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Google Taking Over New TLDs

bobo the hobo writes: In the corner of the internet where people care about DNS, there is a bit of an uproar at Google's application for over a hundred new top-level domains, including .dev, .lol, .app, .blog, .cloud and .search. Their application includes statements such as: "By contrast, our application for the .blog TLD describes a new way of automatically linking new second level domains to blogs on our Blogger platform – this approach eliminates the need for any technical configuration on the part of the user and thus makes the domain name more user friendly." They also mention limiting usage of .dev to Google only: "Second-level domain names within the proposed gTLD are intended for registration and use by Google only, and domain names under the new gTLD will not be available to the general public for purchase, sale, or registration. As such, [Google's shell company] intends to apply for an exemption to the ICANN Registry Operator Code of Conduct as Google is intended to be the sole registrar and registrant."

185 comments

  1. do no evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    it's for us only. we won't do any evil by hogging it.

    1. Re:do no evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Little Gamers summed up the Google evolution pretty well.

    2. Re:do no evil by VernonNemitz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Perhaps they should be asking for a ".google" gTLD, for that purpose, instead of trying to monopolize a generic identifier.

    3. Re:do no evil by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 2

      Perhaps they should be asking for a ".google" gTLD, for that purpose, instead of trying to monopolize a generic identifier.

      I was about to suggest the same, but with ".goog", to make it shorter. (Can't think of a less-than-three-letter symbol that points to them as strongly.)

      (It's also their stock ticker symbol, so maybe it's not such a good idea - it could cause a land rush and litigation from all the other publicly traded companies.)

      --
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    4. Re:do no evil by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Domain squatting is over. I, for one, welcome our new entire TLD squatting overlords. </sarcasm>

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
    5. Re:Do No Evil by iggymanz · · Score: 2

      what's evil? common word TLD will have more than one applicant and thus will go to auction. We're talking millions or even tens of millions of dollars. no "regular person" or small-medium business can play in that field anyway.

    6. Re:do no evil by lgw · · Score: 2

      "Don't, be evil"

      Pretty much says it all.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    7. Re:Do No Evil by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      It amazes me that people HAVE to sell these. Cant we allocate them in a proper manner without charging insane fees? ICANN is not supposed to profit....

      --
      Good-bye
    8. Re: do no evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting how this comes right behind the back of the new internet regulations which the public is still in the dark about. Coincidence? I think not. Google, go f*** yourself.

    9. Re:do no evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We sure have come a long way from those days. Now, it's not just they do evil, they do it openly and with arrogance.

    10. Re:do no evil by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Well, there's .goo - they do seem to ooze into everything...

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    11. Re:do no evil by rogoshen1 · · Score: 1

      did they apply for a .evil TLD too or something?

    12. Re:do no evil by beakerMeep · · Score: 2

      So you welcome .overlord ?

      --
      meep
    13. Re:do no evil by ganjadude · · Score: 2

      pretty sure the adult industry got that one already

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    14. Re: do no evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, they ended up taking 'ogle'.

    15. Re: do no evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They wanted 'go ogle' but some dickhead already had It.

    16. Re:do no evil by xlsior · · Score: 1

      I was about to suggest the same, but with ".goog", to make it shorter. (Can't think of a less-than-three-letter symbol that points to them as strongly.)

      They already use .gl (ccTLD for Greenland) for their domain shorterning service, goo.gl

    17. Re:do no evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      did they apply for a .evil TLD too or something?

      That's pretty close. What actually happened is Google wasn't applying for .dev but for .devil. Which might have been easier to figure out except .devil is in the details.

      Ba-dum TISH

    18. Re: do no evil by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      The .dec thing really reads to me like they use it internally, and don't want to use it.

      I can think of no other reason for getting a very generic tld, and saying only we can use it, only for our stuff.

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    19. Re:do no evil by Computershack · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they should be asking for a ".google" gTLD, for that purpose, instead of trying to monopolize a generic identifier.

      .cunts

      --
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    20. Re:do no evil by rs79 · · Score: 1

      d.evil

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    21. Re:do no evil by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      Domain squatting is over. I, for one, welcome our new entire TLD squatting overlords. </sarcasm>

      I'm registering the .notevil TLD.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    22. Re:do no evil by swillden · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they should be asking for a ".google" gTLD, for that purpose, instead of trying to monopolize a generic identifier.

      I was about to suggest the same, but with ".goog", to make it shorter.

      They've applied for and received (been delegated) both.

      https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1429

      https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1430

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  2. Concentration of power is evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DNS must be abolished to prevent it.

    1. Re: Concentration of power is evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that a joke? Is there any real alternative to DNS? Thanks

    2. Re: Concentration of power is evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      systemd

    3. Re: Concentration of power is evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      HOSTS

    4. Re: Concentration of power is evil by rs79 · · Score: 1

      As the leader of the rebel alliance fifteen years ago I gotta say it's too late to do much now. Google is just dong what ICANN let them and the real problem is with them.

      DHT will replace DNS

      It's out there. Look for it.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    5. Re: Concentration of power is evil by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny

      DHT will replace DNS

      Dihydrotestosterone will replace DNS? Just great, now we'll all go bald.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    6. Re: Concentration of power is evil by WorBlux · · Score: 1

      The GNU Name System, nameCoin..

    7. Re: Concentration of power is evil by WorBlux · · Score: 2

      Distributed Hash Tables.

    8. Re: Concentration of power is evil by Megaport · · Score: 1

      The GNU Name System, nameCoin..

      Yes. Namecoin is a great replacement for DNS. It is implemented using bitcoin technology, and you can exchange them for bitcoins too.

      --M

      --
      # grep slashdot access.log | grep html | sort | uniq | wc -l 2604
    9. Re: Concentration of power is evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't DHT depend on consensus? Google, being the internet superpower that it is, can easily overwhelm any consensus-based system.

    10. Re: Concentration of power is evil by allo · · Score: 1

      RNS? oh, its just complementing dns. maybe ribosomes?

    11. Re: Concentration of power is evil by allo · · Score: 1

      Blockchain stuff will turn out as bullshit. It's not really democracy, it does not scale well and its waste of ressources. the GNS model is more useful, because YOU define who you want to trust.

    12. Re: Concentration of power is evil by WorBlux · · Score: 1

      But because it is web of trust, names are neccesarily global. I think easier to tweak a blockchain than to get a lot of people to use web or trust properly.

  3. Monopolistic: Do no evil? by BoRegardless · · Score: 1

    Google is just trying to bully the world for its own interest; not unusual at all. Now will ICANN put its foot down or will every other Fortune 500 company do the same thing and subvert the intention of the creation of new TLDs?

