Nominet are currently looking for feedback on a proposal to introduce second level domain registrations in the .uk domain space. This would mean that you would be able to register, for example, mycompany.uk as well as mycompany.co.uk for your business. This kind of domain structure has been available for some time in other markets, but not the UK.
I attended a Nominet round table session on behalf of the BCS Internet Specialist Group on July 10th, where a number of interesting points were made by attendees. The reason for writing up these brief notes is to give an overview of the topics discussed, rather than provide any opinion.
The Issues
Will this move create yet another domain name for businesses to
"protectively" register even if they have no intention of using it
themselves?
Which would you choose if you had the choice?
Who gets the second level domain name where there are competing third
level domains already in existence, e.g. mycompany.co.uk and
mycompany.ltd.co.uk?
Who will get the priority when there
are contentious claims to a second level domain - those who have owned
the third level domain the longest?
Will Nominet use a model similar to New Zealand, where owners of .co.nz domains were offered free upgrades to .nz?
Will too much choice of domain names actually drive people back to what they know best, i.e. .co.uk, to the detriment of the new second level domains?
Have Your Say
These are just some of the questions raised during the session, some may affect your business, or there may be other issues which you can think of which are directly relevant to the way your business operates. You can comment on the proposals until the consultation period ends on September 23rd this year. For full details of the consultation, and how to take part, please see this page on the Nominet web site, or this blog post.
There is another round table session scheduled for Monday 22nd July, again in London - the articles linked to above contain further information on how to attend.
Photo credit: Widjaya Ivan on Flickr