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First New Generic Top Level Domains Opening

umdenken points out that the first batch of generic Top Level Domains will go live within the next several days, including .bike, .guru, .clothing, .holdings, .singles, .plumbing, and .ventures. (Early access began Jan. 29th.) ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade says there is currently huge demand for ICANN to reopen their program to let companies run their own gTLD. He said, "Many, many brands and many, many communities didn't know about the GTLD program. I get significant amounts of questions about when can we open the next round, because certainly there is a bit of angst that if Canon [who applied for the .canon gTLD] uses this to do an incredible mass customization campaign to win users to their product, I'm sure the brand next to them will say "Why aren't we doing this?" So I do believe this will snowball. But many will find a .com or whatever they have now will be good enough, and I believe that one excludes the other." He also said the $185,000 price tag to do so is likely to drop.

198 comments

  1. Just saying... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is a terrible idea for the internet but a great idea for the businesses (eg. custom marketing like the summary mentions) and ICANN (because who wouldn't love large wads of cash!)

    Can anyone give a few points on how this is good for the general internet user?

    captcha: complete

    1. Re:Just saying... by game+kid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The general internet user gets to be tracked, advertised-to, and generally fucked over as usual. But the address bar will look swag with that .bike in it, yo.

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    2. Re:Just saying... by mikael · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Now you can make your domain name look like a USENET discussion forum:

      alt.fashion.goth.clothing
      comp.languages.cobol.programmer.guru

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    3. Re:Just saying... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 1

      It would have been more honest to ban generic terms for TLDs (except the big five), and instead require the new TLDs to be the names or reasonable abbreviations of the controlling registrars. So instead of ".bike", they would have registered... wait they're called Donuts? Seriously? You gave a TLD to a company called Donuts? Sigh. Okay, bad example. But you get my point.

      I think there is a lingering cringe against companies (*cough*Microsoft*cough*) having their own private TLD. But, in practice, that's all the new TLD are, TLDs owned by private companies for commercial gain. All the current system does is make it more obscure who controls each TLD, and more difficult for companies to control their brand IP.

      It would be more honest, and more useful to the general internet user, if any companies could buy their TLD-name from ICANN for a fixed amount per year. (If they want, ICANN could restrict it to companies that have multiple public-facing services.)

      I see no reason why Apple shouldn't have .apple for their services. Microsoft, .microsoft. Google, .google or .goog. ICANN makes say a $million/yr per registrar, users can better see who is whom (I mean, what the fuck is .guru?). Everyone wins.

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    4. Re:Just saying... by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Can anyone give a few points on how this is good for the general internet user?

      The presence of a custom TLD on a website is an instant indicator for me that the website is almost certainly a flash in the pan marketing project, not being taken very seriously by its owners, and probably not worth my time to click on the link.

      Pluses all-round I'd say.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    5. Re:Just saying... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      New domains like these are difficult to sell as advertising hooks because so many common folk insist on adding '.com' to the end of anything other. But in what way are they bad for the Internet?

    6. Re:Just saying... by Monoman · · Score: 1

      Money grab. Without enforcement on TLD usage (new and old) they can be meaningless.

      --
      Keep the Classic Slashdot.
    7. Re:Just saying... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Cue scammer in 5, 4, 3...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    8. Re:Just saying... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, I could think of a few reasons why Apple should not have .apple. One of them being that there's allegedly a fruit by that name that even allegedly has older rights to that name.

      But in general, what good would it serve? So FINALLY, after all those years, the internet community learned that their company can be found at "www.company.com". What would we gain by getting ".company" now instead? Aside of having to reteach everyone? There is exactly zero net value to the internet users.

      What? Oh, we could be certain that .company is actually $company? We already can if $company gives a shit about its domain name. It's trivial for $company to win the rights to "www.company.com" from the average domain squatter. And if they don't give a fuck, well, then .company won't save you from a scammer either because guess what, they can register that themselves. It's fairly trivial to open up $company in some country the name of which ends in -stan and claim the TLD. If nobody challenges it, who would keep you from doing so?

      So what exactly do you expect from .company? Personally, I see exactly zero benefit. Well, aside of the benefit for the ICANN because everyone HAS to buy his .company TLD lest some scammer does.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re:Just saying... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 1

      ban generic terms for TLDs (except the big five)

      Oops. Big six. I forgot .mil.

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    10. Re:Just saying... by mjwalshe · · Score: 1

      And i suspect Paul McCartney and the owners of the rights to apple music might disagree :-)

    11. Re:Just saying... by zieroh · · Score: 1

      Well, I could think of a few reasons why Apple should not have .apple. One of them being that there's allegedly a fruit by that name that even allegedly has older rights to that name.

      Corporations are people. Fruits are not. I'm personally against expanding the right of personhood to fruits.

      --
      People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
    12. Re:Just saying... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's clear that ICANN wants to create a bunch of privately owned TLD registrars. Good or bad, they have been pushing that barrow for several years now. But the current scheme hides those registrars behind idiotic faux-generic TLDs as if they were the original .com .net .org .edu .gov .mil. I'm just saying that it's more honest if you want to allow companies to buy private TLDs, then use their actual names.

      ICANN has this cringe against letting companies use their names as TLDs, but want a bunch of registrars running private TLDs. It's self-contradictory and results in the current stupidity.

      If nobody challenges it, who would keep you from doing so?

      $185,000 non-refundable application fee plus $1 million per year. Plus whatever additional rules ICANN wants to attach. This isn't intended for the average company. If it went beyond, say, a hundred company TLDs, I'd raise the annual fee until the number drops below that. If it was below 25 coTLDs, I'd reduce the fee until it rises.

      Let me put it another way: Why should the island of Tuvalu be allowed to have a TLD, (actually leased to and run out of a ISP in Canada IIRC), but not Google? (Or rather why should a small ISP in Canada have the entirely for-profit .tv TLD, when Google/Apple/Microsoft/Yahoo/ATT/Amazon/etc can't?)

      Or for that matter, why should Nauru, population 9000, but not California, population 38 million?

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    13. Re:Just saying... by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      It is getting to the point where domain names themselves are useless; you basically need a search engine for everything. Maybe we should just switch to IPV6 addresses instead; it will make things easier...

    14. Re:Just saying... by microcars · · Score: 1

      And i suspect Paul McCartney and the owners of the rights to apple music might disagree :-)

      and I suspect they won't.
      From APPLE Press Release February 2007:

      CUPERTINO, California and LONDON—Apple® Inc. and The Beatles’ company Apple Corps Ltd. are pleased to announce the parties have entered into a new agreement concerning the use of the name “Apple” and apple logos which replaces their 1991 Agreement. Under this new agreement, Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to “Apple” and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. In addition, the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies will end, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. will continue using its name and logos on iTunes®. The terms of settlement are confidential.

      newspaper accounts at the time stated that Apple Computer was buying out Apple Corps' trademark rights for a total of $500 million.

      --
      I like microcars
    15. Re:Just saying... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Because some nuclear power somewhere thinks that those countries should have sovereignty, and no other nuclear power wants to seriously dispute the issue.

      Countries are countries because there is a military protecting them. As countries, they have sovereignty. They make their own laws, and so it makes sense to give them a TLD on which their laws apply.

    16. Re:Just saying... by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      Now you can make your domain name look like a USENET discussion forum:

      alt.fashion.goth.clothing
      comp.languages.cobol.programmer.guru

      alt.binaries.sex.pictures.erotica.bestiality.hamster.duct-tape - You can expect our A-1 tapes of sexy colors to take a beating and still provide you the protection required; be sure to catch our ads in the newspaper.

      Freaking people have reinvented the wheel.

    17. Re:Just saying... by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      Well, I could think of a few reasons why Apple should not have .apple. One of them being that there's allegedly a fruit by that name that even allegedly has older rights to that name.

      You'd think a pane of glass would have the same advantage. Windows shoved that gimme out the watching hole in the wall.

