The body in charge of regulating the net has given permission for the range of domain names to be greatly expanded. But what does that mean for businesses?
You may have heard recently that ICANN, the body in charge of running and regulating the net, has approved a major relaxation of the way top level domains are created. (BBC: Internet overhaul wins approval).
While the mainstream press reports proclaimed “The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names.” the reality is not nearly as rosy.
Currently, there is a very limited range of “top level domains” or TLDs – common ones include .com, .biz, and .net. In addition, every country in the world has it’s own TLD, e.g. .uk
Each TLD is run by a “registry” who is responsible for registering and renewing domain names, and maintaining the technical infrastructure that make it’s domains work.
For example all .uk domains are registered with Nominet, a not-for-profit company who maintain the registry and the name servers that make the whole .uk domain system work. This is who we pay domain registrations and renewals to.
No comments
Currently no one has left a comment. Be the first to comment by filling out a reply form.