Great interest in the introduction of new top-level domains

More than 1,000 participants from 144 countries took part in the ICANN meeting in Cairo in early November. The most controversial issues among the participants were the introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) as well as questions concerning top-level domains with national characters (IDN).

The issues that are currently under discussion within ICANN will have great impact on the future development of the Internet . The decision to allow a wide range of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) brings forth several important questions of relevance to all Internet users. But it is still not evident how this liberalization of the DNS might affect the Internet. Will major organizations register their names or brands directly as a top-level domain (TLD)?  Is it possible for ICANN to cover the additional expenses that will ensue from this new policy without excluding developing countries? And finally, how can the continued division between generic (.com) and country code (.no, .se) top-level domains be ensured?

A draft for the introduction of new gTLDs was presented at the meeting in Cairo, in which a possible process for introduction is suggested. However, this draft fails to address what will be the end result for the Internet community. The plan is still under discussion among the ICANN constituencies. ICANN welcomes comments from interested parties.

The following topics were also discussed at the meeting:

• Internet safety and stability, including DNSSEC
• ICANN's strategic plan for globalization of the Internet
• implementation of IPv6

More information:
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-07nov08-en.htm

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for co-ordination of the Internet address system and regularly arranges meetings between the different stake-holders of the global Internet community. Norid participates in a task force working on issues connected to country code top-level domains, concentrating on the promotion of Norwegian interests and the continuous preservation of the .no domain as a safe and stable top-level domain that meets the needs of Norwegian Internet users.