    18. Re:Just saying... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the bright side, we can now just block *.microsoft in our hosts file and hopefully not be subjected to that world of hurt anymore :)

    19. Re:Just saying... by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      Freaking people have reinvented the wheel.

      No, they just found another way to monetize it...
      I look for a browser add-on to appear soon to black list/white list the new TDL's like ABP does for ad domains...

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    20. Re:Just saying... by Workaphobia · · Score: 1

      No, it's bad for businesses. It means they have to invest funds in protecting their brand. Just like how the .xxx domain people blanketed television with ads, saying how they'll extort your non-porn business by registering your name under their TLD.

      --
      Evidently, the key to understanding recursion is to begin by understanding recursion. The rest is easy.
    21. Re:Just saying... by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      So you just pointed out WHY we will get .company.

      ICANN will have every company out there, buying and squatting on .company, and then a few million speculators and more squatters hoping to mind gold by having .spoon, and .gold, and .shovel -- every single word in the dictionary will have to be bought from iCANN.

      Then of course Coke will have to register coke.coke, and IBM ibm.ibm -- just because.

      There's ZERO use to the world for this confusion, but when has that stopped anything when profits are on the line? ICANN is a useless agency that has one product.

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
    22. Re:Just saying... by secretagentmoof · · Score: 1

      It was alt.gothic,fashion, actually.

    23. Re:Just saying... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      When the fruits in the corporations are people, why can't apples be?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    24. Re:Just saying... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 1

      and then a few million speculators and more squatters

      At the ICANN application price ($185k) that would be a few hundred billion dollars worth of "speculators". And at my "$million/yr fee", that would be a trillion dollars every year to maintain their squat. So I suspect not.

      Then of course Coke will have to register coke.coke, and IBM ibm.ibm -- just because.

      You're being stupid now. If Coke buys .coke, they'd set up coke.coke (and everything.else.coke) on their own registry. They own the TLD.

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
    25. Re:Just saying... by psyclone · · Score: 1

      And it was fair in the early days of the Internet, BEFORE you actually had to "register" a domain name.

      Back then, DNS was a giant hosts file (queue APK) where one dude updated it and most people replicated it.

      They chose to isolate countries based on the 2 character ISO code, and it stuck.

  2. Can I register .n or .jb? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Won't be running my own mail service, promise.

    1. Re:Can I register .n or .jb? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2

      What about a top level domain .corn? Of course only to be used for things related to agrarian products. ;-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    2. Re:Can I register .n or .jb? by Megane · · Score: 1

      I'd like to register .ing, then I could use it with every verb in the English language! run.ing! ski.ing! danc.ing! fuc... er you get the point.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    3. Re:Can I register .n or .jb? by Mitchell314 · · Score: 1

      Hah, took me a minute to get it. :P

      --
      I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
    4. Re:Can I register .n or .jb? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still haven't gotten it...

    5. Re:Can I register .n or .jb? by Mitchell314 · · Score: 1

      Think stolen twitter handles.

      --
      I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  3. Generic? by tgv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nobody knew about GTLD? Perhaps that's because .bike isn't really "generic", is it? And it's pretty Anglo-centric too.

    1. Re:Generic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's the same nonsense as internationalization in appications which should actually be called nationalization.

    2. Re:Generic? by gigaherz · · Score: 1

      Intern... I18n is the process of making an application aware of different ways to display text (such as LTR vs. RTL), different number formats, different currency formats, etc. Since usually applications are designed for the formats used in the developers' culture, adding other cultures to an application means opening it up to other nations, thus the application becomes international. You are probably thinking of localization (l10n), which is the process of taking an internationalized application, and making it actually support a concrete culture (language, reading order, numeric formats, ....).

    3. Re:Generic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      .bike is that the new American euphemism for .xxx. Its weird how Americans are rabid for the free market until it comes to sex.

    4. Re:Generic? by Grismar · · Score: 1

      I agree with your point about it being Anglo-centric.

      Unless of course the Igbo-speaking Nigerians really wanted a ".automotive" TLD, the Japanese wanted ".bicycles" or the Yoruba in Benin wanted ".healthy". :)

    5. Re:Generic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      uh.. they have/are working on international domain equivalents in other languages too.... but I guess searching is harder than complaining on slashdot.

    6. Re:Generic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty sure that's now .plumbing,

    7. Re:Generic? by Smask · · Score: 1

      Naah, that's for IT services.

    8. Re:Generic? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      .bike is that the new American euphemism for .xxx. Its weird how Americans are rabid for the free market until it comes to sex.

      As far as I can tell, the Americans are all for sex-free markets. ;-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    9. Re:Generic? by xaxa · · Score: 1

      I agree with your point about it being Anglo-centric.

      Did you look at the list? The first one is in Arabic: (Just a redirect.), http:///./ probably won't work on Slashdot, so try http://xn--ggbla1c4e.xn--ngbc5... instead. .VERSICHERUNG is for the "German speaking insurance industry", .BERLIN is obvious, and there's a few in Russian, Chinese and Japanese.

    10. Re:Generic? by ganjadude · · Score: 2

      This american would prefer free sex markets

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    11. Re:Generic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plumbing is too fisking Roman!

      I'm going to register sodomy.plumbing

    12. Re:Generic? by swillden · · Score: 1

      And it's pretty Anglo-centric too.

      That one is, but there are many non-English GTLDs, too, including some that are in non-latin character sets. For example, the first one launched is a Japanese phrase, written in Kanji.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  4. I am registering .MILF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can start submitting pics of your mom and her sisters as soon as I get some websites put together.
    BAM

    1. Re:I am registering .MILF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I want .club

  5. For all the USA haters on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    After the USA invented the Internet it administered the TLDs until 1998 or so, when ICANN took over.

    Having an international organization that holds meetings around the world must be better than letting the bad old American government run things, right. How boring and uncreative it would've been to be stuck with dot-com, dot-org, dot-net, dot-edu, and the country-specific TLDs.

    1. Re: For all the USA haters on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh I don't know. How boring has it been since 1998?
      You know what's boring?
      Trying to get creative with addresses.
      What's next? Getting creative with home addresses? "Oh no, this isn't 123 Main Street, it's 12 with a BLUE 3 Main Street."
      How long till someone gets slashdot.org.guru and puts a nice goatse up there?

    2. Re: For all the USA haters on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We can only hope.

    3. Re:For all the USA haters on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The root of the DNS zone is still handled by the US government. ICANN has a consultative role and suggests modifications, US can still veto any suggestion and can nuke a whole country out of DNS if they so chose.

      "Inventing the Internet" gives you the same rights over the international Internet as "inventing the English language" gives over English speakers. If not for the DoD project, the computers of the world would have been connected using a descendant of Minitel, BBSes etc. It would have been completely different at the protocol level and completely similar at it's uses and porn availability.

    4. Re:For all the USA haters on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Inventing the Internet" gives you the same rights over the international Internet as "inventing the English language" gives over English speakers.

      I think I lost your point. Are you saying that England has the right to decide if it's spelled "colour" or "color" in the US?

    5. Re:For all the USA haters on Slashdot by mjwalshe · · Score: 1

      ICANT holds its meetings in ought of the way places in the third world to stop effective oversight :-(

    6. Re:For all the USA haters on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We (or rather, our country) didn't "invent" the Internet. The scientists/engineers hired by ARPA originally aimed to create a very limited wide-area network (ARPAnet) so the few really powerful mainframes could be accessed by researchers regardless of where they lived -- and just about every step we took towards the eventual Internet was also taking place in at least one other country, using their own homegrown protocols (some of which were chosen over 'ours' for long-term use). Contrary to what a lot of people are told, it wasn't a matter of our one country leading the others into the Internet Age.

    7. Re:For all the USA haters on Slashdot by Maow · · Score: 1

      "Inventing the Internet" gives you the same rights over the international Internet as "inventing the English language" gives over English speakers.

      I think I lost your point. Are you saying that England has the right to decide if it's spelled "colour" or "color" in the US?

      Perhaps you're playing stupid on the Internet, or maybe you're just thick, so I'll spell it out for you.

