Former ICANN chair slams generic domain name plan
Wednesday 14th December 2011
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has suffered another blow as it prepares to launch its generic top-level domain name (gTLD) regime.
Former ICANN chair Esther Dyson has become the most recent critic of the new regime - whereby businesses will be able to customise the suffix of their domain name using their own branding - which comes into force in the spring.
She told the US Senate Commerce Committee that the new generic domain names are likely to confuse internet users.
"Creating a whole set of redundant domain names isn't useful," Ms Dyson said.
"This whole idea is fundamentally misguided. I hope ICANN will go back and reconsider."
Among the vociferous opponents of the generic domain name regime are the US Association of National Advertisers and the National Retail Federation.
Should ICANN press ahead with its domain name plan as expected, businesses will be able to apply for customised gTLDs from January 12th 2012.
Posted by Debra Hastings-Henry