My initial thought: This is terrible, because how would we ever know which sites we can trust? Something as tiny as an extra space would change the hash value

My initial thought: This is terrible, because how would we ever know which sites we can trust? Something as tiny as an extra space would change the hash value. But on second thought, the real problem is that we (the web technology community) have assumed domain names are even a remotely suitable proxy for trust. I don't think most common web users actually get this point. That's why phishing is so easy (except for the part about getting a phishing email past spam filters). Do you think most people really know (or notice) the difference between webaccess.bankofamerica.com and webaccess.bankofamerica.x8.co? I doubt it. So the real fix for this situation is creating a true trust system that most actual end users can understand and rely on. Then, it seems only natural for something like this to be the future. UUIDs will act as the underlying addressing technology with "whatever you want" as your display name. And as a bonus, it will really cut down on the cybersquatters' profitability.