Web address endings will be up for grabs

In addition to the likes of .com and .net, the Internet might soon have Web addresses ending in .fun, .cars and .prettymuchanythingyouwant.

Heralding the most dramatic expansion of virtual real estate in 40 years, the international group controlling Internet addresses decided Thursday to let anyone apply to be in charge of new last names for the Web.

The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers – which is as close as the Internet gets to a governing body – opted to open up the process to companies, individuals and coalitions. That means that any word or name approved by ICANN could follow the dot in a Web address.

Big corporations and Web address sellers – as well as scammers looking for new places to lure unsuspecting Web surfers – are expected to make bids for some of the new classes of Web address.

While the application procedure is still being hammered out, it won’t be cheap or hassle-free. Officials at ICANN said they expected the initial fee to be less than $100,000 – but it might not fall much short of that.