ICANN gives tentative OK on '.asia' domain

[mandy]

The quasi-governmental organization that oversees the Internet has tentatively approved a ".asia" Web domain to unify the Asia-Pacific community, but the group has delayed a decision on whether to move forward with a ".xxx" zone for pornography sites.

Registrations for English-language names in ".asia" could begin six months after ICANN grants final approval. But first, ICANN and the DotAsia Organization Ltd. will have to spend weeks or months ironing out contract details. The DotAsia group, which consists of domain name operators in Asian countries, also plans to explore permitting site addressess in Asian languages.

full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1...eting.html

[Kristijntje]

Update: final approval granted.

The Internet will soon have a domain to unify businesses and other users in the Asia-Pacific region. A key oversight agency has approved a ".asia" domain for Internet addresses, supplementing suffixes available for individual countries, such as ".cn" for China and ".jp" for Japan...

Made up of groups that run domain names for China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries, the DotAsia Organization Ltd. plans to explore permitting domain names in Asian languages under ".asia."...

Backers of ".asia" believe Asian businesses will want a separate identity, particularly as they expand beyond their own countries and find their country-specific names limiting for a regional market. Individuals and groups will be eligible as well.

DotAsia has said it plans to restrict registrations to those in the region, which includes Australia...

full article: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryne...798899.htm