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The Nations of the Amazon Want the Name Back (bbc.com)
Online retail giant Amazon and the governments of eight South American countries have been given a final deadline to reach an agreement over how to use the ".amazon" web address extension after a seven-year dispute. From a report: What will happen next? It's a name that evokes epic proportions: the world's largest rainforest; a global tech company; and now a diplomatic saga nearing its end. This is the battle of the Amazon and it starts back in 2012. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that polices the world wide web's address system, decided to expand its list of generic top-level domains (gTLD) - the bit that comes after the dot in a web address. The new rules allowed companies to apply for brand new extensions, offering internet users and businesses more ways to personalise their website name and addresses. But eight countries containing the Amazon rainforest objected to the retail giant's plans concerning the new .amazon domain name.
Jeff Bezos had this problem all worked out until his wife got the money he was going to use to buy those countries outright.
I still think all these new TLDs are a stupid idea.
As far as I am concerned, neither Amazon (the business) nor these 8 countries have any automatic right to domain names that contain the word amazon. The first to apply should get and get to keep the domain name. Just like Microsoft should not have been able to take over domain names containing the word microsoft from their original owners!
Or something similar. Problem solved.
The near eastern warrior women were Amazons a couple millennia before some web site was founded or rivers in the New World started getting European names.
Traditionally, TLDs have been used to either designate a general usage category, e.g. commercial, education, military, government, and so forth, or designate a geographic area of origin, e.g. us, ch, de, and so forth. The geographical designator has been abused, for example, the use of the "tv" designation. However, if we keep with this tradition, then obviously the "amazon" domain can only refer to the geographical region of Themyscira, which by a very long period predates the usage in southern new world continent.
-- Perhaps I see less than some, but more than many.
Considering that Amazon comes from ancient Greek, and refers to a tribe of women warriers, I'd say it's "first come, first served." The countries simply don't have any better claim to use of the word than the company.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
It is always kinda scary to see individual companies acting as peers or even superiors to entire nations like this. The idea of a single private entity getting an entire gTLD for its own private use instead of it going to a general usage or geographic region should have been laughed out of the suggestion box. While I am not surprised that ICANN seriously entertained the idea, I am annoyed.
So really, the residents of Lesbos should have first kick at the can.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Even if they did get the .amazon TLD, what would the URL for the shop then be? "amazon.amazon"? Would what is now something like "amazon.co.jp" become "japan.amazon"?
Or are they going for something like "books.amazon" or "screwextractors.amazon" or "sexbots.amazon"?
"washingtonpost.amazon"
Amazon, the company in the US, the book shop, the retailer, is not the only company called amazon.
http://www.pttmcc.com/new/cafe...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The coffee they offer is actually quite good.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Anyone can apply for a TLD as long as you own any applicable copyright. In case the TLD covers a geographic region, the ICANN panel determines if the domain should be under governmental control: apparently there is a sub-board that looks at this stuff. That is clearly the case for national TLDs, might also be the case for TLDs covering states or provinces that have their own governments. It is much less clear in this case, with the TLD covering a somewhat arbitrary geographic region that spans 8 countries. Does their case have more merit than of a large, established corporation with clear copyright on the name, when the name itself comes from ancient Greece? I think the panel made the right decision to see if both parties could come to some sort of agreement. But if no agreement is reached, it seems fairer to award the TLD to the company with a clear plan and clear business case for using the name, as opposed to these disjoint government whose "claim" amounts to something something tourism sovereignty.
However I love how Amazon tried to buy off those countries with a couple of free Kindles...
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Do any of those Amazonian countries offer 2-day prime shipping? I think not.
Well, no, the Amazons weren't Lesbians (well, some of them may have been lesbians, but they weren't from Lesbos). In fact, they weren't even Greek, "Amazon" was simply the Greek name for them. Supposedly they originally came from Lybia but migrated to Anatolia (modern Turkey, before the Turks took it over). The general modern opinion is that they were in fact a Greek myth. Unfortunately, the fun etymology that "amazon" derives from the ancient Greek "a-mazos" "without a breast" seems to be false.
Considering that Amazon comes from ancient Greek, and refers to a tribe of women warriers, I'd say it's "first come, first served."
Why should the Greeks name a river in South America?
Just rename the river. What do the Yanomamis and their pals call it . . . ?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Longest river in the world, #1!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
BlameBillCosby.com
No need to change the name, because none of the countries that have the Amazon river call it that, since they don't speak English. It's el río Amazonas. They can register that .amazonas gTLD.
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see here. It's been like this since trade became a thing.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
so there's a bunch of Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries that want to have the English spelling in their TLD? why don't they fight over .amazonas or .amazona?
Anyone can have a gTLD.
You could apply for, and receive, *.jythie if you want.
Why? Because its a money making scheme, that's why. gTLDs force companies down this path where they either try to protect their trademark or have it trampled over. In return registrars generate millions of dollars registering gTLDs that aren't even used
Perhaps among those who haven't heard of the Scythians and their female horse archers.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
It's ethethetheth or something like that. Viva El Presidente!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."