CNN has covered the current issues regarding the .pro domain name extension. .Pro was designed to be for credentialed professional organizations, including doctors, lawyers, accountants, and engineers in the US, Canada, Germany, and UK.
Originally, firms could only get a third level domain, such as myname.law.pro. Recently the EnCirca allowed professionals to get a second level domain, such as myname.pro if they also owned a third level domain.
Last month, EnCirca started offering second level domains without the third level requirement and opened it up to all professions.
This was inevitable. A “restricted” domain name like this simply can’t make money. Registries and registrars count on masses of people registering domains, and making it so restrictive results in lower registration numbers. Furthermore, if people don’t widely use .pro names, the value to the law/accounting/etc firm is diminished. They’d prefer myname.com to myname.law.pro or even myname.pro.
Although they hate to admit it, registries also count on speculative registrations for revenue. Without domain name investors, the domain registration market would be in serious financial trouble.
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