The Latest in IT Security

Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, came out strongly this week against the ‘.sucks’ top-level domain, which he described as “little more than a predatory shakedown scheme.” Some background: generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are the endings of URLs, such as .com, .edu, .gov, and of course, .biz. ICANN, the international group that administers the domain name system, is currently in the process of considering and distributing hundreds of new top-level domains. In a letter to ICANN’s chairman, he expressed worry that the .sucks domain would “be used to unfairly defame individuals, non-profit organizations and businesses,” and that people and companies would be all but forced to have to buy another domain name in order to protect themselves.