Evan: In the end, no, premium domains don't matter. Record this observation under the general rule "the technology will trump any fool agreement every time". I long hold that with respect to agreements pertaining to ICTs, any development that emanate from exploitation of an agreement - you named a few - can be fixed by that same agreement, so long as it recognizes a natural right to remedial action for injurious conduct and compensation for injury. All else is as grass. Carlton -----Original Message----- From: alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Evan Leibovitch Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 10:25 AM To: At-Large Worldwide Subject: [ALAC] Google Chrome and domain names Hello everyone, Back in July I had an email dialogue with fellow NARALO member John Levine on the general subject "Domains don't matter". The debate was over whether the whole importance of having a premium domain name even matters anymore, given the improving ability for people to use search engines to find appropriate web destinations. I now am interested to find out what others believe on this issue given recent developments. I've played with the beta of the new Google "Chrome" browser, which has made a significant move from the perspective from the user. The search window is now merged with the one used to type in URL names. So, if you type in "flowers" you're not just taken to flowers.com, but to search-engine suggested matches. (Obviously Chrome defaults to Google as the search engine but that can be changed.) This is especially helpful for organizations that were not able to aquire their most obvious domain name (likely these days because it's in the hands of squatters). It will also have the potential to reduce phishing and typosquatting by pointing out misspellings and unintended redirections before the page is obtained. Even if Chrome is not dominant as a browser I believe that this direction will eventually be followed by other implementations. I raise this issue here to ask what implications this this trend has to ICANN. Especially from an end-user At-Large point of view, does it affect our approaches to gTLD creation, to the RAA and to IDNs? - Evan _______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann.org At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org ALAC Working Wiki: http://st.icann.org/alac