ICANN approves name changes

Jun 26, 2008, 22:36 GMT

Paris - The international group that oversees web addresses authorized far reaching changes on Thursday that will allow companies, organizations and individuals to register top level domain name suffixes.

The group also fast-tracked regulations that will allow web addresses to use non-Latin characters, a move that is seen as key to making the internet more accessible in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The changes by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit group that regulates the internet, will allow companies to register their own names as top level domains, allowing them to use web addresses that end in .ibm or .microsoft for example.

According to Computerworld registering the new domain names will cost between 150,000 dollars and 200,000 dollars and organizations will have to prove they have the technical ability to operate the websites or contract with a company that does.

Immediately following the decision the city of Paris announced that it will sign up for the .paris top-level domain, in conjunction with a group of companies from the city. A group representing 80 or so organizations from Berlin has said that it plans to apply for a top-level domain in that city's name.

Currently there are just 21 top level domains like .com, .net, .org and .biz but under the new system there could potentially be thousands. The first applications will be accepted next year and ICANN hopes that income from the new names will help it cover its 20- million-dollar annual cost.

'The board today accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the internet, paving the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity,' Paul Twomey, president and chief executive of ICANN, said in a statement. 'The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the net. It's a massive increase in the 'real estate' of the internet.'