What's in a name? On the world wide web, perhaps millions of pounds. As e-commerce burst into the public consciousness last year, the scramble to establish a web presence began to reach gold rush proportions. And like shovel sellers who made a fortune from the prospectors, vendors of domain names have flourished now that the latest must-have accessory is a snappy web address.
Domain names are the unique part of the web address of a site, and as internet hype has snowballed, so has the rush to stake a claim in cyberspace. In the middle, in charge of this important part of the net's plumbing, is one US-based company: Network Solutions.
This fact has upset many people online. Six years ago, when your life was complete without the words "e-commerce" and "MP3", the US government handed to NSI some obscure rights to domain name suffixes, including those to the all important ".com" ending. The problems for NSI came when its obscure rights got the company placed right in the middle of one of the greatest revolutions of the 20th century.
When other companies saw NSI sitting unchallenged on top the domains goldmine, they began to cry foul. The disagreements were resolved only recently, when the US Department of Commerce chaired an agreement between NSI and a non profit organisation called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).
Headed by Esther Dyson, "queen of the internet" and Online columnist, Icann won the right for approved companies to access the Whois database, where all .com, .org and .net info is listed. "We've all kissed and made up," she explained. "It is now clear... that the Whois database is available to anybody."
Agreement or not, NSI still hit the headlines several times recently.
First it had to withdraw almost a thousand domains it issued by mistake. Then a hacker tapped into NSI's database and began redirecting addresses to a single site. Netizens everywhere remain disgruntled.
To get yourself that snappy website name requires either skill or cash. The skill comes not in thinking up a neat name, but finding one that's available. Take a random choice such as, say, the unlikely "monkeyjuice", and you will quickly find that the name Monkeyjuice.com is taken, as are so many of the precious .com domains. Head to the handy search tool at NSI's site and you'll find all the three letter domains are long gone, even com.com's been snapped up.
But once you locate an available domain, follow the instructions (the "wizard" after the domain search), add your details then your credit card info and proceed to make your mark in cyberspace. One small step for man, one tiny but important drop in the virtual ocean for you.
The British domains are controlled by Nominet, a non-profit organisation given powers by NSI. Having recently lowered the cost of registering the co.uk domain, Nominet has seen an explosion of companies offering free, or practically free domains.
Additional interactive features like email may cost more. To register a co.uk name yourself, you have to contact one of the many internet service providers (ISPs) listed at Nominet. The database, however, suffered a serious crash on January 12. The website adds: "The full domain name index has been restored, but recovery of full registrant details continues."
To register a co.uk domain go to, for example, www.usp.net and insert your domain of choice into the "check availability" box. Follow the instructions, filling in your details and then credit card numbers.
If you don't have that skill or very good timing, then obtaining the perfect domain name will now cost you dearly. As the interest in the web has boomed, so has a lucrative cottage industry: playing the domain name game. For any company wanting to make an online impression, a memorable domain name is essential. And www.please/remember/this.sorrywhatdidyousay?simply won't cut it.
Many websites are discovered by word of mouth, and in this world ".com" is king. There are hundreds of domain names other than the .org, .com and .net suffixes.
These include the well known .co.uk, but vary to suit the colourful spectrum of nations whoch is now online [see http://uninett.no/navn/domreg.htm], such as .is or .fm. And this week the Italian domain name ".it" became available throughout Europe, making humour along the lines of www.shut.it and www.slap.it possible. Any remaining domain names - they were being snapped up quickly as we went to press -are available from Virtual Internet.
But beware gold rush style claim-jumpers. The internet has spawned its own, known as cybersquatters. While others were just starting to explore the internet, they jumped in and registered the best domain names. Then offered to sell them at a vast profit.
If you're in the spotlight, they're after your name. No one is safe, not even the world's richest man. Bill Gates might have built Microsoft, but he never thought to register the name billgates.co.uk. That domain was registered by a British businessman, who attempted to auction it for more than £2m. He now faces possible legal action from the software giant.
"We would object to anyone taking unfair advantage of the goodwill and recognition of Mr Gates' name and reputation," a Microsoft spokeswoman explained. The name has currently been withdrawn from sale.
Corporations and superstars alike have been caught unawares by quick witted cybersquatters. Brad Pitt was offered bradpitt.com for £16,000 and a 17-year-old boy registered the name of the global financial services firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, before they announced any online plans . Legal proceedings commenced when the teenager reject a $10,000 offer and demanded $75,000.
Registering trademarks as domain names can infringe copyright and invite legal action. But personal names like Faldo.com - currently up for auction at a price of £2m - escape due to a grey area of the law.
Other squatted domains seem aimed at specific companies, with www.ipcmags.com, freeserveonline.com and MTVBase.com perhaps more valuable to some than others.
Action has been promised. NSI recently reclaimed domains from many suspected squatters and entrepreneurs, claiming unpaid bills as the reason.
However, with the growing need for names, it will take much more than that to halt a healthy trade. Auction sites have sprung up for names such as greatdomains.com and names123.com. At greatdomains.com you could buy America.com - but bidding starts at $10m.
On a more positive note, sites like www.netnames.com, offer services to companies wishing to secure their trademarks beyond the obvious .com and .co.uk realms.
Taking an original approach is www.funmail.co.uk. Like greatdomains.com, this company buys up domain names, but then offers a free email service with the most original of names. If you've ever fancied being zoeball@horrendous.co.uk or hounddog@elvislives.co.uk, then now is your chance.
"We have a database of 14,000 domains," explains funmail co-founder Graham Goodkind. "Despite over 50 requests a week, we never sell the names. "
Goodkind emphasises the creativity that goes into the process. "With up to 20 free email addresses per domain, you have more chance to express yourself online." Taking advantage of the UK's liberal domain laws, funmail has been able to build a healthy business, helping to add to the 300,000 names registered worldwide a week.
"You simply can't get good names anymore. The market has moved from a primary to a resale one," he concludes.
Domain facts and figures
1 300,000 domains are registered every week.
2 13 million domains are in use worldwide.
3 The BBC website tops the British sites with around 160 million page impressions a month.
4 The "big seven" banned swear words on US networks are withheld as domain names.
5 Originally, names were registered for two years, but Register.com is now offering 1, 2, 5 or 10 years - and discounts.
6 Buying a .com domain from NSI can cost between $70 and $169 US.
7 The record bid for a site is $10m for Year2000.com. Placed on the auction site eBay.com, it beat the last record of $7.5m for Business.com.
8 NSI looks set to expand domain names to up to 63 characters. Traditionally they could be only 26 characters.
9 There are more than 200 top level domains including .sh (St. Helena), .to (Tongo), .cd (Republic Of Congo).
10 Still confused about domain names and who runs the process? Check Studio24's clear guide: www.studio24.net/domainname.shtml
