It may be hard to believe, but the popular online retailer Amazon isn’t the only entity out there with that name. While the e-commerce giant has its sights sets on snagging various top-level domains — from .book and .kindle to, of course, .amazon — to help grow the empire, its web address vision doesn’t necessarily sit well with everyone.
According to a report from The Guardian, South American governments — specifically Brazil and Peru — are upset about the merchant’s request to own the domain name .amazon and want it saved for the massive river and rain forest that runs throughout its countries.
Brazil and Peru have filed a complaint filed a complaint with ICANN, arguing the address should be associated to issues involving the region: “Granting exclusive rights… to a private company would prevent the use of this domain for purposes of public interest related to the protection, promotion and awareness raising on issues related to the Amazon biome,” the countries said in a filed complaint. “It would also hinder the possibility of use of this domain to congregate web pages related to the population inhabiting that geographical region.”
Each year, the non-profit Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) receives bids for new top-level domain names. But this isn’t the only request that has rubbed a South American country the wrong way — the Argentinian government in November was displeased with U.S. retailer Patagonia’s aim to acquire .patagonia.
Source : Reuters