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A start-up domain name registry operating outside the control of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers this week launched 20 new Internet domains as alternatives to .com, .net, and other officially sanctioned ones. But critics say New.net could do more harm than good by striking out on its own.

The company is offering Web site registrations for $25 per year under its domains, which include the likes of .inc, .shop, and .travel. Officials at New.net say companies and Internet users want a wider choice of domains and ICANN is taking too long to create new ones as part of its management of the official Domain Name System (DNS).

But the company's move didn't sit well with Internet watchers such as David Maher, vice president of public policy for the nonprofit Internet Society. Maher says he's concerned about the potential impact of companies, such as New.net, that are working outside the bounds of ICANN.

"It sure is going to create a lot of problems in the whole domain naming system," Maher says.

With no single organization overseeing the entire process, he says his biggest fear is that New.net and other upstart companies will independently create clashing domains, causing online "address collisions" that could leave Internet users gridlocked.

New.net isn't the first company to set up new domains outside the existing structure maintained by ICANN--different registries have made available some 500 domains. The increasing number of unofficial domains could effectively result in the development of "a separate Internet within the Internet," Maher says.

Blame ICANN, Says Lawyer

But David Post, a law professor and cofounder of the ICANN watchdog group ICANNWatch.org, says New.net is only doing what the oft-criticized ICANN itself has been slow to do. The problem with ICANN, Post says, is that the organization "arbitrarily" decides what top-level domains should be part of the DNS.

Having new domains added by an outside entity such as New.net will cause some confusion for companies and Internet users, Post acknowledges. "[But] that's the nature of the beast," he says.

"There's value in having an ICANN-like thing to coordinate [the DNS], but there's a terrible cost with that, too. [ICANN officials] get to decide what we need."

Steve Chadima, chief marketing officer at New.net, says his company stepped in to try to meet the demand for more Internet domain names. ICANN last fall approved the addition of seven new top-level domains, but critics argue that far more are needed. "I think ICANN has moved slowly," Chadima says. "It's kind of inherent in how they operate. They are a consensus group with no legal authority."

Not Exactly New Domains

Technically, New.net isn't creating new top-level domains. Instead, networks of DNS servers will be used to invisibly direct Web surfers to the new domains by routing them through the company's own New.net address or through Internet service providers that have signed on to support the domains.

Most of the existing unofficial domains aren't widely known or are inaccessible unless users change the configurations of their Web browsers. But New.net is including a new twist: Several major Internet service providers--including Earthlink, Excite@Home, and NetZero--have signed on to automatically direct their customers to the company's domains.

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