Domain name decision due

By BBC News Online internet reporter Mark Ward

A shortlist of new domain names has been released by Icann, the organisation charged with keeping the net running.

Domain shortlist

.biz

.web

.name/.nom/.per

.health

.geo

.union

.museum

.info

.air

.one

.co-op

.post

.event

Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) board members will vote on which names will be adopted on Thursday.

The list has been whittled down from almost two hundred sent to Icann by companies wanting to broaden the range of groupings that domains can reflect.

Icann has turned down some suggested names fearing that they may be too difficult or controversial to support. It is also facing legal action over some of the choices that other organisations already claim as their own.

Site suggestions

In September, Icann asked interested organisations to apply to operate and manage new domain names. Currently, the internet uses a limited pool of so-called top-level generic domains such as .com, .net and .org. Each nation also has its own country code.

In all, 44 companies sent in applications suggesting almost 200 new domain names. After reviewing the proposals, business plans and technical expertise of the applicants, Icann has produced a shortlist of the best candidates on which it will vote later this week.

The approved domain names should be working by the end of June 2001. Suggestions for a .biz business domain, and a personal domain ending .name, .nom or .per are expected to be approved.

One proposal from Stanford Research suggests generating domain names, ending .geo, for terrestrial locations to tie together the virtual and real worlds.

Legal dispute

Icann may have a difficult time choosing which organisation should run the newly approved domains. In some cases, three or more companies have applied to become the central registrar.

Icann was facing a legal challenge from Economic Solutions which said the net body had no right to set up a domain similar to the .bz (for Belize) name that it owned and operated.

But this week a St Louis, US, judge threw out Economic Solutions' application for a restraining order.

Icann is taking the process of adding new domain names slowly to iron out any potential technical problems. Once the process is established, however, it expects to add new domains much more quickly.

Last week, a report into the name suggestions was released which advised against picking a .kids domain for children or trying to corral pornographic websites into a .xxx or .sex domain.

Web gold rush

The report warned that the problems of defining what counts as child friendly content would limit the domain's effectiveness.

The adult domain did not get approval because Icann could not see the benefits of establishing it, and because of the controversy surrounding the proposal.

Although the report made suggestions about which domains to pick, Icann has not ruled any of them out. Backers of the proposed domains will get a chance to argue their case at the Icann meeting.

They may all receive support from the Icann board. Newly elected board member Karl Auerbach has called for hundreds of new generic domains to be set up to end the gold rush that has led to some websites being worth millions of dollars.