Soon you may start seeing Web sites like weather.info, twa.aero, generalmotors.biz, smithsonian.museum and johnsmith.name. The information supersuburb is getting crowded, and these new addresses are expected to make some room for future cybersquatters.
More domain names are likely to follow, such as .web, .kid and .xxx.
It's a form of product labeling. Not only would this greatly simplify the task of software filters and those who wish to avoid adult material, it also helps those interested in finding such content. Making it easy on parents to filter out unacceptable material will make it less likely that they will seek censorship. Oddly, while offering support for filtering programs during her address at a recent conference, Playboy chairwoman Christie Hefner voiced opposition to the establishment of domain names for adult content that would make such filtering easier. Perhaps .mat would be better than .xxx in Playboy's case, but the point is still the same.