Actually they are not just subdomains of new.net. What it looks like is an attempt to make the UltraDNS network the new root. udns1.ultradns.net returns an A record for pie.shop just like udns1.newdotnet.net. I suspect that all UltraDNS servers return queries for these alternate TLD's. The more I look at this the more it looks like an good old fasioned root hijack. The difference this time is they already have the network of servers, and they already have some ISPs lined up. I'm not passing judgement on wether it's good or not, but let's call it as it is. KL Joe Provo wrote:
not actually adding any new TLDs? Aside from the misrepresentation of it being anythign other than subdomains in their zone, it is a good thing. Of course, that misrepresentation is slimy, will cause confusion if and when any of those *.new.net zones match new TLDs, and is the hallmark of shysters. I think the comments about EK and Balkanizing are spot on, but the only tell half the story; this is also about duping of the masses at the end of the pipe.