Since the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began taking applications for new generic top-level domains, unique opportunities galore have opened up for several possible new website domains. One place that’s hoping to acquire its own domain, and thus establish its own internet brand, is New York City. If all goes well, the citizens of the greatest city in the world could be registering sites with a .nyc domain in the near future.

According to City Room, A New York Times New York-centric blog:

The city is seeking a contract with a Virginia-based company, which would apply for the domain and operate and market it on the city’s behalf. The company would pay the upfront costs, and the city would get a share of revenue; under the five-year contract, it is guaranteed at least $3.6 million. London, Berlin, Paris, and Barcelona have said that they will also seek domains, but Rachel Sterne, the city’s chief digital officer, said she believed New York City was the only major city in the United States to be pursuing one.

Various groups have campaigned for a .nyc domain as far back as 2000. One website, thenycdomain.com, has gone so far as to organize a Twitter campaign around the hashtag #thenycdomain in order to raise the $50,000 needed to file an application with ICANN.

And why shouldn’t New York have its own domain, or any other city or state for that matter? However, upon hearing this news, somewhere in Wilmington a cadre of hazy-eyed hipsters are waking up to begin poo-pooing about how they saw .nyc open up for .net in 1999, and then pour a PBR over their bowl of cornflakes.

(HT gothamist.com)