‘Cybersquatters’ are no threat, ICANN tells UN, IMF

NEW YORK — The organization regulating the use of domain names on the Internet moved to calm the fears of the United Nations and other international organizations that a planned expansion of website addresses could lead to "cybersquatting," according to Reuters.

The UN, the International Monetary Fund and 26 others wrote last month to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, saying that the use of new Web domains such as ".un" or ".imf" could be taken over by people who are unaffiliated with the organizations.

ICANN on Thursday will begin accepting applications for for new "top level" domains that can be just about anything. Until now, most web addresses had to make do with a restricted set of such domains, such as .org, .info or .com.

Speaking to reporters, ICANN President Rod Beckstrom was quoted by Reuters as saying: "We're very sensitive to those concerns…. We'll be responding to that letter." Anyone applying for domains using trademarks or names belonging to others may have their applications reviewed by a panel of intellectual property experts, he added.

According to CNN, the US Federal Trade Commission is concerned that an increase in such domains may lead to an increase in online criminality and fraud:

The federal agency fears that a quick expansion of domains, a project that has been several years in the making, would increase the likelihood that scammers could trick people who enter common misspellings, such as Amazon.comm. The government is also concerned that it will have a more difficult time getting information about website owners after the switch.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Thursday will mark the first time in more than a decade that anyone can apply for a new top-level domain. The impending date has aroused a great deal of interest among people planning to create "domain registries" to buy and sell new domains that may be of commercial value, the paper reported.

According to The Journal, making a profit in this business may be less than obvious as competing claims for the same domain may be subject to auction and once purchased a domain may not in fact command the interest of buyers.