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Globe seeks to run .Boston

ICANN, the group that decides on Internet domains (such as .com, .net, etc.) recently solicited bids for a whole new generation of "generic top-level domain names." Dan Rowinski notes that our very own Globe has applied to set up and run a domain of .boston (see all the applications).

If approved, the Globe would win the right to act as a domain-name registrar, doling out Internet addresses to anybody who wants a .boston address. Or as the Globe puts it in its application:

The .BOSTON TLD aims to become a new on line identity for the city of Boston, its inhabitants, companies, organizations and institutions, managed and supervised by The Boston Globe. ...

The internet extension is secured for the benefit of Boston and Bostonians, and is consistent with the initiatives under way for other prominent cities around the world;

.BOSTON will assist the City of Boston as a forward-looking and innovative city

Ed. snarky question: Would they allow herald.boston? Ed. answer: Possibly not, the Globe application rules out addresses that might wind up "harming the reputation and good name of the City of Boston or the Boston Globe," although more likely that would be limited to something like sucks2b.boston.

The Globe says it has the backing of the city of Boston - as required by ICANN for geographic domains - and that it would give the city a series of "utility" domain names, such as police.boston, mayor.boston, city.boston and visit.boston.

And like Fenway bricks, the Globe will seek to sell personalized domains to Bostonians, who, being proud of their city, will rush to buy them. But non-locals need not fret - the Globe says it'll sell a .boston address to anybody who wants one, such as people who want the world to know they're moving to Boston or just enjoy the city.

The Globe says it will offer reduced rates to non-profit groups who register .boston names.

The Globe says it would sub-contract the actual technical details of doling out domain names to a company called OpenRegistry.

As part of the application, the Globe had to agree to pony up $185,000 for an "evaluation" of the suitability of the proposed domain - a process that starts this month and which ICANN says could take 9 to 20 months.

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Comments

It's a little obnoxious and probably has little impact because people are so used to .com, .net, and .org. I think ICANN should probably let the city have first shot but not at some ridiculous $185k price tag to start. Don't see any reason why ICANN as a non-profit needs to sell city-specific top-level domains to the highest bidder when they could simply assign it to the municipality and share in any profits if Menino wants to sell News.Boston to the globe for a few grand.

Peterborough
http://www.bostontipster.com

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To which of the many Bostons should ICANN simply assign the name?

How about names like "Bloomington" or "Portlans" where there is a less obvious "best known instance"

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proposing this, and not the Boston Globe.

You'd hear wailing in the streets about "censorship", "Big Brother", etc., etc.

Yet because this "right of refusal" is being requested by a private entity, we are apparently willing to accept this with barely a wimper.

Another example of why, in my opinion, George Orwell got it wrong. It is not unreasonable intrusion into our lives by the government we have to fear, it is intrusion by the marketing executives. And, from the looks of things as compared to thirty or forty years ago, it appears that the marketing executives are winning.

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Secondary Contact

7(a). Name
Mr. James Christopher Bodor

7(b). Title
Director of Product Development

7(c). Address

Graphton Massachusets

Do I really trust the Boston Globe to do anything right when they cant spell Grafton or Massachusetts correctly???

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The Boston Globe?! It smells very fishy.

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just the organic machine oil used on presses they're using to print up all those Heralds.

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Ed. snarky question: Would they allow herald.boston? Ed. answer: Possibly not, the Globe application rules out addresses that might wind up "harming the reputation and good name of the City of Boston or the Boston Globe,"

I wonder if Universal Hub would have problems if it wanted to use the new domain, considering the many negative comments and criticisms directed toward the City of Boston and the Globe's reporting over the years.

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The Globe will more than likely be gone in a few years anyway..

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What about the .hub TLD? Adam and The Minions can have a whole online world of its own. I'd like Fenway.Hub, please.

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I had a spare $185,000 lying around (that's the cost of getting a new domain).

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That's just the application fee... I believe you also need to setup DNS servers setup to host the TLD.

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Could I use that? :-).

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