The U.S. government wants the power to veto applications for the new top level domain names being proposed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
ICANN is proposing a plethora of new domain names — including .music, .property and .shop.
However, some new top level domain name suggestions have already sparked controversy — including the .xxx top level domain name being suggested for sites containing adult content.
Up until now, ICANN had said that it would only reject top level domain name applications if they ran counter to “generally accepted legal norms of morality and public order that are recognized under principles of international law.”
However, according to Cnet, the U.S. government (as well as governments of other nations) wants to be more closely involved in the decision-making process, with ICANN suggesting that they may “raise an objection to a proposed [suffix] for any reason.”
Registration and operation of new top level domain names will cost the organization applying $185,000 initially, followed by a $25,000 annual fee to retain ownership of the web address suffix in question.