Domain Wars - Generic Top Level Domains Expanding The Internet

ST. PAUL, Minn. - June 21, 2014 - PRLog -- Corporations and entrepreneurs looking for "the next big thing" rushed to file for gTLD’s spending approximately half a billion dollars for registration and application fees. While many of the applicants believe this is going to help website visitors with "site authentication" or "brand recognition" some say it’s just another fad.

Constantine Roussos, an internet marketer and owner of seo.tv had this to say about his new top level domain ".MUSIC"

"With .MUSIC the goal was to create a safehaven so the artists can benefit and also fans will know that if they visit a .MUSIC site it's authentic."

I am not surprised by his response as many new gTLD owners put forth plans to have control over registrants. While many like Roussos mean well, how would a gTLD owner like .MUSIC authenticate sites using the extension? Could it be that each gTLD owner will vet every site and come down with an iron fist on those "non authentic sites"? Even if this was the case and they are able to vet every website, the thought of all the owners and their moral obligations is nauseating. Implementing website vetting is difficult and causes many issues for sincere website builders.

At least when I own my domain using a traditional .com I only have a few domains like .us .org .net .info to deal with and now with so many extensions, is it going to cause a cyber squatting free for all? Search engines and directories will either deal with the gLTD’s by giving them no weight or traditional domain owners will be overwhelmed by a massive influx of fraudsters, hackers, and social engineers. Any time I go to register a domain, I personally prefer to buy .com, .net, .org, .info, and .us just so I know my brand won’t get stolen or used by unscrupulous copy cats.

When contemplating all the possible ramifications I resort back to my experience with using free domain registrars that manage their own top level domains. Here is my example (not saying all domain owners will act this way just my observations thus far..) I read many comments, reviews, and tweets concerning a free and paid country code TLD ".TK" I went and got some free domains from the "DOT.TK" website. . Because “DOT.TK” manages its own registrants, they make the rules and govern them. (JUST LIKE THE gTLD's ARE DOING NOW, EACH WILL MANAGE ITS OWN) After publishing 1 domain with the “.TK” extension out of 5 I had registered, within 48 hours my “Wordpress” website was taken down for what they deemed "ABUSE."

I contacted the company “DOT.TK” and found out that they took it down permanently for not having published content on my other domains I had also registered. I told them I was still in the process of developing the sites and they would all be online within a few more days. Even though it clearly states in the TOS that you have to have a certain number of visitors on your published sites every month, they took it down less than 2 days after registration and sent me an email saying "We will allow you to use the domains once more, but you need to keep better track of your websites." This made me so angry that I was unable to use the “.TK” domain ever again. After all I followed the terms of service and being a citizen in a free country I am not going to put up with a domain dictatorship. While the owners see it as protecting the “.TK” name it puts a strain on my freedom of speech and ability to build websites. Keep in mind the gTLD’s coming out now are going to be implementing internal systems to govern domain registrants.

My experience with “.TK” may seem irrelevant to some although I see it as a real concern for the future of freedom on the internet. This is the pattern that coincides with giving the authority to manage domains independently. Top level domain applicants may need to realize that the TLD they purchased is best left to a single entity. In short they have purchased a really expensive domain name for use in their own project.

{Cost of Applications} Citing Sources: instra. com/en/new-gtlds/pricing (Multiplied by Number of Applicants)

{Constantine Roussos} Citing Sources: newgtlds.icann. org/en/announcements-and-media/video/applicants