When ICANN started gathering in the French capital last week for a global conference that starts Monday, the marquee event was a quirky catwalk for cities and regions competing for domain names like .berlin, .paris, .quebec and even .cat – for Catalonia.
The mighty dot, New York City boosters said, could transform the metropolis into “the master of its future,” with a .nyc label helping to build “trust, justice and civic pride.” Berlin supporters insisted that a super-dot would establish the city’s global reputation.
Super or not, officials at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – the main oversight agency for the underpinnings of the Internet – said they were poised to bring the most dramatic change to the Internet in four decades by opening up domain names to endless variations.
To read the article further : http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/22/business/net23.php