  4. Suspicions Confirmed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Google must be using .dev internally. This move is only to prevent others from confusing things.

    1. Re:Suspicions Confirmed by allo · · Score: 1

      and what prevents them from using dev.internal.google.com as domain? add a search dev.internal.google.com to resolv.conf and you can resolve skynet-testsystem.dev.internal.google.com. And the sole access to google.com is already granted.

    2. Re:Suspicions Confirmed by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      because... .DEV!!!! come on man@@!@!!!

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

      That bit me about two months ago. I have a bunch of machines that are something.dev.domain. Used to just ssh to something.dev. Then it started to time out. Thinking WTF, machine screwed? Nope, they hijacked the connection. So now I have to put the FQDN in. On the humanity!

    4. Re:Suspicions Confirmed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and what prevents them from using dev.internal.google.com as domain?

      Your right this is the whole reason for sub-domains. You have a domain name any domain name and you have total control of the sub-domains under that. You don't need .dev. If you need a dev domain them dev.google.com.

      FUCK! read the RFCs on DNS and domain names.

      The system works if you read and follow directions in the RFCs.

    5. Re:Suspicions Confirmed by allo · · Score: 1

      and use your domain as search domain. now you can have testserver.dev

  5. who cares ? by itzly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If I need the web site of a church, I wouldn't try name-of-church.church, but I would just search for name-of-church in google. Who cares about the URL ?

    1. Re:who cares ? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I wouldn't try name-of-church.church, but I would just search for name-of-church in google.

      But how do you know which is the real site? If I am looking for Foobar Inc's website, and I see www.foobar.com, I can be pretty sure that is legitimate. But if I see foobar.info, foobar.dev, foobar.sucks, I don't know if they are legitimate or not. The proliferation of TLD's just pollutes the namespace and sows confusion. They can be used for fraud, or they can be used to extort money from businesses that feel they have to lock down more and more domains. The drawbacks outweigh the benefits, especially as more and more are added.

    2. Re: who cares ? by mSparks43 · · Score: 1

      I had the same comment a while ago when I was having a discussion about how much some companies are willing to pay for the porn urlS. .dev is definately one that would be valuable.

    3. Re:who cares ? by itzly · · Score: 3, Informative

      If I am looking for Foobar Inc's website, and I see www.foobar.com, I can be pretty sure that is legitimate

      Maybe legitimate, but there may be 10 companies in the world called 'foobar', so you still don't know if you've got the right one.

    4. Re:who cares ? by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      The church might care if google decided to delist them, say for political reasons.

    5. Re:who cares ? by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      But how do you know which is the real site?

      Its the first result in the Google search response ... at no point have I gotten back a first result for something else when searching for a business, at least not a scam or other illegitimate site.

      In case you haven't noticed, many of the original TLDs have names that are meant to redirect people from the legitimate site to a scam, adding more doesn't make it anything new.

      I would argue however, if they're going to play these TLD bullshit games, just stop and get rid of the concept of a TLD. Let people register whatever they want except for existing TLDs and move on.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    6. Re:who cares ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly.

      If the corrupt Google wants to give a bunch of money to the corrupt ICANN so they can own a bunch of TLDs that nobody gives a fucking shit about, let them.

    7. Re:who cares ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do I know?

      Because google's search ranking algorithm makes the number of valid incoming links count. The fake church site is probably not going to be credibly or frequently linked.

    8. Re:who cares ? by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      How is that worse than the existing condition? My company is -----.com, and another is ---.net. They advertise much more. Some of my employees think they work for them.

      Basically all this really does is eliminate the value of the domain name altogether...

    9. Re:who cares ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's putting a lot of trust in the hands of one company. Even if Google is trustworthy, can the same be said about their algorithm?

      I've seen so many unreliable search results for some terms that I can't say I really trust their search algorithm. Especially when you look up the newest fad in health care you see only results telling practically the same things, with no downsides and only positive life changing results. But I've seen many other examples (political ideas, shops, persons, ...).

      Google is probably the best search engine that is available to us, but it's not perfect. Getting rid of DNS in favor of a secret search algorithm is in my opinion a slippery slope to a algorithm controlled society. Much like the funny stories about people blindly following their navigation system and getting somewhere completely else because of a spelling mistake (example: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... )

    10. Re:who cares ? by allo · · Score: 1

      Which is still the same. Have a look at:
      www.volkswagen.com

      www.volkswagen.de
      www.volkswagen.it ...

      they all redirect to volkswagen.com/XX.html
      So, if there is another volkswagen from let's say italy, they are still fucked. And they are fucked anyway because of trademarks.

    11. Re:who cares ? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Political?

      Naw, they can do that for reasons of 'Social Justice.'

      No politics here. Nope.

    12. Re:who cares ? by loufoque · · Score: 1

      You need to change your company name.
      Something similar happened to my company. It got created in Europe at the same time as some other company with the same name in the US. We got the trademark in Europe, they got it in the US. We each got about half of the domain names, but they were better at the Internet game and got more visibility. A lot of people were confusing us for that company, including our clients. We had no choice but to change the name, and when we did it really helped with the business.

    13. Re: who cares ? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      Because Google does a very good job of pointing towards the most relevant site if it's a bit local thing, and if it's local, I'll search on the map.

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    14. Re:who cares ? by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Go ask the White House about the original whitehouse.com

      --
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    15. Re:who cares ? by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      Fortunately, we don't compete in the same markets, but we are in the same broader market. It has been this way for nearly a decade,

      If they want to give us a few hundred $k, he'll, I am happy to re-brand and give them the "better" domain... but it isn't really impacting either of us.

    16. Re:who cares ? by loufoque · · Score: 1

      If your employees believe they're working for the other company, clearly it is impacting you!

    17. Re:who cares ? by dryeo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Nissan is a better example, try nissan.com

      --
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    18. Re:who cares ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who cares about the URL ?

      Sounds like something that Google would love to hear. If everyone stopped bothering with those pesky URLs and sent all their data through Google, that might be worth the cost of buying a couple of TLDs and undermining the current system.

    19. Re:who cares ? by Tom · · Score: 2

      If I am looking for Foobar Inc's website, and I see www.foobar.com, I can be pretty sure that is legitimate.

      That's not been true for a decade. Due to overloading (i.e. multiple organisations, same name), the Foobar Inc you are looking for could be at foobar.com - but it could also be at foobar-inc.com or foobarinc.com or foobar-newyork.com or foooobar.com or whatever domain name was still available when they finally went on the Internet.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    20. Re: who cares ? by nanoflower · · Score: 1

      It would be valuable. I don't think anyone doubts that, but I can't see why Google should get it as they certainly don't have the market cornered in development.

      In fact, I'm not sure who should get a domain name like .dev. At least not if we are going to try and keep the domain names as a useful identifier. Maybe it should be owned by someone like the ACM and every developer can have their own sub-domain underneath it.

