ICANN Shelves .XXX Domain, gTLDs

The world will have to wait a little longer for the .XXX domain. The same goes for a new system of generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), which promise to open up a trove of new real estate on the Web.

That’s because ICANN, the group that oversees Internet naming, has decided to postpone approval of both items. As Enterprise Mobile Today reports, ICANN has been under pressure to provide its government overseers with more insight into its operations, which may have contributed to the decision to delay the implementation of the .XXX domain and the new gTLD system.

After years of debate, observers expected the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to approve a new system of generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) for the Internet. The new gTLD approval would have opened up the door to a new world of Internet addresses and change the way that people around the world access the Internet. Instead of approving gTLDs during an event in Cartagena, Columbia held last week, ICANN instead voted to delay the decision until 2011, pending further review.

The delay on gTLDs was accompanied by another deferral by ICANN on the .XXX top level domain, a topic ICANN has been grappling with for a decade.

Read the full story at Enterprise Networking Planet:


ICANN Delays .XXX and gTLDs