Internet Naming System Loosened

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted to relax the rules on top-level domain names (the familiar .com and .org, etc.), opening the door for companies and individuals to establish domains based on their names or products.Currently, top-level domains are limited to standard organizational denotations--.com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov--and abbreviated country names--.uk for the United Kingdom, .ca for Canada. Under the new plan, domain names could be based on any string of letters. Groups have already been working on new domains sucy as .ldn for London and .nyc for New York, but the result of ICANN's decision could be thousands of new addresses.

Companies will be able to secure domain names based on their names, products, or intellectual property. Brand owners will have to move fast to protect their trademarks.

At the same meeting, ICANN also approved a proposal to introduce domain names written in other than Roman alphabets.BBC News