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Crunch vote to rule on Internet domain name big bang
Jun 26 11:25 AM US/Eastern

Web regulators were poised Thursday to usher in one of the biggest shake-ups in the Internet's brief history in a crunch vote on allowing millions of new domain names, from .paris to .Pepsi.

If approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), holding its annual general meeting in Paris, the overhaul would radically change the way users navigate the Internet.

Currently all web addresses fall under one of a set number of top-level domain names. There are 240 .country or .territory domains, and some 20 generic ones, from .com, .net and .org to .gov, .edu or .aero.

If the change is adopted, the web's 1.3 billion users would be able from early 2009 to buy an unlimited number of generic addresses based on common words, brands, company names, cities and proper names, according to ICANN.

With the stock of available web addresses under the current IPv4 protocol set to run out by 2011, ICANN has been under pressure to find a solution for burgeoning demand.

The popular online trading site eBay is one of the many companies that wants to have its own domain name.

Broad product groups such as .bank or .car are also likely contenders.

Cities could benefit too from this liberalisation, with the German capital hoping for .berlin or New York for .nyc.

Some cities or regions have been bending the rules already to get the domain they want. The city of Los Angeles has for example signed a deal with the southeast Asian state Laos to use its .la domain.

In theory, an infinite number of new domain names could be born, which would prove a boon for ICANN because it would receive payment for each one.

But in reality advanced technical skills and deep pockets would be needed to set up a new name.

Industry experts expect the cost -- which has yet to be fixed -- could reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Under the proposed new regime, domain names will also be able to be lodged in languages such as Arabic or Mandarin Chinese.

A non-profit organisation based in southern California, ICANN oversees the assignment of domain names and Internet protocol addresses that help computers communicate.

More than 1,500 delegates from 70 countries gathered in Paris for ICANN's meeting.