  6. Greedy bastards. by The+Rizz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think their application for .dev to be Google-only highlights a major problem with a company like this having control over any TLDs: They intend to use their control to crowd out competitors in a monopolistic fashion. That no non-Google developer can register a .dev is akin to saying that if you don't work for Google you're not really a developer. The only TLD restriction I would be OK with Google having reserved entirely for personal use is .google - and even that I'd be wary of without concrete rule for revoking the exclusive use if a good reason comes up.

    1. Re:Greedy bastards. by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That no non-Google developer can register a .dev is akin to saying that if you don't work for Google you're not really a developer.

      This doesn't make much sense. No developers have a .dev URL today, so obviously nobody associates the two that way right now. And if it's restricted to Google developers, that association is never going to be formed in the future either.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    2. Re:Greedy bastards. by loonycyborg · · Score: 1

      It would be fine if they served merely as registrars allowing any developer to have a site in .dev. But having it as google only is ridiculous, I agree.

    3. Re:Greedy bastards. by ThomasBHardy · · Score: 1

      Anyone know a good petition site we could place a petition on? Maybe try and collect some opposition signatures, get some tech media coverage and -gulp- resist?

      --
      Warning: Teh poster of this messaeg is lysdexic
    4. Re:Greedy bastards. by The+Rizz · · Score: 1

      This doesn't make much sense. No developers have a .dev URL today, so obviously nobody associates the two that way right now. And if it's restricted to Google developers, that association is never going to be formed in the future either.

      This is totally at odds with reality. Strong pushes in branding can and will warp public perception. If Google pushes ".dev = good developers" it will cause a branding in people's minds. At first it's not going to be considered an exclusive requirement that good developers have .dev, but eventually, as the .dev becomes a cognitive shortcut for "good developer" people will start thinking that those without .dev are in some way suspect - after all, if they were that good, why wouldn't they have a .dev?

      This isn't just speculation, either - the same thing can be seen in the computer world today (or at least recently) with the "XXX Certification" nonsense, be it A+ / MSDN / whatever. I've seen job hiring requirements that require certifications that are pointless to the job, or that focus more on certifications than actual job experience or ability.

    5. Re:Greedy bastards. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No developers have a publicly accessible .dev URL today.

      FTFY. A lot of developers use dnsmasq to redirect .dev to a webserver on localhost or a testing server. It's pretty much a default in the web development world. My laptop resolves .dev addresses so that project.user.dev works out to the same as http://testingserver/~user/project .

      Google taking the .dev domain opens up weird DNS possibilities.

    6. Re:Greedy bastards. by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      At first it's not going to be considered an exclusive requirement that good developers have .dev, but eventually, as the .dev becomes a cognitive shortcut for "good developer" people will start thinking that those without .dev are in some way suspect - after all, if they were that good, why wouldn't they have a .dev?

      If Google was capable of doing this, then there would already be a perception that all good developers are Google developers. And that isn't anywhere close to true.

      This isn't just speculation, either - the same thing can be seen in the computer world today (or at least recently) with the "XXX Certification" nonsense, be it A+ / MSDN / whatever. I've seen job hiring requirements that require certifications that are pointless to the job, or that focus more on certifications than actual job experience or ability.

      Nobody but idiot managers think that not having a particular certification means that someone is a bad developer. This isn't a problem where general perception is concerned.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    7. Re:Greedy bastards. by The+Rizz · · Score: 1

      If Google was capable of doing this, then there would already be a perception that all good developers are Google developers. And that isn't anywhere close to true.

      You're missing the point of how powerful branding can be.

      Nobody but idiot managers think that not having a particular certification means that someone is a bad developer. This isn't a problem where general perception is concerned.

      Tell that to every good developer who wasn't hired because some shitty developer with an MSDN certification and no experience got hired instead.

    8. Re:Greedy bastards. by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      You're missing the point of how powerful branding can be.

      No, I'm not. But it's not the ".dev" TLD that makes the branding. You're making the assumption that having a ".dev" domain registered to yourself will transform into that branding without any evidence, and against all logic.

      Tell that to every good developer who wasn't hired because some shitty developer with an MSDN certification and no experience got hired instead.

      So what? Idiot hiring managers will do what they do, and there's a huge list of stupid reasons why they might refuse to hire somebody. The availability of .dev domains doesn't make any difference in that respect -- anyone who would make a decision based on something that moronic would just find some other stupid reason to hire the poor candidate.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    9. Re:Greedy bastards. by Solandri · · Score: 1

      I think their application for .dev to be Google-only highlights a major problem with a company like this having control over any TLDs:

      No, it highlights the major problem with turning generic words into a TLD ownable by any single entity. I mean the whole idea of making a generic word a TLD was pretty stupid to begin with. But then selling it off for $100,000 or the highest bidder? That was nothing but pure greed on ICANN's part.

      Given Google's history (e.g. Android is FOSS), I actually consider them less likely to abuse this than most other companies. In fact I suspect the primary reason they snapped up a lot of these TLDs was to prevent them from falling into the hands of someone they thought might abuse them. Same reason they participated in the wireless spectrum auction - even though they didn't win any spectrum, they did get the FCC to require that the winners not discriminate in the type of traffic sent over that spectrum. A provision which nailed Verizon when they tried to block tethering apps.

    10. Re:Greedy bastards. by Solandri · · Score: 1

      Anyone know a good petition site we could place a petition on? Maybe try and collect some opposition signatures, get some tech media coverage and -gulp- resist?

      You already missed your chance to give your opinion on generic TLDs. If you were opposed to them, you should've said something 3 years ago. Not that ICANN bothered listening with the prospect of millions of dollars of free revenue weighing down the other side of the scale.

    11. Re:Greedy bastards. by allo · · Score: 3, Informative

      .dev was never reserved. so use .dev.local, which is reserved for your LAN.

    12. Re: Greedy bastards. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My God man! I haven't seen such naivete since... since... at least 5 or 6 posts above yours!

    13. Re:Greedy bastards. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're missing the point of how powerful branding can be.

      No, I'm not. But it's not the ".dev" TLD that makes the branding. You're making the assumption that having a ".dev" domain registered to yourself will transform into that branding without any evidence, and against all logic.

      It's you that's out of touch. So much so that I wonder if you're in marketing and thus feel somehow entitled to be dishonest. Just look at .net, word, excel or even google.

      Tell that to every good developer who wasn't hired because some shitty developer with an MSDN certification and no experience got hired instead.

      So what? Idiot hiring managers will do what they do, and there's a huge list of stupid reasons why they might refuse to hire somebody. The availability of .dev domains doesn't make any difference in that respect -- anyone who would make a decision based on something that moronic would just find some other stupid reason to hire the poor candidate.

