2011年6月20日 星期一

Web Addresses Enter New.Era

The dot-com era is over. Welcome to the dot-anything age.

On Monday, the organization that regulates the world's Internet domain names—yes, there is central coordination—approved changes that could allow anyone to register any name they like in almost any language as a Web address.

The new rules affect what the industry calls top-level domain names, the familiar dot-coms and dot-nets that end every Web address. Now, instead of having to use one of those existing forms, users will be able to end their addresses with the name of their company, such as dot-Ford, or their city, like dot-Berlin.

Now, your domain name could possibly be just about .anything. WSJ's Jen Valentino-DeVries explains why on digits.

If successful, the change could alleviate a shortage of dot-com Web addresses and produce hundreds of millions of dollars in business for the companies whose business is managing the Internet's vast registries, as well as those selling the names, called registrars. Companies could gain new tools for highlighting their identities and networking with suppliers and distributors.

The shift, however, could also cause anxiety and disputes among governments, companies and other entities in safeguarding their brands and identities in cyberspace. Those seeking religious or political names, for example, could lead to sensitive situations.

For companies, even those that are happy with dot-com and aren't interested in adopting a new domain-name suffix will have to monitor the process to head off any potential trademark or brand-name infringement from other applicants, Internet experts said.

"Instead of having a dot-com that doesn't really mean anything, you will have an extension that means something," said Antony Van Couvering, the head of Minds + Machines LLC, a Santa Monica, Calif., company that advises clients on domain names.

The idea behind the change—which likely will need another 18 months before any of the new names become active—was to create more choice on the Internet and potentially spur innovation, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, the nonprofit Internet coordinating body that approved the measure.

[ICANN]

For companies, having a Web-address suffix reflecting their own name could benefit branding as well as online security.

Online sales of counterfeit goods are on the rise, with fake domain names duping customers into thinking they are getting a good price on the real deal. Fraud is a problem, too.

To combat that activity, companies could register their brands as domain names—dot-brand—then offer authorized distributors of their products access to that domain, said Elisa Cooper, director of product marketing at MarkMonitor, a firm that helps businesses protect their brands online.

Those distributors would appear on the Web as distributor1.brand and distributor2.brand. Eventually, consumers could learn that only sites using the dot-brand domain carry authentic products.

Shiv Singh, head of digital for PepsiCo Beverages-America, says the change creates interesting opportunities for building his brand. But he worries about the cost and wonders whether the new addresses will be adopted by consumers, noting that alternatives like dot-biz failed to find an audience. If it does catch on, companies like Pepsi may feel pressure to follow suit.

"I see this as nice to have, but it's not something we're going to get cracking on tomorrow morning," Mr. Singh said. "I am keen to see how other brands adopt it, because this will only succeed if it has critical mass adoption among companies."

Many companies opposed the change, however, citing the hassles it would create. Major companies typically register their name in multiple countries under country-code domain names such as dot-uk for Great Britain, as well as under multiple top-level domain names such as dot-com and dot-net.

The new rules create infinite options, compounding the registration issues. "Trademark owners and their lawyers are watching this closely to ensure their rights," said Jeff Brown, a spokesman for videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. "For us, the domains seem expensive and offer negligible value."

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Peter Dengate Thrush, standing, chairman of Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, at an Icann meeting in Singapore on Monday with Rod Beckstrom, the organization's president and chief executive.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576396963900727284.html#ixzz1PtCjGwhU

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