IP: Domain Names -- the "new way"

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> .nu Domain Name Added to Internet
>
> A South Pacific ISP called The Savage Island Network (SIN) has begun the
> worldwide selling of domain names under a new country code, .nu, that is
> a top-level domain for the Polynesian island nation of Niue (pronounced
> "new way"). The ISP is undercutting Network Solutions' usual $100
> registration and $50 annual fees for .com domain names by offering .nu
> domains for $25 registration and $25 annual renewal fees. SIN reports
> that several hundred Scandinavian users have already registered names
> associated with the word "nu," which means "now" in several Scandinavian
> tongues. The domain names are expected to become active in 1998. The .nu
> domain names database, www.nunames.nu, will be administered by Emergent,
> the same company that is preparing to register seven other new top-level
> domain names such as .firm and .arts.
>
> We believe that domain name grabbing on the Internet is a natural
> secondary effect of the permeation of the technology into global life.
> While most enterprises regard domain names as reflections of their
> established business names, we believe that there is a secondary market
> roughly equivalent to the personalized license plate market. The fact
> that more than a million .com names are already used up may drive some
> people to the .nu registry, but there is also a possibility for
> exponential growth of confusion and incorrect assumptions about naming.
> The downside of the Domain Name Grab of 1998 includes a great increase
> in trademark lawsuits as similar names are grabbed up in the new
> domains, the distinct possibility of domain name scalping by pre-emptive
> name speculators, and the real possibility of deceptive marketing
> practices by fly-by-night firms with domain names similar to real ones.
> From the middle of nowhere, the island of Niue could become either the
> Mouse That Roared or a back alley for scurrying rats.
> ____________________________________________________








**************************************************
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Ben Franklin, ~1784
**************************************************