Amazon is busy trying to gobble up all kinds of top-level domains — .book, .read, you name it — but it also has its eye on .amazon too. Turns out that the Brazilian and Peruvian governments have something to say about that though and would rather snag it for the famous river.
The Guardian reports that the governments have filed complaints with ICANN, the organisation that looks after domain names. The Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology pointed out:
“[A]llowing private companies to register geographic names as gTLDs to reinforce their brand strategy or to profit from the meaning of these names does not serve, in our view, the public interest.”
It may have a point! In fact, it’s not the only geographic problem to come out the top-level domain purchasing either: Argentina is currently trying to win the .patagonia top level domain to ensure that it can’t belong to the outdoor clothing company of the same name. Ultimately, it boils down to ICANN deciding whether consumerism or geographical identity wins out — which isn’t necessarily an easy decision to make. What do you think? [Guardian via Slashdot via The Verge]