After the dot

A website with just the kind of domain name you want - and in the language of your choice. A World Wide Web with domains ranging from .dubai to .doctors, from .paris to .perfume, from .la to .love.

Almost three decades after the World Wide Web was created, such a scenario could be a reality next year when a far-reaching decision to overhaul the face of internet comes into effect.

In a major shake-up in Paris last month, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) relaxed the rules on internet domain names that would potentially allow the creation of millions of unique web addresses based on common words, brands, company names, cities or even proper names. It also voted to allow domain names - the part of a web address after the last dot - in scripts other than Roman, including Arabic, Cyrillic and Mandarin, enabling websites to go completely vernacular.

The decision by the web regulator is poised to create the largest boom on the internet since its creation, allowing for the first time millions of users in the Middle East and Asia the opportunity to be a part of the global internet community. Currently all web addresses fall under one of the nearly 250 top-level domain (TLD) names: .country or .territory domains, and generic ones such as .com, .net, .gov, and .edu. With the new rules coming into force in 2009, the internet is set for what is being dubbed as a period of cyber big bang.

"There are 21 generic top level domains right now - such as .com, .net, and .asia, as well as more than 200 country code TLDs such as .ae for the United Arab Emirates or .sa for Saudi Arabia. We have no prediction of the number of applications we will receive for new domains, but it could be hundreds or even thousands," Jason Keenan, Icann's media adviser, told Gulf News.

The implications of Icann's decision are enormous not only for individuals - who could finally register the web address of their dreams - but also for businesses, institutions and societies at large.

New rules

Under the new rules, domain names can be based on any string of letters. As a result, brands, cities and even proper names could turn into web addresses. Dubai, for instance, could be a viable domain name, enabling the city to formally brand its growing reputation as a global leisure and business destination. New York and the German capital are already hoping to secure the rights to .nyc and .berlin. And registries with the domain names such as .smith or .mohammad could have thousands scrambling to be a part of them. In fact individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name as long as they can show a business plan and technical capacity, according to Icann.

Ditto for companies, consumer goods, banks, automobile brands, fashion houses ... the list of potential beneficiaries is only limited by imagination. The popular online trading site eBay, for instance, is among the dozens of companies that wants to have its own domain name. Companies could also change their domains to reflect its flagship brand - Apple.com for instance could change to Apple.mac.

"The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the internet," Icann's president and chief executive Paul Twomey told the Paris gathering. "It is a massive increase in the 'real estate' of the internet."

Twomey said the details would be worked out over the next three or four months, with the change expected to take effect in the second quarter of 2009.

But more than the relaxed naming conventions, it is the freedom to create domain names in non-Roman scripts that is expected to push the web into a new frontier. According to Emily Taylor, the director of legal policy at Nominet, the national registry for .uk domain names, there are more than 1.5 billion people in the online community and 4.5 billion people around the world for whom the Roman script just means nothing. "This is a huge step forward in the development of the internet ... it will unblock something that has prevented a lot of people getting online," she told the BBC.

Currently, all internet domain names must be in Roman characters, even if the content of the websites is in a different language such as Arabic. And with only about 35 million internet users in the Arab world out of a global total of 1.3 billion users, the Middle East clearly shows immense potential for drawing millions more to cyberspace once the new web regime gets going.

"Across the Middle East, there will be a fantastic opportunity for people to use only Arabic when they access the internet - from the internet address, through their e-mail address, through the content on the web pages. This will be a great advantage for someone who speaks only Arabic, who wants to reach a local website that has a web address that is entirely in Arabic characters," Keenan said.

Apart from commercial and individual impacts, industry watchers believe that the growth of internet in the Middle East could also be a catalyst in spreading literacy, improving the quality of education and bridging inter-Arab digital divides. Come the spring of 2009, and the UAE's own .ae registry, currently being handled by the UAE National Information Centre (UAEnic), could well be flooded with requests for domain names in Arabic version.

Explaining how the new approval process will work in the case of domain names in Arabic, Keenan said: "Icann's goal is for the application process for top level domains to be ready in the second quarter of 2009. If a TLD in Arabic characters is applied for and approved in that round, domain name registrations will be available to people shortly after. What should happen is that someone will have to come forward and apply for a new extension that is made up of Arabic characters. Once that happens, and the extension is approved, people would be able to get domain names with that Arabic extension."

Challenges

The expanded domain name regime would also mean greater pressure on the way things are organised and retrieved on the World Wide Web, but search engines such as Google seem to be prepared. "We already offer search and other products in many languages. We'll continue to index websites in the same way, assessing relevance of websites and trying to provide the most relevant results we can," a Google spokesperson told Gulf News.

The idea of setting up a website with just the domain name way you want is, however, not without challenges. Industry experts say the cost for registering a TLD under the new rules could set you back by $100,000, as opposed to the $14 with which you can now buy a .com domain name. But Icann hopes that the high cost, the need for advanced technical skills and a rigorous application process will deter the so-called "domain squatters", who buy potentially lucrative brand-related domain names and try to sell them back to the company for a massive profit.

The internet regulator has also adopted a motion that will "limit the abusive registration of new domain names," and is looking at ways to block certain domain names based on security or moral grounds. Icann has so far, for instance, rejected calls for a .xxx domain on the grounds that it might be forced to act as a censor. With the new rules, it just might have to do so to prevent pornography proliferating on the internet.

Icann, says Keenan, is working on the final steps in designing the applications and approval process for the new top level domains. Even as the internet's governing body goes through many technical and policy considerations, for the billion-plus users of the internet, an exciting era beckons.

Across the Middle East, there will be a fantastic opportunity for people to use only Arabic when they access the internet. This will be a great advantage for someone who speaks only Arabic."