      If the USA wants to spell colour "kulor", England can't stop them.

      England "invented" English. USA can do with it what they want.

      USA "invented" the Internet. The world can do (or ought to be able to do) with it what it wants.

      I believe that is what the +5 Insightful AC above you was getting at.

  6. why do we need generic top level domains anyway. by strack · · Score: 1

    why do we even have .com or .org or .net on the end. Surely the classification of organization at a address can be stored in some other way, and not be so important as to need to be typed in every time you go to that url. I mean, why cant i just type 'slashdot' in the address bar. Damn near everyone defaults to .com anyway.

  7. Politics: by Hartree · · Score: 1

    Oh joy. I can just hardly wait for the race to get .obama, .clinton, .christie, .huckabee, etc.

    What a wonderful advance for the intarwebs...

    (sarcasm warning for the insight impaired)

    1. Re:Politics: by rossdee · · Score: 1

      "Oh joy. I can just hardly wait for the race to get .obama, .clinton, .christie, .huckabee, etc."

      I think the NJ governor will be saving his money for legal fees

      anyway some names )like Christie) are not uncommon

    2. Re:Politics: by jd2112 · · Score: 1

      Oh joy. I can just hardly wait for the race to get .obama, .clinton, .christie, .huckabee, etc.

      What a wonderful advance for the intarwebs...

      (sarcasm warning for the insight impaired)

      For some reason my .christie domain seems to be blocked. I guess I should have endorsed him.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    3. Re:Politics: by Hartree · · Score: 1

      "I think the NJ governor will be saving his money for legal fees"

      Now, now. It ain't over until the fat lady sings about the fat man.

  8. $185,000 is Raqueteering by deconfliction · · Score: 1

    $185,000 is Raqueteering.

    1. Re:$185,000 is Raqueteering by JanneM · · Score: 4, Funny

      $185,000 is Raqueteering.

      I knew tennis could be an expensive sport, but I had no idea...

      --
      Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
    2. Re:$185,000 is Raqueteering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's really just a short-term game (in the grand scheme) because in 100 years we won't use a centralized name system.

      If you want to see something cool, look at what the GNU project is working on with the GNU Name System. Still early days there, but sooner or later they or someone else will get a decentralized system up that really puts the traditional system on its ass.

    3. Re:$185,000 is Raqueteering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      How much do you charge for .scam?

      I know a Nigerian prince who would be keen to acquire it.

      PS Please send your bank account details so I can pay you for it.

    4. Re: $185,000 is Raqueteering by Oonushi · · Score: 1

      THIS is what I want to happen sooner rather than later. The whole point of the Internet is to be decentralized, I never got why that didn't extend to the DNS system too. Fuck ICANN

    5. Re: $185,000 is Raqueteering by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      The whole point of the Internet is to be decentralized, I never got why that didn't extend to the DNS system too. Fuck ICANN

      Is it? When was the last time you peered with your neighbors?

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    6. Re: $185,000 is Raqueteering by fisted · · Score: 1

      Those with the crappy WEP wifi? Peered right now!

    7. Re:$185,000 is Raqueteering by fisted · · Score: 1

      it was a princess, you moron, and she was totally legit. i took the offer and I'm expecting my USD 25.000.000 any day now

    8. Re:$185,000 is Raqueteering by balbus000 · · Score: 1

      Obviously a result of the new smart racquets

  9. Here goes, milking trademark owners for more money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks like domain name peddlers are getting to open up their new "license to skim money off companies" scheme worldwide.

    This is utterly retarded but I'm sure all Slashdot readers already knew that...

  10. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by mysidia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    why do we even have .com or .org or .net on the end.

    To identify which registration authority the domain name was created under.

    Also... to distinguish domain names from just any other name.

    I'll give you an example: "BOOKS"

    No one entity should get a monopoly on the name BOOKS. If you type BOOKS into your browser address bar; you should not be summarily redirected to whoever happened to get there first ---- logically, you would be presented search results based on relevance.

    The authority system allows, there to be a BOOKS.COM under the Commercial registration authority... that might be a book store, Or an accounting vendor....

    There can be a BOOKS.ORG, under the non-profit organization reg. authority ---- that might, for example, be a library-related organization.

    Then there can be a BOOKS.EDU under the education reg. authority --- that domain might, for example, be an institution of higher learning that specializes in the library sciences or authorship/book writing.

    Such domains a .INFO; were added later, and Don't really fit logically in the original DNS system.

  11. Landrush scams by MindPrison · · Score: 4, Informative

    Domain peddlers are going bonkers now, I tried to get my name as a .guru, but it ended up costing a small fortune...so I steered away. At first...40 bucks seems nice for a 1 year .guru name, but then there are "early registration fees" so called landrush fees that can cost several thousand dollars, and they even have hefty admin fees that costs several hundred dollars...stay away from the scammers, and they're plentiful right now.

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
    1. Re:Landrush scams by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I hope when you were searching for .guru prices, you didn't put in your actual name. Squatters have been known to sniff for domain name requests, then swoop in and grab the title while you're still thinking it over. Come back a few days later, and you find your own name is now available for "only" a few hundred... or few thousand.

    2. Re:Landrush scams by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Time to start up a script that looks up the price of every word in the unabridged dictionary.

  12. Tiny Toons by jones_supa · · Score: 1

    With all the AJAX crap going on web browsers, why not go full circus also with the domain names while we are at it.

  13. ...bike, .guru, .clothing, .holdings, .plumbing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    - hold me back someone, need to hide the creditcard now, and fast.

  14. Just block them by Kaenneth · · Score: 2

    I have as much trust in a random TLD as a site in the .cx TLD; and plan to just block/ignore addresses from them.

  15. About the cost... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "He also said the $185,000 price tag to do so is likely to drop"
    Not pictured - him laughing and falling out of his chair.

    1. Re:About the cost... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It will. The business approach is obvious: First you set the price ridiculously high, to extract as much money as possible from those who must have their domain at any cost - businesses with trademarks to protect, mostly. But there are only so many of those, so once sales dry up you gradually lower the price to broaden the market. That way everyone pays exactly as much as they can be made to pay, maximising revenue.

    2. Re:About the cost... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "He also said the $185,000 price tag to do so is likely to drop"
      Not pictured - him laughing and falling out of his chair.

      Oh, it will drop...

      ... to $184,999.99

  16. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No one entity should get a monopoly on the name BOOKS.

    If all TLDs were random six letter combinations, or local geographic regions, I'd see your point, but with the TLDs we have now, using your logic, ONE books.edu for all institutions of higher learning in the world is about as dumb as one books.

    Either make a lot more of them, or get rid of them... doing nothing isn't solving your problem.

  17. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's the idea, anyway. In practice .com became such a buzzword everyone wanted one.

  18. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by reikae · · Score: 1

    I think I'd prefer (there are probably issues that haven't occurred to me) if there were no generic top-level domains at all, only country codes. I realize why they exist, I just find them redundant and also slightly confusing especially outside the US; .com/.net/.org and several others are world-wide but .edu/.mil/.gov are US-only AFAIK. The distinction between .com, .net, and .org doesn't seem very clear either, if there even is one nowadays apart from aesthetics.

    On the other hand, the current system works Good Enough so it probably won't and maybe shouldn't change.

  19. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why do we even have .com or .org or .net on the end.

    To identify which registration authority the domain name was created under.

    Also... to distinguish domain names from just any other name.

    I'll give you an example: "BOOKS"

    No one entity should get a monopoly on the name BOOKS.
    If you type BOOKS into your browser address bar; you should not be summarily redirected to whoever happened to get there first ---- logically, you would be presented search results based on relevance.

    The authority system allows, there to be a BOOKS.COM under the Commercial registration authority... that might be a book store, Or an accounting vendor....

    There can be a BOOKS.ORG, under the non-profit organization reg. authority ---- that might, for example, be a library-related organization.

    Then there can be a BOOKS.EDU under the education reg. authority --- that domain might, for example, be an institution of higher learning that specializes in the library sciences or authorship/book writing.

