Last month ICANN, the organization that sets internet protocols and website naming conventions, announced that any “established public or private organization” can now register a top level domain (TLD).

Soon .ibm and .union may be join the ranks of .com, .org, and .net. The price tag to set up one of these vanity domains is $185,000, and ICANN is still working on the renewal fees.

TLDs have been introduced before to mixed results. Some TLD’s like .biz have taken a place as a permanent second string to .com and .org. Others like .aero (introduced in 2008 at the request of the aerospace industry) serve very little purpose on the World Wide Web, but are invaluable when it comes to other types of online coordination.

Who’s Biting?

Canon has already expressed an interest in acquiring a gTLD (or “generic top level domain”), and they will probably be followed by any global brand who had to deal with cyber-squatters during the .com boom.

In addition, industries with serious online security concerns may form groups to manage new, more secure TLDs. For example, a consortium of bankers wants to secure .bank and limit its use to legitimate banking institutions that meet strict internet security standards.

Other Impacts

Until now, all TLDs used the Roman Alphabet, but ICANN has announced that any language with standard web encoding can now be used for securing a TLD. While this is great advance for anyone outside an English speaking country, it will, most likely lead to a further fracturing of the web as no one keyboard is optimized for every alphabet.

Over time, only content meant for western readers will continue to use Roman Alphabet TLDs. Regional content will instead use the local language, and anyone unfamiliar with that language will have an even harder time accessing that information than they currently do.

Close to Home

In the short term, the ICANN announcement is unlikely to change how you personally interact with the internet. Dot com websites are visible, too valuable, and too hard won to be abandoned overnight. However, if the web continues to evolve away from manual URL entry, more big players may decide that a fully branded address is in their best interests.