A number of sites are pointing to Tim Berners-Lee’s discussion on new top-level domains. I found it a fascinating insight into some of the concepts which were put in place in the early days of the internet. What I also see as interesting is that the tree-like structure of the domain system evolved from good technical reasons and was – back then – less about maintaining the concept of a trademark or brand. It’s a shame that it’s moved away from that, really.
Internet Domains
In 2004 there were proposals to create new top-level domains which included .mobi and .xxx. Tim Berners-Lee considers these harmful.