    Such domains a .INFO; were added later, and Don't really fit logically in the original DNS system.

    You are at the mercy of the browser vendor, not DNS. What order they autocomplete search domains in, or what search engine and its results are all that matters.

  20. Now then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who will be the first to register the f*ck.ING domain.

    1. Re:Now then... by egcagrac0 · · Score: 1
    2. Re:Now then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This town in Austria, presumably.

    3. Re:Now then... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      If you think that's bad, take a look at this article, and especially the picture therein (though the article is funny as well if you ask me). No, that's not photoshopped, that's the actual city limits sign of the town.

      The additional sign says "Please! Not so fast!", and is a sign put up at many city limits signs, supposed to convince drivers to slow down, but in this context it's just ... erh... wrong.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  21. Or.. by hydrofix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    .. maybe it would be fairest to just cancel this whole private gTLD expansion lunacy?

    1. Re:Or.. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      If it means and end to every startup having a lame txt speak misspelling name like Flickr then I'm all for it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  22. i have a better idea by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    how about we just drop the farse that are TLDs? the only TLDs with any credability are .gov and .edu because those are regulated. all the other TLDs are just one big bag of everything else. nobody wants to get a .net if .com is taken because of the confusion that ensues.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:i have a better idea by egcagrac0 · · Score: 1

      the only TLDs with any credability are .gov and .edu because those are regulated. all the other TLDs are just one big bag of everything else.

      .mil seems pretty controlled, too.

      Many of the ccTLD's are at least superficially regulated; you have to pay more for registration and maybe even have a representative in the geographic area (which just costs more for administration).

  23. When will that P2P DNS system become reality? by billcarson · · Score: 1

    A few years ago a bunch of people from Sweden announced they would create a distributed, non-trackeable DNS system. What happened to that?

    1. Re:When will that P2P DNS system become reality? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They didn't have the attention span and grit to finish the project properly.

    2. Re:When will that P2P DNS system become reality? by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

      A few years ago a bunch of people from Sweden announced they would create a distributed, non-trackeable DNS system. What happened to that?

      The problem of fraudulent servers being introduced becomes significant. An authoritative hierarchical system means there's one and only one place to go to start looking up a new domain: the root servers. Distributed systems have no such authoritative root, so the process of figuring out what the real address is in such a system is complex. Complex enough that nobody has really finished the job, though there are detailed research papers and some fairly good proposals.

      In short, people are assholes, and that's why we can't have nice things.

    3. Re:When will that P2P DNS system become reality? by billcarson · · Score: 1

      Well, but how is that different from the current DNS cache poisoning problems?
      A strong authenticiation scheme like DNSSEC could solve such an issue.

    4. Re:When will that P2P DNS system become reality? by psyclone · · Score: 1

      Signing doesn't affect the distributed problem. If you want .DNS and I want .DNS, we can both sign our own TLDs with different keys and we're in the same situation.

      I suppose if you get your key signed by 1000 of your friends, and mine is only signed by 5, then yours becomes more popular. Until your 999th friend sends spam from your domain, and now everyone starts signing my key and it becomes more authoritative.

      Even in a block chain type system, domains or TLDs would be awarded first come, first served (like today with the hierarchical system) and then transferred from one party to another (like today).

      The only difference would be the cost. Should it be inverted? The first TLD on the DNS block chain would be very, very expensive, but the last million would be inconsequential.

    5. Re:When will that P2P DNS system become reality? by billcarson · · Score: 1

      > Even in a block chain type system, domains or TLDs would be
      > awarded first come, first served (like today with the hierarchical
      > system) and then transferred from one party to another (like today).

      I'm not really sure if I can follow you here. There is no rule that says
      a domain name must be indefinitely associated with a certain owner.
      Key signing of a domain name could be limited in time with a voting system
      that repeats on domain name expiration. Revocation certs could be issues
      if a domain name is abused.
      Also, I don't really understand why you'd want to introduce a central block chain?
      In a decentralized DNS system, I would think a GPG-like schema seems more fit?
      The P2P distribution would then be limited to a simple DHT.
      (though I admit I am not very knowledgeable on this topic).

  24. one word by vikingpower · · Score: 4, Insightful

    .bs

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    1. Re:one word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been telling people that using the new strange domains are like calling a 1-900 number and you will get a bill for visiting that site from the Internet company.

    2. Re:one word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bahamas?

    3. Re:one word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be awesome!

      congress.bs
      att.bs
      verizon.bs
      comcastic.bs
      legal.bs

    4. Re:one word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's move all scamming sites to .CON, it worked so well for .XXX

  25. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by satuon · · Score: 1

    The way I see it, .com is the generic domain. It's not that hard to append it to everything. The only useful other domains are .edu and .gov. The national domains are somewhat useful because they let you know it's a local site, although I don't understand why they need it, really, they should just use .com also.

  26. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    which makes you wander on the necessity of "bike" and "plumbing"...

  27. .com.au by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 2

    Here in Australia, we have regulations (socialism!) that require anyone registering a .com.au domain to have some connection to the name in their registered business eg if I want to register bike.com.au, my business needs to have demonstrable connection to the bike business somehow. Sure some trash slips through the cracks, but on the whole works well to keep .com.au domains relatively reliable. Not sure why more registrars don't enforce similar requirements.

    1. Re:.com.au by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Partly true.. all you really need is an ABN.

      For example I have an ABN And a vague registered business name, and just register any .com.au that I like.

    2. Re:.com.au by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not sure why more registrars don't enforce similar requirements.

      $

  28. Meh by _Shad0w_ · · Score: 2

    Meh. It's not like most people pay attention to the domains. They just go to their search engine of choice and type-in "Canon" (or whatever they happen to be looking for) and if they can be bothered they look for the most useful result or just click on the first one if they can't.

    --

    Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.

    1. Re:Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Search engine of choice? You must be joking. If it's not Google, it's not a search engine, it's a browser hijacker. Search-Results.com is a minimalist edition of Ask.com but Ask is not Google, so it's a browser hijacker. Google is the only search engine.

    2. Re:Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is not true. But it holds in practice for typical non-geeks.

      For them, the world has one TLD, and it's "I'm Feeling Lucky".

  29. Time to abandon centralized DNS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time to abandon centralized DNS...

  30. Teach a man to fish by y5t3m · · Score: 1

    www.bike.com www.bike/com And he will live in nigeria

    1. Re:Teach a man to fish by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      This. A billion times this.

      There will be only ONE group of people who will directly benefit from this. Aside of ICANN of course. Scammers.

      Then again, why the tautology...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  31. popcorn at 11 by Tom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Welcome to the end of a meaningful domain name system.

    Yeah, I know they tried raping it before, but the world largely ignored .biz, .info, .aero and I even forgot what the others were. Or have you seen more than two domains in those TLDs in the recent years?

    But brands, that was a gold mine. Advertisers are parasites and they will be happy to convince their marks^H^H^Hcustomers that they really, absolutely must have a fitting TLD now. And since in large corporations (that have the money), the people they talk to are also marketing dudes, it'll work.

    It's a huge scam, but it'll rape the usefulness of the DNS hierarchy. Too bad we didn't put everyone within ICANN to the sword while there was still time.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    1. Re:popcorn at 11 by matfud · · Score: 2

      there are a fair few .aero domains but you are unlikely to come across them unless you are in the industry (and many .aero owners also have more common TLD's).

    2. Re:popcorn at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It is a huge scam. And, if you look, one company is signing up to manage them all-- through dozens (maybe hundreds) of subsidiary LLCs: donuts.co. They have applied for more than 300.

      Just wait until they come out with .bank, what a shitstorm that is going to be. america.bank, is that Bank of America or someone else? All it does is create confusion for consumers and extra expense for companies that need to spend more money protecting their brand. All to line the pockets of the former marketing guys from eNom, CentralNic, NeuStar, oh, and the former CFO of ICANN.

      They've spent two decades figuring out how to get stinking rich, and now you have to bend over and take it.

