This year, anyone can apply for a killer top-level domain on the internet. I’m talking about the part to the right of the URL dot, like .com or .org. Over a thousand of these already exist: .app for apps, .shop for shopping, .dev for software developers, .nyc for New Yorkers, .porn for porn, .horse for—who knows.
\n\nAnd in 2026, for the first time since 2012, anyone can invent a new .word (even, literally, .word).
\n\nThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is the governance body that makes the rules for domain names and IP addresses. These rules are ostensibly the kind of boring technical stuff that most people don’t know about, because the internet “just works.” You type in nike.com, you see the swoosh. But the rules solve hard problems that thousands of humans spend thousands of hours arguing over. When Ukraine asked ICANN in 2022 to shut down all traffic to Russian top-level domains, like .ru, ICANN declined. No censorship is one of the rules: Ensure the stability and security of the internet, but don’t police content.
\n\nIt’s June, and I’m in Seville, Spain, for ICANN86, to learn about top-level domains and the people who make…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/