National Press Club to Host Newsmaker: "Beyond .com, .gov, .net and .edu... Expansion of Internet Addressing"

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the National Press Club:

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080917/NPCLOGO)

Newsmaker:   "Beyond .com, .gov, .net and .edu… Expansion of Internet Addressing"

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 11

Time:  2 p.m.

Place:  Zenger Room, National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC

ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer Rod Beckstrom and Board Chair Dr. Stephen Crocker will discuss the launch of hundreds of new generic top-level Internet domains (gTLDs) such as .hotel, and .paris scheduled to begin taking applications on Jan. 12.

ICANN's new gTLD program is the most significant change to the Internet's naming system since 1998, when The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers was formed. For the first time generic TLDs can include words in non-Latin language scripts, such as Chinese or Arabic. 

The new gTLD program has been the subject of recent hearings by the U.S. Congress and has drawn the attention of advertisers, businesses, associations and governments around the world.

National Press Club members outside Washington and out-of-town journalists may watch the news conference via a live webcast at www.icann.org Journalists may also listen to the news conference and-or ask questions via telephone by dialing an access number obtained from this list -- www.adigo.com/icann.  The toll-free access number in the United States is +1.800.550.6865.  After reached the conferencing center, dial 25594.

SOURCE National Press Club