Internet Domains Expand From '.com' to Pretty Much Anything

Over the weekend, the Internet's ruling body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), announced in Switzerland that domain extensions would soon be made available for $185,000. In addition to .com, .edu, .biz and the others currently available, we could soon see the Internet flooded with hundreds of new suffixes as various corporations buy up names to protect their brand identity.

The Guardian calls the domain expansion the "biggest change to the Internet's domain naming system since '.com' was introduced 26 years ago." Bloomberg reported that the change could prompt large companies to be even more vigilant about seizing any and all domain names associated with their brand. And the Los Angeles Times writes that the initial expansion will include up to 500 more domain suffixes (up from the current 22), and notes that the hope is that the limitless options will "undo naming gridlock" and make the system "safer and more intuitive."

ICANN's chief seemed the most euphoric about the move. "Icann has opened the internet's addressing system to the limitless possibilities of the human imagination," said president Rod Beckstrom to BBC News. He then added this line: "No one can predict where this historic decision will take us."

Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.