Obama wants to control new domain zones

The US government is planning to give ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) the power to veto the creation of any top-level domain.

Currently, the GAC consists of over 100 representatives from various countries, who have only an advisory vote. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the US Department of Commerce is proposing to strengthen the GAC's influence, meaning that any GAC member could raise an objection to a domain for any reason. If all other GAC members do not reject the objection (which requires consensus), the domain will not be created.

NTIA representatives believe that this approach will reduce the likelihood of blocking top-level domains at the level of individual countries, since such blocking leads to fragmentation of the Internet.

Experts predict that new TLDs will soon begin to proliferate at an incredible rate. For example, any city that can afford to spend around $200,000 could apply for its own top-level domain.

However, domains like .GAY and .XXX are somewhat controversial. Two sexual minority groups are vying for the .GAY domain, but not all countries have approved them.

The porn domain .XXX has also raised many objections. ICANN recently gave its approval for its creation once again, but it seems the Obama administration is in solidarity with the Bush administration on this issue and is opposed to the creation of this domain.