國際互聯網名稱和編號分配公司（ICANN）20日通過表決，宣布將放開對互聯網域名后綴的限制，任何機構在支付一定費用后即可申請用任何語言和文字作為其網站的域名后綴。比如，耐克公司的網址后綴不用再是.com，而可以改成.nike；餐飲企業的域名后綴可以是.food，等等。據悉，申請此類域名的費用為18.5萬美元，只向公共或者私人機構開放，申請者必須證明有能力保證所申請域名能夠正常運轉。

The body that controls the way Internet domain names work, known as ICANN, has voted to open up the naming system so that any established organization with enough cash can apply to create its own version of .com, .org or .gov.

Move over .com, get ready for .anything .you .can .think .of.

The body that controls the way Internet domain names work, known as ICANN, has voted to open up the naming system so that any established organization with enough cash can apply to create its own version of .com, .org or .gov.

In the for-profit world, that means that instead of going to coke.com or nike.com, you might be able to go to drink.coke or justdoit.nike. Nonprofit groups could reserve the .school domain and hand one out to every elementary school. Cities could consolidate their online presence at .nyc or .losangeles. And interest groups could stake out their own corner of the Web by offering every auto junkie a .car domain name, every law firm a .law address, and every restaurant a site that ended with .food.

But just like real estate in the real world, this new virtual land won't come cheap. The price tag to get a new domain created is $185,000. Only "established public or private organizations" can apply, and all applications must prove they have the technical capability necessary to keep a domain running.

ICANN, the Los Angeles-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has been planning the naming expansion for much of the last decade. The group's Board of Directors approved the change at a board meeting in Singapore on Monday morning.

ICANN, long the steward of the Internet's naming system, will begin accepting applications soon -- and allow parties a three month window to apply for a new name.

Internet observers expect that the initial expansion might bring 500 new options for site suffixes, which are called generic top-level domain names (or gTLDs). There are only 22 now, including the original eight, (.com, .edu, .gov, .int., .mil, .net, .org and .arpa).

Starting in 2000, ICANN has added 14 new top-level domains, including .biz, .info and .jobs. Few of the new names have caught on, with .com remaining the standard across many industries, even though it can be difficult and expensive to find new .com names, with the most desirable long ago snapped up by companies, individuals and cybersquatters.

ICANN hopes that by, in essence, creating huge new online land grants, that it will undo that naming gridlock, as well as make the Internet's naming system safer and more intuitive. Users might know, for instance, that any website ending with .movie is a legitimate new film from a recognized studio or filmmaker, and won't lead to an Internet backwater that might be looking to snooker visitors.

“ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind,” said Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's president and chief executive officer.

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(Agencies)

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen ）