Article talks about upcoming domain launch, also refers to domainers as cybersquatters.
It certainly wasn’t mean to be malicious, but a CNN.com article shows that the domain industry needs to keep spreading the word about what it really does.
The article Latest ‘Net gold may rest in Asia’s domain says cybersquatters and domainers are the same thing:
The .Asia rollout shows in many ways how the Wild West days are dwindling for cyber-squatters – known as domainers – to mine high-value names
For the record, a cybersquatter is one who registers trademark-infringing domains. A domainer is one who owns and invests in generic domains. Technically, a domainer can also be a cybersquatter, but not necessarily.
The article mentions .eu but doesn’t explain how .asia and .eu are different. .Eu was a country code domain, which meant that ICANN didn’t set all of the rules. Registrars of .eu domains don’t have to be ICANN accredited. .Asia, on the other hand, is a top level domain with ICANN’s oversight.
According to the article, trademarks for .asia will be handled differently than .eu. If multiple companies claim identical trademarks, the domain will go to the highest bidder. That doesn’t solve the trademark problem; people will still set up bogus trademarks in an effort to score valuable domains. However, it will make the cost of acquiring that domain much higher than the standard registration price.
Will .asia succeed? So far, the .eu aftermarket has been a bomb. The domains were snapped up mostly be investors, meaning the domain isn’t used much. Three character .eu domains frequently sell for under $1,000 and the aftermarket is very limited. Will .asia suffer the same fate? Will Asians actually use the domain? Only time will tell.
Source DomainNameWire