Website naming rules may change
June 26, 2008
The rules which govern domain naming could be changed if the proposals to relax the rules go through.
At the moment websites can only use certain suffixes at the end of internet addresses, such as “.com”, “.co.uk” or “.org”.
The regulator of the web names, The Internet Corporation for Assigned names and Numbers (ICANN) is considering allowing the use of any suffix by summer 2009.
If the plans are approved by ICANN then companies such as Google could use their own company names as the suffix, for example www.search.google.
The sex industry on the internet, which counts for 12% of internet content, is hoping to use “.xxx” as the suffix to domain names. They say this could help regulate the internet sex industry and safeguard against children accidently stumbling onto pornographic sites.
ICANN are also looking into allowing new scripts to be used in domain names. Up until now only the Roman alphabet could be used for website names. However this rule really disadvantages billions of people who can only read their own script. The most common scripts are Arabic, Mandarin, Cyrillic, which is used by millions in the former USSR. Sites using these popular scripts could be fast tracked and in use within a few years.
Emily Taylor from Nominet, one of the biggest name registries, said “There are currently 1.5 billion people using the internet which means that there are a good 4.5 billion people who are not doing so.” She added “These people are not from Europe or America - most of them will be from developing world nations where the Roman script is meaningless.”
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