Is a .eco Domain on the Horizon?

Green individuals, eco-organizations and environmentally responsible companies could be looking at the prospect of a new .eco domain in the foreseeable future.

Last year the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to add new generic top-level domains, with the evaluation process expected to launch early in 2010. The competition for a .eco domain is expected to yield several bids from groups and companies, at an estimated cost of $185,000 per application. But the potential profits, which could be in the billions, far outweigh the costs.

Two companies—Big Room Inc. and Dot Eco LLC—have already announced their intention to submit bids to control the .eco domain, though other competition could be yet to come.

Dot Eco LLC is a California-based company that was created a bid for the .eco domain, that is backed by Al Gore and his environmental organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, as well as the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation.

Big Room Inc., a Vancouver-based company that was founded to help people make green choices, and they're backed by Mikhail Gorbachev and his organization, Green Cross International, as well as the David Suzuki Foundation and the World Wildlife Federation (to name a few).

The two companies bring a lot of star power, but the basic concept behind each company's vision is the same: Provide a new top-level domain that is available exclusively to individuals, groups and companies that are dedicated to environmental responsibility and awareness. Nevertheless, though both companies are starting with the same premise, their bids differ on some key points.

Both organizations promise transparency of the environmental commitment of any person, group or company that purchases a .eco domain. Dot Eco's plan requires registrants to agree to a set of principles when they purchase a domain, which is enforced by community policing and its own monitoring. Big Room will require registrants to define their committment to the environment and commit to developing an eco-profile (which they were required to keep up to date) when they purchase a .eco domain; this information will be made available to the public.

Dot Eco has promised a minimum of 50 percent of all profits will go to environmental organizations, with the "vast majority" to be earmarked for its supporters, Al Gore, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation. "These are the people who have the best chance of rousing governments into action," Dot Eco wrote in a recent press release. "We want to give them millions to do it."

Unfortunately, this leaves other effective and influencial organizations without any funding from this endeavour, and given that all of the organizations that will receive funding are based in the United States, Dot Eco's bid limits the opportunities to include international voices in affecting change on a global scale.

Big Room has committed 25 percent of revenues to environmental and social causes, but the funds will be allocated by an independent foundation, to be named The Dot Eco Foundation. Registrants will have the opportunity to influence where the funding is directed by choosing from a list of issues that is based on the priorites of the United Nations Millenium EcoSystem Assessment Report, which includes: preservation of wildlife, biodiversity and land; climate change mitigation and adaption; sustainable consumption and production; remediation of polluted sites; alieviating poverty; and labor, social and human rights.

Though they haven't solicited the advice of the public in the development of their plan, Dot Eco has developed a large following through its SupportDotEco Twitter account and SupportDotEco Facebook group, and they also have an active community on their website that allows members to post notes on why they support a .eco domain.

Big Room has had far less success in attracting supporters to their "Dot Eco" Twitter account and Facebook group, but they have actively involved the public in the development of their plans by posting a draft of the bid online so that the public can leave comments on the details (until Sept. 10). They expect to release their final plan in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010.

Only time will tell who will control the management of .eco domains—that is, if ICANN decides to give a .eco domain the green light at all.