      We live in the real world, not a fantasy. In the real world we collectively often make decisions to compensate for people's poor judgment. And that includes doing what we can to deal with disingenuous people that manipulate the language to benefit themselves at the expense of others. And .dev is definitely an attempt to do just that - there is absolutely nothing stopping them from using .dev.google if they want and that actually reflects the reality - developers working with google, not developers in general.

    14. Re:Greedy bastards. by ThomasBHardy · · Score: 1

      I was referring to the Google attempt, before it gets approved.

      --
      Warning: Teh poster of this messaeg is lysdexic
    15. Re:Greedy bastards. by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Given Google's history (e.g. Android is FOSS)

      Not really. Not much more at all than Apple's OS is FOSS.

      Google puts out projects all the time that they later decide to kill. They don't 'release them to the community.' They kill them. Frequently.

    16. Re:Greedy bastards. by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      It's you that's out of touch. So much so that I wonder if you're in marketing and thus feel somehow entitled to be dishonest. Just look at .net, word, excel or even google.

      On what planet is the branding power of any of those examples derived from a domain name?

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    17. Re:Greedy bastards. by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Sure, using generic names is stupid

      The only thing less stupid is not using them. You'd be stuck with brand names only then, the IP lawyers dream.

      i don't thik .shop or .gallery are bad names because they're generic.

      --
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    18. Re:Greedy bastards. by jrumney · · Score: 1

      Why should Google's developers be exempt from this, and allowed to cordon off .dev for themselves?

    19. Re:Greedy bastards. by hobarrera · · Score: 2

      .local is used my mdns (eg: avahi, bonjour), so you shouldn't use it with a static, classic dns if you want to avoid colission.

      Why not just use a real TLD for internal stuff as well and stop complicating things?

    20. Re:Greedy bastards. by Tom · · Score: 1

      It highlights a problem with the DNS system since ICANN took over.

      We used to have a logical, hierarchical system. Any company would be under .com and any university under .edu -- then it broke apart and you would find anything under .com and anyone who couldn't get the .com name under .org, .net or whatever.

      Then ICANN came along and greed won. Now you'll find anyone under anything, provided they paid for it. The TLD part has become entirely meaningless as it does not convey meaning anymore. ".dev" does not actually mean anything. You might think it means something if you associate those three letters with a meaning, but actually it only means "owned by Google".

      We should just ditch the .tld entirely and that's it.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    21. Re:Greedy bastards. by allo · · Score: 1

      i included them in my comment, but now they own it, so we need to cope with it.

    22. Re:Greedy bastards. by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Ghosts in the machine - shades of Draft-Higgs. Look it up.

      If you get rid of the tld the dld becomes the tld and the problem hasn't gone anywhere.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    23. Re:Greedy bastards. by allo · · Score: 1

      by the way: another misuse of ressources by poettering. When avahi was new, there was a lot of controvery about mdns vs. older static .local assignments.

  7. .dev by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think .dev should be like example.com: not able to register so DEVELOPERS (re: NOT GOOGLE) can use like, [mydomain].dev to develop, and not have to create wonky local host names.

    Then again, just override and tell Google to bugger off. I do that with doubleclick.net

    1. Re:.dev by arth1 · · Score: 1

      I think .dev should be like example.com: not able to register so DEVELOPERS (re: NOT GOOGLE) can use like, [mydomain].dev to develop, and not have to create wonky local host names.

      But example.com is not like that. It's an actual domain name that was reserved due to developer abuse, mostly out of ignorance that there's the dedicated .invalid TLD already (un)assigned for that use.

    2. Re:.dev by lgw · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think .dev should be like example.com: not able to register so DEVELOPERS (re: NOT GOOGLE) can use like, [mydomain].dev to develop, and not have to create wonky local host names.

      RFC 2606 reserves 4 TLDs for this purpose: .test .example .invalid .localhost

      I've always used .test for domains for QA/test deployments. It also reserves the example.* second level domain name across all TLDs.

      I think there are some other reserved TLDs, including ".xy" and some 63-character name that was something like "sixtythreecharacterdomainnamefortestingpurposes" , but I can't find the RFC. Anyone?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    3. Re:.dev by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dnsind-test-tlds-06 mentions .xy , but the official RFC does not: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2606 (updated by https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6761 )

    4. Re:.dev by rs79 · · Score: 1

      It's complicated.

      the RFC series defines what TLDs are not usable they're for test and local use.

      ICANN maintains a list of second level words you will not use. Fifteen years ago this was "nasa" and "olympic" and it's grown substantially since then to incide batshit insane stuff like the list of all pharmaceuticals. I haven't looked in a while but I think "caffeine" was one of them. There's probably more now, the IP lawyers had their way with ICANN for a decade before any new tlds saw the light of day fifteen years after Postel said "hey, lets do this, start building registries folks. Send your TLD applications to IANA". They did and Jon published a lit of all the applications and names he received.

      Pursuant to RFC 1591 says "first come first served" and "these principles apply to all levels of the DNS". So of course ICANN and the lawyers just ignored it.

      That is, their fist move was to ignore the consensus we codified in the RFC series. Pretty impressive for an organization whose mandate when chartered by the USG was to "measure and implement the consensus of the internet community".

      Here's another one - the $25 domain renewal late fee. Where is the "consensus of the community" for that one? It's a regressive tax ad one only the registrar's want. The registries don't care they never see it.

      So we have a case where 0.000000000001% of the net wants it, it costs the users millions. How is this the "consensus of the internet community".

      Cost to provision any domain is under one cent. If you're not in the US currency exchange and all the bullshit fees are edging the price of lapsed domain near to the $100 point which is where the net went to war a dozen years ago to counter, which let to ICANN who then enabled the problem they were created to solve.

      Can you tell the government and lawyers had their hands all over this or what?

      This is why the net neutrality legislation makes me nervous, the only other tie th e guvmint got involved they screwed the pooch badly, with the same apparent good intent then as now.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  8. All your dev are belong to us.... by tomxor · · Score: 1

    Why dev... developers are not exclusive to Google. dev is as generica a domain as you can get, hence TLD hence not google only.

    1. Re:All your dev are belong to us.... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      It's not only for developers. Last I looked dev also referred to devices.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:All your dev are belong to us.... by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 2

      Maybe that would explain The Bad Thing That Happened when I pointed CVSROOT at /dev.

    3. Re:All your dev are belong to us.... by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      But why does that matter?

      I really can't see any reason why this is any "worse" than a single entity owning, say, http://developer.com/. Domain names really aren't like real estate -- the namespace is so big that you're always going to be able to find an alternative.

