From 25th July, Afilias, a consortium in charge of the .info registry, has been accepting applications for domain names from trade mark owners. However, Afilias has been widely criticised for failing to manage the application process. As many as 25% of applications are thought to be fraudulent or erroneous, according to one report by DomeBase.com.
From tomorrow, the public at large will be allowed to register domain names in the next phase of the .info roll-out, called the Startup Period. During the Startup Period, Afilias will begin processing the domain name requests sent to it by various registrars around the world. To prevent preferential treatment of any single registrar, Afilias says that registrations in the Startup Period will not be processed in real time, nor on a first-come, first-served basis.
Instead, Afilias will accept registrations over several randomised rounds. After any remaining queues are processed, .info domain names will become available for open registration in real time, on a first-come, first-served basis. According to Afiilias, real-time registrations are anticipated to begin on October 1, 2001.
Already, some registrars have been accepting “pre-registrations” from the public for .info domain names. There is no guarantee of success for those trying to register. Instead, the registrar submits all pre-registrations to Afilias for processing to begin tomorrow.
Meanwhile, ICANN, the body which handles the domain naming system of the internet, said that .pro, the new top level domain intended for use by professionals, such as lawyers, doctors and accountants, will be delayed. The cause appears to be disagreement among companies in the joint venture chosen to run the registry. The expectation is that .pro names will not be available until next year, several months later than ICANN had hoped all new domain names would become operational.