Internet Overhaul or Internet Chaos?

The BBC has reported that ICANN has voted to relax the rules on top level domains (e.g. .uk, .net, etc).  What does this mean in simple English?  Soon, instead of visiting coca-cola.com, you may find yourself visiting visit.coca-cola as companies will be able to purchase a top level domain to reflect their brand.  In theory, this is a great idea, however will this really make an Internet more accessible for everyone or will it mean the company with the most money will win?

Frighteningly, what will it mean for terms such as news, sport, football, etc, which are every day words?  Will the company offering the most be able to claim this for its own?  ICANN may “not setting this up for profit” but it is sure seeming like a good way to make money, from my point of view.

On a more positive note, there will soon be the possibility to have domains in scripts other than Roman (e.g. Cyrillic, Arabic, Persian, etc) and this will make the Internet more accessible.

Only time will tell whether all this is good or bad; 2009 is when this is expected to take off.