    3. Re:popcorn at 11 by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

      Welcome to the end of a meaningful domain name system.

      As you type this, on slashdot.org

      The domain extension was originally created for non-profits, but this designation no longer exists and today it is commonly used by schools, open-source projects, and communities as well as by for-profit entities. - wiki

      The domain name system hasn't really been meaningful in terms of descriptive for a very long time now. The only 'meaning' there was, for a long time, was that if you didn't have a .com domain, you might as well not exist, certainly if you were a business of reasonably large size. Heck, there isn't even a coca-cola.us .

      Even now, if you have a domain name that's perfectly descriptive - say you're a business in Zambia - you're going to have more initial success with tompopcorn.com than you would with tompopcorn.co.zm , as people don't recognize '.zm'. See other comments about people ignoring the new TLDs the same way they would ignore a .cx domain (granted, part of that might be experience with some of the shadier sites that tend to choose .cx, .tk, etc.).

    4. Re:popcorn at 11 by dissy · · Score: 2

      Excluding all ccTLDs, the original gTLDs are: .arpa .com .net .org .gov .edu .mil and .int
      The first expansion added: .aero .asia .biz .cat .coop .info .jobs .me .mobi .museum .name .pro .tel and .travel.

      Then ICANN opened this new gTLD program. The listing of new gTLDs approved are here

      I had the idea to use it for pre-blacklisting each and every one in my mail and web filters, but opted instead to go with a whitelisting approach hoping for easier maintenance (Thus the easy copy/pasting of the list at the top - sorry, I don't have link references anymore)

      The applicant status page makes for better comedy however, as it lists the existing company name that requested the new top-level instead of the fake company name setup to handle domain registrations. (Currently the english TLDs start at page 4)

      Most make sense from the twisted world view of trademark holders, but some are true WTF moments...

      Amazon for example requested some obvious ones like .amazon , .buy , and .cloud
      But they also have some strange requests like .bot, .fire , .silk , and .pin

      Amazon requested a whole 76 TLDs, Google requested 102, Microsoft only 11, and surprisingly Apple only requested .apple

      ICANN bitched and moaned about not wanting to create .XXX for like 10 years, but they have already approved and delegated things like .dating , .sexy , and .singles

      Also interesting is they already approved and delegated .democrat but have yet to even just approved .gop

      Filtering on similarities shows .app has 14 requests, .art .bay .home have 10, and even 5 requests for the .tld tld :P

      A whole 6 pages worth of results have objections linked to them, which sounds promising except there are 56 pages total :/

      Sadly there is way too much money involved for much success of a massive grass-roots preemptive blocking and agreement to not allow such TLDs to resolve.
      But I have no qualms about doing so and only white listing individual and specific domains if any of our customers or vendors go the retarded route of making their primary email or websites use one of these.

      I'd give our non-english speaking friends a break, because despite the great technical problems involved at least they have a valid reason wanting a TLD in their native language.
      Beyond that however, the rest so far look like money grubbing land grabs, stupid branding, or obvious scamming/spammer havens.

    5. Re:popcorn at 11 by xaxa · · Score: 1

      Even now, if you have a domain name that's perfectly descriptive - say you're a business in Zambia - you're going to have more initial success with tompopcorn.com than you would with tompopcorn.co.zm , as people don't recognize '.zm'. See other comments about people ignoring the new TLDs the same way they would ignore a .cx domain (granted, part of that might be experience with some of the shadier sites that tend to choose .cx, .tk, etc.).

      I don't know much about Zambia, but I'm sure Zambians recognise .zm. Only having a CCTLD is no barrier in most countries, or their neighbouring countries, which is what most businesses focus on. Search for .CX websites and there are plenty based on Christmas Island.

      If I've forgotten the domain, I often guess .uk (.co.uk, .org.uk) as it's more likely to take me straight to the British website of a multinational, and less likely to take me to an identically-named company elsewhere in the Anglosphere.

    6. Re:popcorn at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (xn--6qq986b3xl) – Chinese for "I love you"

    7. Re:popcorn at 11 by Tom · · Score: 1

      As you type this, on slashdot.org

      Yes? I run a .org domain myself, which for 10+ years was the TLD you'd pick for any site that was not a company, university or government/military entity.

      Sure, these days slashdot is for-profit, but it wasn't always.

      The domain name system hasn't really been meaningful in terms of descriptive for a very long time now.

      True, but at least it made some sense and wasn't just a total mess of meaningless bullshit.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    8. Re:popcorn at 11 by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Search for .CX websites and there are plenty based on Christmas Island

      There are hardly any computers at all on Christmas Island. There are only a couple of thousand people living there, most of whom are prisoners and workers in the detention centre.
      It's an interesting place but the domain was nothing but a cash grab for an Australian government owned business selling domains for porn sites at the same time they were running an anti-porn campaign to get rid of anything porn related under ".au".

    9. Re:popcorn at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We've been at the end of meaningful domain name systems for a very long time now. Every ".info" I've ever stumbled across is just a retarded ad portal to everyone is going to click away from. ".com", ".net" and ".org" may as well be merged together into one category, they hold absolutely zero significance on what the website is anymore. Even ".gov" and ".edu" are starting to loose their meaning, certainly have seen some shady uses of those which obviously weren't educational or government.

      It really doesn't matter what system replaces it anymore. The almighty dollar trumps everything. Apparently the cost for a sane system just didn't make the budget.

    10. Re:popcorn at 11 by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      I have several .lu domains... Nobody ever flinches when I use them. Well some are quite surpised if I dictate my email as firstname@surname.lu but they're never surprised about the .lu part, just that it's actually possible to have such an email.
      Country TLDs are quite popular outside of the US.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    11. Re:popcorn at 11 by xaxa · · Score: 1

      I meant there are plenty relative to the size of the territory. See https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

    12. Re:popcorn at 11 by dbIII · · Score: 1

      However it's a safe bet that there are more domains registered there than the total population (which turns out to be about double what I mentioned above - a lot of prisoners there at the moment). So while there may be a couple of dozen sites actually related to the place it's a bit of a drop in the bucket.

    13. Re:popcorn at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have an email through fastmail at sent.com and everyone asks me -- what.what? how do you spell that? you mean it's not gmail? etc.

      I've been paying $5 a year for it since I read that paying a small fee and using a smaller provider improves the privacy of the service, as they shouldn't be focused on selling your information.

    14. Re:popcorn at 11 by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

      Heck, there isn't even a coca-cola.us

      There may not be a site at coca-cola.us, but it does "exist", Coca Cola owns it.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    15. Re:popcorn at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in Sweden, and bank at https://www.nordea.se/.

    16. Re:popcorn at 11 by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I'm interesting to know exactly how this will "rape" the DNS hierarchy? Why practical disadvantage does it have for end users and people running DNS servers?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    17. Re:popcorn at 11 by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      I host my own... Same difference ;-)

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    18. Re:popcorn at 11 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More bullshit.
      Clogging up the root even more since people are just going to register sites in every possible TLD they can, which is basically duplicating data.

      It will also be more of a problem to handle in general.
      Even more confusing to work with.
      Considerably easier to undercut some other domains. (it is bad enough when you see something like website-profile-23232121.net or some shit like that, for example, luckily some browsers shade the domain different from folders. Not that it helps with morons that have no clue how computers work in the slightest)

      The entire DNS needs to be scrapped. It is an awful system and anyone that had anything to do with it agrees.
      ICANN also need to be scrapped. They are literally worthless in every sense of the word.

    19. Re:popcorn at 11 by Reziac · · Score: 1

      I can only think of a handful of legit .info and .biz but have seen tons of 'em as scammer domains.

      As to all these other oddballs -- how are we supposed to remember them all? .com .net and .org strain our ability to recall who's who as it is.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    20. Re:popcorn at 11 by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

      Silly Coke, they should at least put a 301 up.

    21. Re:popcorn at 11 by psyclone · · Score: 1

      Technically it was the US Dept of Commerce that didn't want .XXX (those free speech haters!)