      If there's some group organization that feels strongly that there should be a TLD reserved for developers, then they should go ahead and register one.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    4. Re:All your dev are belong to us.... by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

      # sudo ln -s /dev/null /dev/google

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    5. Re:All your dev are belong to us.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ; bind /dev/null /dev/google

    6. Re:All your dev are belong to us.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really can't see any reason why this is any "worse" than a single entity owning, say, http://developer.com/ [developer.com].

      The company may own developer.com but it does not own the .com. This is the point. .com is a TLD (Top Level Domain) no one company should own or control TLDs. This is for the root servers to control NOT fucking Goog.

    7. Re:All your dev are belong to us.... by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1

      no one company should own or control TLDs. This is for the root servers to control NOT fucking Goog.

      That's a statement of your unsupported opinion, not fact.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  9. Necessity of search by jtara · · Score: 1

    I guess they are doing it because descriptive TLDs makes search a tiny little bit less necessary.

    On the other hand search - or at least search that might deliver relevant results rather than the spam that Google delivers - would make DNS almost completely unnecessary

    Google isn't likely to give us that kind of search. Ever.

    Google Scholar notwithstanding.

  10. .dev is for all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .google, if they want a vanity plate!
    Just .ibm should be IBM and .coke should be Coke-Cola.

    1. Re:.dev is for all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      coke fired blast furnaces be damned

    2. Re:.dev is for all by rs79 · · Score: 1

      .delta is the canonical example. Who gets this, Delta Faucets or Delta Airlines?

      I turned on the tap and didn't get an airline schedule. Man, I'm one confused consumer.

      (Trademarks exists to 1) identify the source of good or a service in a specific geographical area and 2) "consumer confusion" is the metric by which you judge infringement)

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  11. Why use the internet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Google wants these TLD's all to itself, why not create them on its own VPN? If nobody else is to use them then there's no need to use internet TLD's in the first place? I just don't really get it.

  12. And no one cares by ugen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am watching the "new generation" use the internet/web browser. They don't do it the way we (I?) did. They have little concept of "url" or web site address. Any resource they access is entered into the ever-present search box or "magic combo url bar", as series of search terms or a common name. They rely on the (non-standartized but helpful) search subsystem (usually, Google, but not always) to bring them to the right place. Domain names with their formal fixed format are not part of their use pattern, and I don't expect that to change.

    So, let it be .whatever.

    1. Re:And no one cares by BoRegardless · · Score: 1

      And half those sort of "new generation" searchers won't know half the time if they are redirected to a phony site.

    2. Re:And no one cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Right on. It annoys me when I see people using google search to go to a specific website, rather than use the address bar to go there directly. If you try to explain to them that the address bar will take them there without having to click the first search result, it's like they don't even want to know.

    3. Re:And no one cares by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      Well, then that's their limitation, not mine. I am tired of this trend of dumbing things down to the lowest possible. In this case, it puts the search engine in control of who gets to find your site. Also, having sites memorized removes the search step from the process which is a net win for people who actually have brains.

    4. Re:And no one cares by Kjella · · Score: 2

      And half those sort of "new generation" searchers won't know half the time if they are redirected to a phony site.

      Half the "old generation" didn't know half the time if they are redirected to a phony site by a phishing email. Anyway, that assumes you're going somewhere worth scamming. Email, online bank, ebay sure... but in the last 15+ years I haven't seen a single phishing attempt for my slashdot account info. And stuff that you just read, what's to phish? And that's why the important stuff is moving towards two-factor authentication so just stealing your password isn't enough.

      It's the same generation

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    5. Re:And no one cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There may have been a few years around 2000 where they may have somewhat mattered to the general public because of the general buzz around the Internet and start ups, but before that, they didn't matter anymore than after and now...

      Remember AOL keywords? And do you actually remember the time during which you didn't know that many websites, and just had to search for companies or subjects all the time, on Yahoo!, then AltaVista, and then HotBot, before Google?

      Then you would bookmark these sites, and their domain name would not really matter anymore. Even now if you're typing a visited/bookmarked domain, it will be completed, and could be completed just by it's name which almost always appears in homepage title/meta, so the specific domain really does not matter. It can help identify official websites, but it's in no way certain in practice (starting with DNS/website/web browser hijiacking at every level, and before that, smaller homonym companies, and domain squatting), and there are other ways to help it (starting with certificates with validated owners).

      Anyway, not only people "simply" use the search box, but more importantly, most people only visit a few sites directly (rich homepages, news sites, community sites, social networking sites, etc.), with links pointing to most the other websites they visit... And then there are links in chat, emails, and SMSes. Then what is really left, for most people? The occasional search for information, clicking on links in search browsers... A few times a year they may want to type in an URL they may have seen on ads in the street or on some paper journal, or someone told them... And as you say, they'll probably use the search box anyway, sometimes even typing the full URL in it, because they don't know better, or simply as a spellchecking measure...

      As a geek, I certainly would like domain names and URLs/URIs in general to be even far more systematic and rigorous, with specific hierarchies and definitions, proper management of homonyms, etc. But indeed, very few care about all this... And if this is to make it even worse (and it is of course, because money and control mongering), I certainly would prefer to maintain the status quo, and forget about the new TLDs...

    6. Re:And no one cares by swillden · · Score: 2

      Right on. It annoys me when I see people using google search to go to a specific website, rather than use the address bar to go there directly. If you try to explain to them that the address bar will take them there without having to click the first search result, it's like they don't even want to know.

      I think this is just a further extension of the location bar vs search bar change.

      I remember when I first saw the Chrome omnibox. It offended me. Mildly, but still. I know the difference between a search and a URL, and I am perfectly capable of clicking into the correct bar. Then I actually used the omnibox for a while (because Chrome was so blindingly fast compared to other browsers at the time) and found that when I jumped back to Firefox I got annoyed at the mental effort required to use the split location/search fields, even though it was trivial.

      The fact is that low effort is not the same as zero effort. I like the omnibox because I just click and type, no need to spend a millisecond deciding which box I should click into.

      I can see what you describe as the next step, so people don't have to bother understanding, or thinking about if they do understand, the difference between "cnn" and "cnn.com". Or I suppose those who type slowly may prefer to omit the last four characters purely for that reason.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    7. Re:And no one cares by swillden · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, then that's their limitation, not mine. I am tired of this trend of dumbing things down to the lowest possible.

      Damn straight. It's like all these stupid GUI interfaces. I mean, I can see using a graphical interface if you're editing photos or something, but for reading and writing text? It's ridiculous and just makes it so that stupid people can do it without having to understand anything.

      It all started with visual text editors, you know? Line editing was good enough, heck, you could argue that it made things too easy, too. What was really good was when we used toggle switches to enter data and read the output from a sequence of lights. If you can't mentally translate binary to ASCII you don't deserve the power of computation.

