Generic words

The decision taken by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names, Icann, to sanction generic top level domains to corporates who emerge successful in a competitive bidding process is retrograde (editorial, Sept. 25). No doubt, the move will lead to a monopoly in the digital world. Considering its negative impact on ensuring a level playing field in digital commerce, Icann must not proceed with this until all legitimate concerns that have been raised are addressed convincingly.

M. Jeyaram,

Sholavandan

The internet is already segmented as key players, Apple and Google, have built barriers and created their own ecosystems So, the impending decisions on generic top level domain names (gTLD) such as “.book” or “.beauty” should not be given to individual corporations as it will disadvantage smaller players. Certainly, having a “.google” or “.amazon” as gTLD is different from “.search” or a “.book.” To create a better experience, an option before Icann would be to expand domains and put up a regulatory structure for the new generic TLD in a way similar to how a handful of generics such as “.com” or “.org” are handled today.

Varad Seshadri,

Sunnyvale, CA