN's public forum, the International Air
Transport Association (IATA) stated its case for ".travel," the
World Health Organisation (WHO) lobbied for ".health," Nokia for
".mobile" and a group of Internet companies said it wants ".III"
for individuals.
Nokia, IATA and the WHO also applied in 2000 and are now pushing
ICANN to hurry along with the additional TLDs.
Lynn will draft a document giving details of what qualities ICANN
should look at when considering applications from organisations
wanting to run a TLD. Future domain name owners should have some
safeguards that the TLD is run by a solid organisation, he said.
Audience members reminded ICANN that it is a technical co-ordinator
and that it should not go down the path of semantic authentication
of domain requests.
Opponents of adding TLDs, mostly large corporations fearing more
intellectual property cases over domain names, want ICANN to
complete the evaluation of the seven TLDs approved in 2000 before
adding more domains.
Some of those new domains are successful; the millionth ".info"
domain was registered last month, for example. The restricted
sponsored community domains have fewer registrants, with several
hundred for ".museum" and registration for ".pro" for professionals
has not even begun.
There is no set time for Lynn to finish the document that will
detail which criteria should be used for adding some more community
TLDs. "But it is very high on the priority list," he added.