AP News reports that, according to the United Nations, 2008 was a banner year for cybersquatting. In case you’ve just started using the Web this morning, cybersquatting refers to the practice of registering a Web address that contains the names of famous brands, companies, people or events without authority or permission and with the intent to make a profit. One way to make a profit is to hold the Web address hostage until the trademark holder pays up. Another is to open up the Web site to advertising and make money while waiting to be paid off.

Things are only going to get more complicated. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Nubers (ICANN) will soon allow webmasters to register new top-level domains. Top-level domains are sometimes called suffixes — .com, .gov and .org are all top-level domains. But new top-level domains could include company names, common words or just about anything else.