THE INTERWIBBLE could get its biggest domain name shake up ever on Thursday if the net's regulators, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), votes to relax strict rules on naming.

Until now most domain names have been restricted to a website's country of origin, as in .uk (the United Kingdom) or .de (Germany), or names relating to commerce or institutions, like .org, .net and .gov.

But now the non-profit governing body is considering allowing owners to incorporate branding into URLs for the first time. So you could expect to see lots of websites like apple.mac intel.int and daamit.amd in the near future.

There may also be moves afoot to cram the whole internet porn world into domains ending in .xxx which would make filtering (or finding if that's your thang) filth a whole lot easier for everyone as far as we are concerned.

Icaan Chief Exec Paul Twomey told the BBC that the organisation was, "...in the process of opening up new real estate, new land, and people will go out and claim parts of that land and use it for various reasons they have. It's a massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the internet."

Get ready for the gold rush. µ

L’Inq
BBC