Liberalising Generic Top Level Domains to transform the webscape?

Discussion about the structure and rules around domain names can be pretty dull. In a piece for the Guardian, Kieren McCarthy, ICANN's "Manager of Public Participation" (PR person?), turns the introduction of new Generic Top Level Domains (GTLDs) into an accessible and interesting subject.

The GTLD is the last part of a domain name. For example, for freethcartwright.co.uk the GTLD is .co.uk. When GTLDs are liberalised, you will see a new trend in domain names. Domains such as http://starbucks.coffee, or http://law.blogger will appear.

ICANN is currently working out the fine details of how the new GTLDs will be introduced and last month issued a policy development document on the subject that is far less of an exciting read than McCarthy's Guardian article.

Comments

[Martin George]

I'm not sure that "co.uk" is a gTLD. See here for more info: http://www.icann.org/registries/about.htm, and here for a list of all gTLDs: http://www.iana.org/gtld/gtld.htm.

Of course, neither is "co.uk" a pure ccTLD. It's no different to a "org.uk" address, or "me.uk". ".uk" is the true ccTLD, but only a few institutions (such as Parliament and the British Library) have been allowed to register under it directly.