      </sarcasm>

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    8. Re:And no one cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could be worse. I've seen people go to yahoo.com, search for google, then make their search on google. WHY?? Why not go to google.com? 'Because this is what I was told to use' AAARRRG.

    9. Re:And no one cares by SeaFox · · Score: 1, Insightful

      And half those sort of "new generation" searchers won't know half the time if they are redirected to a phony site.

      Or if they are blocked from reaching the site they want by the search provider choosing to delist what they are looking for.

      Who needs an actual government internet filter when you can ask your good friends at the search providers to make the site "disappear" for a growing portion of the population.

    10. Re:And no one cares by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      What is offensive is Internet Explorer SEARCHING the internet when i put in 192.168.1.1. I have to make sure it has http:/// or it will search the web for those numbers instead of treating it as a URL.

      --
      Good-bye
    11. Re:And no one cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right on. It annoys me when I see people using google search to go to a specific website, rather than use the address bar to go there directly. If you try to explain to them that the address bar will take them there without having to click the first search result, it's like they don't even want to know.

      Correct. They do not want to know. They do not care. Why? Because it works for them.

      Trying to change this habit is as sisyphean as trying to convince people to spell correctly or follow good grammar rules. It bothers you, but is meaningless to them.

    12. Re:And no one cares by swell · · Score: 1

      "I just click and type, no need to spend a millisecond deciding which box I should click into. "

      Assuming you are going to type something in that box, see if you can find the TAB key. The exercise of moving your hand from the keyboard to mouse to keyboard may be healthy, but if you are worried about milliseconds, just use keyboard commands. You can pretty much browse the world without ever touching your mouse.

      --
      ...omphaloskepsis often...
    13. Re:And no one cares by pspahn · · Score: 1

      What does the "new generation" do when entering a host name for some random API request?

      Should we just search for the hostname and hope it's the right one?

      --
      Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
    14. Re:And no one cares by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      I am watching the "new generation" use the internet/web browser. They don't do it the way we (I?) did. They have little concept of "url" or web site address. Any resource they access is entered into the ever-present search box or "magic combo url bar", as series of search terms or a common name. They rely on the (non-standartized but helpful) search subsystem (usually, Google, but not always) to bring them to the right place.

      So in other words, AOL keywords.

    15. Re:And no one cares by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Right on. It annoys me when I see people using google search to go to a specific website, rather than use the address bar to go there directly. If you try to explain to them that the address bar will take them there without having to click the first search result, it's like they don't even want to know.

      And you know what annoys them? Your insistence on harassing them about trying to use their computer more "optimally" when what they're doing works just fine. Moreover, you're actually wrong.

      Frankly, I think it's probably better for most people to use search than typing urls anyhow. A search captures their intent better than an actual URL in most cases. Consider the case of a single mistyped letter. The actual search will likely correct this error automatically. A URL with a mistyped letter may well be a scam or malware site. In fact, the indirection of "search as address" is also a handy safety filter, as search providers like Google have the resources to scan and block sites with active malware being hosted on them.

      Even if you discount all those factors, the point remains: Is it really worth bothering people about a few seconds of wasted time when they're still getting the same results? Save your battles for the important stuff.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    16. Re:And no one cares by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Save your battles for the important stuff.

      GP's point is the important stuff. From a privacy point of view, going through your search provider to load a URL is like calling the police station and having the switchboard operator dial your number for you.

      Again, the new squirts won't even know what I am talking about.

      "Math is hard! Let's go shopping!"

    17. Re:And no one cares by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      There was no DRM in the Octal switch codes I used to toggle in to bootstrap the PDP-8e in the Science Building to the high speed tape reader to start streaming to get FOCAL running.

      And that was a good thing, although taken to an extreme degree.

    18. Re:And no one cares by swillden · · Score: 1

      Assuming you are going to type something in that box, see if you can find the TAB key

      Why? Why not just type without bothering with the tab and let the machine figure it out? That's my whole point.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    19. Re:And no one cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, Chrome and FF both to that to me as well. No need to cherry pick IE.

    20. Re:And no one cares by PrimaryConsult · · Score: 1

      Yes!! They need to make it so that IP addresses in the address bar default to http:/// the same as if it was something.com....

    21. Re:And no one cares by rs79 · · Score: 2

      That is very true. You have to remember that when this domain stuff started some of the actors involved still used CRTs and an old Sun and had never used the web. Postels thesis advisor's thesis advisor (Einar Stefferud) and I became good friends and I talked him into buying a laptop so could do something other than say "what is this" when I sent him a URL.

      Stef was thesis advisor to a lot of people: Dave Farber, Brian Reid, etc.He was one of the coolest people ever.

      Search engines were very new and there wasn't much in them at the time.

      Now? NOW? I know a guy that to get to gmail.com types gmail into google and cicks on the link. You're quite right most people don't get domains now, give them a name to use and they type the fucking thing into Google. Tell them they can type the name directly into the URL bar and they say "meh, this works".

      $Oblig_spechlesss_reaction.gif

      http://img.pandawhale.com/post...

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    22. Re:And no one cares by Tom · · Score: 1

      Sarcasm aside, professionals use the right tool for a job. Not necessarily the most complex or expensive or technical. A professional knows when to use the combo-hyper-pro-magic-machine as well as when to take a hammer or a screwdriver.

      URLs have a reason to exist, and they will. The same way that IPs have a reason to exist and will, even though we rarely use them today. But 10 years ago, I knew the IPs of all my servers by heart. Today I need them rarely, but sometimes I do and I know where to find them. Today I know all my domains by heart. Maybe in 10 years I will use them rarely, but when I do, I know how to do it.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    23. Re:And no one cares by nazsco · · Score: 1

      so the new generation uses the internet just like the old generation did with AOL?

      boy I'm happy to be the current generation!

    24. Re:And no one cares by swillden · · Score: 1

      URLs have a reason to exist, and they will. The same way that IPs have a reason to exist and will, even though we rarely use them today.

      Clearly they're important, and will be whether or not people see or use them. To the degree we can build infrastructure that hides the technical details and provides people with more human-friendly interfaces, we've made progress. Of course, the security engineer in me worries about the attack surface provided by these additional layers of abstraction.

      But 10 years ago, I knew the IPs of all my servers by heart. Today I need them rarely, but sometimes I do and I know where to find them.

      A few years from now you'll be glad that you need them rarely. Even with zero-compression, IPv6 addresses are unwieldy for humans.

      Today I know all my domains by heart. Maybe in 10 years I will use them rarely, but when I do, I know how to do it.

      It will be interesting to see what direction we go.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    25. Re:And no one cares by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      Nah, you can do things with GUI that can't be done at a text prompt. The reverse is also true. I don't think your analogy applies.

