Key Internet Domain Up for Grabs

October 2004

To almost anyone who has a passing familiarity with computers, the term "dot-com" instantly evokes the Internet and everything associated with the online world.

That is not quite the case for "dot-net." Regarded by most ordinary Internet users as ".com's" less-attractive cousin, ".net" is nevertheless the world's fourth-largest Internet domain and a key conduit for massive amounts of Internet traffic. This month, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the group that oversees the Internet's global addressing system, will begin deciding what company will run it.

The stakes are high, and so is the responsibility: The winner will take in about $30 million a year, but if the domain were to fail, huge swaths of online real estate -- including Web sites like Amazon.com and e-mail networks like those operated by Comcast and Earthlink -- could go dark.