New domain struggles to make a name for itself
Dalai Lama's taken. So is Santa Clause. But if the real Santa, who
spells his
name sans the final ‘e' wants a dot-name domain, he'll have to fight
for it.
That address, along with jesus.christ.name is restricted from
registration.
Not to worry. Plenty of dot-names remain unclaimed. Maybe even yours.
Dot-name was one of seven new domains ICANN (Internet Corporation for
Assigned
Names and Numbers) approved in November 2000 to divert users from
crowded
dot-com, dot-net and dot-org addresses, which were established in the
1980s.
The other recent additions are dot-biz, dot-info, dot-pro, dot-aero,
dot-museum, and dot-coop.
The dot-name domain is intended for individuals who choose to use their
names
as their website and/or e-mail address. According to ICANN's agreement
with
GNR, people can register only their legal name or a name they are
commonly
known as such as a stage name or pseudonym. The format must take
either
firstname.lastname.name or lastname.firstname.name. E-mail addresses
are
structured firstname@lastname.name.
Dot-name debuted in January 2002 and is managed by Global Name Registry (GNR), based in
London.
Shortly after its approval, GNR predicted 14.1 million registrants by
year
four. As the domain nears its one-year anniversary, Hakon Haugnes,
GNR's
founder and director concedes that numbers are less than anticipated.
"There
are currently about 90,000 registrants and about 150,000 registrations
(domains and e-mails)," Haugnes said. "We have delivered over
expectations on
technology and under expectations on registration numbers. I think it's
fair
to say that no one here are happy with the number of registrations so
far. We
hope to change that in early 2003."
The domain itself, along with GNR and ICANN has received both criticism
and
acclaim but remains relatively unknown to the general population.
Advertising
efforts have failed to reach a mass audience. Many people have learned
about
dot-name through personal contact and word of mouth.
"When I give someone my e-mail address, they are immediately interested
in
it," said Tim Murphy, who registered his dot-name address in March
2002. "I
once spent several minutes telling an airline agent on the other end of
a
phone call about the address."
Dot-name has huge potential, Haugnes said, "but we still need to unlock
it.
The registrars are crucial in this effort, but they are unfortunately
not
consumer oriented companies, having been set up to sell dot-com domains
to
companies and speculators. Dot-name needs to get it done differently."
There are about 30 registrars approved by ICANN to sell the dot-name domains.
GNR has been criticized for its failure to enforce the personal name
restrictions. In a report
published in May 2002, Ben Edelman, a student at Harvard Law School
said "I
have documented several thousand domains registered within dot-name
that seem
to be inconsistent with the dot-name registration restrictions." He
ultimately
compiled a list of 5,850 non-conforming domains.
"Certain keywords were used to generate portions of these listings,"
said
Edelman. "The underlying inference is that since, for example,
‘university' is
not a possible first or last name, any domain with ‘university' as the
purported first or last name is invalid." Edelman also flagged domains
whose
first names matched their last names. "Most individuals have different
first
and last names, and so such matching is cause for investigation."
Edelman also
cites humorous registrations like "my.cool.name," and obvious
commercial
registrations. "For example," Edelman said, "a representative of
Johnson and
Johnson registered 205 brand names such as
"childrenstylenol.childrenstylenol.name."
GNR, in a published response to
Edelman's
study, insisted that the company is not obligated to review, monitor,
or
verify eligibility compliance.
"This is so," the response said, "because at the present time,
meaningful
verification would be difficult and costly." Regarding humorous
registrations
and defensive commercial registrations, GNR said, "These raise some
difficult
issues; however, currently we do not believe that it is necessary to
prohibit
these kinds of registrations or that these registrations undermine the
concept
that dot-name was designed for individuals."
It is nearly impossible to develop a monitoring system that accounts
for
diversity of international naming conventions, GNR said. "The English
article
‘the' is a common first name in Vietnam, as are ‘van,' ‘do,' and
‘long.' In
addition, common English words such as ‘odd,' ‘even,' ‘bull,'‘eek,'
‘hole,'
‘hella,' ‘lover,' ‘lie,'‘ moan,' ‘rod,' and ‘saga' are first and last
names in
mainstream Norway."
Many at ICANN Watch, an
organization
that monitors ICANN, have viewed dot-name with disdain. A recent
solicitation
to complete the sentence "If I ran dot-name, I'd..." generated 65
comments.
One anonymous submission read, "I'd put my head in the oven and turn on
the
gas."
Yet, people who have dot-name domains seem very satisfied.
David Carr, who has had his dot-name domain for about six months said,
"Personally, I hope that e-mail addresses in the dot-name domain will
become
the de-facto Internet identifier for a person, replacing having to
remember
usernames for many different websites. Likewise, this e-mail address
could be
used as the identifier for instant messaging systems, replacing the
need for a
UIN or AIM name."
If your name is John Smith (or Tim Murphy, for that matter), it may be
difficult to register your dot-name domain.
"The problem is, there are hundreds of people with the same name. Tim
Murphy
is one of the most popular Irish names in the world," he said. "I just
happened to grab the domain before any others."
David Carr purchased his dot-name account from another David Carr.
The dot-name e-mail address is a redirector, so users can route the
dot-name
account to another, central e-mail address. "...it's permanent and I'll
never
have to give out a new e-mail address to friends, business cards,
etc.,"said
Derrick Low, a veteran dot-name user. "And it's definitely easier to
remember
and give out and a lot more professional looking than
"coolguy99@yahoo.com or
something.">
Infrastructure
Home