Domain name bonanza just a flash in the pan

Prospectors who joined last week's goldrush to grab newly-released domains like dot-shop, dot-hola and dot-xxx are unlikely to make a killing from their investment as the new sites cannot be accessed by the vast majority of corporate users.

In order to see the new domains, released by Californian start-up New.net, users have to update their browsers with a plug-in available at http://www.new.net , but many have been frustrated by a serious technical limitation - the lack of support for proxy servers. Users logging on via such a server are greeted with this error message on the company's site: "Proxy settings have been detected within your browser. Currently our browser activation does not support proxy servers." One silicon.com reader commented: "Show me any medium to large organisation that doesn't use proxy servers. I imagine that quite a few small companies also do." A spokesman for the company claimed it was working "diligently" on proxy support, but refused to give a firm deadline. Proxy support is just one of the problems facing the start-up firm, which has faced criticism for masking third level domains as though they were top level addresses. There is nothing to stop the company disguising its third level domains, but the domain governing body Icann is worried about the confusion it could cause. Icann chairman and TCP/IP inventor Vint Cerf has called the launch a "cute trick". The web addresses, which cost $25 a year, appear like top level domains but really have two other domain levels attached to them which are hidden in the browser, so dot-shop is really dot-shop-dot-new-dot-net. New.net has tried to pre-empt cybersquatters taking advantage of the new domains by signing up to the World Intellectual Property Organisation's uniform dispute resolution policy. Francis Gurry, assistant director general of WIPO, warned that the creation of 20 new domains could have a devastating effect on intellectual property. "As long as they are top level domains we will handle any domain name disputes through WIPO," he told silion.com. "But the impact is potentially very great." According to New.net chief marketing officer Steve Chadima, the company is in the process of patenting its technology. New.net claims to have signed up three US service providers, thereby giving access to the new domains for 16 million home users, but its support for businesses is not so advanced.