IT Alerts
The Pros and Cons of Dotless Domains:
Would you like a domain name free of .com, .net , etc? If dotless domains were allowed, http://strategy could be an Internet destination. What are the associated benefits and the risks?
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began considering the idea last year and just announced publication of “Dotless Domain Name Security and Stability Study Report.” In the report, IT security firm Carve Systems concludes that dotless domains could cause security and stability concerns, largely because dotless domains are now widely used in internal intranet (rather than Internet) sites and many browsers would treat them as secure, private domains rather than public ones. Carve Systems also points out the potential for user confusion and “namespace collision” between the Internet and intranets.
Some in the IT infrastructure industry disagree. Paul Stachura, Founder and CEO of Donuts, Inc., believes dotless domains will provide increased innovation in navigation, new benefits for brand owners and, ultimately, the potential for consistent, standardized treatment by competing operating systems, leading to greater security and stability.
Should dotless domains be allowed, there would also be the inevitable race to be the first to register your brand or name. To learn more about the dotless domain controversy, review ICANN’s release and a link to the Carve report here.
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