Internet to open up to new naming methods
20 Jun 2011
The internet naming board Icann has decided to allow the number of internet "domains" to expand enormously with opening up of the internet's site naming methods.
New website suffixes are set to appear late in 2012 and may be categorised by subjects including industry, geography and ethnicity and include Arabic, Chinese and other scripts.
A plan for expanding the number of possible internet domain name endings from the current 22 – such as ".com", ".org" and ".net" (which are separate of the country-specific domain endings such as ".uk") has been approved by the Icann board. Domains would now come ''in any language or script'' according to Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive of Icann.
According to Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of ICANN's board of directors, the decision would usher in a new internet age. He added that the board had provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration and unless there was a good reason to restrain it, innovation should be allowed to run free.
However, analysts say, the move could also create enormous confusion for consumers and companies.
They add that the move would greatly increase the risks from "phishing" sites because they could use confusing domain names in language scripts that look similar to existing ones to capture peoples' details.