Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Rocky IV-Cold War: Al Gore and Mikhail Gorbachev Battle over Billion Dollar Potential

From the Times of London:

Al Gore, the former American vice-president, is at loggerheads with Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russian ex-president, over the rights to control a new “green” internet domain that could be worth billions.

The right to operate .eco — the green equivalent to .co.uk or .com — could become available as early as next year after efforts to extend the web’s reach by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the body that oversees the internet’s structure.

The potential awarding of the coveted domain — a right that comes with a $100,000-plus (£60,700) price tag — has sparked a landgrab that has the two former statesmen pitted against each other.

Mr Gore has lent his support to an alliance called Dot Eco LLC, while Mr Gorbachev is indirectly linked to Big Room, a Canadian alliance, through the support of Green Cross International, the Swiss-based ethical and social causes charity that he founded....MORE

That's Al on the left. [but of course -ed]