The New York Times: Expanding Internet Domains

In an opinion piece published December 26 by The New York Times, the paper expressed its support of the ANA's position against ICANN's generic top-level domain expansion program.

By The New York Times
Published: December 26

Come January, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers plans to allow businesses, nonprofits and others to apply for their own “top-level domain” with their own online suffix, like the familiar .com and .org suffixes that now rule the internet.

ICANN, the nonprofit that manages the internet’s address system, says increasing the number of top-level domains will ease crowding and create opportunities for businesses to connect with consumers. For instance, Canon plans to buy .canon to put its Web sites in one spot and the American Bankers Association is reportedly considering .bank, where banks could offer secure online banking.

But a plethora of new suffixes is just as likely to cause confusion for consumers and enable malefactors to use the new arenas for deception. ICANN expects 500 to 1,000 applications in next year’s 90-day application window. Before it approves any of them, it needs to slow down and put in place better safeguards against consumer fraud.

Read the full published story at The New York Times.