A new batch of proposed Internet domains could make it easier to fight spam and filter out smut, but the head of the regulatory body that will usher them sees even broader possibilities.
"Maybe it's the Klingons, where the Klingon association plays a role in keeping the identity of Klingons," said ICANN President Paul Twomey in an interview.
Star Trek fans shouldn't expect to visit www.yahoo.klingon anytime soon, but Internet users could soon pull up .mobi sites on their mobile phones, or set their Web browsers to screen out sexually explicit material identified by .xxx.
Anybody with $8 to spare can reserve a domain name ending in .com or .info, but the 10 new domains being considered by ICANN are designed for specific purposes.
ICANN expects to decide which ones make the cut by Sept. 30.
Twomey said he expected the evaluation process to go more smoothly than a previous round in 2000 when participants said they had little idea why proposals were accepted or rejected.
"The big thing here will be hopefully people will feel they're evaluated against objective criteria," he said.
Independent evaluators will assess a variety of factors, from the perceived need the domain will fill to whether sponsoring organizations have the technical ability to run a registry that could contain millions of names, he said.
Operators like those hypothetical Klingons don't necessarily need to demonstrate that they will turn a profit as long as they have a solid business plan, he said.
The 10 proposals submitted to ICANN cover a wide range, backed by a mix of nonprofit organizations and technology companies like VeriSign Inc.
The .jobs domain would allow companies to list available jobs at Web sites like www.companyname.jobs, rather than using a more complicated address like companyname.com/jobs.
Anti-spam crusaders Spamhaus have proposed .mail as a badge of honor for those who don't send unsolicited bulk e-mail, ensuring their messages wouldn't get caught in spam filters.
Nokia, Vodafone Group Plc and Microsoft Corp. have proposed a .mobi domain for Web sites and other online content designed to fit on the small screens of cell phones and other mobile devices.
Two separate groups have proposed a .tel domain for Internet-based phone calls and other communications.
Others have proposed .travel for the travel industry, .post for postal services, .cat for the Catalan region of Spain and .asia for the Asia-Pacific region, which could work with non-Roman alphabets like Chinese and Japanese.
There's also a .xxx proposal for sexually explicit content, which would make it easier to screen out pornography.
ICANN will also decide by Sept. 30 whether to move forward with a plan to add more unrestricted domains like .com, said Miriam Sapiro, a Washington consultant who is overseeing the evaluation process.