Well, it’s that time of the year again. I’m back from my holidays, my New Year’s resolutions have been firmed up and now we’re 12 days in to 2009 and I am thinking to myself – what was I thinking?

Oh well, enough rambling. After reading several interesting articles about domain names in the last couple of days, one topic cropped up which had a lighter side as well as a sad side. It concerns global warming and the impact it could, believe it or not, have on domain names. Who would have thought that such a thing could happen?

This is a story I just saw over on domainnamewire.com.

Every man and his dog has something to say about global warming these days. But how is it really going to impact on our lives? If you own a .tv domain name you might just find out!

Rising sea levels now and in the future will hit some countries pretty hard, and one of the first in line is Tuvalu. It’s a small island nation with a population of a little over 10,000 people. It’s very flat – at its highest just 5 metres above sea level. Even a modest rise in the ocean and Tuvalu Island will cease to exist.

Why is that relevant to you, me and the domain name industry? Well, Tuvalu’s country code domain name is .TV. Back in 1999, Tuvalu handed control of the domain to Verisign to enable them to market the domain. However, if Tuvalu sinks under the waves ICANN (policy indicates that the .TV domain will be cease to exist! There will be a transition period so everyone can transfer their online properties to other domains, but otherwise, that will be it.

Of course, we’re probably a long way from a sea rise quite that significant and ICANN may well change their policy. But, as a precaution – if your domain name ends in .TV now might be a good time to make sure you have other domain extensions at the ready!

Further information:

Original Domain Name Wire Article