“The web addresses businesses and people online call home have spawned the equivalent of a real estate boom in the real world with speculators, appraisers, developers and brokers turning the names typed in navigation bars into hefty profits,” says this article from the Sydney Morning Herald (originally in the Boston Globe).

“It is a global, multibillion-dollar industry,” says Peter Lamson, senior vice-president of NameMedia Inc’s domain marketplace in Boston. “Customers need to find your doorstep. A brick-and-mortar business needs an attractive address, and it’s no different online.”

This article is available online at http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/03/1185648143743.html or http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/08/03/1185648154327.html