INTERNET Simple domains eyed

In response to requests by companies seeking to extend their brands, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the Internet’s key oversight agency, will consider lifting restrictions on singleletter web addresses as early as this weekend, when the ICANN board meets in Vancouver. Single- letter names like ‘‘ a. com” and “ b. com” could start to appear next year. A handful of companies has asked ICANN to free up the single characters. Overstock. com Inc., for instance, prefers a single- letter brand of “ o. com” because its newer businesses no longer fit its original mission of providing discounts on excess inventory.