The decision by ICANN to open up unlimited top-level domain names is going to make life a lot more complex for any business with a web presence.

ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for controlling the internet’s naming structure. It decides which address extensions are allowed and oversees the global network of domain name servers that keep the whole thing humming along.

At a meeting in Paris last week, ICANN decided to throw caution to the wind and effectively remove any restrictions on what can be used as a top-level domain. So, rather than being limited to a .com, .org, .au address and the like, from next year you’ll be able to register anything you please.

Expect to see the likes of .pepsi, .microsoft and .google before too long, as well as a vast array of generic domains. There’s sure to be everything from .pizza and .florist to .melbourne and .porn. The options will literally be endless.

As if that wasn’t enough, ICANN has also given the green light to having domains in characters other that the current Latin alphabet. Those from other alphabets, such as Japanese and Chinese will also be allowed.

While this all sounds great for the liberalisation of the internet, it’s going to make things tougher for businesses trying to protect their turf.

As well as trying to secure the .com version of their address together with the country-specific version of wherever they happen to be operating, a raft of new addresses will soon be required.

If you’re running Joe’s Pizza shop with the address of www.joesbestpizza.com and have also registered the .com.au variant, what happens when someone registers the .pizza domain? And what about .homedelivery, .fastfood and .tasty to boot?

Businesses that need to capture as much web traffic as possible will have to dig deep and lock in as many variations as they can – another expense most can certainly do without.

Sure, it might mark the democratisation of the internet, but the ICANN decision will have a large sting in its tail.