It's official - ICANN approved .ASIA

[RJ]

In Wednesday's meeting, ICANN officially approved the .ASIA TLD

sTLD Agreement with .ASIA (DotAsia Organisation Limited)

Whereas, on 4 December 5, 2005, the board authorized the President and General Counsel to enter into negotiations relating to proposed commercial and technical terms for the .ASIA sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) with the applicant, DotAsia Organisation Limited,

Whereas, on 18 July, 2006, ICANN announced that negotiations with the applicant for the .ASIA sponsored top-level domain had been successfully completed, and posted the proposed .ASIA sponsored TLD registry agreement on the ICANN website,

Whereas, the Board has determined that approval of the agreement, and delegation of a .ASIA sponsored top-level domain to DotAsia Organisation Limited would be beneficial for ICANN and the Internet community,

Resolved (06.___), the proposed agreement with DotAsia Organisation Limited concerning the .ASIA sTLD is approved, and the President is authorized to take such actions as appropriate to implement the agreement.

http://www.icann.org/minutes/resolutions-18oct06.htm

The registry managing it will be DotAsia
http://www.dotasia.org/

 

[wot]

Wonder just how many of those will be taken by domainers not living in Asia or not really entitled to reg them.

Oh, I know , most of them and then pool will auction them all off :td:

 

[iNod]

Wonder just how many of those will be taken by domainers not living in Asia or not really entitled to reg them.

Oh, I know , most of them and then pool will auction them all off :td:

They can very easily restrict the country

Glad to see Asia went through. I am not Asian but I have some buds who have been waiting for awhile.

- Steve

 

[weblord]

thanks for the headsup

 

[Silhouette]

I have 1 question in mind. see below
and I wonder how loooooooooong will be that "expanded list of reserved domain names" (will it beat .mobi??)



Q6. Why should .ASIA be a Sponsored Generic TLD (sTLD) instead of an Unsponsored Generic TLD (gTLD)?

Based on ICANN's definition (http://www.icann.org/registries/):

“Generally speaking, an unsponsored gTLD Registry operates under policies established by the global Internet community directly through the ICANN process...

A sponsored TLD is a specialized TLD that has a sponsor representing a specific community that is served by the TLD. The sponsor thus carries out delegated policy-formulation responsibilities over many matters concerning the TLD...”

An important reason why .ASIA should be a Sponsored gTLD is that it will retain certain policy formulation responsibilities specific to the interests of the sponsored community. For example, the .ASIA registry will have an expanded list of reserved domain names; explore the feasibility and value of augmenting the UDRP with local DRP forums; eligibility requirements; and other policies and practices that minimize abusive registration activities and other activities that affect the legal rights of others, especially in the community.

The boundaries of the .ASIA community are clearly defined based on the ICANN Asia / Australia / Pacific region (http://www.icann.org/montreal/geo-regions-topic.htm). Eligibility of domain registrations is restricted to legal entities within the boundary.

DotAsia views “Asia” as a term that appropriately embodies the diverse and vibrant Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific community, and a TLD name-string that is representative, short, recognisable and conceptually viable. DotAsia believes that “Asia” as a term used for a TLD has broad significance, clear and lasting value, and creates a new and differentiated space that enhances the diversity of the Internet namespace.

 

[wot]

They can very easily restrict the country

Glad to see Asia went through. I am not Asian but I have some buds who have been waiting for awhile.

- Steve

Really needed - NOT! - with .jp , .cn , .tw , .co.in, .in , .ru , .ph , .mn etc etc - just another money maker for the boys! JMO

 

[JasMate]

Any idea if this extension will be winner?
Does anyone know when the TLD will be available?
Also does anyone know what the price will be and
if it will be able to be registered with any register?

Thanks.

...

 

[Lasher]

It would be hard to justify saying no to .ASIA after approving .EU, but at what point should ICANN just declare "no more TLDs, period"?

It seems big business isn't too happy about new TLDs after some of the interviews regarding .MOBI - they see it as an burden to have to continually spend money on new TLD sunrise periods to defend their brands, or, risk having their brands be abused by (real) cybersquatters / competitors.

Personally I'd like to see all CCTLD countries get more aggressive with their nexus requirements and really push those instead. I don't register .UK or .CA domains, much as I'd like to, because I don't meet the requirements, but every other .US domain I look at is registered overseas. Do some of them have a valid US business presence? Probably .. but no way I'm buying they all do.

