[LINK] Should Google, Amazon And Others Be Able To Lock Up New Generic Top Level Domains For Their Own Use?

[Robert Brockway]

On Sun, 24 Feb 2013, Kim Holburn wrote:

The article said:

>> there is a growing concern that companies might lock up certain TLDs, 
>> rather than make them available for registering. I'm sure lots of car 
>> companies would like theirname.car. But would that be possible?

Remember that organisations don't 'own' their domains, they register and 
have exclusive use of them.  IANAL but it seems to me that domains 
cannot be treated as private property.  There is every chance that future 
national laws and international treaties will curtail use and abuse of 
TLDs.

Also, all of this is only within the context of a single DNS tree. 
Alternate trees have been set up.  While I have always opposed commercial 
alternatives to the ICANN approved tree, it is entirely possible that a 
popular alternative tree could arise in the future.

One of the greats risks to the Internet that we know and love would be a 
fracturing of DNS but if the original tree fell too far under the 
influence of large corporations the option of just making a new tree 
exists.

Cheers,

Rob

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