As is was outlined in DotSauce post today – ICANN may be about to put an end to the domain tasting as we know it. The positive outcome is perfectly outlined in the referenced post above. However, not all is so bright.
With latest talks about ICANN changing ownership from US Department of Commerce to some international body run by UN, folks at domain name monopoly may have decided to soften up just a bit.
What this means is there is a lot of controversy about how domain industry should be run. Local governments are going crazy at the idea that they can own a piece of internet. Most governments, like Germany, immediately think China’s Great Firewall. Russia wants Cyrillic domain names and no access to outside networks unless explicitly permitted by senior party member (just kidding). All this is impossible while core domain name servers are run by US. Well, generally speaking, US can abuse its power here, but so far I didn’t hear any of this happened. And IT people are very cranky all over the world.
But stopping domain name tasting has at least one more negative aspect, at least from my personal perspective. The expired domain lists are about to get a lot larger. Watch out!