Internet committee says Amazon should not be given .amazon web domain

A committee of the organization overseeing the Internet's top-level domain names has said "no" to allowing ".Amazon" to be controlled by the Seattle retailer.

In filings it made with the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, Amazon had asked to control .amazon as "a unique and dedicated platform for Amazon" as "a further platform for innovation" to "support the business goals of Amazon."

At a meeting in Durban, South Africa, ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee recommended against allowing Amazon to gain control of the domain, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The committee may have taken into account objections from Latin American countries served by the Amazon River, said Nao Matsukata, chief executive of domain-name advisory firm FairWinds Partners.

"They said it would not be fair for Amazon to have control," Matsukata said. "It's a shame that this couldn't be a more open process and less arbitrary."

Amazon has been campaigning to be given nearly 80 different top-line domain names, including ".kindle," ".wow" and ".shop."

Although ICANN could still vote to give Amazon control of the domain name, it has historically followed the advice of its Governmental Advisory Committee, the Journal said.