How the internet should have been (Or why ICANN sucks)*

The internet has come a long way since the early 90s when it become the public network it is. Remember the days of Geocities, AOL, and hit counters? Back in the day, people didn't expect the net to become as large as it is now. If we could start the internet from scratch today, I think things would be a lot different. This brings me to my first point. TLDs. Read on.

The dawn of the internet (when it went public, I'm not talking about the "original" internet), we had three main top-level domain names, .COM, .ORG, and .NET. .COM was for commercial, miscellaneous, and personal sites. .ORG was for non-profit organizations, and .NET was for internet service providers. The line between each seems to have faded now, though. Alongside these, we also have country TLDs, which are two-letter codes for country-specific sites. I'll get to those later.

Back when the internet was young, three main TLDs wasn't a large problem, but now, it just isn't working. Why? First off, lack of available good names. Who's fault is this? Domain squatters. Why domain squatting is still legal is beyond me, but it's something that needs to be addressed.

Secondly, any site worth half a shit is going to want to "protect" their name and buy the same name in more than one TLD. If people need to do this, then the system is obviously flawed. They are trying to fix this by releasing new TLDs every so often (.name, .info, .aero, and .mobi, for example. More below.), but now it's just inconsistent. Here's what we have (I'm not including ccTLDs yet).

• .com :: What people consider to be the "main" TLD.
• .org :: What people consider to be another "main" TLD.
• .net :: A third "main" TLD.
• .info :: Intended for informational sites.

Now, here's where the inconsistencies begin:

• .aero :: Strictly for airlines and related.
• .pro :: Strictly for professionals (lolwut?).
• .cat :: For sites in the Catalan language or related to Catalan culture (lolwuuuuut?).
• .asia :: For Asian companies (Apparently Asia is worthy of a continental TLD, but no other region is)
• .mil and .gov :: For US military and government sites (Why is US not mentioned in the name?)
• .tel :: Please don't even get me started.

I'm sure there are more, but my point is proven. WHAT. THE. HELL? Catalan-language sites get their own TLD, and English sites don't? Where's my .eng TLD? Why is the USA special enough to get ".gov" for it's government sites? Why wasn't it given to, say, Australia? Anyone who thinks that the US is the world's "main" country has issues to work out. ICANN, get your heads out of your asses.

I will now go on to ccTLDs (Country-specific names). The biggest problem is still inconsistency. Example time:

• Canada :: Canadian residents are free to register a .ca domain name to use for anything. They can also register provincial sub-TLDs. For example, if you want to say that you are a British Columbian company, you can get a .bc.ca name. Alberta is .ab.ca, etc. Government uses .gc.ca names.
• United Kingdom :: Commercial ("main") sites use the .co.uk name. Personal sites use the .me.uk name. I'm sure there are more. Why doesn't Canada have a .co.ca name? Why doesn't the UK just use .uk? Who the hell knows.
• Australia :: Their domain system is similar to the GTLDs, but the use the full "com" instead of just "co". Inconsistency.
• USA :: They've got .us. That's it.
• Montenegro :: They've got .me. Visiting gov.me takes you to their government site. Why doesn't gov.uk take you to the UK's government site? Come to think of it, the Montenegrin government markets their TLD as a generic one that's "all about you!". This is something else that should be illegal. What a pile. This is what .name is for. Do people even use .name anymore?

Why is nothing streamlined? It makes the entire system seem like a joke. There's going to be a day when the entire system just falls apart. Something really needs to be done. Unfortunately, removing and editing TLDs is not an easy process at all. So, at least for now, we're pretty much stuck like this.

If I could make a few changes, here's what I would do:

• If a domain isn't being used for something practical ("What you need, when you need it"), I should have every right to take it and use it for something nice.
• Streamline ccTLDs. Disallow "domain hacks" unless the appropriate TLD is still used, they just cause confusion. Is identi.ca only for Canadians? No.
• Banish .tel.
• Phase out .com for category-based names.
• Reserve .net names for ISPs, like it used to be.
• Anything on .org sites should be noncommercial/nonprofit.

In conclusion, the domain name system COULD be drastically improved, but it would take vast amounts of effort and URL changes, unfortunately, and may never happen.

Feel free to correct any of my mistakes, or disagree with any of my opinions. Debate is good.

*I am fully aware that I suck at writing and sentence structure for long articles. You can not have that five minutes of your life back.