The World Doesn't Need More Domain Names
A couple of years ago, ICANN -- the global body that governs Internet domain names -- proposed a new system for top-level domains (TLDs). Instead of a fixed set of TLDs like .com, .net, and .org, you'd be able to use almost word as a TLD.
These generic TLDs were supposed to make it easier for businesses to control and extend their brands online. Companies could create names like "search.google" or "shop.apple" or almost anything else their marketers could dream up.
If it seems like we've been talking about this for a long time, .
The reason why: A lot of companies absolutely hate the idea, and they're fighting hard to stop it.
This week, a group called the Association of National Advertisers (ANA)issued a press release slamming the ICANN proposal. The problem, as they see it, is that gTLDs are more trouble than they're worth.
Most companies with recognized brands already have trouble with domain-name squatters. Now they'll have to deal with squatters on an epic scale -- and if they don't buy the gTLDs that relate to their brands, somebody else certainly will.
The ANA's membership is a lot closer to Wall Street than Main Street. Most small businesses have better things to worry about than whether Coca-Cole or General Electric have to hire a few hundred more lawyers to battle hordes of domain squatters.
As fun as that sounds, though, the gTLD concept doesn't really benefit anybody. Small businesses often have brands to protect, too. And small-business brands always hope someday to become big-business brands.
Either way, it only takes one gold-digging cybergoon to ruin your day. Once these guys jump on a gTLD associated with your brand, you'll pay good money to pry them off.
But the real point is that the gTLD proposal tries to solve a problem that doesn't exist. There are better ways to create new online real estate than to turn top-level domains into a convoluted mess.
So in this case, I'm pulling for the big guys. With any luck, they'll knock some sense into ICANN and kill this terrible idea.
