The Nations of the Amazon Want the Name Back (bbc.com) 85
Online retail giant Amazon and the governments of eight South American countries have been given a final deadline to reach an agreement over how to use the ".amazon" web address extension after a seven-year dispute. From a report: What will happen next? It's a name that evokes epic proportions: the world's largest rainforest; a global tech company; and now a diplomatic saga nearing its end. This is the battle of the Amazon and it starts back in 2012. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that polices the world wide web's address system, decided to expand its list of generic top-level domains (gTLD) - the bit that comes after the dot in a web address. The new rules allowed companies to apply for brand new extensions, offering internet users and businesses more ways to personalise their website name and addresses. But eight countries containing the Amazon rainforest objected to the retail giant's plans concerning the new .amazon domain name.
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As far as I am concerned, neither Amazon (the business) nor these 8 countries have any automatic right to domain names that contain the word amazon. The first to apply should get and get to keep the domain name. Just like Microsoft should not have been able to take over domain names containing the word microsoft from their original owners!
Re:Considering that those nations are busy destroy (Score:5, Insightful)
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So really, the residents of Lesbos should have first kick at the can.
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Well, no, the Amazons weren't Lesbians (well, some of them may have been lesbians, but they weren't from Lesbos). In fact, they weren't even Greek, "Amazon" was simply the Greek name for them. Supposedly they originally came from Lybia but migrated to Anatolia (modern Turkey, before the Turks took it over). The general modern opinion is that they were in fact a Greek myth. Unfortunately, the fun etymology that "amazon" derives from the ancient Greek "a-mazos" "without a breast" seems to be false.
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Perhaps among those who haven't heard of the Scythians and their female horse archers.
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Amazon, the company in the US, the book shop, the retailer, is not the only company called amazon.
http://www.pttmcc.com/new/cafe... [pttmcc.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The coffee they offer is actually quite good.
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Considering that Amazon comes from ancient Greek, and refers to a tribe of women warriers, I'd say it's "first come, first served."
Why should the Greeks name a river in South America?
Just rename the river. What do the Yanomamis and their pals call it . . . ?
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No need to change the name, because none of the countries that have the Amazon river call it that, since they don't speak English. It's el río Amazonas. They can register that .amazonas gTLD.
The Nations of the Amazon Want the Name Back (Score:2)
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Still dumb (Score:5, Insightful)
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I still think all these new TLDs are a stupid idea.
I agree completely. Now that *.tld and *.*.tld are no longer enough, we have *.*.*
Might as well just get rid of the dots entirely.
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If we're just going to use hostnames, I claim "loopback"!
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Might as well go back to AOL Keywords.
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I'm not too fond of any of them. How many people care if it's a .com or .org or .countrycode?
I think that number is low. Much lower than the companies who paid for the new TLDs were hoping. Looking at my wife, my siblings, my parents, etc browsing habits, I don't think they even know what website they are on half the time. They primarily reach a website from a social media post, or from a Google search. Heck, on my phone I am guilty of this. The last dozen searches for a recipe, I used a Google search and never paid attention to what URL I was visiting. Once I found the recipe that seemed good for
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Chuck out the gTLDs. Yes, all of them. Go to using ccTLDs only. This very clearly defines jurisdictions in which to settle disputes. Countries can manage their TLDs any way they like. Tuvalu wants to make a buck selling *.tv to all comers? Let 'em. North Korea wants to limit *.kp to only government-approved outlets? More power to them. Some huge megacorp wants to flaunt a global online presence? They can jolly well negotiate for a name with each individual country's TLD.
Works out for everyone. Well, ex
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Of course it is, it's revenue farming.
Cocacola.com will of COURSE not let cocacola.amazon fall into anyone's hands, so essentially opening a new TLD means all the big name domains are nearly guaranteed to simply cough up the $ to grab their same moniker on all the new TLDs. It's like free money.
Give them ".theamazon" instead (Score:4, Funny)
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".amazonjungle" The Amazon Jungle isn't a country, it's a jungle
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Take the third option (Score:4, Interesting)
geographical designators (Score:5, Funny)
Peers (Score:5, Insightful)
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Depends. Did they attempt to register it? Or are they just upset that someone else did and registered in protest. Frankly a rainforest does not deserve a donation name over an internet giant. And conversely the same applies to Amazon if they wanted to build a distribution centre in the actual Amazon.
It's nothing new (Score:2)
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see here [wikipedia.org]. It's been like this since trade became a thing.
Indeed. It was much worse in the past, when companies raised armies and waged war in their own name [wikipedia.org].
Today's multinationals are toothless compared to their predecessors.
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Even if they did get the .amazon TLD, what would the URL for the shop then be? "amazon.amazon"? Would what is now something like "amazon.co.jp" become "japan.amazon"?
Or are they going for something like "books.amazon" or "screwextractors.amazon" or "sexbots.amazon"?
"washingtonpost.amazon"
They aren't prime (Score:2)
Do any of those Amazonian countries offer 2-day prime shipping? I think not.
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Rename the company Nile (Score:2)
Longest river in the world, #1!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
ÂHablan inglés? (Score:1)
scorchio (Score:2)
It's ethethetheth or something like that. Viva El Presidente!
Anyone can have a gTLD. (Score:2)
Anyone can have a gTLD.
You could apply for, and receive, *.jythie if you want.
Why? Because its a money making scheme, that's why. gTLDs force companies down this path where they either try to protect their trademark or have it trampled over. In return registrars generate millions of dollars registering gTLDs that aren't even used