I am totally OPPOSED to the addition of more names. Contrary to your
expectation that the additional extensions, such as .store and .info will
make it possible for more people to register names which have meaning to
them, the plain fact is that this will not be the outcome.
Instead, companies such as Nike and Coca-Cola will be required to scoop up
every single additional extension which is made available at the first
instant when they are put into use. To do otherwise would be madness on
their part. The end result is that major corporations will simply absorb
all the other TLDs, resulting in a stalemate. And if you add another 100
TLDs, they will simply buy those up as well, and they will sue anybody who
is unfortunate enough to grab one by sheer luck. Honestly, can you see
Ford Motor Company allowing anybody to own Ford.extension? Not a chance.
Now, if your goal is to make the successors to Network Solutions rich with
licensing revenues, then your idea is brilliant. But if it is really
designed to be more democratic, you will not succeed.
I only need to point to the allocation of toll free "800" numbers in the
United States as a perfect example. When the "888" toll free prefix was
added to make more numbers available, a tremendous number of identical 7
digit numbers with the "888" prefix were snapped up by the "800" holders,
in order to protect their investment. For example, if you were to call
(right now) 888-CALL ATT, you would get a recording telling you that the
call cannot be completed. Obviously, AT&T, the largest phone company in
the United States, has blocked that number from being used by a competitor
or anybody else. They have put it out of reach. The same thing will
happen with EVERY TLD which has value to a current holder.
Furthermore, there are many of us who own names which will be confused the
minute you start adding new extensions. For example, I own
www.HOMESinfo.com. I can just see what will happen when somebody else
grabs www.HOMES.info and you can too. What a mess that will be!
Since a company can have a name up to 24 (or whatever) characters long,
there is plenty of room for creativity. For example, many radio stations
have been blocked from getting their call letters. The most famous is WCBS
in New York, owned by Westinghouse/CBS. Instead, they had to call
themselves www.NewsRadio88.com. By including numbers with words, they were
able to get what they needed.
Therefore, your whole concept is a disaster waiting to happen. I hope you
will reconsider and abandon it.
Sincerely,
David J. Beadle
President
BestRates, Inc.
September 13, 1997
United States of America