This time it’s .CO, that’s actually Colombia but some domain registrar smartypants have decided that it’s the new “truly global” domain for companies. This, like .biz .mobi and all the others, is utter bollocks and the main people profiting are the domain registrars – although in this case I hope that Colombia at least will get something out of it.

Why is it a scam? Let’s analyse.

• If you already have a .com etc you’d rather not have someone else own the .co, so there’s incentive for you to buy it. This incentive is extra strong if you own the trademark, because you are obliged to defend the trademark or lose it. So if someone else gets the domain you’d need to fight them – so it’s simpler to just register the domain yourself. Gain? Nothing. Just “no potential loss”, at a cost.
• If you can’t get the .com or national domain of a name you might want to get the .co. That is, if the name isn’t trademarked. But does it make sense? Will people be able to find you rather than whoever else owns domains using that name? Unless the others are just domain hogs or dormant sites, you choose to fight for google juice.
• If you grab the .co of a name that is trademarked, you’re just opening a can of worms and in the best case still fighting for google juice. Why bother?
• You’re a Colombian company mainly focused on the national market. Well now you’re messed, because all these “globals” are eating up your namespace – supply&demand predicts that the price you pay for your domain names will go up. Sure some people will make a buck *selling* their existing .co, but in pure numbers most will be new and thus flow out of the country rather than in.

It’s a bit late to stop this, but it’s so very very bad.