As the Boston Globe reported, hundreds of more specified addresses will provide boundaries for websites in certain neighborhoods, making it much simpler for Internet users to find what they’re searching for. Some of the new domains include .bike, .clothing and .plumbing.
“It introduces creativity back into the domain space,” James Cole, a spokesman for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) told the Globe.
But with this added creativity comes potential security issues, critics say. In an age where cybercriminals steal consumers' private data an at increasing rate, these new domains could create countless fake websites designed to simulate the sites of legitimate businesses, according to Jon Leibowitz, a former Federal Trade Commission chairman.
Though ICANN has set up safeguards to prevent fraud in the new domains, Leibowitz is worried these protections are inadequate.
Others, however, say that because so many companies have applied for their own domain, it will let users know they are on the authentic site.
