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A free, ethical new gTLD? Shurely shome mishtake

Kevin Murphy, July 2, 2026, 08:43:40 (UTC), Domain Registries

Another new gTLD applicant has revealed its plans, this time for a namespace where domains are given away for free and the enemy is Big Tech.

The Human-Centered Computing Foundation, a non-profit founded in Colorado last November, says it plans to apply for .self in the current ongoing ICANN application round.

It says it has already been approved under ICANN’s Applicant Support Program, meaning its application costs will be deeply discounted from the $227,000 standard base fee.

The organization has published little information about its plans, other than to say .self will be “designed and implemented from the ground up to support self-hosting”.

HCCF says it opposes the “prevailing economic models of the digital age — surveillance capitalism and entrapping SaaS platforms” that “prioritize corporate shareholder value over the fundamental needs, privacy, and autonomy of the individual.”

Because the domains will be free, domain investors are not welcome.

The organization’s web site lists Riley O’Donnell and Lucas Silva as CEO and COO respectively.

A search on DI’s Stringtel tool show domains ending in “self” occur about as frequently as existing gTLDs “contractors”, “bike” and “tattoo”, with “yourself” and “myself” counting for about half of the volume.


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