Internet Domain Names to Be Bid on in a Few Days

Several new domain address will be bid on starting January 12^th at 12:01 a.m. GMT. A thousand of them to be exact.

The domain names, which include ".sport", ''.NYC", ".bank", and “.Vegas", will then be added to the current internet system starting spring of 2013. Any challenges to the names may push back the requested name until as late as 2014.

Companies are seeing this move as possibly a way to gain more money from people and groups which wish to use their domain name for a website.

Some other companies however are worried about its efficiency. Dan Jaffe of the lobbying group Association of National Advertisers likened the expansion to a sinking ship. “You don't want a ship to have holes... and ask everybody to come on board. You should close the holes, then run a pilot project to see if the systems you put in place are actually effective."

Others however worry it will open the internet to many more scams by using names that seem alike such as “Amazom” instead of “Amazon”.

Another concern is about the possibility it will be able to be used to spread hate groups or have domain names that end in profanities.

However don't get excited about getting something like “.Coolname” just yet. At the moment it seems only those who have a vast amount of wealth will be able to take part in the bids. Just to apply for the name requires the purchaser to pay 185-thousand dollars and a ten-year commitment totaling 250-thousand dollars. Those prices are without things like the cost to run the site, computers, or staff.

The bidding is set to end in April.

What I want to know is what will prevent this from creating a two-tier internet? Anyone with enough money to get one of these domain names would also have enough money to ensure their part of the internet is never slowed down or yanked off the internet completely.