.GAY

Rod Beckstrom, CEO of ICANN, talks about new domain names
Marcus Chan (sfgate.com, 14/3/2011)
The Internet could be on the verge of opening the doors to a deluge of proposals for new domain names, cyber suffixes that would compete with the likes of .com and .net.
The nonprofit agency that oversees the Internet naming system, ICANN, isn't making any promises or predictions. But its plan, which has been in the works since 2005, could reach a conclusive point this week at the organization's key meeting in San Francisco.
Currently, there are 21 generic top-level domains, such as .com (the most popular), .net and .org. But ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) wants to allow groups or companies to propose and operate new domains that are more specific - .nyc, .ebay or .gay, for example.
That expansion could bring the number of domain names to the hundreds, even thousands, according to some estimates.
But the road to a wider Web hasn't been easy, especially with countless governments, businesses and interest groups around the globe having economic, social and political stakes in the outcome and wanting a say in the name process
And how soon the Web actually sees these new names will depend on how the San Francisco meeting goes.
The Chronicle recently interviewed the president and CEO of ICANN, Rod Beckstrom, at the organization's satellite office in Palo Alto.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Why do we need new generic top-level domain names?

A: As an example, there's literally over a thousand different trademarks in America that have the name Smith in it. So imagine you have something called Smith's Gas Station. Well, if you want to go get a domain name with the name Smith in it, there's a limited number of options. And maybe you didn't get it. Maybe someone else got that.
So when you open up these new top-level domains, it creates opportunities for individuals and businesses to get the name that they really want to have.
It's also important because part of the new program is opening this up for other languages as well. We have .com, .gov, .org, etc., and those are English abbreviations or acronyms. You don't have the equivalent in Chinese, in Hindi. Most people in the world feel that the domain name system is American- or English-centric. So the reason is both more variety within Western languages that use Latin character sets as well as opening it up for the other character sets.

Q: One contentious issue regarding this plan is potentially controversial names. A new suffix such as .gay might be popular in the United States but be objectionable in other countries.

A: I don't won't to opine on any specific candidate, because it's speculative. But if you look at names that might be controversial, there's a set of different checks and balances that have been built into the system.
One is an objection process. What this means is if a religious group or government says this term is clearly offensive to us and is somehow documented in our practices and policies that this is offensive ... then they can mount an objection and then it goes to an official panel. There are world experts in these issues, in judging what's viewed as a violation of different statutes.
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