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{{B}}The Net Cost of
Making a Name for Yourself{{/B}} Companies are paying up to $10,000 to register a domain name on the Internet even though there is no guarantee that they will get the name they want. The task of registering domains ending in. com, org, .edu and. net is at present contracted out by the US government to the Virginia-based company Network Solutions. The contract runs out this year, and the government wants to bring in a different scheme. But last year, an ad hoc committee of the Internet's great and good revealed its own plan. This involved setting up seven new domains, each indicating the kind of business or organisation using that name. The committee recruited 88 companies around the world to act as registrars for its firm, . shop, . web, . arts, . rec, . info and. nom domains. The US government has still to give the system its blessing, and may yet push ahead with its original scheme. Despite this, the 88 registrars have been taking applications for several months. They are due to start registering names this month with the Internet Council of Registrars, which grew out of the ad hoc committee. To prevent conflicting names from being registered, the council will take one name from each registrar in mm before going back for the second name in their queues, and so on. This has led to a flourishing trade, with companies trying to buy a place near the head of the queue. Global Names of Singapore is charging $10,000 to make sure a request for a name is the first one it sends off to the central database. Other registrars are charging nonrefundable deposits for places at the top of the queue. David Maher, chairman of the Policy Oversight Committee that is helping to set up and oversee the system, says that all registrars are subject to local laws regarding consumer protection and competition. But he says that the committee "will not act as an enforcement body in this area." |