Al Gore Wants a .Eco Web Domain

Registration fees for environmentally certified websites to go to green causes

By Susannah F. Locke Posted 03.13.2009 at 4:11 pm 10 Comments

Clinton and Gore Pulling Cable White House Photo Office

Al Gore and his philanthropic organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, support creating a .eco domain to promote environmental causes. The idea comes from Dot Eco LLC, which claims they will donate some of the cash from registration fees of .eco web addresses to green initiatives. Dot Eco plans to file an application for the .eco top-level domain later this year with ICANN, the non-for-profit that coordinates website names.

Whether it will get approved at all is still completely up in the air, but just the idea itself raises some interesting questions.

How do you define what is worthy of the .eco tag? Both groups say they would consider a vetting process, according to BusinessWeek. It could get pretty messy, though. What's the U.S. government (.gov) and what's an accredited educational institution (.edu) is well-defined, but how would you draw the line at what's eco and what isn't?

What's the best test? The sum of an organization's carbon footprint? A swearing in on a copy of An Inconvenient Truth? I want your suggestions for a good barometer, cause I'm having a hard time imagining one that will work.

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10 Comments

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kyleb2112

03/13/09 at 10:12 pm

Wow, Gore's backing a VOLUNTARY program. Surely he's working day and night to correct this oversight.

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derlange

03/14/09 at 2:01 am

lol i like the part on "swearing on a copy of an inconvenient truth". I gotta say you really gotta hand it to Mr. Gore. He started what could become one of the biggest propaganda machines in history, and is probably going to become one of the richest men in the world, capitalizing on this stuff.

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hypnometal

03/14/09 at 2:55 pm

Honestly, I think these organizations will self select. If it's made clear that a .eco domain will have proceeds sent to ecological development, those organizations will want to support that, and may even pay more for it. I mean, sure, .gov and .edu are obvious, but what about .com, .org, or .net? Those are a little more nebulous, so people just pick what they want.

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Eruantalon27

03/16/09 at 8:22 pm

Meanwhile, this whole climate change thing could be natural:

UW-Milwaukee Study Could Realign Climate Change Theory
www.wisn.com/weather/18935841/detail.html

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laughingboy

03/19/09 at 7:57 pm

So would free-market property rights groups qualify for such proceeds? Otherwise, it sounds like our former VP is politicizing the domain name process. Not that the web isn't political but it doesn't favor one side or another.

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Anthony_Mitchell

03/26/09 at 12:08 pm

Lots of people and organizations will want to be associated with the new .eco domain name. Its positive connotations will be irresistible.

We have never seen a new top-level-domain (TLD) before that was associated with a social movement. Confusing .eco with other TLDs fails to grasp the attractiveness that .eco will exert.

The power of branding is no longer restricted to large companies. It’s about the power of personal branding. It’s about making a statement about who you are and what you believe in.

Are there five million people willing to pay $20 per year for a .eco brand? Within four years of its go-live date, I say yes.

Never underestimate the power of branding and personal commitment. The combination of the two is long overdue, especially given what is at stake with climate change and environmental degradation.

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hedge

05/11/09 at 2:20 am

I agree with this idea. People must save our earth as soon as possible and this is one of the way.

and i Agree with Anthony_Mitchel too

Regards,
http://hedgefundimplosion.com/

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wwb

05/16/09 at 4:59 pm

Thats a great idea getting money to support our earth.
Where we can find this TLD?

wwb, Bdg
http://www.worldwidebeasts.com/

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derlange

05/21/09 at 3:47 am

yes SAVE the earth with .eco
hahaha u for real???

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gandy357

10/20/09 at 4:37 pm

Perhaps al Gore could sell a couple of his mansions .. or part of his fleet of SUV's to fund this ?
Consumption-wise , the "evil" GWBush is wayy greener than Gore will ever be .

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