Last minute opposition over a planned rollout of new top level domains for the web by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is growing, with Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) adding his voice to the critics.

Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, sent a Dec. 28 letter (.pdf) to Commerce Secretary John Bryson and National Telecommunications and Information Administrator head Lawrence Strickling. In it, he urges them to work with ICANN to ensure that the TLD expansion "is implemented in a cautious, limited manner."

"I believe it is prudent for you to ask ICANN to reevaluate its current plan," Rockefeller says, adding that ICANN should either delay opening of the application period, or drastically limit the number of new TLDs it approves.

Rockefeller, and others, have said ICANN's decision to start accepting applications for new TLDs on Jan. 12 could cause businesses to spend considerable amounts of money on defensively registering domain names to prevent rivals or cybersquatters from getting ahold of them first.

The Federal Trade Commission sent Dec. 16 a letter (.pdf) to ICANN also advocating a deliberate pace in the creation of new TLDs, stating that the first application round should be conducted as a pilot program only.

ICANN says the cost for applying for a new top level domain will be $185,000 for most applicants and those awarded one will have to pay $25,000 annually thereafter to maintain it. The new domains could be accessible as early as 2013.

For more:
- download Rockefeller's letter to Bryson and Strickling (.pdf)
- download the FTC's letter to ICANN (.pdf)

Related Article:
Skepticism over ICANN TLD expansion persists