| [name]*[number].TLD Questions and
Answers Everyone can be a Star One Internet registrar recently
advertised: Registering the right domain name is a hurdle for anyone who wants an Internet presence. That hurdle keeps growing - all the good names are gone. We're testing an approach that expands the Internet name space by allowing names that are a little different, but not too different. The Problem: Johnson.com is registered to the makers of Johnson outboard boat motors. That isn't the company name, but the manufacturing company has a trademark on the product name. There are hundreds of trademark registrations for the name Johnson, so the vast majority of owners can't use their registered marks as domain names. Add to that all the companies that do business under the name Johnson but don't have a trademark, and then add the individuals named Johnson who want a .com domain name. Today all these potential name registrants have to find an appropriate Internet identity without calling themselves johnson.com. That name is taken. The Proposal: An alternative is to register domain names in a format that allows automatic translation to a name-star-number [name*number.com] format. This supports universal Internet naming - allowing a virtually unlimited number of Johnson.com registrations. Or any other name. See the tables below. Beta release - the Asterisk browser ver. 2.0.0.4 The proof of concept beta is a full function browser based on the popular open-source Mozilla Firefox 2.x Note:
This browser makes domain name translations completely invisible
to the user. Any name*number address will be translated into the
corresponding native format for domain name resolution, and any
domain name registered in the test format will be presented to
the user as a convenient name*number web address.
Asterisk beta is available from Brian Johnson's site
at Virginia Tech. Select the 2.0.0.4
installer dated July 4, 2007. The web
address is: people.cs.vt.edu/~bajohns. For additional background, refer to our
Questions and
Answers (Update June 28 '08). The Proof of
Concept: In the Johnson directory below the first 4
links and the final 6 (all with a white background) are real addresses and work
without the Asterisk browser. The Johnson sites *4 through *8 (with a colored
background) are fictitious - the sites exist but were created only for
demonstration and do not belong to real companies. The links with a colored background work
only with the Asterisk browser! Domain Owner T Desc. City St. Post CC Phone Bombardier
Recreational Products, Inc ® Recreational
products: H3E 1T5 johnson*1.com Brian Johnson,
Virginia Tech Computer
science student, VT Blacksberg VA US 540 johnson*2.com
-
redirects Johnson Woolen
Mills, Inc. ® Vermont woolen
mill est. 1842 Johnson VT 05656 US 802
johnson*3.com - redirects Johnson
Laminating and Coating, Inc ® Custom
chemical coating and laminating on a variety of
substrates Carson CA 90745 US 310 Sven Johnson
Painting Painting -
homes, barns and outbuildings Roseau MN 56751 US 218 Johnson the
Florist Cut flowers,
potted plants, corsages and bouquets, office
plants Cincinnati OH 45202 US 513 Johnson County
Choppers Motorcycles,
accessories and clothing Buffalo WY 82834 US 307 Johnson, THE
Pittsburgh painter Painting and
decorating Pittsburgh PA 15219 US 214 JK Johnson
shoes LLP Retail shoes
and boots Savannah GA 31401 US 912 -
parked domain
- - - SG - -
ad server
- - - US - Tucows.com
ad server
- - - CA - Bombardier
Recreational Products, Inc ® parked domain
- - - CA - Bombardier
Recreational Products, Inc ® parked domain
- - - CA - Johnson
College Technical College
Scranton PA 18508 US 570 Notes: If you don't have the necessary software, you can always type
the 'native' address
format into your browser address line. Logically the identity
of the original (non-enumerated) registrant should be considered [name]*0.
This means the browser should identify johnson*0.com as johnson.com.
The native
format domains for johnson*1 through johnson*3.com have been
registered and parked to avoid collisions during the test
period. The web sites
with a colored table background are fictitious and used for
demonstration purposes only. The table
information provided for each fictitious domain name is also
fictitious (of course) but demonstrates a reasonable extension of
the concept. Telephone area
codes are preferable to full numbers to help users locate (or
search for) a company or service while protecting the listed
company from telephone overload – one reason for publishing
a web site to begin with. In the tables 'St.' means State and
'CC' means Country Code, the country where the business is
headquartered. Parked and advertising
domains are normally a problem for Internet users: some domain names have been
registered to monopolize a name and prevent use by
other information providers, and many domains are used to advertise good and
services which may be unrelated to the domain name. The examples in the Johnson
directory are real, and show how a name directory helps users navigate
around these problems.
Another
example: Tim
Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, wrote In his book
Weaving the Web: Was the
Internet supposed to be so limited? What about: Domain Owner T Desc. City St. Post CC Phone Joe & Sons Residential, commercial framing Queen Creek AZ 85242 US 480 Joe & Sons Hardware retail Bangor ME 04401 US 202 Joe & Sons Fish restaurant San Francisco CA 94111 US 415 This is a
test The Virginia
Tech browser is free to download, distribute, use and
improve. Multiplexed
domain names follow all applicable standards, but the translation
formats used in this test are additions not standardized by any
higher authority. If this or a similar system is standardized in
the future, the formats may not be the ones we have
used. Last updated October 25, 2008 |