The Details:
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is the international regulator of domain names on the Internet, is starting to accept applications to purchase new domain areas. Previously they limited the domains to .com, .edu, .net, .gov, and a few more, however; now they are opening it up to basically anything provided it is reviewed and found favorable.
More Information
My Feelings:
Its a new way of looking at the Internet. Previously you would have the entity's name followed by the suffix domain which described the entity. Now the suffix would be the entity. For big entities this is a boon, but for smaller entities this is a huge, near essential, resource purchase ($185,000 just to apply) that may never come to any use outside of simply protecting yourself. Does the pharmaceutical sphere as a whole buy that suffix? Who gets to control it then? Academia? Commercial pharmacy? Pharmacy Benefit Managers? Does one group buy it simply to stockpile it against another group? I don't know, but it seems to open up a concern for competition of that which is incredibly scarce, yet potentially useful in the increasing ubiquity of the Internet.
