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ICANN are selling TLDs like .pepsi and .sony - if we really run out can't we just open that up to the general public at a low cost, the same way anyone can get

ICANN are selling TLDs like .pepsi and .sony - if we really run out can't we just open that up to the general public at a low cost, the same way anyone can get a .com? Then all the chip shops in the world can use harrys.chips, johns.chips, etc. Other companies could register their own TLDs as well, with the added advantage the URL is a single word which is the name of the company. The only reason this is not already possible for all but the biggest companies is ICANN charges such a high fee for a TLD - IIRC it's about $180k, with no guarantee you actually get it.

deno 14y ago
There are probably more than one Harry’s Chips in the world. This ambiguity can be solved, actually. Use hash-based addresses for linking content and to resolve IPs, and use human readable dns names as bookmarks. For example: Harry’s Chips 1 has hashlink http://F00BAR1.hash Harry’s Chips 2 has hashlink http://F00BAR2.hash User goes to harrys.chips and is presented with a list of options: Harry’s Chips [5 km from you] [visited 5 times] [recommended by Your Friend] Harry’s Chips [...] That way squatters go away. Of course this is just variation on what search engines do right now, so it will never take. Too much hassle for not enough gain. But this is probably how you will end up designing any system that tries to tackle the Wild West of how DNS works right now. The added bonus is that it works very nicely with all kinds of distributed systems. On the other hand, it enables all kind of new phising attacks. Probably not more than current DNS system does, though.
T-hawk 14y ago
Well, that just shifts the problem of name resolution into the TLD space. Trying to arbitrate .apple between Apple Computer and Apple Records is no different than trying to arbitrate apple.com between them. More generally, the problem is that any single namespace containing approximately the entirety of the world's electronic communication will result in name collisions. This already occurs in natural language absent of electronic communications. Monster Park in San Francisco is sponsored by Monster Cable, except that it's commonly thought to be the careers site Monster, or even Monster Energy Drink. This collision problem will happen no matter what the medium is. .com names will collide, TLDs will collide, top search results will collide, keywords (like AOL's) will collide, all because natural language collides. The best we can do is include an arbitration system to resolve obvious offenses when possible while keeping out the speculators and spammers, which approximately is what ICANN is doing with the new TLDs.
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  You're completely right, but most of today's problems are caused by artificial scarcity leading to speculation.

deno 14y ago

There are probably more than one Harry’s Chips in the world. This ambiguity can be solved, actually. Use hash-based addresses for linking content and to resolve IPs, and use human readable dns names as bookmarks. For example: Harry’s Chips 1 has hashlink http://F00BAR1.hash Harry’s Chips 2 has hashlink http://F00BAR2.hash User goes to harrys.chips and is presented with a list of options: Harry’s Chips [5 km from you] [visited 5 times] [recommended by Your Friend] Harry’s Chips [...] That way squatters go away. Of course this is just variation on what search engines do right now, so it will never take. Too much hassle for not enough gain. But this is probably how you will end up designing any system that tries to tackle the Wild West of how DNS works right now. The added bonus is that it works very nicely with all kinds of distributed systems. On the other hand, it enables all kind of new phising attacks. Probably not more than current DNS system does, though.

T-hawk 14y ago

Well, that just shifts the problem of name resolution into the TLD space. Trying to arbitrate .apple between Apple Computer and Apple Records is no different than trying to arbitrate apple.com between them. More generally, the problem is that any single namespace containing approximately the entirety of the world's electronic communication will result in name collisions. This already occurs in natural language absent of electronic communications. Monster Park in San Francisco is sponsored by Monster Cable, except that it's commonly thought to be the careers site Monster, or even Monster Energy Drink. This collision problem will happen no matter what the medium is. .com names will collide, TLDs will collide, top search results will collide, keywords (like AOL's) will collide, all because natural language collides. The best we can do is include an arbitration system to resolve obvious offenses when possible while keeping out the speculators and spammers, which approximately is what ICANN is doing with the new TLDs.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
You're completely right, but most of today's problems are caused by artificial scarcity leading to speculation.