 

[Datalife]

Another .tld? When will they draw the line? This just dilutes further all the other .tlds and its not like the world has a shortage of them... :td:

So what will be the effect on .cn, .jp , .in etc?

Its just getting more confusing to all.

 

[RickM]

I suppose after europe got .eu asia gets .asia :hehe:

 

[movingconcierge]

It really does seem to be getting diluted with all the extensions being approved. But I guess the question is where do you stop? At what point is it too much? It seems to me that continental TLDs like .asia, .eu, seem to trump cTLDs like .de, co.uk, .jp, .cn, etc. I don't think that applies (of course ) to .us as there is no .northamerica.

 

[jimberan]

Maybe they will go with .nafta

 

[tm]

.eu is chosen over .de .co.uk etc by multi-national companies. If a company is JUST in Germany, they should use .de as their main site. If their company is also in the UK, they should consider using .eu.

Same goes for Asia.

 

[RJ]

It really does seem to be getting diluted with all the extensions being approved. But I guess the question is where do you stop? At what point is it too much? It seems to me that continental TLDs like .asia, .eu, seem to trump cTLDs like .de, co.uk, .jp, .cn, etc. I don't think that applies (of course ) to .us as there is no .northamerica.

.ASIA is just another step towards globalization. Before long we'll have a .earth TLD

 

[BuysDomains]

isnt the .earth TLD called the .com ?

 

[Kate]

We'll have .earth when .moon is launched (when they set up a colony there)

 

[anurag]

presonally i didn't like .eu and now don't like idea of of .asia.

Finally all other domain extensions will die.

only will be able to survive .com and country specific names ( .co.uk, .in , .cn )

 

[Olney]

For us Urban Dwellers I'm still waiting for .Hood
Unless Japan Registry get's a direct cut, you won't see this really even mentioned in Japan.

.ASIA is just another step towards globalization. Before long we'll have a .earth TLD

 

[Charley]

This is really cool. I reckon .Asia will give be better than the Asian country domains like .in, .cn, hk, etc ...

 

[labrocca]

.eu makes sense only because there is a concerted effort to have a European Union. They went through hoops to get their money together so giving them an extension imho is fine. What efforts has Asia done to be a cohesive continent? It's a worthless domain extension and yes...TM holders should be VERY concerned. When will the madness stop. Even as domainers our own .com, .net, and other extensions are being diluted by the greed of ICANN. I am rather fed up with it all.

 

[DropLister]

I think we need to think of the internet as a whole not just us poor domainers. Icann needs to keep coming out with domains in order to keep barrier to entry down. If there was only .com .net .org it would be impossible to register a decent name. I dont know if i like .asia do all the asian countries call asia, asia? If its better handled then the .eu landrush then it could develope into a decent name it might under cut .jp .cn but if you look at .eu and .co.uk etc .co.uk is still going stong. I think this extension will be popular in asian nations without a cctld and im pretty sure alot of them dont have one.

 

[wot]

I think we need to think of the internet as a whole not just us poor domainers. Icann needs to keep coming out with domains in order to keep barrier to entry down. If there was only .com .net .org it would be impossible to register a decent name. I dont know if i like .asia do all the asian countries call asia, asia? If its better handled then the .eu landrush then it could develope into a decent name it might under cut .jp .cn but if you look at .eu and .co.uk etc .co.uk is still going stong. I think this extension will be popular in chinese nations without a cctld and im pretty sure alot of them dont have one.

Do you really think that any ordinary person / company in Asia that does not have a tm will be able to register a .asia name. Of course not , they will go the same way as .eu , .mobi - the "domain gang" of dodgy registrars , grey tm's and shelf companies.

Nor sure about your "chinese nations" - do you mean China , Taiwan - or some other ones?

 

[BinderGang]

As more people buy domains, the more new extensions will be created. And it is necessary.

It's like real estate, people. Do they stop building new houses because the people who already live in a house, that's been there for hundreds of years, will worry that there houses value will go down? Nope. They need to accomodate for the rising population.

Same goes for domaining.

 

[Kate]

The point is not to build more homes, but have the opportunity to decide where your home will be located :gl:

Same goes with domains, people don't want to settle for second-class TLDs unless it fits the purpose. This is not to say new extensions are not needed, but most of the newer TLDs are not the right answer to the shortage of .com domains.

 

[Olney]

You can quote me on this
.Asia will never be stronger than .jp for Japanese.
The whole concept of where Asia is, is conflicting in Japan.