There’s a proposal put forth by the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to add ten new top level domain names to the naming system on the internet.

The list of proposals for new names include: .asia, .cat, .jobs, .mail, .mobi, .post, .tel, .tel, .travel, .xxx. In a keynote address this morning, Tim Berners-Lee considered this subject and asked that people not allow the addition of the new names.

He’s written a paper about the new addresses, New Top Level Domains Considered Harmful.

One of the issues he addresses is how expensive such a change becomes for small businesses, who try to protect their trademark. There are also interesting points raised about the lack of wisdom of having a special domain for mobile phone users.

Would that force people to try to get the same name they have now, but with a .mobi in the domain name in the event that they want to serve their pages to people with handheld devices?