    22. Re:popcorn at 11 by psyclone · · Score: 1

      The problems with .biz and certainly .info were massive price reductions by the registry operators. They made the registration of domains so cheap it was impossible to resist by scammers. The more expensive a domain, the less scams/spam there is from the TLD overall.

  32. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Top level domains exist to provide a choice of different administrative authorities which can delegate domain names to you under their rules (and pricing). Without TLDs, your only choice would be to register your domain name with the root registry, like the companies which get GTLDs now do. They pay $185000 just for applying for a domain name. With TLDs, countries with differing views (on propriety, on trademarks, etc.) can have different rules for domains under their TLD, and differently organized registries can end up with different prices. Competition, you know.

  33. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by houghi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why go for the example 'books'. Why not other common names like 'windows' or 'apple'.

    I still ask why there were .com, .net and .org. I will elaborate a bit more. Why aere ther .com, .net and .org next to the country codes?

    It would have been better (hindsight is always 20/20) to just have gone with the country codes. That way each country would have been able to do whatever they please to do. Do you want to give nobody a domain? Good for you. Do you want to limit id to just your citizens or just businesses or to everybody who pays you? Great.

    The argument against this is often what about things like linux.org or similar things. When I look at the whois data, I see a US addrss, so it would have been linux.us or even linux.org.us or linux.inc.us or whatever they want to come up with.

    And while I am at it, the order of the domain should have been reversed. So instead of e.g. tech.slashdot.org.us, It would have been better to go for us.org.slashdot.tech as you then follow the tree. Even neater if there would have been no dots, but slashes instead:
    http://us/org/slashdot/tech//directory/subdirectory/file.html (Please note the second double slashes to show where the domain ends and the file system begins.

    Anyway, we can contemplate on what could have been, but now we have this mess and it will have to do.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  34. .Plumbing WTF by warewolfsmith · · Score: 1

    How come the plumbers got a guernsey and all the other trades missed out, sure smells funny to me.

    1. Re:.Plumbing WTF by y5t3m · · Score: 2

      They connected up the "series of tubes" that run the new gTLD's

  35. .guru by rossdee · · Score: 1

    I don't think monks living in caves on himalayan mountains need their own TLD

    Its amazing how language evolves

    I remeber when guru was short for "Guru Meditation Number"

  36. Re:Time to start signing my email by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one bothers to verify the signatures, so you'll just become known as that idiot who puts a block of shit in every email. If you ever had friends, you'll lose them soon after you start signing your email.

  37. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by mikael · · Score: 1

    In the early day of internet research, they wanted to distinguish between corporations there to make a profit, non-profit organisations, educational groups and the military. So they had ".com" = corporations/companies, ".org" = non-profit organisation, and ".edu" for the educational research groups, ".mil" for the military", and ".net" for the companies that managed the continent wide networks built from fibre-optics and satellite communications.

    That gets extended to giving each country it's own domain ".uk" = UK, ".fr" = France, ".de" = Germany. It was a sense of achievement for any country to get their own top-level domain.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  38. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by aix+tom · · Score: 1

    So no we have come full circle, where other entities like companies also can have that sense of achievement of having their own TLD, without much practical value besides generating cash for ICANN. ;-)

  39. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by reikae · · Score: 2

    I think that the fact that you had to point out the double slashes shows why replacing the dots with slashes is a bad idea.

  40. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why is linux _.us_, you chauvinist clod? It's international!

    What if the current guys get weary of supporting it and pass it to Mark Shuttleworth, do we have to rewrite every page referring to it to point to http://za/org/linux?

    Or do we leave it where it were - and so just bunch all domains under coutries where registrars are incorporated?

    It's all solving a wrong problem. The problem is you can't describe a site with a single simple category.

    I've got a bike touring site, it's a hobby site, so I think I'll put it in .org... Wait, I might go commercial later, publish news and ads, do bike reviews and all that, do I put in .com too? Oh, they've got specific TLDs, do I put it in .bike or in .travel? Ooooh, and I'll add a forum and match-making for bike trips, may be I'll go for .social...

    That's why Google, or Bing, or Yandex, is the actual "domain name system" since ever. You could just throw it all away and leave only IP addressing (ok, with a bit of precaution for shared hosts), because even to visit FB people now just type "facebook" into search bar and click the first link.

  41. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And while I am at it, the order of the domain should have been reversed. So instead of e.g. tech.slashdot.org.us, It would have been better to go for us.org.slashdot.tech as you then follow the tree. Even neater if there would have been no dots, but slashes instead:
    http://us/org/slashdot/tech//directory/subdirectory/file.html (Please note the second double slashes to show where the domain ends and the file system begins.

    Why does that make more sense than the way things are now? Should all hostnames have their dots replaced with slashes? Would the only advantage to that be that the hostname looks more like the path for URLs? If so, why not just have the slashes in the path component replaced with dots? How should hostnames be represented when they're not part of a URL?

    And why should the order of the components be reversed? Is it again because that might make it slightly more consistent when dealing with the specific case of URLS? Why should the domain be changed and not the path specification?

    I'm not arguing that the original choices were not arbitrary - just that flipping the order around, or replacing some arbitrary character with a different one is exactly as arbitrary.

  42. My list by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    .slash .dot .www

    www.doubleu.dot

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:My list by psyclone · · Score: 1

      Multiple applicants applied for .dot

      Google: https://gtldresult.icann.org/a...
      Dish: https://gtldresult.icann.org/a...

  43. You just described... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..the entire capitalist system. Nice!

  44. Just fight them until they becomes untrusted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How?
    Overwrite these domains in your local DNS, ban IPs if unique to these TLDs. When companies see these domains are worthless because they cannot be trusted, they won't buy them. And they will die out. It is that simple.
    This is a direct attack on Internet neutrality and the very foundations of the global network. So it is justified to fight back.

  45. What a license to print money they have! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    | Wash., company that has spent nearly $57 million applying for the rights to some 307 new domains

    Wow, that is a shit load of cash JUST to apply for rights.
    Where does that money go anyway, into logging to make paper to take applications?

    and

    They have 1400 applicants they will grace with rights!
    (tell you what..lets just add the 500 other applicants anyway)
    so 1900 * $185,000 = $351,000,000, nice job America!

    and

    What is society getting? An easier way to put in an address at the cost of diluting the name space.

    and

    Who pays for this in the end?
    Why little ol' me of course! The consumer.
    THANKS!

  46. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by dissy · · Score: 4, Informative

    And while I am at it, the order of the domain should have been reversed. So instead of e.g. tech.slashdot.org.us, It would have been better to go for us.org.slashdot.tech as you then follow the tree. Even neater if there would have been no dots, but slashes instead:
    http://us/org/slashdot/tech//d... (Please note the second double slashes to show where the domain ends and the file system begins.

    Actually in the 80s that is pretty much how it was.

    UUCP mail was routed from one mail server to another to another before finally (hopefully!) landing in a users mail spool on a server they frequently checked more than others. This one done with whats called "bang paths" as they used ! as the separator, and the route was listed left to right ending with a double colon and the username.

    Even at the time DNS replaced hosts.txt on the ARPAnet, there were still other connected networks like BITnet and CSnet using different protocols that used mixed forms of routing paths, and neither network required NSF approval to join like the ARPAnet did.
    BITnet was IBMs VMS network, and anyone that had a VAX with the RSCS software installed and could afford a leased line was able to get on the network and get data to/from the arpanet.
    There was a serious perceived threat from these other protocols, most of which lacked a unified or centrally managed naming lookup scheme (although that is exactly what RSCS was, although only for VAX)

    At the time each protocol pretty much only looked out for their own, except for DNS which was advertized as "generic" and "non-proprietary" as only IP was required. DNS was also an open standard like IP and TCP. That was enough for DNS to "win" and become the one true naming system.

    I'm not sure why they decided to use a right to left hierarchy beyond just trying to differentiate themselves from existing protocols...
    But it doesn't follow the URL/URI standard because that wasn't to be invented for another 10 years or so.
    As you say, hindsight is always 20/20

  47. Only a decade after irrelevancy by dbIII · · Score: 1

    Only computer geeks like us actually enter domain names into a browser these days. Google and then scan codes have made the domain names mostly irrelevant.

