Shorter .uk web address idea shelved by Nominet

Nominet will reconsider its proposal for a .uk domain registration

Nominet, the organisation that oversees UK web addresses, has put the brakes on plans to launch an optional new service for sites ending with ".uk".

Companies would have had the chance to take the address "name.uk" rather than "name.co.uk".

It would have cost more to register but extra security features would have been provided to sites that opted to change.

But a three-month consultation had revealed there was insufficient support for the idea, the body said.

While those taking part in the consultation had agreed a shorter URL would be beneficial, there had been concerns it would be confusing for consumers, especially as it would exist alongside the current ".co.uk" domain, Nominet said.

There was also support for one of the added security features proposed, which was that .uk sites would all be DNSSEC-signed (Domain Name System Security Extensions), making them harder to hack.

However, the idea of a "trust mark" stamp to indicate the security of the site had been greeted with "scepticism" the group said.

A revised proposal will now be drawn up by the not-for-profit organisation.

It will focus on security measures, pricing and registration verification, in response to the feedback received.

"We are going to explore whether it is possible to present a revised proposal that meets the principles of increasing trust and security and maintaining the relevance of the .uk proposition in a changing landscape," Nominet said in a statement.

"We would like to thank all those who took the time to give their views."