MARINA DEL REY, CA - The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) announced Monday that it has approved the creation of a new top-level domain (TLD). The top-level domain is the last portion of an internet address, most popularly .com, .net, and .org. Specialty TLD's have been created for various sectors including .gov, .museum, and .biz. "This new addition to our family represents the seedy uncle that's always trying to scam a buck, and is appropriately called .CON," said IANA Chairman Jon Postel.

"This is going to be a real boon for us," said Bob Parsons, President of GoDaddy.com, a domain name registrar. "There are hundreds of thousands of scam sites on the Internet, maybe millions. We are positioning ourselves to offer them very attractive first-year rates and of course, excellent customer service." Indicating his own concerns, however, he admitted, "We will only be accepting cash for these registrations."

"I'm not going to label myself a 'CON'," stated Greg Seddens. He's the young entrepreneur responsible for Easy.DebtSettlement.com, a site that promises to handle debt negotiation for people nearing bankruptcy. "I offer legitimate opportunities for people to experience debt reduction, and even debt elimination. I do not 'con' them," he said.

Other Internet patrons do not agree. A search through Google's popular GoogleGroups reveals that scores of people have tried Seddens' program and failed to get the debt help they were promised. "I sent him $300, and all I ever got was some rah-rah emails and a few e-books on do-it-yourself personal bankruptcy. STAY AWAY!" said one, calling himself SectionalSpud. To address concerns like these, IANA has established a voting site to allow users to nominate current .com and .net sites for a .con transfer. If a site receives enough votes, its registration will automatically be transferred to .con. "It puts some democracy back into the 'Net," said Postel.

"I love the voting idea!" said Marcus Walleby. We paid for an hour of Walleby's Internet access time at Starbucks so he could read over the proposals and offer his thoughts. "I have a few sites in mind that I'll vote for all the time. How often can we vote for the same site? With the right software, one guy could knock off three or four scammers a day! This is fantastic!" he effused.

Particulars, like the ones raised by Walleby, have yet to be decided. IANA said they will be implementing the new TLD by the summer of 2004.
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