The U.S. government has criticized ICANN's (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) plan to offer domain name extensions (Generic Top Level Domains) for sale.
According to the BBC article:
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees net addresses has floated plans for the radical change to the existing system. But the US Commerce department has questioned both the benefits and the costs of such a scheme. Officials have also raised concerns about whether the plans will destabilise the current system.
ICANN has proposed to offer between 200 and 800 new addresses for sale at $185,000 (£125,000) per domain with a yearly cost of $60,000.
However, the article goes onto state that:
Department of Commerce official, Deborah Garza, has questioned the plan.
In her own letter to Icann she wrote: "The DOC is unconvinced that new gTLDs will alter the preference for .com domains, and fears that a huge number of new gTLDs will simply force companies to register them in order to maintain and redirect appropriate traffic".
Source [BBC]