    26. Re:And no one cares by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      Yes, but it's not progress if it destroys the more technical constructs that allow more knowledgeable people to be more productive. Replacing whole interfaces with a search box does just that.

    27. Re:And no one cares by swillden · · Score: 1

      Yes, but it's not progress if it destroys the more technical constructs that allow more knowledgeable people to be more productive. Replacing whole interfaces with a search box does just that.

      Does it? I don't think so. The omnibox makes me more productive, not less. The difference is tiny, granted, but it's non-zero.

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    28. Re:And no one cares by swillden · · Score: 1

      Nah, you can do things with GUI that can't be done at a text prompt. The reverse is also true. I don't think your analogy applies.

      I'll bet your text prompt is displayed on a GUI, nearly all of the time. Mine certainly is.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    29. Re:And no one cares by dave420 · · Score: 1

      It's nothing at all like that, which I'm sure you know deep down.

  13. Express Disapproval? by ndrw · · Score: 1

    Where would be the most visible and likely to be heard place to express disapproval over this policy?

    My feeling has been that TLDs should be publicly available, not privately held...

    1. Re:Express Disapproval? by rs79 · · Score: 1

      It's way too late, they've had numerous public comment periods and that's all over now.

      If it wasn't, ICANN would be the one to complain to. You would fly to a meeting and make your case to the board in the part where comments are taken from the audience. Stand in line and when you get your two minute chance at the microphone you can tell your story.

      ICANN will thank you for your and will then says "next!".

      I wish I were making this up.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  14. Right thats not abusing your company size by future+assassin · · Score: 1

    when will the next competitor come to unset googles eventual strangle on the way to access and search websites. This move is BS and should not be allowed except as stated .google or a few other domains but they should be made available to the public.

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  15. End of TLD:s - we just get "google" or "microsoft" by pereric · · Score: 2

    And soon or later, why wouldn't any larger organization apply for their own TLD:s? And how long until the rules are changed to allow organization names or product trademarks as TLD:s? Then everyone may just register <organization>, <product>, <whatever> as their domain. And some lucky gals or guys get "mail" (like mail.com before) and try to sell it to the highest bidder.

    I don't see much advantage to this TLD proliferation.

  16. .blog by corychristison · · Score: 1

    If google is the sole registrar of all .blog domain names, then you never actually 'own' it.

    While I understand the convenience aspect of it, the user cannot transfer it out and is forced to use Google Blogger, and ONLY Blogger. Despite the fact that there are thousands of ways to get a blog online.

    On the topic of .dev: I also don't understand where they are coming from with the .dev TLD. I can see it being valuable to both developers and device makers. Why wouldn't they try to capitalize it instead of hog it to themselves?

    1. Re:.blog by rs79 · · Score: 1

      You never own any domain, they're all structured as service agreements.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  17. Do No Evil by QuietLagoon · · Score: 0

    Oh well, it was nice for the few milliseconds it lasted....

  18. What is the big deal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TLDs have always been a money making scheme for some. There is NO technical reason to have TLDs. And, yes, I do know what I'm talking about.

    1. Re:What is the big deal? by rickb928 · · Score: 1

      Actually, there is no technical reason to limit .TLDs to a single registrar. Oh, wait...

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    2. Re:What is the big deal? by rs79 · · Score: 1

      .arpa says you're wrong. as does .mil

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    3. Re:What is the big deal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      .arpa says you're wrong. as does .mil

      hmmm........

  19. Re:Monopolistic: Do no evil? by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now will ICANN put its foot down

    It had better hope so, because giving entire TLDs to specific big companies could easily be the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of the rest of the world accepting US-led administration of the general Internet. There's plenty of scepticism already, but organisations like ICANN are tolerated because frankly no-one has much of a better idea or wants to take on the responsibility. However, it is not difficult to think of a better idea than letting big businesses rewrite the established rules in arguably the most important address space in the world today for their own benefit.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  20. All the more reason by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 3, Insightful

    that the new TLDs were a stupid idea and the only reason they were implemented is that the beancounters are in charge instead of the car guys.

    1. Re:All the more reason by msobkow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The new TLDs are a cash grab and nothing more. Not only for ICANN, but for every company that manages to buy up a gTLD.

      Basically, the people buying up these gTLDs are hoping to cash in on companies wanting to register .searchterm domains. Which, in my books, is nonsense. I don't trust any of these new domains to be anything but spam traps and phishing expeditions. Given the options in search results, I would always go to the .com, .org, or .net address over a gTLD.

      --
      I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    2. Re:All the more reason by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Some are, some aren't. Very few things are 100%

      Te problem is he cost is so high (it was free but you had to have infrastructure and a clue when we tried) that it's discouraged those trying to do some good and leaves it more as a venue for speculative types. Which was what ICANN was purported to prevent. Oh irony I do love you so.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  21. Re:Monopolistic: Do no evil? by Dagger2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I might be guessing wrong here, but I'm thinking the primary intention of these new TLDs was to earn ICANN shitloads of money. It costs $185,000 just to apply for one, and $25,000/year to keep it.

    Every Fortune 500 company doing the same thing would be a dream come true for them.

  22. Honest question here by ebh · · Score: 1

    If I were an entity that had its own TLD, say .ebh, it would be nice if people could get to my site with the minimalist URL http://ebh. Is there any way to disambiguate a TLD from a nonqualified host name to make that possible?

    1. Re:Honest question here by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      Google has already tried that with http://search./

    2. Re:Honest question here by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      They definitely have some tweaking to do. I typed in 'search' alone as a url (why did you put the period in your url example?) and it brought up nothing. A finger fumble later turned it into a google search and it brought up a Google.com search page. The first two links found, after the spammy 'news' that Google likes to throw on top, were search.yahoo.com and bing.com.

    3. Re:Honest question here by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      I didn't want a link the first place. It should have been plain text.

    4. Re:Honest question here by heypete · · Score: 1

      If I were an entity that had its own TLD, say .ebh, it would be nice if people could get to my site with the minimalist URL http://ebh. Is there any way to disambiguate a TLD from a nonqualified host name to make that possible?

      Sure. Just end the address with a dot, which identifies the name in the URL as being absolute.

      For example, http://ai./ is a site in Anguilla that uses the TLD as its own name. However, if you leave out the dot it doesn't work -- this is a bit of a pain and most TLDs won't let anyone use the TLD itself as a name.

  23. M'lord the Robber Baron by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what's evil? Railway rights will have more than one applicant and thus will go to auction. We're talking millions or even tens of millions of dollars. no "regular person" or small-medium business can play in that field anyway.