  48. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by S.O.B. · · Score: 1

    So they had ".com" = corporations/companies, ".org" = non-profit organisation, and ".edu" for the educational research groups, ".mil" for the military", and ".net" for the companies that managed the continent wide networks built from fibre-optics and satellite communications.

    .com is derived from the word "commerical" which includes but is not limited to corporations and companies.

    Back in 1985 when .net was created I don't think there was "continent wide networks built from fibre-optics". .net was intended for network technology companies, ISPs (local, national and international) and infrastructure companies. Although, no restrictions were put on it's use so it has become a general purpose name.

    --
    Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
  49. Stupid idea. Money Grab by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    All this does is confuse matters even further and create a total cluster-F.

    There should be a limited number of TLDs, and be 'regulated' like they used to be ( such as no commercial entities on an .org ).

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  50. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    You clearly don't have a clue on is going on here. Time to turn in your geek card ( which i suspect is forged anyway ) and get off the net.

    People like you only clutter things up for the rest of us.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  51. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by terrab0t · · Score: 3, Informative
    According to Wikipedia, Tim Berners Lee mostly agrees with you on the URL format. From the Wikipedia page:

    Berners-Lee later regretted the use of dots to separate the parts of the domain name within URIs, wishing he had used slashes throughout. For example, http://www.example.com/path/to/name would have been written http:com/example/www/path/to/name. Berners-Lee has also said that, given the colon following the URI scheme, the two slashes before the domain name were also unnecessary.

  52. Nah, can make it 5. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    We could just move .gov to .com.

    1. Re: Nah, can make it 5. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With the new TLD's, that will go under .pork

  53. A New Era Begins by terrab0t · · Score: 1

    Domain Squatters, start your engines.

    Many organizations will be caught off guard by this and have their names grabbed under the new TLDs. On the bright side, this will temporarily give us a chance to grab decent names instead of paying a squatter. It also drops the value of their holdings.

    Aside from that, looking at the list, I think some of these should have also had abbreviations. .software, .engineer and .attorney look nice, but I would immediately want a shortened version as well.

    1. Re:A New Era Begins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aside from that, looking at the list, I think some of these should have also had abbreviations. .software, .engineer and .attorney look nice, but I would immediately want a shortened version as well.

      Like .soft, .eng, and .atny? That makes sense to me. TLDs shouldn't be more than four characters, it just adds clutter.

  54. I Want A TLD Too! by some+old+guy · · Score: 1

    I hereby register

    obscurespecializeddomain.dreamedupbymarketingidiots.thatnoonewillevervisit.com

    Copyright pending.

    --
    Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
    1. Re:I Want A TLD Too! by terrab0t · · Score: 2

      There is no new TLD in that domain name. It's actually available. Register thatnoonewillevervisit.com and setup the obscurespecializeddomain.dreamedupbymarketingidiots subdomain for it.

  55. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So in summary, it would be bad if there was only one generic "books" name, but it is good if there are three of them, but four is bad again.

  56. just one more by BonThomme · · Score: 1

    well, that's .stupid

  57. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by mjwalshe · · Score: 1

    Not outside of America - you must be channeling Team America world police :-)

  58. Laugh by koan · · Score: 1

    www.sarcasm.excessivelylongtopleveldomainnoonewilltypeout

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  59. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by mjwalshe · · Score: 1

    they are not the global tlds are above the country codes

  60. good to know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BRB adding some entries to my blacklist

  61. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Country- and language-specific TLDs make some sense too.

    For example, football.co.uk is probably about soccer; football.us is probably about some other sport or something.

    Similarly, douches.fr is probably about plumbing and tiling; douches.co.uk probably redirects to number10.gov.uk.

  62. WTF MAN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why does it say your username is "Adam" on your post but your /. user page is http://slashdot.org/~y5t3m

    The real http://slashdot.org/~adam is uid 1231

    How did you break slashdot?

  63. This is just another round of the scam by Arrogant-Bastard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As everyone knows, there was and is no actual need for these TLDs. Just like there was no need for .xxx. Just like there was no need for .mobi. Just like there was no need for .info. The entire process is driven NOT by the communal needs of the Internet, but by ICANN, which is now completely controlled by registrars -- registrars who are always looking for new/expanded revenue streams.

    There WAS a time, as I'm sure some folks will remember, that "one entity-one domain" was the rule. That time is long gone, as it drastically restricts registrar profits. Now? It's not uncommon for single entities to control hundreds to hundreds of thousands of domains. I've been researching this issue, and have looked at about 60M domains so far: EASILY 90% of them are crap. They're owned by speculators, typosquatters, "landing page" operators, clickthrough scammers, and on and on and on. I suspect that as I expand my work, that percentage won't change much. In other words: we could delete 90% of the domains out there with no appreciable effect on the Internet.

    This latest expansion is merely an attempt to continue the same game -- but with outrageously prices and profits.

    Here is my recommendation: learn how to use DNS RPZ. As each one of these TLDs is introduced, add it to the list so that you effectively make it disappear from your view of the Internet. Encourage others to do the same. After all, you aren't required to resolve any domain or group of domains -- so don't. If enough of us do this, we will make these domains essentially worthless. (Why? Because without DNS resolution in place, end users won't be able to reach them with web browsers. MTAs that check for domain existence -- which they should -- will reject all mail to/from them. And so on.)

    The Internet doesn't need this junk. YOU don't need this junk. So make it vanish.

    1. Re:This is just another round of the scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know about the others, but .guru domains are $40 per year. For no reason I can see other than a money grab. I guess that means squatters pay 4x as much, but the amount of money being grabbed by ICANN with this scam is crazy.

    2. Re:This is just another round of the scam by swillden · · Score: 1

      Except that the registrars for the new domains won't be the existing registrars, they'll be whoever bought the new gTLD -- and most of them were purchased by companies who are not registrars.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  64. Re:Time to start signing my email by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oddly, I do not see a .pgp application -- that would be a great way to indicate that you only accept emails with encryption....

  65. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Laxori666 · · Score: 1

    As you say, hindsight is always 20/20

    Or 20!20.

  66. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Twinbee · · Score: 1

    I would prefer no extensions whatsoever, not country codes, not setup types (like com, net, org). Just the actual domain name itself, perhaps prefaced with just "www.".

    That would make for a far more unified and consistent system, as then each website owner can put whatever they want in that name, including dots and dashes if they so wish.

    --
    Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
  67. Who on God's green earth benefits from this, besides those who sell domain names?

  68. smell a rat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    domaindiscount24.com (Key-systems) was happy to let me put cooking.guru, sex.guru and wedding.photography in my shopping cart (€ 31, € 31, € 20 respectively).

    But at http://www.enom.com/ a search on those three domain names says they're already registered.

    Seems pretty dodgy!

  69. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But you lose entirely the scalability of the DNS system.

    Now; in order to resolve http://slashdot
    you have to ask the GTLD system what the ip address of "Slashdot" is.
    Instead of asking the .COM GTLD system.

    As it stands; you only need to hit the GTLD name servers to figure out who the top level domain name servers are; thats maybe what 150 max domain names? which you can cache; and chances are you wont need to hit it more often than the TTL of the record.

    But as soon as you start adding more global domain names; every single-word search term you chuck into your browser bar?

    Now; when I type "Slashdot" I have to hit the GTLD servers (just incase they added a new top level domain!)
    If i type "Apple" or "Slashdot" or "Microsoft" by accident or otherwise; GTLD hits every time. No cache-benefits. because the system has to keep checking the highest level every single fucking time.

    If I type
    apple.com, then slashdot.com, then microsoft.com, it does one GTLD hit, figures out who owns .com, and is only hammering the .com domain name servers from that moment on. more GTLD's is fucking horrible for scalability. DNS is already shit; and you morons want to make it shitter.

