Indonesia proposes its web domain for ID industry

Jul 24, 2019, 2:42 pm EDT | Chris Burt

Categories Biometrics News | Trade Notes

Indonesia’s Domain Name Registry, known as Pandi, is planning to launch its “.id” country-code domain to the international market to take advantage of demand for domain names for websites where the extension will represent “idea” or “identity,” AsiaOne reports.

For businesses in the identity industry, a .id domain name could help brands past the ‘radio test,’ ShortDot SA and .icu registry Co-founder and COO Kevin Kopas told Biometric Update in an email.

“The ‘radio test’ means that when someone only hears your domain will they be able to navigate to your website,” Kopas explains. “Is it spelled correctly without clever letter changes, missing vowels or other things like hyphens? Make it easy for someone to find you online.”

Just under 4.4 percent of 318,000 domain name registrations processed by Pandi as of June, 2019 originated in other countries. Of those, 44 percent came from the U.S., and 38 percent of registrations came from the Asia-Pacific region. Pandi has developed a strategy to reach 800,000 registered .id names by the end of the year, with an even split between domestic and foreign registrants, according to the report. The agency will launch a website to provide information to domain name applicants, and will partner with foreign registrants to expand the market internationally.

Kopas says the expansion plan reminds him of .co, which was originally for Columbia, but became globally recognized, with Google now ranking .co domains just like any other non-country extension. He cautions that not all registrars will support .id, but a search for a domain name based on his name at his registrar of choice turned up an option of kevink.id for $159.99. If the operators of .id want to see growth in the extension’s use, Kopas suggests they should work on lowering the price. If they do, the domain has significant potential.

“I really like the idea of it being around identity,” Kopas says. “I think that domains are awesome because there are so many options nowadays so any industry that you are in it will be relatively easy for you to find a domain that works. My partners and I own the .icu domain extension which has over one million registrations and we are branding it as shorthand for ‘I See You’. People looking for social presence are using .icu’s every day. With .id I think that it fits perfectly in the security space. Perhaps security companies like RSA could find uses for .id domains when people use 2FA key fobs. Given how prevalent smart homes are becoming there are also tons of security issues. Perhaps .id domains could be used as a sort of validated DNS system for owners to make sure that they are the only ones communicating with their devices.”