I bet few domainers have an interest in the proposed .Eco domain, which is one of those new gTLD’s, that has more than one interested party wanting to own the extension. (.nyc is another propose new extension with expected multiple applicants )
.Eco its looking like its going to be a battle between two political heavyweights, former United States, VP Al Gore and former Russian ex-president Mikhail Gorbachev.
Al Gore is supporting the Dot Eco LLC application, while Mr Gorbachev is linked to Big Room, a Canadian group.
Big Room promises it will donate a 25% of the revenue that it generates selling domain names to environmental and social causes.
Who will decide where the 25% will go?
Big Room says they will open up this process to user input to help them decide how to direct the funds.
Big Room says they will award .Eco domains only to groups that provide proof that they are “green”, making .eco, a .travel equivalent, by limiting registration to only those companies that can prove they are deserving of the extension.
Who will decide who is “green”?
Big Room co-founder, Trevor Bowden, Big Room, says:
“We are not going to take the position that we can judge who is green, especially as standards are constantly changing. We will let the consumer decide.”
Yes this is just just one of the nightmares that ICANN is opening up by allowing hundreds or thousands of new extensions for domain names.
If you think Gorbachev has any involvement in this project whatsoever, I’ve got a .info domain to sell you.
From ICANN’s perspective, they love it. Multiple bidders for a domain space. Once ICANN do this for every word in the dictionary, they’ll be satisfied. And it will be all about bringing “innovation” to the internet. How generous … at $185,000 per pop.
How about we go in together on .eliminateICANN?
All cynicism aside, I wonder what the internet will look like from a pure consumer perspective when they get to choose from:
hotel.hotels, hotel.hotel, hotels.hotels, and hotels.hotel
Max
I think under the guidebook, ICANN won’t award both .hotel and .hotels
The more I think about it and hear about it all I see these new .tlds doing is increasing the value of .com. I’m sure there will be a successful new .tld or 2, but even those will further the value of .com. I say take out URS & Premium pricing and then I don’t care how many .tlds they make. Maybe all the new .tlds will keep NAF, WIPO, ICANN, and the other 3 & 4 capital letter groups busy and keep them out of our hair for a while.
chillywilly = troll.
@MHB – “I think under the guidebook, ICANN wonβt award both .hotel and .hotels”
Ok, that would be preferable. I believe the pollution potential will still be magnified. Somewhat different slant …
nyc.cheaphotels, cheaphotels.nyc, nyc.cheaphotels.com, hotels.nyc, nyc.hotels
My greater criticism is that with a mostly unlimited tld proposal, the door is opened wide for many more variations that are only slightly different one from another.
My contention is that the public is going to see these numerous subtle variations and be confused by them. The real danger is the mass duplication of the left side of the dot with the right side of the dot. This will undermine the heirarchial & logical DNS system that has evolved up to this point.
The way competition works is that ICANN will enter a mine field in which they will be called upon to decide who will get approval for new extensions as multiple parties jockey for position. As new namespaces get branded on the right side of the dot, the legal conflicts (both traditional and new) will become huge. ICANN will find themselves entangled in a mess they created for $185,000 per tld. IP lawyers are going to experience unprecedented levels of business.
US trademark guidelines, as you well know, have historically not allowed for the incorporation of the actual tld in recognition of a protected word mark. This will be challenged as new media companies actually attempt to brand their new “generic” tld such as .hotels, .cars, .miami, etc.
In my opinion, all of this will indeed strengthen the .com brand as well as very pure generics in other leading extensions. Country codes will take on even more importance as distinct internet destinations.
The sour taste to come is how ill-prepared ICANN will have been to deal with the massive legal fallout and consumer dissatisfaction. In retrospect, the consensus will be that they failed to adequately account and prepare for both foreseen and unforeseen problems. Many have speculated on an inevitable split of the internet into separate roots, and I think this is coming with the loss of internet organization and huge international criticism that is to follow after ICANN launch their tld revenue orgy.
It is exceptionally telling that ICANN have specifically side-stepped the most profound question of all -> Which is “Why not just release a finite number of tld’s per year?”
This strategy is arguably the best possible course of action for many reasons. But it limits ICANN’s money-oriented focus. And what ICANN wants typically supercedes anyone and anything. Or so we are led to believe based on their history.
π , Gee I’ve done it again. Come across as having a negative assessment of ICANN. I actually did not start out that way. Oh well.
I do not see is as a nightmare. Competition is always good. It always works in the favor of the consumer or the constituents of the initiative. Also creates great “talk” and “buzz” in the industry.
Question is which application serves its community better and is the best fit to represent the future of that particular industry.
I believe that each TLD applicant should prove market demand and how their initiative will benefit the internet as a whole. I agree with many that launching hundreds of extensions might not be a great idea. Then again, so many of them have launched that the general public have no idea about. They will remain in obscurity. I am expecting about 5% of the TLDs to have an overwhelming success. The extension is only as strong as the business plan and the team behind it and their ability to adapt and serve the needs of their constituents.
I certainly am excited about kicking some butt with .music. Let the best application which serves the global community better win. Market demand, innovation & solid long term business plan.
Let the games begin (question is when will the begin – there is nothing worse than waiting in such a fast paced internet economy). I know all the parties are ready to rock n roll,
Regards and best of luck to both .eco initiatives,
Constantine
.music domain extension
http://www.music.us
http://www.twitter.com/musicextension
I’m with Mr Menius who says consumers will be confused by so many extensions. Hey maybe the younger crowd enjoys brain overload as they can keep up with it all. But for us middle of the hill crowd, KISS applies.
Who wants to remember if that site you saw on TV was .baby .movie .blog .eco .ngo .blog .tv .us .net .biz .mobi .mom .dad .sis .bro .cat .dog .md .phd .dds .do .dont .etc .etc .etc .lol
Hey now, .lol I kinda like π
.etc too!
NGO reminds me of the UN ξ‘
I suppose there’s a .global ?