# "New top-level internet addresses come with $100,000-plus price tag" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439 "2008-06-27T14:43:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/1 "2008-06-27T14:43:18Z")
> **[Latest news & breaking headlines](https://www.thetimes.com/)** > > The latest breaking UK, US, world, business and sport news from The Times and The Sunday Times. Go beyond today's headlines with in-depth analysis and comment. > [@](#): > > **New top-level internet addresses come with $100,000-plus price tag** > > Mike Harvey and Jonathan Richards > > **Q&A: What do the new domains mean for me?** > > A new era in the way websites are named was ushered in yesterday when the governing body for internet domain names announced a massive liberalisation. > > The body that oversees the internet’s structure yesterday approved a “land grab” for new web addresses that will allow people to apply for any top-level domain name — but it will cost them at least $100,000 to do so. > > … > > Until now top-level domain names— the .com or .uk at the end of a web address — have been restricted by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the international not-for-profit body set up in 1998 to to oversee the structure of the internet and maintain its stability. Icann regulates the way web addresses are assigned to ensure that computers can communicate with each other. > > The free-for-all agreed in Paris yesterday is seen as a great leap forward akin to the privatisation of telecommunications in the Thatcher era. Icann is not being forced to act because of there are not enough name options, but because it wants to open up the system to increase consumer choice. … I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell this article is talking about. Is ICANN radically changing everything about how domains are registered? Is the domain that I bought for $6.99 a year yesterday soon going to cost $100,000 a year? Is this a strictly-UK thing? Is this an “increased demand for domain names will eventually drive the price of existing .com addresses up to $100,000” story? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/2 "2008-06-27T14:59:00Z")
[QUOTE=toadspittle] I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell this article is talking about. Is ICANN radically changing everything about how domains are registered? Is the domain that I bought for $6.99 a year yesterday soon going to cost $100,000 a year? Is this a strictly-UK thing? Is this an “increased demand for domain names will eventually drive the price of existing .com addresses up to $100,000” story? [/QUOTE] The [BBC article](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7475986.stm) might explain it better: > [@](#): > > At the moment, top-level domains (TLDs) are currently limited to individual countries, such as .uk (UK) or .it (Italy), as well as to commerce, .com, and to institutional organisations, such as .net, or .org. > BBC infographic showing domain name sales > > The .com suffix is the most popular and most costly TLD. > > To get around the restrictions, some companies have used the current system to their own ends. > > For example, the Polynesian island nation Tuvalu has leased the use of the .tv address to many television firms. > > Under the new plans, domain names can be based on any string of letters, in any script. > > Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, for example, as long as they can show a “business plan and technical capacity”. In other words, right now you can have [toadspittle.com](http://toadspittle.com), [toadspittle.net](http://toadspittle.net), toadspittle.info, etc., for whatever the market is saying. The new plan opens up TLDs tp practically anything. So you could own your own TLD, such as straightdope.toadspittle. The higher intial cost is to reduce, if not stop, cybersquatting. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/3 "2008-06-27T15:01:07Z")
Very unclear reporting. They’re talking about the creation of new top-level domains (TLDs) only, such as .com or .org. Or .ru, for that matter. Most people get subdomains inside those top-level domains, such as [whatever.com](http://whatever.com) inside the .com domain. Prices for subdomains wouldn’t change, I expect; new TLDs will if anything increase the ‘space’ available for subdomains, because all the owners of the TLDs will allow entire fleets of subdomains to be registered under them. Me, I think a TLD of .sdmb would be kind of cute. Every username could be a subdomain, and the SDMB could make a bit of change on the side. I will remain silent about other possible TLDs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/4 "2008-06-27T15:01:34Z")
[QUOTE=toadspittle] I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell this article is talking about. Is ICANN radically changing everything about how domains are registered? [/quote] No. > [@](#): > > Is the domain that I bought for $6.99 a year yesterday soon going to cost $100,000 a year? No – they are talking about _top-level domains_, like .com and .net and all those weird country-code ones. If you want one of those, then you’ll need to pony up a hundred large. > [@](#): > > Is this a strictly-UK thing? Is this an “increased demand for domain names will eventually drive the price of existing .com addresses up to $100,000” story? No and no. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/5 "2008-06-27T15:03:41Z")
No. The internet address is not going to $100K. The top level domain is. If you wanted [www.toadspittle.com](http://www.toadspittle.com) (and it was available), you could still get that for whatever your registrar charged you. However, if you wanted a top level domain, so you could sell addresses in the www.whatever.toadspittle top level domain, THAT would cost you $100K. So instead of your address being [www.whatever.com](http://www.whatever.com), it would be www.whatever.toadspittle if you shelled out the $100K. Clear? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/6 "2008-06-27T15:14:34Z")
Near duplicate thread, with near similar misunderstanding: [How Will I be Able to Purchase One of the New Top Level Domains? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=473370) ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/7 "2008-06-27T16:11:42Z")
What’s their reasoning for the high price? Why is the average man priced out of the TLD business? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/8 "2008-06-27T16:37:00Z")
Presumably to discourage all but my most fervent detractors from registering .vinylturnipsucks. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/9 "2008-06-27T17:34:42Z")
I guess IBM will buy .ibm, if for no other reason than to avoid someone setting up sluttyschoolgirlsoncrack.ibm. But even if Microsoft buys .microsoft, will that be an attractive TLD? The people who’re willing to pay this kind of money must also see that complicating the URL the user has to type is not a good idea. Apple will get .mac which makes more sense, but I think it would be a mistake to have windowsvista.microsoft as URL. My guess is that first the free and good two letter TDL will go (.pi, .my, .go) then the list grows bigger with three letter combination (pizzahut.pie perhaps) and of course, more clever stuff will show up to make witty URLs (like .tv, .to, .nu). ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/10 "2008-06-27T17:58:14Z")
This strikes me as a totally unnecessary move for a couple of reasons. 1. People use search engines to find stuff anyway. And most browsers have them built in. If I type “ebay” in my browser address bar, it’ll take me to [www.ebay.com](http://www.ebay.com), so who cares what the other characters are? 2. Almost all major web presences register multiple names across .com, .net, .org, etc. anyway. All this will do is force them to buy another round of names in whichever domains end up being popular. 3. I predict that the main beneficiary of this will be scammers. In fact, following the really obvious new TLDs like .xxx that have been suggested for some time, I predict that the first registered tlds will be .cmo, .nte, .ogr, .ocm, and such. Never before have typos been worth so much. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/11 "2008-06-27T18:00:26Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] My guess is that first the free and good two letter TDL will go (.pi, .my, .go) then the list grows bigger with three letter combination (pizzahut.pie perhaps) and of course, more clever stuff will show up to make witty URLs (like .tv, .to, .nu). [/QUOTE] .my is the ccTLD for Malaysia. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/12 "2008-06-27T21:15:39Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] .my is the ccTLD for Malaysia. [/QUOTE] And .tv is for Tuvalu (but not Hooloovoo) and .to is for Tonga. ETA: And it turns out .nu is for Niue! I’ve never even heard of the place. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-top-level-internet-addresses-come-with-100-000-plus-price-tag/454439/13 "2008-06-27T21:47:18Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Presumably to discourage all but my most fervent detractors from registering .vinylturnipsucks. [/QUOTE] I realize it’s going to be expensive, be damn, will it ever be worth it. [Dusts off chequebook]