Plan Will Add 7 Domain Names to Internet

There will soon be seven more domains in which to hang your hat in cyberspace, thanks to a plan adopted by the Internet Society and a host of other groups, the society said. The group, which helps develop and coordinate Internet standards, said the plan will provide seven new top-level domains. A domain is indicated by the last three letters at the end of every e-mail or World Wide Web address. Digital Equipment Corp., MCI Communications and UUNet, which is a unit of Worldcom Inc., endorsed the plan, unveiled in February, the society said. Under the plan, new domain names, such as “firm,” “arts” and “web,” will be added to the existing top-level domains, such as “com,” “net” and “org,” starting in the third quarter of this year, the society said. The plan establishes an arbitration and mediation procedure for resolving disputes over names, such as when a trademark is used in an Internet address.