The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is mulling new domains that could be used to help fight spam, with a decision on which if any get the go-ahead expected by September 30.
The proposed domains involve industry- or service-specific domains, according to ICANN, and have come from different sources. Spamhaus, the anti-spam watchdog, has suggested .mail as an identifier for those who don't send spam and would help keep their messages out of the spam filters. Three companies – Nokia, Vodafone, and Microsoft – have proposed a .mobi domain for Websites and other content built specifically to fit small screens on mobile phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices.
A .jobs domain has also been proposed to let companies list available jobs at specific online help-wanted sites, addressing a market which is considered one of the continuously rising Internet markets. And .tel, proposed by others, would orient toward Internet telephony.
ICANN president Paul Twomey said the evaluation process could be more smooth than they did in 2000, when critics said they could not figure why domain proposals got accepted or rejected. "The big thing here," he said in a published interview, "will be, hopefully, people will feel they're evaluated against objective criteria."
