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Three months after unveiling 20 top-level domains outside the official Internet naming system, start-up New.net has released another ten top-level domains designed to add more naming choices for individual and corporate Web sites.

In its announcement Tuesday, New.net says it's launching the new top-level domains because of market demand. The company also announced it has signed a deal with an Internet service provider in England to offer service with its top-level domains and that it has opened operations in Europe.

The new top-level domains are .arts, .school, .church, .love, .golf, .auction, .agent, .llp, .llc, and .scifi.

Because they aren't official top-level domains, the top-level domains set up by New.net require Internet users to install a small software application that will allow a user's computer to find the domains on the Internet. New.net also has agreements with several large national Internet service providers that automatically are set up to recognize the company's top-level domains.

About 44 million Internet users have access to the New.net top-level domain sites, according to the company, and that number is growing by about a million a week. The company expects about 100 million viewers by the end of the year.

Critical of ICANN

The company has criticized the official Internet Domain Name System, operated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, as too slow in creating additional domains.

New.net wants to provide a unique domain name to every company or individual that wants one, says David Hernand, chief executive officer. It costs $25 to register a Web site name with New.net under one of the new top-level domains.

"We think that there's room for a lot of names, much like categories in a telephone book," Hernand says. "Our release of ten new names is merely an extension of the first 20."

An ICANN representative couldn't be reached for immediate comment, but the group has been critical of the efforts of New.net and others who create top-level domains outside the ICANN system. ICANN doesn't have any actual enforcement powers over the Internet naming system. It is a nonprofit group that's recognized by the U.S. and other governments to coordinate and manage the system. ICANN oversees the .com, .net, and .org top-level domains, as well as several other specialized top-level domains, including .edu (for education-related sites), .mil (for military use), and .gov (for government use).

Hernand says his company is attempting to work within the ICANN system to apply for the creation of ICANN-approved top-level domains, but he added that ICANN doesn't move quickly enough.

"When the ICANN process reopens for new names, we will go in and apply for our names," he says. "We hope that ICANN won't be punitive. There is the possibility of that."

Concerns About Consistency

Another top-level domain holder outside the official ICANN system says New.net's approach has been problematic because the company offers top-level domains that are already in use by other alternative top-level domain operators. Leah Gallegos, president of AtlanticRoot Network, says such duplication of domains could ultimately lead to Web users being unable to find the sites they're seeking because of duplicate top-level domains.

"New.net does not give a rip about any of the other [top-level domain holders]," Gallegos says. "They play the game that those with the most bucks win."

Last March, New.net announced the issuance of its first 20 domain names, which included .shop, .mp3, .inc, .kids, .sports, .family, .chat, .video, and .club. Also created were .hola, .soc, .med, .law, .travel, .game, .free, .ltd, .gmbh, .tech, and .xxx.

ICANN approved two new top-level domains in May: .biz and .info. But those are the first new extensions issued since the mid-1980s.

In May, Gallegos and other alternative top-level domain holders created the Top Level Domain Association to try to organize alternative top-level domain holders and make sure that all of their sites will be recognized on the Internet. The group is still creating its bylaws and hasn't begun actively recruiting members.

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