  70. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by xigxag · · Score: 1

    It wouldn't be difficult to devise a browser extension that would make the translation from http://www.x.y/zzzzz to http:y/x/www/zzzzz on the fly and vice-versa.

    Then it's just a simple matter of getting the new format to catch on. ;)

    --
    There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
  71. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Kjella · · Score: 1

    More like if you had anything of the slightest value under a non-".com" domain the equivalent ".com" domain will be registered for ad squatting and/or to get a payout from you. They're not meaningful either, last I checked slashdot for example is not a non-profit, it's owned by a quite regular for-profit holding company so why is is NOT slashdot.com? And I never know what ".net" was supposed to be, I mean I can't even tell without looking up some sort of definition and even that one is vague as fsck "organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies." wouldn't 99.9% of these also be a ".com" (or ".org" in case of a municipal non-profit) so it's more like a weak tag?

    It never made much sense to me, all the contrived examples on how this would solve namespace collisions are more easily solved by unique domain names. Apple Records? applerecords.com. If they're truly non-competing well then it'd be obvious to anyone that apple.com is not the record label and applerecords.com not the iDevice manufacturer. If Apple Records wanted it badly enough they could buy "apple.com" and Apple could move to "applecomputers.com" or whatever. It's not a problem in links. It's not a problem in written materials. It's not a problem using search engines. It's only a problem if you're trying to guess the right domain name from the company/organization name by yourself. Who really does that? They should just make "foo" and "foo.com" resolve to the same IP, it's already the big pile of "everything else" that doesn't go under a national domain.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  72. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by swillden · · Score: 1

    Amazon registered the .book TLD, I believe.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  73. Yeah... by rebelwarlock · · Score: 1

    I'm going to go ahead and assume that anything with an eight character TLD is a scam. It'll save time.

  74. TLD bloatse.cx by GrumpyPolarBear · · Score: 1

    I believe people advocating this is driven by two things (fine human values both!):

    Greed: The desire to make money without adding value, not by more people registering domain names, but mainly by corporations having to protect their brands in more places
    Stupidity: The lack of understanding DNS principles, as in limited to "domain names are what we see at the top of the browser window"

    But in any case, now that all the adult stuff is moved successfully to the .XXX TLD, I think we are ready to introduce the new TLD .CON for all the scamming, phishing, spamming and jamming sites. All the idiots of the Interwebz will be happy to go to "microsoft.con" for their updates, and the rest of the world will be safe!

    (Disclaimer: I have managed a small ccTLD since 1999)

  75. A good URL Shortener? by omnichad · · Score: 1

    Someone needs to get on it and get a 2 or 3 letter GTLD. Just imagine shortening a long url down to http ://shrt./dR7e - wouldn't even need to add a domain to that TLD.

    1. Re:A good URL Shortener? by psyclone · · Score: 1

      Only 3 letter strings and longer were allowed.

    2. Re:A good URL Shortener? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Well - that would certainly fit within 2-3. My example used 4. I should have figured on it being 3 or more - too many country TLD's.

  76. NOT if you use a custom hosts file by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Custom hosts can BYPASS DNS: Hosts do more w/ less (1 file) @ a faster level (ring 0) vs redundant browser addons (slowing up slower ring 3 browsers) via filtering 4 the IP stack (coded in C, loads w/ OS, & 1st net resolver queried w\ 45++ yrs.of optimization):

    ---

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ 32/64-bit:

    http://start64.com/index.php?o...

    (Details of hosts' benefits enumerated in link)

    Summary:

    ---

    A. ) Hosts do more than AdBlock ("souled-out" 2 Google/Crippled by default) + Ghostery (Advertiser owned) - "Fox guards henhouse", or Request Policy -> http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

    B. ) Hosts add reliability vs. downed or redirected DNS + secure vs. known malicious domains too -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme... w/ less added "moving parts" complexity + room 4 breakdown,

    C. ) Hosts files yield more speed (blocks ads & hardcodes fav sites - faster than remote DNS), security (vs. malicious domains serving mal-content + block spam/phish), reliability (vs. downed or Kaminsky redirect vulnerable DNS, 99% = unpatched vs. it & worst @ ISP level + weak vs FastFlux + DynDNS botnets), & anonymity (vs. dns request logs + DNSBL's).

    ---

    * Addons are more complex + slowup browsers in message passing (use a few concurrently & see).

    (Addons slowdown SLOWER usermode browsers layering on MORE: I work w/ what you have in kernelmode, via hosts (A tightly integrated PART of the IP stack itself)).

    APK

    P.S.=> It's also FASTER than calling out to a remote DNS external DNS server as well, in addition to being invulnerable to redirection (from kaminsky flaw unpatched DNS servers, & 99%++ of ISP dns servers are flawed thus mind you) as well as MORE RELIABLE vs. downed DNS too (top that off with being able to get more anonymity from them by bypassing DNS request logs - TRIPLE bonus!)...

    ... apk

    1. Re:NOT if you use a custom hosts file by psyclone · · Score: 1

      You should really run your own set of alternate root servers.

      Then we can all just point our routers or /etc/resolv.conf to your servers, and gain all your expertise without managing shit ourselves.

  77. Don't want to be the Cassandra here but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...I warned about this 18 months ago: http://pensivepeter.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/thanks-icann-for-a-new-opportunity-for-crooks-and-dodgy-operators/

  78. Re:why do we need generic top level domains anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I find it interesting that you think tld is unnecessary while also being ok with 'www' prefixing.

  79. You don't need to go that far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The application does the job for you by gathering known bad sites/servers - hosts/domains from that serve up malicious exploits of various kinds + botnet C&C Servers as well as adbanners (both normal ones & also those that've been shown to harbor malicious script too) from 12 reputable & reliable servers that house that data from the security community.

    From the sounds of it (you noting routers & all)? You MUST be a network admin... the ONLY step you'd have to do is migrate the centrally processed resulting hosts file, & migrate it across all of your LAN/WAN endpoint nodes in PCs & Servers via logon scripts (or otherwise in the same fashion as, for instance, a scheduled task/CRON JOB).

    APK

    P.S.=> However - you CAN insert hosts files into routers but the router/NAT firewall has to have sufficient memory space & large enough data entry fields arrays in them (for LARGE hosts files when/if you develop one that large, which takes time (trust me, I know that much, from having 2,217,826++ entries in mine here, that took me a decade++ to create due to fastflux &/or dynamic dns utilizing botnets mainly & how they reuse./recycle the bogus domains they use)... apk

    1. Re:You don't need to go that far by psyclone · · Score: 1

      APK: the application sounds like it does a great job of fetching the data, but it seems much more useful to stick that data inside a DNS proxy or recursive resolver. Even if the resources required to run it are prohibitive for a crappy wifi router, it could be run on a box on the local network, and the crappy router uses it as its DNS resolver.

      Then when I manage my home network of varying devices (tablets, phones, mixed OS laptops & desktops, even visitors) they will all get the benefit of DNS-level filtering.

      I would manage a corporate network in a similar way. During DHCP when they get some local DNS resolvers, or hard-coded, the 1-3 local resolvers do all the DNS filtering for the entire network. A unified web UI on the master DNS resolver could micro-manage the rules if necessary (unblock something, add a manual block, local dns resolution, etc).

  80. DNS = security issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That are redirect-related & = running another system or service ( = more CPU, more RAM, more other forms of I/O = higher electricity costs AND more room for breakdown via the result of added complexity).

    Migrating a hosts file EASILY (single file only, already present on all networked systems on LAN there for example) via a logon script OR an Administrative $hare file copy script overwriting existing hosts with the new one generated by my app to your existing network nodes/endpoints (PC's)? Cake too (that, or a scheduled task doing it periodically & transparently could also even do it)...

    APK

    P.S.=> To each his own, & actually (due to "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth" concepts kept in mind here)? The more security you do, @ any level (within reason & costing constraints), the merrier (less security-related snafus) - SO adding hosts to your "STANDARD WAY" OF DOING THINGS would be of value on the note of that very concept...

    ... apk