  24. Also, .prod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google also got .prod for internal use only. This is pretty annoying since it caused tons of people this type of grief: http://serverfault.com/questions/626612/dns-just-started-resolving-my-server-prod-addresses-to-127-0-53-53

  25. Uh ... NO! Hell NO!!!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uh ... NO! Hell NO!!!!!!

    Special treatment is bad for the internet. Do we need registrar-neutrality too?

    What about Baidu and special domains for other web companies?

    Can I get .jdp? If the answer is no, then the answer to google much also be NO.

  26. Time for new root servers by allo · · Score: 1

    relay country TLDs, com net org info to icann, refuse to relay specific stuff like museum, edu, gov, mil (they can use country tlds, if they want) and open the new stuff like .dev .app for everyone, ignoring the monetized use in the icann dns.

    1. Re:Time for new root servers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would you allow com/net/org, but refuse edu/gov/mil?

      Furthermore, how would you propose opening "new stuff like .dev .app for everyone"? There still needs to be a central registry of who has what domain, and to resolve conflicts when two different people want the same domain.

    2. Re:Time for new root servers by rs79 · · Score: 1

      We tried that.

      You really wanna saddle up those horses again or perhaps move past that?

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    3. Re:Time for new root servers by allo · · Score: 1

      com, net, org are open for free registration, while edu gov and mil were always restricted.

  27. Absolutely true by waspleg · · Score: 1

    not sure how new of a generation you mean but I see this every day from 6th - 12th graders.

    Even when being explicitly told what to type and where most will end up at the wrong URL because they don't listen and think that search is the way to enter addresses.

  28. Sorry, what you really mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .donoevil is now a fully Google controlled property.

  29. Re:Monopolistic: Do no evil? by pepty · · Score: 1

    10 year lease on each TLD. 9 years in each goes to public auction which determines the rate for the next 10 year lease.

  30. Re: dumbing things down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > It's ridiculous and just makes it so that stupid people can do it [i.e. post opinions on the net] without having to understand anything.

    The trouble with modern education was that now the illiterate can read and write ...
    The trouble with the Internet is that now they can publish too.

  31. a way out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ICANN should do all TLD's as UTF-32 Google can get their own combining diacritical mark that applies the property of googleness to whatever string of TLD characters they want to own (causing them to be rendered blue-red-yellow-blue-green-red) and no one has to complain about the ownership of 3-5 letter ASCII character strings in which multiple diverse collections of individuals feel previous emotional investment.

  32. You mean CIA is taking over new TLD's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please stop calling this entity Google:

    https://medium.com/@NafeezAhmed/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e

    Everytime you hear the word Google uttered please know it's a direct intelligence asset of the CIA.

    Please rephrase the headline: "CIA taking over new tlds"

    1. Re:You mean CIA is taking over new TLD's by rs79 · · Score: 1

      You might with to look to see who attended the interagency task force that caused DoC/NTIA to end up with names and numbers in their bailiwick in the first place.

      What you're suggesting is akin gto "omg Santa's gonna take over xmas!"

      See also the SAIC/General Atomics connection to the original NSF / Internic cooperative agreement.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  33. Why the whining? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not like there all TLDs out there are totally open now.

    Military, government and education tend to be locked down quite hard. (edu a little less so I believe)
    Any others I am missing?

    I hate the entire DNS as it is and think it should be permanently scrapped in favor of a system similar to usenet hierarchy, to be perfectly honest.
    DNS is open to abuse at so many levels, both by companies and malicious owners.
    Having the most important parts of the URL further in to the URL just makes it annoying and easy to screw with people that might only glance at the URL at best.
    Gotta love that slashdot.org.story.com/15/02/28/1333231/
    So many sites like this still exist even now. They were very popular with myspace URLs.
    If it was the other way around, it would be far harder to screw people around.
    Not only that, the usenet method is just generally just far tidier and easier to manage on a technical level.

    Not going to happen until there is a massive change at a global level. To be honest, WW3 has more chance of happening next week.

  34. It's all about Ballmer! by jtara · · Score: 1

    It was to keep .dev out of the hands of Steve Ballmer!

    The Infamous "Developers" Rant

  35. Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Getting pretty sick and tired of this company acting like a complete asshole.

  36. Re:It's all about Ballmer! (OK, right video...) by jtara · · Score: 1

    Oops! Mea culpa. Note to self: watch the video before you post it!

    Really, the Infamous Steve Ballmer "Developers" Rant

  37. Re:Monopolistic: Do no evil? by rs79 · · Score: 1

    When was the last time ICANN put its foot down? Hell when was the first?

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
  38. Re:Monopolistic: Do no evil? by rs79 · · Score: 1

    Hey somebody has to pay for the quarterly five star junkets and 3X government scale salaries. A lot of the 1099's are online.

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
  39. No. Just no. by rickb928 · · Score: 1

    I got to pile on about this.

    ".dev, .lol, .app, .blog, .cloud and .search." .dev certainly has usefulness well beyond Google. ICANN should refuse this outright. .app? After the fight with Apple, let ICANN deny both of them. .cloud? See .dev for the explanation. .lol? More of the same. .search? Ask Yahoo, Microsoft, and Steve Wolfram about this. .blog? Remarkably tone deaf.

    ICANN should specifically refuse not only Google, but any Google-related applicant.

    Unimaginable. I'll be looking to file comments on these with the relevant parties.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  40. Re:Monopolistic: Do no evil? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Equestria NIC

  41. why not private dns? by SavSoul · · Score: 1

    If you are in control of the entire domain name space why wouldn't you just add that domain set to your own private DNS servers and call it a day? There is no need to make it public since a huge chunk of DNS queries are already handled by Google.

  42. Why is this allowed at all? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The question no one seems to be asking is why are companies allowed to apply for TLDs in the first place?

  43. Not .dev but .devil by fygment · · Score: 1

    Sorry for the typo folks.

    -Google

    --
    "Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
  44. Why do we still have TLDs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't we all standardize (on) something like namecoin and start using that?

    Imagine a distributed DNS system, hostnames would be THE 'top level'. Google would just be http://google/, localization would be done on data sent from the browser.
    Everyone would be able to call dibs on any domain and register it, registration might be done sorta like namecoin: there's a certain amount of computational resources that corresponds to having a top-level domain registered.
    Sub-domains would be free to register as long as you update the NS record for the top level domain.

    Just imagine: the first slashdotter who registers 'coward' can then register 'anonymous.coward' and 'nameless.coward'!

    ISPs could cache all of the internet's top-level records and serve that to your modem.
    No more TLD requirements for domain names, etc. (I'm looking at you, IEDR)

    All TLDs in use right now would be registered before the network goes live and pointed to already existing name-servers for backwards compat.
    I see absolutely no reason why we can not do this.

  45. Re:Monopolistic: Do no evil? by rs79 · · Score: 1

    What?

    Is there one anybody's ever heard of?

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?