Next year the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will begin taking applications for a broad array of new domain name strings without creative limits (barring the offensive of course).
Imagine operating a website whose address ends with .gambling or .london or .poker, or even one that matches the name of your company, like .google or .party or .888.
Calling it the "biggest expansion to Internet in forty years," ICANN unveiled its plan at a meeting in Paris yesterday.
"The Board accepted a recommendation from its global stakeholders that it is possible to implement many new names to the Internet, paving the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity," said Paul Twomey, president and chief executive of ICANN.
"The potential here is huge. It represents a whole new way for people to express themselves on the Net," he added. "It's a massive increase in the "real estate" of the Internet."