Creating multiple webs

The BBC reports how the chair of the Internet Governance Forum has warned the internet could be “broken up” into separate networks around the world.

The IGF’s Nitin Desai believes the emerging markets in Asia, especially China, could trigger a re-evaluation of how the web is structured and regulated.

This will mainly be drawn about how domain names are registered and whether countries with a non-Latin alphabet push for localisation.

While initially this will have little effect on the online travel sector, there could be concern as to how the world’s largest country is integrated online at the same time as Western travel firms attempt to target it for both in and outbound tourism.

Already there is a wave of next generation domain names entering the market – Travolution has already covered issues surrounding the dot-travel domain run by Tralliance – but there are already question marks as to where this expansion will lead if “Balkanisation” of the web [a crude term for breaking something up] takes place anyway.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution