{"id":1057,"date":"2026-07-25T12:42:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2026-07-25T12:42:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T12:42:58","slug":"why-did-it-take-so-long-for-the-web-to-get-its-own-domain-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=1057","title":{"rendered":"Why Did It Take So Long for the Web to Get Its Own Domain Name?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Well, if nothing else, we can finally say that we got the .web domain before GTA6. This week we learned that the .web domain had been added to global DNS servers, and that it will be administered by Verisign, which also administers a bunch of the internet\u2019s generic top-level domains (gTLDs), including .com and .net.<\/p>\n

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Once you\u2019ve digested this news, you might find yourself wondering why it\u2019s taken this long. After all, the original gTLDs\u2014so-called to distinguish them from country-specific domains\u2014were approved in 1984. Those original gTLDs were .com, .edu, .gov, .mil, and .org, with .net being added when they were actually implemented a year later. (Some of these domains still exist, as explored in a study issued by web-monitoring service dns.pizza recently.) It\u2019s no surprise that .web wasn\u2019t included in that first tranche of names\u2014it wasn\u2019t until 1989 that Tim Berners-Lee implemented the idea of a hyperlink-based structure at CERN, and the World Wide Web didn\u2019t become worldwide until 1993.<\/p>\n

But even so: that\u2019s at least 33 years that the term \u201cweb\u201d has been used to refer to the internet. In that period, we\u2019ve gotten all sorts of weird and wonderful gTLDs: everything from .guitars and .duck to the aforementioned .pizza. There are so many now that it\u2019s actually difficult to find a definitive number; I mean, look at this whopping list of the things. (There\u2019s a gTL;DR joke in here, I\u2019m sure.)<\/p>\n

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So there must be a story behind .web\u2019s absence, right? Well, yes. A clue as to the nature of that story is given by Verisign\u2019s announcement: \u201cThe delegation of .web follows the successful resolution of all previous disputes related to the generic top-level domain (gTLD),\u201d it says, concluding curtly that \u201cthe details of [these] are confidential.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The terms of the disputes\u2019 resolution might be confidential, but the details of the disputes themselves are not. So, before we go any further, a primer on how gTLDs work. We all know how to register a website domain\u2014you decide on what you want your website to be called, then find a domain registrar and hope that the .com version of that name hasn\u2019t already been sold to someone else. But what we call domains in that context are actually subdomains\u2014in this case, yourwebsite.com is a subdomain of the larger .com domain.<\/p>\n

Top-level domains are called that because, well, that\u2019s what they are\u2014they\u2019re not subdomains of anything. So how do you get hold of an actual top-level domain? Technically, IP address allocation, DNS management, and other fundamental aspects of internet functionality are the responsibility of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). However, responsibility for domain names\u2014and especially the allocation of top-level domains, generic or otherwise\u2014has fallen to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit that operates out of LA.<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re aware of ICANN, it may well be through its well-publicized domain name auctions. It turns out that if you administer a domain name registry for a top-level domain, you can make bank doling out the subdomains to eager purchasers. This has led to a scramble for new gTLDs, which in turn led to ICANN\u2019s auction process.<\/p>\n

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OK, but\u2026 what about .web? It turns out that its existence, or non-existence, dates back to 1997, when it was one of seven new TLDs proposed by a group called the Internet Ad Hoc Committee for inclusion in the expanded set of gTLDs planned by IANA\u2014ICANN wasn\u2019t founded until the following year. The group\u2019s proposition was ignored, and .web went onto the ICANN back burner, despite the ongoing attempts of Image Online Design, a company that tried to register and administer the .web domain as far back as 1997.<\/p>\n

In 2016, however, all hell broke loose when ICANN auctioned off the .web domain. The fact that there was an auction at all hints at acrimony; the press release announcing the winning bidder explained that the auction was \u201cto resolve contention for .web and .webs,\u201d and that \u201cauction serves as the method of last resort for determining which applicant may operate a gTLD when several entities have applied for the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The auction was hotly contested, with seven companies submitting bids, and on 28 July ICANN issued the aforementioned press release, announcing that the winning bidder, who would be ponying up $135 million to operate .web, was a company called NU DOT CO LLC. (Poor old .webs was less lucrative\u2014it sold to Vistaprint for the princely sum of $1.)<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve doubtless never heard of NU DOT CO, and neither had anyone else. The name suggests it was an off-the-shelf company, and it seems that\u2019s basically exactly what it was. So where did it get $135 million? The answer, controversially, is \u201cfrom Verisign\u201d\u2014yep, the same Verisign that has now, a decade later, finally announced that .web is a goer.<\/p>\n

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The fact that Verisign submitted its bid via a generic shell company might suggest to readers that the bid wasn\u2019t entirely kosher\u2014Verisign\u2019s competitors certainly thought so, and the resultant legal wrangling has been ongoing ever since. One company, in particular, Afillas\u2014since renamed Altanovo\u2014contested the auction result, arguing that Verisign\u2019s participation via what was effectively a proxy company broke ICANN\u2019s own rules. The fact that .web was in such strong demand, and that Verisign already administered .com, also attracted the interest of the US Department of Justice, which opened an investigation into Verisign in early 2017; the investigation concluded a year later without filing charges.<\/p>\n

These are presumably the \u201cprevious disputes\u201d to which Verisign\u2019s announcement refers. Their resolution allows Verisign to add .web to its roster of prize gTLDs, and if you think that\u2019s good news for the company, you better believe that the stock market agrees with you. Cue the Pet Shop Boys!<\/p>\n

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