The Internet Is Dead, Long Live The Internet

Say it ain't so, Joe?

The Internet is cashing in and selling out to the big corporate giants. Perhaps, it was only a matter of time, before these big multi-national companies made the web a deal they couldn't refuse. The skeptics will say they knew this day was coming, but the true romantics, those who still dream of a free and open Internet, were foolishly praying that this day would never arrive.

It is truly the end of the Internet as we now know it.

ICANN, the governing body for internet addresses, has announced that it will be letting anyone, who can fork over $185,000 and/or the highest bid, to create their own "dot anything" domain name, like "www.sellout" for example. In other words, this overseer of domain names, will now allow generic suffixes so that your domain doesn't have to end in ".com", ".net", ".edu", ".gov" ".org" or any of the handful of other suffixes commonly being used, but can now be dot anything. Companies can apply for these anything domains between January 2012 to April 2012 and these domains will come with an annual fee of $25,000..

What is so frustrating and unfair about this current change is not the actual change in itself, but the price tag. The Internet has always been open to anyone who could afford $8 or $10 bucks for a domain name and that was just about anyone on the planet; making the world wide web one of the truly democratic forces of our times, an even playing field accessible to everyone. But not any more, because now, with this new pricing, only the elite few can own the Internet. The era of the small webmaster and online marketer is history.

In actual fact, ICANN has just auctioned off the Internet to the highest bidder.

Why is there no outrage? Why are there no riots in the streets? Why are there no one protesting? Why are webmasters not unionizing and protesting with all their collective might against this great injustice?

The outcome of this change, could be life-altering for many small webmasters and online marketers. It not only changes the ball game and venue, but it is telling you can't play because you're simply too poor. Take your ball and go home, Joe. We don't want you here anymore.

The fallout from this change will probably not be that immediate, but it won't be long before Google and the other search engines will be ranking these corporate top level domains in the number one spots. And probably listing sub-domains and interior pages at the top of their search engine rankings for all those lucrative keywords as well. The SEO fallout could be disastrous for many current websites with the old legacy domains, such as your now soon to be obsolete ".com" web address. Well, that may be viewing and judging this whole issue a little too harshly, but anyone with a ".com" has just had their domain devalued, no matter if you look at it in terms of a dollar value or in terms of importance on the web.

You're not at the top anymore, webmaster. These new "dot anything" domains are the new kings of the hill. They will dominate the web before you can say, "dot loans".

After the vote, the Chairman of ICANN's board of directors, Peter Thrush stated: "Today's decision will usher in a new internet age. We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration. Unless there is a good reason to restrain it, innovation should be allowed to run free.

Of course, this is only the "incorporation" of the Internet. The web monetizing itself. Sooner or later, everyone knew this would happen, companies and big business would eventually own/buy the web. This simply makes the whole process much more easier for these wealthy stakeholders.

Going forward, it will mean trillions upon trillions of dollars will be lost or won, by these new changes due to keyword rankings and from web users simply typing these generic domains directly into their browsers.

It is the web Darwinified, because while some large important domains will be able to afford this hefty price tag, smaller webmasters and domain owners will not be able to afford this move up the Internet ladder. In this regards, ICANN's move can be seen as a way of de-democratizing the Internet. It will still be open to everyone, but only as long as you have a couple hundred grand to pay for it.

But then again, when did we ever have true democracy? Democracy is an illusion created to pacify the poor masses. The rich have always ruled the world, why should the Internet be any different?

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The author is a full time online affiliate marketer who operates numerous niche sites, as well as two sites on Internet Marketing. If you want to discover more about this topic simply download some Free Marketing Courses. You can find the author's page here: Titus Hoskins Copyright 2011. ...

Related links:

Will New Generic Domains Spell Trouble For Google

The End of .com ICANN’s New .anything Domain Name Internet Policy

Who Died And Made Google God?

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