Unity in cyberspace eludes Europe

By Thomas Crampton - Technology - International Herald Tribune: "They couldn't agree on a single constitution, and now it looks like Europeans cannot agree on the best way to identify themselves on the Internet.

On Wednesday, for the first time, residents of the 25-nation European Union were able to register Internet addresses ending in ".eu."

The move, which lifts .eu to the same prominence as the Web site suffixes .com, .org and .net, is intended to allow the expression of a single European identity in cyberspace.

But the arrival of dot-eu is also dividing the Union. Some of those who run the domain names for individual EU countries are preparing a campaign to promote their own national addresses, arguing that .fr for France or .it for Italy conveys important cultural information.

"In this case, there is an inherent competition between individual countries and the EU," said Alberto Pérez, deputy director for international relations at Red.es, the government agency that manages the registration of Spain's .es suffix. "Our duty is to promote our country's domain name, not the EU."

EURid, a Brussels-based not-for-profit company overseeing the .eu domain name, dismissed the idea that there could be any rivalry with national domain names. "We have no intention of being competitive," said Kurt Vincent, spokesman for EURid.

The idea for .eu originated with the European Commission in 2000, back when the euro was about to be adopted by many EU members and plans for adding 10 countries to the Union were speeding along.

Crossborder commerce was aggressively pushed by many in the business world, along with the euro, and a dot-eu address was seen by some as helping ease EU-wide trade.

But there was already widespread use of country-code domain names, like .de for Germany, which are often allotted by a government arm. The .de suffix for Germany, for example, accounts for 11 percent of all registered domains, while .uk for Britain accounts for another 5 percent.

And some of the warm feeling of EU expansion has evaporated since the heady days of 2000, leading to the rejection of the proposed European Union constitution by France and the Netherlands this year.

In response to the dot-eu Internet address, Spain and up to five other national domain registries in Europe plan a marketing push in the coming weeks, said Giovanni Seppia, general manager of Centr, a Brussels organization that represents country-level registrars.

Seppia said he could not provide details, leaving that up to the national registries. But, he said, "Looking at the success of such campaigns in Spain and Mexico, I think they will have quick growth and challenge the dot-eu."

For .eu, registration is open from now until April only for those with prior claims to a name through trademark or other means.

Online registration companies pay EURid annual registration fees ranging from 35 to 85, about $40 to $100, through April. The EURid fee will then drop to 10, though registration companies may charge more.

First-day sales through 4 p.m. Wednesday totaled nearly 100,000, with the vast majority coming from companies claiming trademarks, Vincent of EURid said."