ICANN speaks: yes to radio, hotel, eco. No to gay, taxi, art, and hotel
ICANN made its decision last week on a number of high-profile top-level domain names. And of 17 names, only 4 were attributed to a community-run group who will oversee them.
o pass the test, each dot-word applicant had to prove they represented a specific community related to the word. If successful, they would be given priority over anyone else that had applied for the same top-level domain name.Two interesting conclusions: of those names rejected, the field is now open for them to be managed by commercial, not community interests. And secondly, the playing field is now open for just about any domain name on earth. Let the dollars flow, eh gentlemen?
Considering the commercial possibilities of domains ending with "music", "tennis", "art" and others – with recent auctions for gTLDs reaching into the millions of dollars – the stakes are high. And with a high bar of 14 out of 16 points required to pass the test, most failed.
The dot-words that did not pass the community test will move forward to an auction some time next year, and those with the deepest pockets will be able to snap them up.