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The number of possible internet addresses is set to skyrocket after a vote that may change the face of the internet.
In a move sure to provoke squabbles over popular addresses, the internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has voted to allow people to choose their own domain names.
The decision by ICANN opens the way for millions of new domain names, from .apple to .zebra.
At the moment, all internet addresses must end in one of set list of domain names _ known as top level domain names. Now, a theoretically infinite number of domain names will become available, including brand names, city names and categories.
Familiar domain names like .com, .org, and .nz, will still be around, but they may be joined by addresses such as .travel, .stereo and .bank.
ICANN Board Chairman, New Zealander Peter Dengate Thrush, said the organisation's annual meeting in Paris this week would be remembered as a milestone in the development of the internet.
"New generic Top Level Domains and Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) will open up the internet and make it look as diverse as the people who use it," he said.
He was particularly excited about plans to allow addresses that do not use Roman characters, letting those who use non-Latin alphabets such as as Arabic or Cyrillic register an address in their own language.
InternetNZ president Pete Macaulay said people would need to think carefully about how many people would buy addresses using a particular domain name before making an application. Some new domain names that were already available, such as .biz, had not been successful.
Mr Macaulay said some businesses might prefer to keep their .co.nz addresses because people know where to find them. However, he predicted iconic brands would move quickly to register their names as domains, "so they don't get rumbled and have someone else using the name for their own purposes".
ICANN will still have to approve applications for domain names. Trademark owners will be able to object to someone else registering their trademark as a domain name, and there will be a process for banning offensive words.
It plans to start taking applications for new names in 2009.
