The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), the entity responsible for the management
of top-level domains, has approved a groundbreaking plan to
dramatically increase the number of domain name suffixes that are
available. This will enable big companies (and those with enough
money) to replace ".com" with their own brand, for
example ".apple" or ".coke".
From 22 to .unlimited
After years of debate, ICANN voted overwhelmingly in favour of
one of the biggest changes in the web's history on 20 June,
allowing a drastic expansion in the range of web suffixes
available, despite fears that the shift would cause some confusion
and favour large companies.
Under the new naming system, businesses will not be restricted
to the list of 22 generic top level domains
(gTLDs) that include ".com",
".net" and ".org" when they apply to register a
domain name. Domain names will be able to end with almost any word
in any language, including non-Roman scripts.
