New.net Redraws the Domain Name Map

Smart Business, July 2001
by Thomas Claburn

The seven new top-level domains approved in November by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN) have done little to quiet ICANN's critics or mollify aggrieved owners of Internet name registries. Some, like the Atlantic Root Network, which operates the dot-biz domain, are offering new domains outside the ICANN name system. Others have proven more subtle (or better funded), like Pasadena, California–based New.net. The company is taking registrations for 20 new domains including dot-kids, dot-shop, and dot-xxx. Except they're not really top-level domains—to use them you have to "activate" them by installing special software. Alternately, ISPs can make the change that lets their users see New.net domains. It's technical sleight of hand, but it might work—if enough people install the software. With ISPs like EarthLink, @Home, and NetZero already on board, the company is off to a promising start. "We've got 15 percent or so of the population now," says Steve Chadima, New.net's chief marketing officer. "We're just going to keep charging away until we reach the tipping point."